PART I: IMAN

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Contents
Introduction by Khurram Murad 13
Preface to the First Edition 43
PART I: IMAN
1. Knowledge, the First Step 47
Allah's Greatest Gift 47
Is Islam a Birthright? 48
No Mere Verbal Profession 49
No Islam Without Knowledge 49
Dangers of Ignorance 50
Acquire Knowledge 51
2. Between Islam and Kufr 53
Muslims or Kafirs? 53
Knowledge and Actions 54
Why Are Muslims Humiliated Today? 56
Desire For Knowledge 59
3. How Muslims Treat the.Qur'in 61
Irreverence and Misuse 61
Incomprehensible Contradictions 62
The Consequences 64
No Islam Without Submitting to the Qur'f0000]4. True Meaning of Iman 69
Difference the Kalimah Creates 69
3Is Mere Utterance Enough? 70
Meaning of the Kalimah 71
Covenant With Allah 72
Accepting the Prophet's Leadership 73
Obligations of Commitment 74
Our Behaviour 76
5. Why is the Kalimah Unique? 77
The Parable 77
Two Kinds of Trees 78
Characteristics of the Kalimah Tayyibah 79
Characteristics of the Kalimah Khabithah 80
Contrasting Results 81
Why Are Believers in the Kalimah Not
Flourishing? 82
Are Followers of the Kalimah KhabUhah
Prospering? 83
6. Why Believe in the Kalimah? 85
Success in the Hereafter 86
This-world and That-world 86
Success in That- World 87
True Purpose of the Kalimah 88
What Does the Kalimah Teach Us? 89
Actions Must Accord With Knowledge 89
PART II: ISLAM
7. The False Gods 93
What is Kufr and Islam? 93
Islam: Total Surrender 94
Three Reasons for Going Astray 95
Self-worship - Society and Culture - Obedience
to Human Beings
Condition of Muslims Today 99
8. Can We Call Ourselves Muslims? 103
A True Muslim 103
4What is Hypocrisy? 104
Serving the Self - Adherence to Society and
Culture - Imitating Other People
The True Faith 106
A bstinence From Alcohol - Confession of Crime
- Severance of Familial Ties - Giving Up
Cultural Norms and Customs
The Way to God's Pleasure 109
Muslims of Today 110
9. Are We True Muslims? III
Two Types of Islam 112
Legal Islam - True Islam
Two Kinds of Muslims 114
Partial Muslims - True Muslims
What Kind of Muslims God Desires 115
Supreme Loyalty to Allah 116
Where Do We Stand? 117
10. Why Obey God? 119
Our WeI/-being 119
Obeying Others Besides Allah 120
The Only True Guidance 122
How to Benefit 123
No Blind Obedience 124
11. Difference Between Din and Shari'ah 125
Meaning of Din 125
Meaning of Shari'ah 128
Nature of Differences 129
Juristic Differences Between Muslims 130
Ignoring the Nature of Differences 131
Sectarianism 133
12. True Meaning of 'Ibadah 135
Meaning of 'Ibadah 136
Misunderstanding 'Ibadah 137
'Ibadah, Lifelong Service 139
5PART III: SALAH
13. Meaning and Blessings of the Prayer 145
Remembering God 145
Constant Reminder 147
Sense of Duty 148
God-consciousness 149
Knowledge of God's Law 150
Collective Life 151
14. What We Say in the Prayer 153
Adhan and its Effects 153
Wuqit': Ablution 155
Niyyah: Intention 155
Tasbil;: Glorification 156
Ta'awwudh: Seeking Refuge 156
Bismillah: In His Name 156
Ijamd: Praise and Thanks 156
The Qur'an Reading 157
Surah al- 'A~r Surah al-Ma 'un Surah af-Humazah
Ruku': Bowing Down 160
Sujud: Prostration 160
At-ta~iyyat: Salutation 160
SaNa 'ala 'n-nabiy: Blessings Upon the Prophet 161
Seeking Protection 162
Salam: Greetings 162
Du'a' qunitt 163
Character-building 164
15. Blessings of the Congregational Prayer 165
Private Worship of God 165
Assembling on One Call 167
Purposeful Assembly 167
Fellowship 168
The Sacred Purpose 168
Brotherhood 169
Uniformity in Movements 169
6Uniformity in Prayers 170
Leadership 171
Nature and Qualities of Leadership 171
Piety and Virtue -- Majority Representation - Sympathy and Compassion - Vacating OfficeObedience to Leaders - Criticizing and Correcting Mistakes - No Obedience in Sin
16. Has the Prayer Lost its Power? 175
Parable of the Clock 175
Aim of Muslim Ummah 176
Wholeness of Islamic Teachings 177
Abusing the Clock 178
Why Worship Rites are Ineffective 179
Our Deplorable Condition 180
PART IV: SAWM
17. Meaning and Blessings of the Fasting 183
Life of Worship 183
Rituals Lead to a Life of Worship 184
How Does Fasting Develop Us? 184
Exclusively Private Worship - Sure Sign of Faith
- Month-long Training - Practising Obedience
- Communal Fasting
Where Are the Results? 188
18. True Spirit of the Fasting _ 189
Spirit and Form 189
The Outward Replaces the Real 190
Wrong View of Worship 191
Fasting as a Way to Piety 192
Conditions of True Fasting 192
Abstention From Falsehood - Faith and Selfscrutiny - Shield Against Sins - Hunger for Goodness
7PART V: ZAKAH
19. Fundamental Importance of Zakah 197
Meaning oj Zakah 197
Zakah, a Test 198
Early Practice 198
Categorical Imperative 200
The Sign oj Faith 201
Foundation oj the Ummah 202
Conditions Jor God's Help 203
Warning to Muslims 203
Fate oj Zakah DeJaulters 204
20. Meaning of Zakah 207
Becoming God's Friends 207
Wisdom and Understanding - Mora! Strength - Obedience and Dutifulness Sacrificing Wealth RequirementsJor Admittance to God's Friendship 210
Large-heartedness Magnanimity Selflessness
Purity oj Heart Giving in Adversity
Giving in AJfluence Giving Jor Allah Alone
Stressing Benevolence Amassing Wealth
Making Excuses Spending Reluctantly and
ResentJully - Considering Spending a Fine -
Niggardliness
The Real Test 214
21. Zakah, a Social Institution 217
Allah's Unique Beneficence 217
Man's Selfishness 218
What Selfishness Leads To 219
Individual and Collective Welfare 220
What is the Solution? 222
22. General Principles of Spending 223
Remembrance of God 223
Spending in the Way oj Allah 224
Essential Prerequisite to Guidance 225
Spend Only to Please Allah 226
8Do Not Stress Your Benevolence 227
Give Only Good Things 227
Give Unobtrusively and Secretly 228
Guard Against Misuse 228
Do Not Harass Debtors 228
Take Due Care of Family 229
Give to the Deserving 229
23. Specific Injunctions of Zakah 231
Produce of the Earth 231
On Wealth and Financial Assets . 232
Jewellery
Who Are Entitled to Receive Zakah 234
Fuqara ': the poor - Masakin: the destitute and
needy - 'Amilina 'alayha: who administer
Zakah Mu 'allafatu 'l-qulub: who need to be
reconciled Fi 'r-riqab: freeing from bondage
AI-gharimin: overburdened debtors - Fi-sabW
'lIah: in the way of Allah Ibnu
's-sabiI: travellers
Other Important Principles 236
Need For Collective System 238
PART VI: HAJJ
24. Origin and Significance of Hajj 243
Life and Mission of the Prophet Ibrahim 243
Ibrahim's Times 244
Commitment to the Truth 245
Tribulations and Calamities 246
Migration 247
Raising a New Generation 247
The Greatest of Trials 248
The Universal Islamic Movement 249
Lut in Sodom - Isl}aq in Palestine -
Construction of the Ka'ba
Prayers of Ibrahim 250
25. Restoration of True Hajj 253
Idol Worship Among Ibrahim's Descendants 253
How Corrupted Hajj Became 254
A Yearly Carnival - Perverse Rites - Sacrilege
of Sacred Months - Self-imposed Restrictions
Restoration of Hajj 256
Fulfilment of Ibrahim's Prayer - Revival of
Ibrahim's Ways - End of Idolatry - Prohibition
of Indecent Acts - Bragging and Showing Off -
End of Ostentatious Generosity - Spattering of
Blood and Flesh Banned - Prohibition of
Perverse Rites - Changing the Months of Hajj
For.bidden - Hajj Provisions Made Obligatory -
Permission to Work During Hajj - End of Other
Customs - Fixing Boundaries Ensuring Peace
and Security
Importance of Hajj 261
26. Renewal of Self 263
The Journey 263
Virtue and Piety 264
Ilyam and its Conditions 265
Talbiyyah: the Cry of Response 265
Tawaj' Walking Round the House 266
Sa't: Hurrying Between ffafo' and Marwah 267
Wuquf (Stay) at Mina', 'Arafot and MuzdaliJah 268
Rami limar: Stoning the Pillars 268
The Impact of Hajj 270
Hajj, a Collective Worship 271
27. Renewal of Society 273
Growth in God-consciousness 273
A Season of Reawakening 274
Inspiring Spectacle of Unity 275
Greatest Movement for Peace 276
Centre of Peace and Equality 277
Our Lack of Appreciation 279
Deriving Full Benefit From Hajj 281
10PART VII: JIHAD
28. Meaning of Jihad 285
The Ultimate Objective 285
Root of All Evil 286
The First Step 287
Origin of Corrupt Rule 288
God's Lordship Over Man 290
Temptation of Power 291
Rituals, a Training Course 291
Governments Run by God-conscious People 292
29. Central Importance of Jihad 295
Din, Shari'ah and 'Ibadah 295
Duality of Din 296
Every Din Wants Power 297
Popular Sovereignty Monarchy
Din of Islam 299
Jihad in Islam 300
Recognizing True Believers 302
Change Only Through Struggle 302
Preface to the Eighth Reprint 305
Index of Quranic Verses 309

British RuleIntroduction
Sayyid Abul A"Ia Mawdudi's Khu(ubat, of which Let Us Be Muslims is the new and edited English translation, is no ordinary book.

A collection of ordinary, familiar themes and plain truths, expounded before ordinary, illiterate people in plain words from their everyday language, it has, by the mercy of Allah, stirred more hearts and impelled more lives to alter their course to live in commitment to their Creator than any of his more erudite works. Many, I am sure, would share this impression of mine who like me have been led by his inspiring writings to join the cause of Allah. For who can forget those gatherings where the participants often reminisced about things that had brought them to the Islamic movement. As one person after another rose to tell his story and mentioned Sayyid Mawdudi's writings, I still vividly recollect, one answer overshadowed all others: the Khu{ubat.

To express my own indebtedness to this book, I can do no better than to confess that I have now been reading it for nearly four decades and every time I have found it as fresh and inspiring as ever. Even today, I find myself speaking and writing, without the least embarrassment, words and ideas from the Khu(ubat, as if they were my own.

How did this book come into being? As Sayyid Mawdudi tells in his Preface, soon after migrating to Darul Islam, near Pathankot (now in the Punjab, India) - on 16 March, 1938- he started to gather the nearby villagers for the Friday Prayers. To them, in every congregational address (Khu{ubah), he tried to explain the essential message, the basic teachings, and the spirit of Islam. Those addresses were collected and published as Khu(ubat.

First published in 1940, since then it has been published in various forms and languages. A popular series has been that of six separate booklets - Haqiqat-i-Iman, Haqiqat-i-Is/am, Haqiqat-i-Sawm-o-Salat, Haqiqat-i-Zakat, Haqiqat-i-Hajj, Haqiqat-i-Jihad. Translations in Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujrati, Telgu, Sindi, Pushto and many other subcontinental languages have also been made and published since the early 1950s. The English translation came out thirtyfive years later under the title The Fundamentals of Islam (Islamic Publications, Lahore, 1975). In all these different forms and languages, it has gone through innumerable reprints and is being constantly reprinted from many places.

Many organizations, even individual admirers, have published its parts for mass distribution. Yet its need remains as fresh and its demand as high as ever.

Sayyid Mawdudi's impact on the contemporary Muslim world is not to be measured by the sale of his books, great as they have been. It is doubtful if any other Muslim writer of our day has so many readers, or is so avidly read, but what is important is that his sincere, convincing and passionate voice has left indelible imprints on the minds and lives of his readers. The real measure of his impact, therefore, is the emergence of whole new generations of men and women who have been inspired by him to lead lives of meaningful faith, Iman, in Allah, His Messenger, and His Book, and of dedicated struggle, Jihad, in His cause. No doubt his example in launching and leading a major Islamic movement has played a crucial role in this process, but it is his writings which have made a greater impression, deep and lasting, far and wide.

Of all those writings, Sayyid Mawdudi's words inKhu{uM/. though spoken in the narrow confines of a mosque in a farflung part of the world, have exercised an influence very far and beyond the time and place in which they were first spoken. They have found a response in the hearts and minds of their readers in true proportion to the sincerity and depth of his message and purpose. They have led many to recognize their inner inconsistencies and make their faith and commitment sincere.

Here, in Let Us Be Muslims, then, are the words which have touched many hearts and evoked many responses. What fills them with life and power? What makes this book extraordinary?

For, on the face of it, what Sayyid Mawdudi has said in these addresses is very ordinary and commonplace; indeed so ordinary that many readers might, after one quick look, want to put the book away, without reading any further. Is this not the same stuff, they would say, which we hear, day in day out, from our pulpits? Obey Allah and His Messenger, pray and fast, and everything is going to be alright.

To such readers I would say: let us together explore, at some length, what Let Us Be Muslims means to say.

Read the book, and you will find that even ordinary things, once placed in Sayyid Mawdudi's discourse, acquire quite an extraordinary quality, or, at least, in our time, that quality has become extraordinary. This is because he makes those words breathe the same sense and purpose, as against their merely lexical or cultural meanings, which they are given in the Qur'an.

Thus moulded afresh by the Quranic message and burnt in the crucible of his heart, the very things which look so lifeless and irrelevant to life, such as Iman and Islam and the five pillars, acquire a life and revolutionary ardour that they must have had when they were originally proclaimed and instituted.

Then, the placid world of our beliefs and practices which we had always taken for granted begins to tumble down. Then, we begin to find the will and courage to 'be Muslims'.

Equally extraordinary is his style, the way he says these things.

Sayyid Mawdudi was not the traditional preacher. His voice did not roar in the air, nor did his body shake on the pulpit. He did not employ racy anecdotes, nor did he chant poetry. Yet his voice, in this book, has the quality which makes it rise from the lifeless, printed pages and penetrate our hearts.

Let us examine more closely, then, both his direct but powerful style and simple but profound message that make this book one of his best.

What gives Sayyid Mawdudi's voice the quality that makes it penetrating and irresistible? How does it acquire the power to quicken hearts and galvanize lives?

Obviously the primary force is the nature of his message, its truth and simplicity, and his sincerity and passionate conviction of its relevance to real life. But, no less important is the manner in which he communicates his message. The secret of his persuasive power therefore lies simply in that he has something important and urgent to say and he says it sincerely, clearly and passionately.

Firstly, he speaks to people in their 'language', a language that makes his message lucid and luminous. His language and logic, his idiom and metaphors, all are plain and simple, rooted in the everydaylife ofhis audience. They are not derived from speculative philosophy, intricate logic, or mysterious theology. 

For, sitting before him were ordinary folk and almost illiterate farmers and servicemen. They knew neither philosophy nor theology, neither history nor politics, neither logic nor rhetoric, nor even the chaste and scholarly Urdu he, until then, always used to write and speak. He therefore usc'. words which they used in their common life and could understand well, employs a logic which they could easily comprehend, and coins metaphors which could make them recognize reality through their everyday experience.

Sayyid Mawdudi's chief concern is that real Iman which will find acceptance in the sight of Allah, which will bring rewards of dignity and success in this world as well as in the Hereafter. See how with a simple example he is able to demonstrate that such Iman cannot be attained by mere verbal profession, it must be lived by: 'Suppose you are shivering in cold weather and you start shouting "cotton quilt, cotton qUilt!" The effect of cold will not be any less even if you repeat these words all night a million times on beads or a rosary.

But if you prepare a quilt stuffed with cotton and cover your body with it, the cold will stop.' 1

Nor can it be a birthright, that he establishes with a plain rhetoric question: 'Is a Muslim born a Muslim just as a Hindu Brahman's son is born a Brahman, or an Englishman's son is born an Englishman, or a white man's son is born a white man .. .' 2 Obviously, even an illiterate man would say, No.

Again, look how through an argument which derives its force from the everyday experience of his addressees Sayyid Mawdudi convincingly shows the inextricable link between a life of faith and righteousness in this world and, as its consequence, a life of eternal bliss in the next. As they were farmers, what could serve better as an example than a crop. 'If you sow wheat, only wheat will grow. If thorns are sown, only thorns will grow. If nothing is sown, nothing will grow.' 3

Therefore, 'if you follow his [the Prophet's] way, you will reap a fine harvest in the Hereafter, but if you act against his way you will grow thorns in this world and reap only thorns in the Hereafter.' 4

Secondly. clear and direct reasoning imparts to Sayyid Mawdudi's discourse a measure of economy and grace which is quite unusual. In very few words he conveys many important themes, all beautifully reasoned.

Every word, every argument, every example does its duty; they make his readers use their reason and commit themselves wholeheartedly to the task of 'being Muslims'.

This appeal to reason, thirdly, is one of the most outstanding characteristics of Sayyid Mawdudi' s discourse. However ordinary and illiterate his addressees may be, for him they are responsible, intelligent, and reasonable people. They are supposed to think for themselves, and they are capable of doing so. That is how God has made them. That is why Sayyid Mawdudi does not treat us as objects to be manipulated by cheap rhetoric and non-rational appeals. Instead, he persistently appeals to our reason with cogent reasoned arguments.

For this purpose, he again and again confronts us with questions rather than dogmatic statements. These questions are artful premises from which we can easily deduce the necessary conclusions, or they reinforce his argument, or they serve as conclusions which, though irrefutable, we are still free to accept.

The question-answer style, constantly employed thoughout the book, turns his discourse into a dialogue rather than a monologue. Thus we become equal partners in his explorations instead of remaining passive receivers of his findings.

For example: Iman implies the possibility of Kufr. The idea that a Muslim is different from a Kafir is deeply ingrained in our minds. On the basis of this firmly-held notion Sayyid Mawdudi drives home the true nature of Iman.

'Does it mean that if a Kafir has two eyes, a Muslim will have four? Or that if a Kafir has one head, a Muslim will have two? You will say :No, it does not mean that".' 5 We all think that Muslims will go to Heaven and Kafirs to Hell.

But Kafirs, he appeals forcefully to our sense of fairness, which is inherent in every decent human being, 'are human beings like yourselves.

They possess hands, feet, eyes and ears. They breathe the same air as you, drink the same water and inhabit the same land. The God who created you also created them. So why should they be ranked lower and you higher? Why should you go to Heaven and why should they be cast into Hell?'. 6

Obviously, a Kafir is a Kafir because he 'does not understand God's relationship to him and his relationship to God', nor, therefore, does he live by it. But, Sayyid Mawdudi asks us to think, 'If a Muslim, too, grows up ignorant of God's will, what ground can there be to continue calling him a Muslim rather than a Kafir?'. 7 Now he leaves it to us to answer the unpleasant but crucial and unavoidable question which must follow as its conclusion: 'Now, in all fairness, tell me: if you call yourselves Muslims but in fact are as ignorant and disobedient as a Kafir, can you in reality be superior to the latter merely on the strength of bearing different names, wearing different clothes and eating different food? Can you on this basis be entitled to the blessings of God in this world and in the Hereafter?' 8

But, fourthly, Sayyid Mawdudi's argument is never the dry bones of rational logic; it is always alive, a piece of flesh and blood, throbbing with emotion and feeling. The power of his discourse is greatly heightened because he combines the plain and simple logic of everyday life with the emotional argument; we find both deeply intertwined at every step of his writing.

He suffuses his rationality with passion, which is an equally important constituent of our being. It is not the passion of frenzy, it is the passion which springs from sincerity and truth.

Put simply: his logic has the warmth ofemotion, his emotion the force of logic. Cool arguments joined with burning appeals, with ironic contrasts, with charming eloquence, soak into the very depth of our existence. Together they hammer the truth into our minds and provoke us to respond.

His tone, too, is all along personal and intimate. He does not speak as an outsider who is delivering moral sermons from lofty towers. He is part of us. He shares our agonies and difficult decisions. That is why he is also always prepared to lay bare his innermost feelings and thoughts. It is this personal quality that never lets his discourse become wooden, that always accentuates the force of his appeal.

Look how the foolish and ironic inconsistencies of our conduct towards the Qur'an are exposed in a convincingly reasoned argument that shakes us to our foundations. The fusion of rationality with feeling compels us to reflect upon our situation as well as awakens us to do something about it: Tell me: what would you say if somebody got a doctor's prescription and hung it round his neck after wrapping it in a piece of cloth or washed it in water and drank it?

Would you not laugh at him and call him a fool? Yet this is the very treatment being given before your eyes to the matchless prescription written by the greatest of all doctors ... and nobody laughs! ...

Tell me: what would you think if someone who was ill picked up a book on medicine and began to read it, believing, thinking that this would cure him. 

Would you not say that he was deranged? Yet this is how we treat the Book which the supreme Healer has sent for the cure of our diseases. 9

Or, see how, after depicting the miserable situation in which we Muslims find ourselves today, he appeals to our sense of honour, our sense of justice, and thereby leads us to think about the state of our Islam.

Is this the blessing of Allah? If it is not - but rather a sign of anger - then how strange it is that it is Muslims on whom it is descending! You are Muslims and yet are wallowing in ignominy! You are Muslims and yet are slaves! This situation is as impossible as it is for an object to be white and black ...

If it is an article of faith with you that God is not unjust and obedience to God can never result in disgrace, then you will have to concede that there is something wrong in your claim to be Muslims. Although you may be registered as Muslims on your birth certificates, Allah does not base His judgements on what is written on pieces of paper. J 1I

Above all, and fifthly, what matters most, what really startles and provokes us, what compels us to choose and respond to the summons of our Creator, is the rhythm of confrontation that permeates Sayyid Mawdudi's entire discourse. His rhythm is not that of narration and exhortation, or even mere persuasion.

From a series of kernels of simple truth, he expands his rhythm into one that persistently challenges and confronts us.

The simple truths, in his hands, become the tools with which he makes us expose our inner selves, as well as they provide us with a powerful critique of our society. His purpose is not to preach to us, but to change us. He wants us to think for ourselves and make our own choices. What startles us is the way he lays bare the implications of what we have always so placidly and lazily continued to believe; what provokes us is the way he divulges our inner contradictions and hypocricies, our incongruous, incomprehensible attitudes

towards things we claim to value most.

The above examples illustrate how everything that Sayyid Mawdudi says pulsates with the rhythm of confrontation.

But nowhere does it stand out so sharply and powerfully as when he calls upon us to compare our lives and conduct with those of Kafirs:

Kafirs do not read the Qur'an and do not know what is written in it. If so-called Muslims are equally ignorant, why should they be called Muslims?

Kafirs do not know the teachings of the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, and the straight path he has shown to reach God. If Muslims are equally ignorant of these, how can they be Muslims? Kafirs follow their own desires instead of the commands of Allah. If Muslims are similarly wilful and undisciplined, setting their own ideas and opinions on a pedestal, indifferent to God and a slave to lust, what right have they to call themselves Muslims?... ...[indeed] almost the only difference now left between us and Kafirs is that of mere name ...

I say 'almost' because there is, of course, a difference between us: we know that the Qur'an is the Book of God, . . . yet we treat it as a Kafir treats it. And this makes us all the more deserving of punishment. We know that Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, is the Prophet of Allah and yet we are as unwilling as a Kafir to follow him. II

There are many reasons for these paradoxes. But one reason Sayyid Mawdudi explains in his characteristic style:

'You know the damage caused if crops are burnt; you know the suffering which results from failure to earn a livelihood; you know the harm resulting from loss of property. But you do not know the loss of being ignorant of Islam.' 12

Finally, let us look at one especially exquisite extract from Sayyid Mawdudi's discourse which epitomizes all the distinguishing characteristics of his style. Answering the question, has the Prayer lost its power to change lives, he points to the clock which was in front of his audience and which all of us have, and proceeds to explain why. Note the simple but powerful argument and the beauty and grace of language.

Look at the clock fixed to the wall: there are lots of small parts in it, joined to each other...

If you do not wind it, it will not show the time. If you wind it but not according to the method prescribed, it will stop or, even if it works, it will not give the correct time. If you remove some of its parts then wind it, nothing will happen. If you replace some of the parts with those of a sewing machine and then wind it, it will neither indicate the time nor sew the cloth. If you keep all its parts inside its case but disconnect them, then no part will move even after winding it ...

Imagine Islam like this clock ... Beliefs and principles of morality, rules for day-to-day conduct, the rights of God, of His slaves, of one's own self, of everything in the world which you encounter, rules for earning and spending money, laws of war and peace, principles of government and limits of obedience to it - all these are parts of Islam.. . [But now] ... you have pulled out many parts of the clock and in their place put anything and everything: a spare part from a sewing machine, perhaps, or from a factory or from the engine of a car. You call yourselves Muslims, yet you render loyal service to Kufr, yet you take interest ... which un-Islamic gadget is there that you have not fixed into the frame of the clock of Islam. Despite this you expect the clock to work when you wind it! J3

The parable of the clock not only serves to explain the holistic' nature of Islam which no intellectual discussion could have explained so'lucidly.. but it also symbolizes Sayyid Mawdudi's own contribution to Islamic resurgence: according each part of Islam its due place, infusing it with its true meaning, relinking all of them together.

What does Sayyid Mawdudi say? He talks, as we noted in the beginning, about things which are central to Islam: faith and obedience, knowledge and righteous life, the present world and the world to come, the Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving, Pilgrimage and Jihad. But is this not what every religious writer and preacher talks about? So, what is so unique about his discourse? The question is legitimate. Let us see if we can answer it.

No doubt he explains and expounds their meanings and import, too, in a manner which in itself is distinctive and uncommon. But more significantly, and this is central to the importance of this book, he imparts a radical quality to all these elementary everyday themes by renewing their original intent and meaning and by making them relevant to our lives.

How does he do that? Firstly, he restores each part to its rightful place in Islam. Secondly, and this is his unique contribution, he restores the vital links between them which long since have snapped in our minds and lives. Iman and Islam, Dunya and Akhira, Prayer and Fasting, all are there; but each in its own orbit, each in its compartment. Indeed we have become almost habituated to treat each of them as a separate entity. So, even if each part is in its place and is not deformed, even if no foreign part has been fitted to it, to borrow his own metaphor, they do not make the 'clock' of Islam work because they are disconnected. He draws them together and tells us how to link them.

Immediately, what was insignificant and irrelevant becomes central, the very destiny of life. Thus, despite his themes being familiar and ordinary, despite their being devoid of elaborate, elegant, oratorial dress, they make an enormous impact.

The richness, strength and range of Sayyid Mawdudi's themes are indeed immense and profound. But we can easily trace seven such vital links which he re-establishes.

First, he links life, and remember the whole of life, with Iman. Iman becomes the centre of life, which does not accept anything less than total commitment to the One God. This Iman, for long, we have made irrelevant to real life.

Second, he links our actions with Iman, and therefore, with life. In his understanding, there can be no true Iman without actions.

Third, he links acts of ritual worship or 'Ibadat - in the sense of five pillars - with Iman as the seed from which they grow and with actions as the branches into which they blossom. They are the stem which must grow out of Iman and produce its crop of righteous life.

Fourth, he connects the outward form with the inner spirit; if 'forms' do not yield the desired fruits, they are devoid of spirit. Outward religiosity hoisted on empty hearts has no value in the sight of God.

Fift.h, he links Jihad with righteous life by emphasizing its position as the pinnacle and culmination of everything God desires of us, the highest virtue - and thus with Iman and life. To be true Muslims, we must be Mujahids.

Sixth, he links history with Iman. Iman is no more a mere metaphysical and spiritual force; it is the fulcrum of history, it is the determinant of destiny. Thus history becomes crucial for Iman, and therefore for life. We can no more sit back passively; we must try, actively, to change history, that is, wage Jihad.

Seventh, he links this-world with the Hereafter, as a continuing process.

Without striving to fulfil the will of God in the present life, we cannot reap any harvest in the next.

Our previous discussion about Sayyid Mawdudi's style has already shown, to some extent, how he achieves the above task. But let us reflect a little more on some salient features of what he has said.

Iman. The question of Iman lies at the heart of Sayyid Mawdudi's entire discourse here. It is what the whole book is about; on it everything is centred.

Indeed the entire contents of this book can be summed up as an echo of just one Quranic Ayah: o believers, believe (al-Nisa' 4: 136).

The meaning of Iman is well-known. What has gone wrong is that it has become irrelevanJ or peripheral to the actual lives lived by the believers. This has come to pass because of many factors. Iman has come to be taken for granted as a birthright; it has become confined to the mere utterance of the Kalimah; it has been put into a corner of life; it has been made innocuous and 'safe'.

All this Sayyid Mawdudi strongly refutes: Being a Muslim 'is not something automatically inherited from your parents which remains yours for life'. 14

Being born in Muslim homes, bearing Muslim names, dressing like Muslims and calling yourselves Muslims is not enough to make you Muslims.' 15

For, 'no one is a Kafir or a Muslim simply because of his name. Nor does the real difference lie in the fact that one wears a necktie and the other a turban'. 16

Similarly, 'mere utterance of six or seven words cannot conceivably transform a Kafir into a Muslim, ... nor can it send a man to Paradise instead of Hell'. 17

There is no compulsion to recite the Kalimah. But, having recited it, Sayyid Mawdudi stresses, you have 'no basis whatsoever to make claims like "life is mine, the body is mine, wealth is mine". It is absurd ... You have no right to move your hands and feet against His wish, nor to make your eyes see what He dislikes .. .'.18 Also, 'you have no right to say, "My opinion is this, the prevalent custom is this, the family tradition is this, that scholar and that holy person say this".

In the face of Allah's word and His Messenger's Sunnah, you cannot argue in this manner.' 19

Sayyid Mawdudi is a great iconoclast, for no idolatry can ever co-exist with true lman. But his chief concern does not lie with idols of stone, of natural objects. It lies with the idols of self, of society and culture, of human beings which so often become gods in hearts and lives.

What is Islam? 'To entrust yourselves completely to God is Islam. To relinquish all claims to absolute freedom and independence and to follow God's will is Islam ... To bring your affairs under God means to accept unreservedly the guidance sent by God through His Book and His Messengers.' 20 But there are people who 'obey the dictates of

their own reason and desites, follow the practices of their forefathers, accept what is happening in society, never bothering to ascertain from the Qur'an and Sunnah how to run their affairs, or refuse to accept the teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah by saying: "They do not appeal to my reason", or "They are against the ways of my forefathers", or "The world is moving in an opposite direction"'. For them Sayyid Mawdudi has this to say: 'Such people are liars if they call themselves Muslims.' 11

Each of these is a god if obeyed besides God: self; society; family or nation; men, especially the rulers, the rich, and the false thinkers. Against them Sayyid Mawdudi inveighs relentlessly: 'To be slaves of the three idols, I say, is the real Shirk (idolatry). You may have demolished the temples of bricks and mortar, you may have broken the stone idols in them, but you have paid little attention to the temples within your own hearts. To smash these idols is the essential precondition to becoming a Muslim.' 22

Because 'with these idols in your hearts you cannot become slaves of God.

Merely by offering Prayers many times a day, by ostentatiously observing Fasts, and by putting on the outward face of Muslims you may deceive your fellow beings as well, indeed, yourselves - but you will never be able to deceive God.' 23

Having defined the nature of Iman and idolatry, and the claim of Iman upon the whole person, he tells us plainly: 'If you obey the directions of God in some matters, while in others follow your own self, desires, society or man-maden laws, then you are guilty of Kufr to the extent of your disobedience. You may be half Kafir, or a quarter Kafir, or less or more.' 24

To claim to be Muslims and to reserve even the tiniest territory in hearts or lives from God is sheer hypocrisy, too.

Such categorical statements may mislead some to think that Sayyid Mawdudi is engaged in the business of excommunicating Muslims. Not at all. Lest there be any misunderstanding, he says: 'Do not for a moment think that I am trying to brand Muslims as Kafirs. This is not my purpose at all.' 25 His only purpose is to give us the criteria by which each one of us should judge himself, but not others: 'Do not use this criterion to test or judge others and determine whether they are Mumins or hypocrites and Muslims or Kafir; use it only to judge your own selves and, if you detect any deficiency, try to remove it before you meet Allah.' 26

Iman has two levels. Sayyid Mawdudi makes a very sharp and very important distinction between the two: faith at the level of profession - what he calls 'legal Islam', and faith at the level of fidelity and actualization - what he calls 'true Islam', which God desires, which assures us His rewards in this world and the Hereaft~r. His concern in this book, he makes abundantly clear, is 'true Islam', for it is what counts in life and in God's scale.

But at the s.ame time, he stresses, very wisely, the importance of legal Islam.

For faith thus defined forms the basis for membership in the.Ummah. By clarifying the important distinction between Din and Shari'ah, he strikes at the very root ofsectarianism which results in mutual excommunication.

For all his stress on true Islam, and for all his rhetoric 'You are not Muslims', 'this is sheer hypocrisy' it must be noted that Sayyid Mawdudi never issued or signed any fatwa (edict) of Kufr against anyone in his entire life.

And he provides us with a breadth of tolerance that is so rare in these days: 'What right has one servant to say that he alone is the genuine servant while the other is not?' One may argue that his understanding is correct, but this does not give him the authority to expel anyone from Islam. 'Anyone who does display such temerity assumes, as it were, the status of the Master. He would seem to be saying, "Just as it is compulsory for you to obey the Master's order, so also it is compulsory for you to accept my way of understanding. If you fail to do that, I shall, with my own power, dismiss you from the Master's service" ... A person who insists upon such submission to his own interpretation and judgement and assumes such powers of dismissal for himself irrespective of whether God Himself dismisses someone or not, IS In fact saying that God alone is not God but that he himself is also a small god.' 27

Actions: Real Iman, once installed at the centre of life, once lodged in heart, must flourish into a mighty tree of righteous deeds (as-~alilJat).

 Unfortunately, something which was important for the vitality and true worth of Islam – the relationship between iman and 'amal - became an issue, quite unnecessarily, for the jurists and philosophers. Muslims have no need to assume a prerogative that is God's: to determine any particular person's place in the Hereafter. Or, to engage in'the business of excommunication. But they must never lose a vision of Iman which can retain its power only when linked with deeds.

Sayyid Mawdudi's real business is to make Iman real and decisive in actual life. And that, as we see, he does with remarkable vigour and clarity. The Kalimah, he says, 'must be rooted in the heart, it must drive out any belief opposed to it, it should make any actions in contravention of it well-nigh impossible. ' 28

'Ibadat: Foremost among righteous deeds are the obligatory acts of ritual worship like Salah and Zakah. It is impossible for us to have the seed of Iman in our hearts and yet ignore these basic duties. Sayyid Mawdudi echoes the Qur'an and Sunnah when he declares that 'only those can be taken to be true believers who perform the Prayers and give the Alms. Those who disregard these two fundamental teachings are not true in their faith.' 29 •

On the other hand, acts of worship, if correctly performed, must result in claiming the whole of life for Iman, and bring all of it under God. We only have to read the discourse on 'True Meaning of 'Ibadah' to appreciate fully how forcefully Sayyid Mawdudi argues this important point.

Spirit: If acts of worship do not lead to a life lived in worship, the only reason is that they have been emptied of their true meaning and purpose, their true spirit. 'When the soul departs, what feats can a dead body perform', 30 says Sayyid Mawdudi. The Prayer is meant to restrain us from everything that Allah dislikes. 'If it does not, the reason lies in you, not in the Prayer. It is not the fault of soap and water that coal is black! >31

Sayyid Mawdudi inveighs heavily against 'religiosity' hoisted on empty hearts and divided loyalties. (What would you say about a servant', he asks, 'who, instead of performing the duties required of him by his master, just stands in front of him with folded hands and keeps chanting his name?' For example 'his master commands him to cut off the hand of a thief. But the servant, still standing there, recites scores of times in an extremely melodious voice: "Cut off the hand of the thief, cut off the hand of the thief", without ever trying to establish that order under which the hand of a thief may be cut off'. However, when you see a person who 'reads from dawn to dusk the Divine injunctions in the Qur'an, but never stirs himself to carry them out, chanting instead the name of God on a thousand-bead rosary, praying uninterruptedly and reciting the Qur'an in a beautiful voice ... you exclaim "What a devout and pious person he is!", you are misled because you do not understand the true meaning of 'Ibadah'.

Similarly, 'how astonishing that you think the Prayers, Fasting, chanting on rosary-beads, recital of the Qur'an, the Pilgrimage and Almsgiving of those people are in fact acts of worship, who day and night violate or ignore the laws of God and follow the orders of the unbelievers.' 32

Jihad: Jihad is firmly linked with Iman in the Qur'an, and therefore with the whole Muslim life. It is the purpose which calls the Ummah into existence. But, for long, we have come to believe that we do not have to stir ourselves to undertake this vital duty for it makes no difference to our Iman.

This tragic chasm Sayyid Mawdudi spans forcefully and unequivocally.

It is this 'unconcern' with Jihad that, he says, empties all other acts of worship of their spirit. 'But now, I say, you must understand that a heart devoid of any intention to undertake Jihad will find all ritual worship empty of meaning. Nor will those acts bring you any nearer to your God.' II For, 'if you believe Islam to be true, you have no other alternative but to exert your utmost strength to make it prevail on earth: you either establish it or give your lives in this struggle' .34

Why? His argument is lucid and convincing. Firstly, having believed in Allah and the Messenger, and accepted Islam m; our Din, we must bring ourselves totally under God's rule..

Therefore Muslims 'should rise to bring their King's land under His law, to destroy the power of those rebels among His subjects who have set themselves up as sovereigns, and to free His subjects from the burden of slavery to others. Merely believing in God as God and in His law as the true law is not enough'. 35

Otherwise, secondly, we would be living under two Dins: one, in our minds, or at most in our private lives; the other, in our public lives. For, 'Din without power to govern is just like a building which exists in the mind only. But, it is the building which actually exists, in which you actually live, that is important'. 36

One cannot follow two Dins, for he can obey only one at a time. 'In reality you are followers only of that being's Din whom you are actually obeying. Is it not then utter hypocrisy to call that being your ruler and to claim to belong to his Din whom you do not obey.'

Further, 'is it not meaningless to assert that you have faith in this Shari'ah when all your affairs are conducted in violation of this Shari'ah and in fact you follow another Shari'ah?' 37

Obviously, thirdly, this situation is unacceptable. For 'how can Allah's Din accept to co-exist with any other Din, when no other Din admits of such partnership. Like every other Din, Allah's Din, too, demands that all authority should genuinely and exclusively be vested in it'. 38

Fourthly, because the lordship of man over man is the root cause of all corrupt rule on earth, it is our duty to 'stand up and fight against corrupt rule; take power and use it on God's behalf. It is useless to think you can change things by preaching alone'. 39

History: Iman is squeezed out of life once we begin to take history as merely an interplay of material forces .. Sayyid Mawdudi puts Iman back at the centre of history, just ashe installs it at the centre of heart and life. It becomes the fulcrum by which the scales of destiny are tipped: 'You are Muslims and yet are wallowing in ignominy! You are Muslims and yet are slaves! This situation is as impossible as it is for an object to be black and white.' 40

Further, 'it is impossible for a people to possess God's word and yet suffer disgrace and ignominy, live under subjugation, be trampled on and kicked around, and carry the yoke of slavery on their necks, being led by the nose like animals' . 41

How does, then, this come to happen? Sayyid Mawdudi has absolutely no doubt. 'If it is an article of faith with you', he argues, 'that God is not unjust and obedience to God can never result in disgrace, then you will have to concede that there is something wrong in your claim to be Muslims'. 42

In this respect Muslim conduct towards the Qur'an is very crucial. 'If a people possess Allah's Book and still live in disgrace and subjugation, they are surely being punished for doing injustice to Allah's word. The only way to save yourselves from Allah's anger is to turn back from this grave sin and start trying to render His Book its due.' 43

Although we had to quote from the text very extensively, it was necessary to show clearly the principal threads that run through Sayyid Mawdudi's discourse in this book. The above discussion clearly demonstrates how they make his contribution distinctive and unique.

These threads underline the crucial and radical importance of Sayyid Mawdudi's discourse summoning Muslims: Let us be Muslims.

Everything which has either lost its original meaning or has been emptied of its true intent becomes redefined. But the most remarkable thing, as we said, is that he connects all of them together again. That is why while he says nothing very different from what others are saying, his impact has been tremendous.
For, thus connected, Iman regains its original power to change man and his world.


IV
Anyone who reads Sayyid Mawdudi's discourses will find no difficulty in understanding the true intent and purpose of what he embraces and expounds. One may disagree with it, or find it uninspiring, but he cannot deny that Sayyid Mawdudi is talking the same language and conveying the same message as do the Qur'an and the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him.

But some have taken exception to what he says. He has replied to them in his Preface to the eighth reprint which is included herein.

But we may still find it useful to compare his discourses with the Qur'an and Hadith. For it is their light which radiates through his words.

Let us first look at the Qur'an.

True Iman which resides in hearts, shapes lives, and finds acceptance with God is always differentiated from outward, legal Iman. 'The Bedouins say, "We believe." Say: you do not believe, rather say, "We have surrendered", for [true] faith has not yet entered their hearts' (al-1:Iujunit 49: 15).

Similarly mere verbal professions of faith, which are contradicted by actions, are rejected. '0 Messenger, let not those grieve you who vie with one another in [the cause of] Kufr, from among those who say, "We believe", with their mouths, but their hearts believe not' (al-Ma'idah 5: 41(.

Hence even believers are often called upon 'to believe', that is, to attain true faith. '0 believers, believe in God and His Messenger, and the Book He is sending down upon His Messenger, and the Book He sent down before' (al-Nisa' 4:136).

Or, 'Believe in God and His Messenger, and spend out of that in which we have made you vicegerents .. .' (alI:Iadld 57: 7.(

The link between Iman and actions is clearly manifest in the way both are almost always bracketed together: al-ladhlna amanil wa 'amilu '~-~ali~at (those who believe and do righteous deeds). Or, one only has to read those Ayahs which describe the demands and conditions of true Iman by saying: in kuntum muminin (if you are believers).

The bond between true faith and ritual worship, on the one hand, and a life lived totally in worship, which leads to justice and compassion in society, on the other, is firmly established in many places: 'Have you seen him who denies Judgement.

That, then, is he who pushes away the orphan; and urges not to feed the needy. Woe, then, unto those praying ones who are unmindful of their Prayer, those who want to be seen, and v.ho refuse [even] small kindnesses' (al-Ma'un 107: 1- 5.)

Thus the claim of Iman upon the whole of life, its nature as a bargain, as a total commitment, is fully established. '0 believers, enter wholly into Islam [self-surrender unto God) '(al-Baqarah 2: 208). For 'the only [true] way in the sight of God is Islam' (AI 'Imran 3: 19). Therefore 'whoso desires a way other than surrender unto God, it will never be accepted from him' (AI 'Imran 3: 85).

Jihad, as Sayyid Mawdudi has argued, now becomes integral to Iman.

The Qur'an makes it the criteriol1 by which the truthfulness of Iman is to be judged. 'The believers are 'those only who [truly] believe in God and His Messenger, and then they doubt not; and who struggle hard with their wealth and their lives in the way of God; it is they who are the truthful ones' (al-I:Iujurat 49: 15).

The Akhira as the harvest of what we sow in Dunya is such a recurring and predominant motif in the Qur'an that it hardly needs to be repeated here.

But that, according to the Qur'an, history (Dunya, in a sense) itself is a crop of beliefs and actions, of Iman and taqwa, of ~abr (steadfastness and patience) and istighjar (seeking forgiveness) is not always well understood. 'Had the people of cities believed and been conscious of Us, We would indeed have opened up for them blessings from heaven and earth' (al-A'rar 7: 96). And, 'Ask forgiveness from your Lord, then turn towards Him in repentance; He will loosen the sky over you in abundance, and He will increase you in strength unto your strength' (HOd 11: 52).

Also, 'Had they established the Torah and the Gospel, and what has been sent down to them from their Lord, they would have partaken of all the blessings from above them and from beneath their feet' (al-Ma'idah 5: 66).

Turning to the Hadith we find there the same themes propounded in the same manner.

We have ~n'ly to open any collection of Hadith and read through those which include a phrase like la yuminu (he does not believe); laisa huwa minna (he does not belong to us); la [mana lahu (there is no faith in him); laisa huwa bi mumin (he is not a believer). We will immediately realize how categorically the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, links a wide range of values and actions with Iman.

Just look at some of them.

One among you does not believe unless he loves me more than his father, his children, and all mankind (Bukharl, Muslim.)

One among you does not believe until all his desires follow what I have brought (SharlJ al-Sunnah).

What lies between a man and Kufr is the abandonment of the Prayer (Muslim.)

The covenant between us and them is the Prayer, so if anyone abandons it he becomes a Kafir (A~mad, Tirmidhl.(

One who is not trustworthy has no faith; and one who does not keep his promise has no religion (Baihaqi).

When one fornicates he is not a believer, when one steals he is not a believer, when one drinks he is not a believer, when one takes plunder which makes men look at him he is not a believer, and when one defrauds he is not a believer (Bukhllri, Muslim).

He does not belong to us who does not show mercy to our young ones and respect our old ones (Tirmidhi.)

By Him in whose hand my soul is, one does not believe till he likes for his brother what he likes for himself (Bukhiiri, Muslim).

Reviling a Muslim is disobedience to God, and fighting with him is Kufr (Bukhiiri, Muslim).

I swear he does not believe, I swear he does not believe, I swear he does not believe. [When asked who, he said,] One from whose injurious conduct his neighbour is not safe (Bukhllri, Muslim).

He is not a believer who eats his fill while his neighbour is hungry (Bukhiiri.)

There are three signs of a hypocrite, even if he fasts and claims that he is a Muslim: when he speaks he lies, when he makes a promise he breaks it, and when he is trusted he betrays his trust (Muslim).

Flesh which has grown out of the unlawful earnings will not enter Paradise, for Hell is more fitting for all flesh which has grown out of the unlawful (A~mad).

If anyone knows how to shoot and gives it up he does not belong to us [for he gives up a skill which is essential for Jihad] (Muslim).

Since this book was first pubfished in 1940, it has been meeting very real and great spiritual, intellectual and cultural needs of all those who have had the chance to read it. Since then it has been evoking faith and commitment in many lives.

Its messages, by their acceptance and absorption, by the subsequent development of Muslim thought and society, and by the rising waves of Islamic resurgence, have too now become quite familiar. Some retrospect of time previous to their appearance is therefore necessary to appreciate their original freshness.

The early thirties, when Sayyid Mawdudi spoke these words, were stressful times for the Muslims in India. They were in a cauldron of political and cultural turmoil and uncertainty. The Khilafat movement had collapsed; the brief rule of the Congress ministries had given them a foretaste of what miseries awaited them under Hindu majority in a democratic India. They had no leader, no organization, no purpose.

What Sayyid Mawdudi said then contained the essential substance of the message that he had been writing and communicating at various times since the mid-twenties, which he continued to live for until his death in 1979. This was the message of his first book - AI-Jihad Iii Islam -which appeared in 1926-27. It is a monumental, unparalleled treatise on the Jihad as an ideal, a process and an institution in Islam.

It is also a provoking and convincing discourse on Jihad as the ultimate objective, the very life purpose of the Ummah. The concluding theme of this book echoes the theme of AI-Jihad.

The same message he had been propounding through the pages of his monthly journal, the Tarjumanul Qur'lm, since 1932 Yearning to do something for what he had so long been writing about compelled him to migrate from Hyderabad, in South India, to Darul Islam, in North India. For, he said, 'I have now concluded that the real battleground is going to be Northern India. There the Muslim destiny will be decided and its effects will overtake the whole of India.'

In coming to Darul Islam he accepted Dr. Muhammad Iqbal's (d. 1938) invitation, too, to collaborate with him in undertaking a reconstruction of Islamic thought. But paramount in his mind, as his many letters show, was the burning zeal and sense of urgency to awaken the Muslim Ummah to its real mission and purpose. One must read all of his other epoch-making writings of the time to understand him fully.

So, in the small mosque in Darul Islam, he had before him simple villagers who did not know much of politics, history, theology. The only things they knew were Iman and Islam and the five pillars.

Explaining to them in simple language what he had written earlier was the task that he accomplished in these addresses.

The original freshness of those addresses, despite the passage of time, lingers on; it would not fade away. For the intent and import of God's message is universal. They still leaven, as they leavened then, the hearts of their readers.

Their need remains as great as ever.

The need of a good English translation can hardly be overemphasized.

English is now the language of millions of Muslims. It is also an international language through which any contents can be easily made available to other Muslim languages. The presently available English version, Fundamentals ofIslam, is a commendable effort and I must express my debt of gratitude to it for the immense help it has given me in the preparation of this new translation. However, it does not convey fully the real power and charm of the original Urdu.

Perhaps no translation can, yet the need to improve further and further remains.

Translation is a difficult art, especially if it has to be effected between languages as disparate as Urdu and English.

The task becomes more difficult if one has to translate a subject as unique as Islam into a language whose ethos has no place for it.

The problem is further aggravated because of the masterful rhetoric which characterizes Sayyid Mawdudi's addresses. The tone and temper of English and Urdu are different; but the spoken word in Urdu loses much more of its charm once rendered into English.

There was, therefore, no alternative but to resort to editing. The purpose of editing, however, it must remain clear, has not been to omit, add, modify or explain anything unless absolutely necessary.

There has been only one limited aim: to improve the readability, to accentuate the power, to deliver the message as forcefully and effectively as does the original. This is not therefore a literal translation, but nor is it liberal. It is as• faithful as one could be, while balancing the tension between the conflicting demands of remaining faithful to the original as well as retaining its power and charm. Some minor deletions there are, but only where it was necessary to take out what in English looked cumbersomely repetitive. And some words which would have been totally incomprehensible to an English reader have been either substituted or omitted.

Every temptation to 'modernize' the text, to bring it into conformity with the life and experience of the present-day readers of the English version, has been resisted. For even the most advanced, rational and technological 'man' shares a large and deep world with the most primitive, of which he himself may not be very aware.

Hence the simple logic and examples of this book should strike as deep a chord within him as they do among its ordinary readers.

This is something important we must keep in mind. The minds of farmers or servicemen that Sayyid Mawdudi was addressing were not burdened with complex and subtle concepts like state, society, and sovereignty, nor were they well versed in theological debates.

Hence his language must be understood in the context of his audience, though its larger implications should not be missed.

For example, for his audience the only reality that ruled was the 'government'. They would have had no idea of the complex differences between concepts like sovereignty, state and government, state and society, individual and collectivity, small and big government. Hence we find Sayyid Mawdudi using, without any reservation, the word 'government' to convey m~ny important and complex messages. Similarly, he unhesitatingly uses the vocabulary of a farmer or a serviceman. For example, the Adhan is likened to 'divine bugle'; the Ummah to 'army of God'. Therefore, let there be no effort to read any more than what is intended in the light of the reader's own difficulties with concepts like regimentation, totalitarianism, or spirituality. Many who have tried to read Sayyid Mawdudi in this perspective have been misled to ascribe to him what he never intended and said. To understand him fully one should read all of his writings.

As the book is addressed primarily to Muslims, the original Islamic terminology in Arabic is retained and is used freely and frequently in the English text, without italicization or accents. A word of explanation is here necessary. I personally feel no hesitation in using 'God' for Allah, both to achieve communication with those who do not know'Allah' as well as to 'Islamize' the word God. The only way to do so, in my view, is to use such words interchangeably with their Arabic counterparts, so that both vocabularies may finally come to be used without the reader even noticing the change from one to the other. Like 'Allah' and 'Khuda' are used in Urdu.

The same principle has been followed with respect to other key terms like Iman, Kufr, Kalimah, Mumin, Kafir, Din, Shari'ah, 'Ibadah, Salah, Zakah, Sawm, Hajj. I think they need to be made part of the English language, if English is to become, one day, a Muslim language as well.

They should attain the same status as Islam, Muslim, Jihad. At the same time, words like Prayer, Fasting, Pilgrimage should also begin conveying the Islamic meanings.

A new title has also been given: Let Us Be Muslims.

Nothing less than such a direct summons could have done some justice to the spirit of this book. This title at least expresses its basic purpose. For the purpose of the book is to call Muslims to Islam, to be Muslims as God desires them to be. New chapter headings have also been given. Each, too, I feel, reflects the spirit and content better.

This new English version, I hope, now reads much better. I must take this opportunity to thank Mr. Paul Moorman whose editorial help has been invaluable in preparing this edited translation.

After all the labour I am still not satisfied that the English does full justice to the original. Being unequal to the task, I must confess my inadequacy. But, if it can give the readers some sense of the life and power that fill Sayyid Mawdudi's original words, if it can too, in some degree, touch some lives, by the leave of God, then my labour will be more than rewarded. Despite all my failings, I hope and trust that Allah will, by His mercy, make many hearts awaken through it.

May He also make it a source of forgiveness and mercy for me in the present life and the life to come, and for all those who contributed something in making me a little better than what my fraility would have allowed, chief among them being Sayyid Mawdudi himself.

Leicester
29 Ramadan, 1405
18 June, 1985
Khurram Murad

References
1 Let Us Be Muslims, p. 70
2 Ibid, p. 48
3 Ibid, p. 86
4 Ibid, p. 89
5 Ibid, p. 86
6 Ibid, p. 53
7 Ibid, p. 50
8 Ibid, p. 55
9 Ibid, p. 63
10 Ibid, p. 56
11 Ibid, pp. 57-8
12 Ibid, pp. 59-60
13 Ibid, pp. 175-8
14 Ibid, p. 49
15 Ibid, p. 50
16 Ibid, p. 50
17 Ibid, p. 71
18 Ibid, p. 75
19 Ibid, p. 66
20 Ibid, p. 65
21 Ibid, p. 66
22 Ibid, pp. 99-100
23 Ibid, p. 99
24 Ibid, p. 94
25 Ibid, p. 58
26 Ibid, p. 118
27 Ibid, p. 130-1
28 Ibid, pp. 82-3
29 Ibid, p. 201
30 Ibid, p. 110
31 Ibid, p. 164
32 Ibid, p. 138
33 Ibid, p. 293
34 Ibid, p. 300
35 Ibid, p. 290
36 Ibid, p. 297
37 Ibid, p. 296
38 Ibid, p. 299
39 Ibid, p. 288
40 Ibid, p. 56
41 Ibid, p. 64
42 Ibid, p. 56
43 Ibid, p. 64

Preface to the First Edition
When, in 1357 A.H. came to the Punjab to live in Daml Islam (near Pathankot, East Punjab), I started to organize the Friday Prayers and explain Islam to the nearby villagers. This collection comprises the congregational addresses which I then prepared. My addressees were farmers; they too from the Punjab, whose mother tongue was not Urdu. I therefore had to adopt a language and expression which could be easily understood by the common man.

Thus has come into being this collection which, insha 'allah, should be useful for teaching Islam to the masses.

The fundamental beliefs of Islam I have already explained in some detail in my Towards Understanding Islam.

* The Shari'ah, too, I have briefly dealt with there. This collection now explains, with sufficient detail, two other themes: one, the meaning and spirit of Islam; the other, worship. I hope that those who will read these addresses together with Towards Understanding Islam will find, with the grace of Allah, sufficient illumination for their journey on the path of Islam.

When read as a Friday address (Khu{ubah) , each should be prefaced with the opening words that have come down to us from the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him. For the
*Islamic Foundation, Leicester, 1978.
second part any Khu(ubah may be used, but it must be in Arabic.
Lahore
15 Ramadan, [13]59 A.H.
November, 1940
Abul A'ia

PART 1
Iman
Knowledge, the First Step
Allah's Greatest Gift
Brothers in Islam! We all as Muslims sincerely believe that Islam is the greatest blessing that Allah has given us in this world. We find our hearts filled with gratitude to Him for including us in the Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, and bestowing upon us this unique blessing.

Allah Himself describes Islam as His most invaluable gift to His servants: 'Today I have perfected your Din [way of life] for you, and I have completed My blessing upon you, and I have willed that Islam be the Way for you' (al-Ma'idah 5: 3).

To be truly grateful for this greatest favour, you must therefore render to Allah His due. If you do not do so, you are undoubtedly an ungrateful person. And what ingratitude can be worse than to forget what you owe to your God.

How can we, you may ask, render these dues? Since Allah has been gracious enough to include you in the Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, the best way of showing gratitude - and there is no other way - is to become totally committed followers of the Prophet. And, since He has made you a part of the Muslim Ummah, to become true Muslims. If you do not, the punishment for your ingratitude will be as great as the original gift was. May Allah save us all from this great punishment! Amin.

You will now ask:

How can we become Muslims in the true sense of the word?
This question I shall answer in considerable detail in my forthcoming addresses; but today I want to look at a point of fundamental importance, without which we cannot hope to discover true faith. This, you must understand, is the first essential step on your road to becoming a true Muslim.

Is Islam a Birthright?
But, first, think for a while: What does the word 'Muslim', which we all use so often, really mean? Can a person be a Muslim by virtue of his birth? Is a person a Muslim simply because he is the son or grandson of a Muslim? Is a Muslim born a Muslim just as a Hindu Brahman's son is born a Brahman, or an Englishman's son is born an Englishman, or a white man's son is born a white man, or a negro's son is born a negro? Are 'Muslims' a race, a nationality or a caste?

Do Muslims belong to the Muslim Ummah like Aryans belong to the Aryan race? And, just as a Japanese is a Japanese because he is born in Japan, is a Muslim similarly a Muslim by being born in a Muslim country?

Your answer to these questions will surely be:
No. A Muslim does not become truly a Muslim simply because he is born a Muslim. A Muslim is not a Muslim because he belongs to any particular race; he is a Muslim because he follows Islam. If he renounces Islam, he ceases to be a Muslim. Any person, whether a Brahman or a Rajput, an Englishman or a Japanese, a white or a black, will, on accepting Islam, become a full member of the Muslim community; while a person born in a Muslim home may be expelled from the Muslim community if he gives up following Islam, even
though he may be a descendant of the Prophet, an Arab or a Pathan.

Such will surely be your answer to my question. This establishes that the greatest gift of Allah which you enjoy -that of being a Muslim - is not something automatically inherited from your parents, which remains yours for life by right irrespective of your attitudes and behaviour. It is a gift which you must continually strive to deserve if you want to retain it; if you are indifferent to it, it may be taken away from you, God forbid.

No Mere Verbal Profession
You agree that we become Muslims only by accepting Islam. But what does acceptance of Islam mean? Does it mean that whoever makes a verbal profession - 'I am a Muslim' or 'I have accepted Islam' becomes a true Muslim? Or does it mean that, just as a Brahman worshipper may recite a few words of Sanskrit without understanding them, a man who utters some Arabic phrases without knowing their meaning becomes a Muslim? What reply will you give to this question? You cannot but answer that accepting Islam means that Muslims should consciously and deliberately accept what has been taught by the Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, and act accordingly. People who do not so behave are not Muslims in the true sense.

No Islam Without Knowledge
Islam, therefore, consists, firstly, of knowledge and, secondly, of putting that knowledge into practice. A man can be white and have no knowledge; because he is born white he will remain so.

 Similarly, an Englishman will remain an Englishman though he may have no knowledge, because he has been born an Englishman. But no man becomes truly a Muslim without knowing the meaning of Islam, because he becomes a Muslim not through birth but through knowledge.

Unless you come to know the basic and necessary teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, how can you believe in him, have faith in him, and how can you act according to what he taught? And if you do not have faith in him, knowingly and consciously, as fully as you can, how can you become true Muslims?

Clearly it is impossible to become a Muslim and remain a Muslim in a state of ignorance. Being born in Muslim homes, bearing Muslim names, dressing like Muslims and calling yourselves Muslims is not enough to make you Muslims; true Muslims know what Islam stands for and believe in it with full consciousness.

The real diffeFence between a Kafir (who does not accept God's guidance and is ungrateful to Him) and a Muslim is not that of a name, that one is called Smith or Ram La] and the other Abdullah.

No one is a Kafir or a Muslim simply because 'of his name. Nor does the real difference lie in the fact that one wears a necktie and the other a turban. The real difference is that of knowledge. A Kafir does not understand God's relationship to him and his relationship to God. As he does not know the will of God he cannot know the right path to follow in his life. If a Muslim, too, grows up ignorant of God's will, what ground can there be to continue calling him a Muslim rather than a Kafir?

Dangers of Ignorance
Listen carefully, brothers, to the point I am making. It is essential to understand that to remain in possession of, or to be deprived of, the greatest gift of Allah - for which you are so overwhelmed with gratitude - depends primarily on knowledge. Without knowledge, you cannot truly receive His gift of Islam. If your knowledge is so little that you receive only a small portion of it, then you will constantly run the risk of losing even that part of the magnificent gift which you have received unless you remain vigilant in your fight against ignorance.

A person who is totally unaware of the difference between Islam and Kufr (rejection of God's guidance and ingratitude )and the incongruity between Islam and Shirk (taking gods besides God) is like someone walking along a track in complete darkness. Most likely his steps will wander aside or on to another path without him being aware of what is happening.

Maybe he will be deceived by the sweet words of the Devil, 'You have lost your way in the darkness. Come, let me lead you to your destination.' The poor traveller, not being able to see with his own eyes which is the right path, will grasp the Devil's hand and be led astray. He faces these dangers because he himself does not possess any light and is therefore unable to observe the road signs. If he had light, he would neither lose his way nor be led astray.

This example shows that your greatest danger lies in your ignorance of Islamic teachings and in your unawareness of what the Qur'an teaches and what guidance has been given by the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him. But if you are blessed with the light of knowledge yqu will be able to see plainly the clear path of Islam at every step of your lives. You will also be able to identify and avoid the false paths of Kufr, Shirk and immorality which may cross it. And, whenever a false guide meets you on the way, a few words with him will quickly establish that he is not a guide who should be followed.

Acquire Knowledge
Brothers! On this knowledge, whose absolute necessity I stress once again, depends whether you and your children are true Muslims and remain true Muslims. It is therefore hardly a trivial matter to be neglected. You do not neglect cultivating your land, irrigating and protecting your crops, supplying fodder to your cattle or doing whatever else is essential to the well-being of your trades and professions. Because you know that if you do you will starve to death and so lose the precious gift of life.

Why then should you be negligent in acquiring that knowledge on which depends whether you become Muslims and remain Muslims?

Does such negligence not entail the danger of losing an even more precious gift – your Iman) faith)? Is not Iman more precious than life itself? Most of your time and labour is spent on things which sustain your physical existence in this life. Why can you not spend even a tenth part of your time and energy on things which are necessary to protect your Iman, which only can sustain your being in the present life and in the life to come?

I am not asking you to become scholars, read voluminous books or spend a large part of your lives in the pursuit of knowledge. It is not necessary to study so extensively to become a Muslim. I only want each one of you to spend about one hour of the twenty-four hours of the day and night in acquiring the knowledge of his Din, the way of life, the Islam.

Everyone of you, young or old, man or woman, should at least acquire sufficient knowledge to enable him to understand the essence of the teachings of the Qur'an and the purpose for which it has been sent down. You should also be able to understand clearly the mission which the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, came into this world to fulfil. You should also recognize the corrupt order and system which he came to destroy. You should acquaint yourselves, too, with the way of life which Allah has ordained for Muslims.

No great amount of time is required to acquire this simple knowledge. If you value lman, it cannot be too difficult to find one hour every day to devote to this.

Between Islam and Kufr
Muslims or Kafirs?
Brothers in Islam! Every Muslim believes, as you too must surely believe, that Muslims are different from Kafirs; that God likes Muslims and dislikes Kafirs; that Muslims will find God's forgiveness, while Kafirs will not; that Muslims will go to Heaven (Jannah) and Kafirs to Hell (Jahannum). I want you to consider why there should be so much difference between Muslims and Kafirs.

Kafirs are as much offspring of Adam and Eve as you.

They are human beings like yourselves. They possess hands, feet, eyes and ears. They breathe the same air as you, drink the same water and inhabit the same land. The God who created you also created them. So why should they be ranked lower and you higher? Why should you go to Heaven and why should they be cast into Hell?

Consider carefully. Such a vital difference between man and man cannot be simply due to the fact that you have names like Abdullah and Abdur Rahman and they have names like Kartar Singh, Smith and Robertson, or that you are circumcised and they are not, or that you eat meat and they avoid it, or that they eat pork and you do not.

Allah, who has created all human beings and who is the Sustainer of all, cannot be so unjust as to decide on such petty grounds which of His creatures to send to Heaven and which to Hell.

Where, then, does the real difference lie between Muslims and Kafirs? The answer is that it lies, simply, in the very nature of Islam and Kufr. The meaning of Islam is submission to God while the meaning of Kufr is denial and disobedience of God.

Muslims and Kafirs are both human beings; both are slaves of God. But one becomes exalted and meritorious by reason of recognizing his Master, obeying His orders and fearing the consequences of disobeying Him; while the other disgraces himself by failing to recognize his Master and carry out His orders. This is why Allah is pleased with Muslims and displeased with unbelievers. That is why He promises true Muslims that they will be rewarded with Heaven and warns unbelievers that they will be cast into Hell.

Knowledge and Actions
The two things which separate Muslims and Kafirs are, therefore, knowledge and actions. That is, you must first know who your Master is, what His orders are, how to follow His wishes, which deeds please Him and which displease Him. When these things are known, the second step is to make yourselves true slaves of your Master by giving up your own wishes in deference to what He desires.

If your heart desires to do (I certain act and your Master's order is against it, you should carry out that order. If something seems good to you but your Master says that it is bad, you must accept it as bad. And if something else seems bad but your Master says it is good, then you must accept it as good. If you think a certain action will be harmful but your Master says that it must be done, then done it must indeed be, even though it may entail you in loss of life or property. Similarly, if you expect to benefit from a certain action but your Master forbids it, you must refrain from it even though it might have brought all the worldly treasures.


This is the knowledge and actions by which Muslims become true servants of Allah, on whom He bestows His mercy and whom He rewards with honour and dignity. Conversely, Kafirs, since they do not possess this knowledge, are Allah's disobedient slaves and are denied His blessings.

Now, in all fairness, tell me: If you call yourselves Muslims but in fact are as ignorant and disobedient as a Kafir, can you in reality be superior to the latter merely on the strength of bearing different names, wearing different clothes and eating different foods? Can you on this basis be entitled to the blessings of God in this world and in the Hereafter? Islam is not a race or family in which membership is automatically passed on from father to son. A high caste priest's son will not command respect in the eyes of God, if he does wrong deeds, just because he is born into a priestly home; nor will He look down on the son of a low caste family, disregarding his good deeds, simply because of his birth.

On this point God has explicitly stated in His Book: 'Indeed the noblest among you in the sight of God is the most Godfearing of you' (al-I;Iujurat 49: 13). That is, the more you know God and the more you obey His commandments, the more honourable you are in His sight. Ibrahim was born into the home of an idolator, but he came to know God and obeyed Him. That is why God made him Imam (leader) of the whole world. The son of Niil;t was born into a prophet's home but he did not understand God and disobeyed Him.

Despite his high family connection, God so punished him that the punishment became an object lesson for the world.

Understand, therefore, thoroughly that whatever differences there are in the sight of Allah between man and man depend entirely on the state of their knowledge and actions.

Both in this world and the Hereafter, God's blessing is reserved for those who recognize Him, accept the right path shown by Him, and carry out His commandments. Those who do not do these things, whether their names are Abdullah and Abdur Rahman or Kartar Singh, Smith or Robertson,are identical in the sight of God. They are unworthy of His blessings.

Why Are Muslims Humiliated Today?
Brothers! You call yourselves Muslims and you believe that Allah showers His blessings on Muslims. But open your eyes and see if those blessings are in fact descending on you? You cannot know what will happen to you in the Hereafter until after your physical death, but you can most certainly look around you and see your condition here on earth.

There are so many hundreds of millions of you in the world that if each of you were to throw a single pebble they would make a mountain. But even though there are so many Muslims and Muslim governments, the world is in the hands of those who have rebelled against God. Your necks are in their grip, to be turned to whichever side they like; your heads, which should not bow before anybody except Allah, are now bowed before human beings. Your honour, which no one dared t6 touch, is now being trampled upon. Your hands, which were once always held high, are now lowered and stretched out before your enemies. Ignorance, dependence, poverty and indebtedness have subjected you to ignominy everywhere.

Is this the blessing of Allah? If it is not but rather a sign of anger - then how strange it is that it is Muslims on whom it is descendingl You are Muslims and yet are wallowing in ignominy! You are Muslims and yet are slavesl This situation is impossible as it is for an object to be white and black. If Muslims are the loved ones of God, how can they be treated disgracefully? Is your God (God forbid) so unjust that -while you, for your part, acknowledge His due and obey His orders - He allows the disobedient to rule over you, and punishes you for your obedience to Him?

If it is an article of faith with you that God is not unjust and obedience to God can never result in disgrace, then you will have to concede that there is something wrong in your claim to be Muslims.

Although you may be registered as Muslims on your birth certificates, Allah does not base His judgements on what is written on pieces of paper. God prepares his own list of obedient and disobedient servants, and it is in this list that you must search to find your true position.

Allah sent you His Book so that you may know Him and learn how to obey Him. Have you ever tried to discover what is written in it?

Allah sent His Prophet to teach you how to become Muslims. Have you ever tried to find out what His Prophet has taught? Allah explicitly informed you which behaviour debases man in this world and the Hereafter. Do you avoid such behaviour? What answers do you have to these questions? If you admit that you have neither sought knowledg~ from God's Book and His Prophet's life nor followed the way shown by him, then how can you claim to be Muslims and to merit His reward? The rewards you are getting now are in direct relation to how good Muslims you are; and your rewards in the Hereafter will be calculated on the same basis.

We have already seen that the only difference between Muslims and Kafirs is in the matter of knowledge and actions.

Men who call themselves Muslims but whose knowledge and actions are the same as those of Kafirs are guilty of blatant hypocrisy. Kafirs do not read the Qur'an and do not know what is written in it. Ifso-called Muslims are equally ignorant, why should they be called Muslims? Kafirs do not know the teachings of the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, and the straight path he has shown to reach God. If Muslims are equally ignorant of these, how can they be Muslims? Kafirs follow their own desires instead of the commands of Allah. If Muslims are similarly wilful and undisciplined, setting their own ideas and opinions on a pedestal, indifferent to God and a slave to lust, what right have they to call themselves Muslims? Kafirs do not distinguish between Halal (what is permitted by Allah (and Haram (what is prohibited by Allah) and make indiscriminate use of everything and anything, irrespective of whether it is Halal or Haram. If Muslims behave the same as non-Muslims, what difference is there between them and Kafirs?

Put simply: If Muslims are as devoid of knowledge about Islam as Kafirs, and if a Muslim does all those things which a Kafir does, why should he be considered superior to a Kafir and why should his fate not be the same as that of a Kafir?

This is a question on which we must all reflect very seriously.

My dear brothers! Do not for a moment think that I am trying to brand Muslims as Kafirs. This is not my purpose at all. I ask myself, and implore each one of you similarly to ask is own heart, as to why we are being denied the blessing of God. Why are tribulations of all sorts descending upon us from all sides? Why are we disunited and shedding each other's blood? Why are those whom we call Kafirs (that is, the disobedient slaves of God) everywhere dominating us?

And why are we, who claim to be His obedient slaves, living in servitude in so many parts of the world?

The more I have reflected on the reason for this situation, the more I have become convinced that almost the only difference now left between us and Kafirs is that of mere name; for we in no way lag behind them in neglect of God, in being devoid of fear of Him and in being disobedient to Him.

I say 'almost' because there is, of course, a difference between us: we know that the Qur'an is the Book of God, while Kafirs do not, yet we treat it as a Kafir treats it. And this makes us all the more deserving of punishment. We know that Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, is the Prophet of Allah and yet we are as unwilling as a Kafir to follow him.

We know that God has cursed liars, has positivelydeclared Hell as the abode of all who give and take bribes, has denounced those who borrow and lend at interest as the worst of sinners, has condemned slander as being as bad as eating a brother's flesh, and has warned that obscene behaviour, pornography and debauchery will meet with the severest punishment. Yet despite knowing all this we freely indulge in all these vices as if we had absolutely no fear of God's displeasure.

This is why we are not rewarded: we are Muslims in appearance only. The fact that those who do not accept God's sovereignty rule over us and subject us to ignominy on every possible occasion shows that we are being punished for ignoring Islam - God's greatest gift to us.

Dear brothers! Nothing ay is intended as blame. I have not come to censure. My aim is to kindle the desire in you to recover the treasure that has been lost. Such a desire arises when a man realizes exactly what he has lost and how valuable it was. I have spoken sharp and pungent words only to awaken you and compel you to think.

Desire For Knowledge
To become a real Muslim, as I said, the foremost requisite is knowledge of Islam. Every Muslim ought to know the teaching of the Qur'an, which ways were shown by the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, what Islam is, and what those things are which really differentiate Islam from Kufr. Nobody can be a Muslim without this knowledge. The pity is that you show no desire to acquire this knowledge.

This indicates that still you do not realize what a great gift you are being deprived of.

My brothers! A mother does not give milk to her child until he cries and demands it. When a man feels thirsty and he searches for water, God brings him to it. If you yourselves are not conscious of your thirst it will be useless if even a well brimming with water appears before you. You must first understand what a great loss you are suffering by remaining ignorant of Islam. The Book of God is with you but you do not know what is written in it. You do not even know the meaning of the Kalimah (Lii iliiha ilia 'lliih Muhammadu 'r-rasillu 'lliih (There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is Allah's Messenger», by reciting which you enter Islam; nor do you appreciate what responsibilities devolve on you after reciting this Kalimah. Can there be a greater loss than this for a Muslim?

You know the damage caused if crops are burnt; you know the suffering which results from failure to earn a livelihood; you know the harm resulting from loss of property. But you do not know the loss of being ignorant of Islam. When you understand the nature of this loss, you will yourselves come and ask to be spared it. And when you make this request then, insha 'allah, means will be available to restore this greatest of gifts to you.

How Muslims Treat the Qur'an
Brothers in Islam! Muslims are the only people in the world oday fortunate enough to possess the word of God preserved in its original form, free from all distortions, and precisely in the wording in which it was sent down upon the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him. Paradoxically, these same Muslims suffer the misfortune of being denied the countless blessings and benefits which the word of God must give to those who believe in it. The Qur'an was sent to them for them to read it, understand it, act upon it, and, with its help, establish on God's earth the rule of His law. The Qur'an came to grant them dignity and power. It came to make them true vicegerents of God on earth. And history shows that whenever they acted according to its guidance, it did make them the leaders of the world.

Irreverence and Misuse
But now the Qur'an's usefulness, for many Muslims, consists only in keeping it in their houses to drive away jinns and ghosts, in writing its verses on amulets to hang round their necks or washing those amulets with water and then drinking it, or in reading its contents without comprehending their meaning in the hope of receiving some reward. No longer do they seek guidance from it for their lives. No longer do they ask it to tell them what should be their beliefs, morals and actions, nor how they should conduct transactions, what principles they should observe while dealing with enemies and friends, what the rights are of their fellow beings and of their own selves. Nor do they turn to it to find what is true and what is false, whom they should obey and whom disobey, who their friends are and who their enemies, where honour, well-being and benefit are to be found and where disgrace, failure and loss.

We Muslims have given up looking for answers to these important questions in the Qur'an. Instead, we now ask Kafirs, idolators, misguided, selfish people, even our own ego and desires and follow what they advise. What invariably happens to those who ignore Allah and follow the precepts of others has happened to us too. We are reaping only what we have sown everywhere in the world in Palestine, the Middle East, Pakistan, Indonesia and many other places.

The Qur'an is the source of every good: it will give whatever and as much as you ask from it. If you seek from it such trivial, frivolous and spurious things as how to scare away jinns and ghosts, how to cure coughs and fevers, how to succeed in litigation and find a job - then you may get them, but only them. If you seek supremacy on earth and the power to rule the world you may get that too. And if you wish to reach near God's Throne ('Arsh), the Qur'an will take you there. If you receive only a few drops from the ocean, do not blame the Qur'an, blame yourselves. For the whole ocean is there waiting for him who knows how to take it.

Incomprehensible Contradictions
The cruel jokes, brothers, which we Muslims play with the Holy Book of Allah are so inane that if we saw someone else doing such things in any other sphere of life, we would mock them and even brand them as lunatics.

Tell me, what would you say if somebody got a doctor's prescription and hung it round his neck after wrapping it in a piece of cloth or washed it in water and drank it? Would you not laugh at him and call him a fool? Yet this is the very treatment being given before your eyes to the matchless prescription written by the greatest of all doctors to provide a cure for all your ailments - and nobody laughs! No one even reflects that a prescription is not meant to be hung round the neck nor are its words to be washed in water and drunk.

Tell me, what would you think if someone who was ill picked up a book on medicine and began to read it, believing, thinking that this would cure him? Would you not say that he was deranged? Yet this is how we treat the Book which the supreme Healer has sent for the cure of our diseases. We think that just by flicking through all its pages, our diseases will disappear without our following the directions given in them or abstaining from the things which they pronounce harmful. Are we not in the same situation as the man who considers that reading a book on medicine will cure his illness?

If you receive a business letter in a language you do not know, you go to a man who knows the language to find out what it says. You remain anxious and restless until you have found out what the letter says, even though it will bring only some paltry worldly profit.

But the letter sent to you by the Lord of the worlds which can bring you all the benefits of this-world and the Eternal Life is carelessly set aside. You do not show any uneasiness at not understanding its contents. Is this not astonishing?

I am not trying to make you laugh. Reflect for a while on these facts and your hearts will tell you that the greatest possible injustice is being done to the Book of Allah.

Ironically, the culprits are the very people who proclaim their faith in it and proclaim their readiness to sacrifice their lives for it. No doubt they do have faith in it and love it more than their lives, but the pity is that it is they, more than anyone else, who treat it outrageously.

And the consequences of such treatment are quite plain to see.

The Consequences
Understand fully that Allah's word does not come to bring misery, disgrace and suffering to man. 'We have not sent down the Qur'an upon you that you be wretched' (Ta Ha 20:1-2) On the contrary, the Qur'an is the source of happiness and success. It is impossible for a people to possess God's word and yet suffer disgrace and ignominy, live under subjugation, be trampled on and kicked around, and carry the yoke of slavery on their necks, being led by the nose like animals. A people meet this fate only when they do injustice to the word of God.

Look at the fate of the Israelites. They were given the Tawrah and the Injll, and were told:
Had they established the Torah and the Gospel and what was sent down to them by their Lord, they would surely have partaken of all the blessings from above them [heaven] and beneath their feet [earth] (al-Ma'idah 5:66).

But they adopted a wrong attitude towards these Books of Allah, and reaped the consequences:
An ignominy and helplessness were laid upon them, and they were laden with the burden of God's anger. That, because they used to disbelieve God's messages and slay the Prophets against all right; that, because they disobeyed and were transgressors (al-Baqarah 2: 61).

If people possess Allah's Book and still live in disgrace and subjugation, they are surely being punished for doing injustice to Allah's word. The only way to save yourselves from Allah's anger is to turn back from this grave sin and start trying to render His Book its due. Until you do, your condition will never change - even if you open colleges in each and every village, all your children graduate from universities, and you amass millions through unscrupulous means.

No Islam Without Submitting to the Qur'lm
Brothers! Two most important things every Muslim must know to do justice to the Book of God: who is truly a Muslim and what the word 'Muslim' means.

Human beings who do not know what humanity is and what the difference is between man and animal will inevitably indulge in behaviour unworthy of the human race and attach no value to being human. Similarly, people who do not know the true meaning of being Muslims and how a Muslim is different from a non-Muslim will behave like non-Muslims and will not be worthy of being Muslims.

Every Muslim, adult or child, should therefore know what it means to be a Muslim, what difference being a Muslim must make to his life, what responsibilities devolve on him, and what limits are set by Islam within which a man remains a Muslim and by transgressing which he ceases to be a Muslim.

Islam means submission and obedience to God. To entrust yourselves completely to God is Islam. To relinquish all claims to absolute freedom and independence and to follow God's will is Islam. To surrender yourselves before the sovereignty of God is Islam. If you bring all the affairs of your lives under God you are Muslims and if you keep any of the affairs in your own hands or entrust them to someone other than God you are not Muslims.

To bring your affairs under God means to accept unreservedly the guidance sent by God through His Book and His Messengers. It therefore becomes necessary to follow only the Qur'an and the Prophet's Sunnah. Muslims follow no authority other than that of God, whether it be their reason or customs. In every matter they seek guidance from God's Book and His Messenger to find what they should do and what they should not do. They accept without hesitation whatever guidance they get from there and reject whatever they find opposed to it.

Such total surrender to God is what makes one a Muslim.

By contrast, people are certainly not Muslims who, instead of following the Qur'an and the Sunnah, obey the dictates of their own reason and desires, follow the practices of their forefathers, accept what is happening in society, and never bother to ascertain from the Qur'an and Sunnah how to run their affairs, or refuse to accept the teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah by saying: 'They do not appeal to my reason', or 'They are against the ways of my forefathers' or 'The world is moving in an oPP9site direction'. Such people are liars if they call themselves Muslims.

The moment you recite the Kalimah: 'La ilaha ilia 'llah Muhammadu 'r-rasillu 'l/ah " you accept that the only law you recognize is the law of God, only God is your sovereign, only God is your ruler, only God you will obey, and only the things given in God's Book and by His Messengers are true and right. It means that as soon as you become Muslims you must renounce your authority in favour of God's authority.

Consequently, you have no right to say, 'My opinion is this, the prevalent custom is this, the family tradition is this, that scholar and that holy person say this.' In the face of Allah's word and His Messenger's Sunnah, you cannot argue in this manner. You should judge everything in the light of the Qur'an and Sunnah; accept what is in conformity with them and reject what runs counter to them, irrespective of the people who may be behind them. It is a contradiction in terms to call yourselves Muslims on the one hand, and, on the other, follow your own opinions or the customs of society or some person's words or actions as against the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Just as a blind person cannot claim to have eyes, nor a deaf person to have ears, so a person who refuses to subordinate the affairs of his life to the dictates of the Qur'an and the Sunnah cannot call himself a Muslim.

No one who does not want to be a Muslim can be compelled to be one against his will. You are free to adopt any religion you like and call yourselves by any names you like. But, once having called yourselves Muslims, you must fully understand that you can remain Muslims only as long as you stay within the bounds of Islam. These bounds are: to accept the word of God and His Messenger's Sunnah as the ultimate criteria of truth and justice and to consider everything opposed to them as wrong. If you remain within these bounds you are Muslims, but if yOll overstep them you cease to be part of Islam. To continue, in such circumstances, to consider yourselves and call yourselves Muslims is tantamount to both self-deception and deception of others. 'Whoso judges not according to what God has sent down, they are the unbelievers' (al-Ma'idah 5: 44).

True Meaning of Iman
Difference the Kalimah Creates
Brothers in Islam! You become Muslims by reciting a few words called the Kalimah:

La i1aha illa 'Ilah Muhammadu 'r-rasulu 'llah

There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

On pronouncing these words a man is supposed to have radically changed. He was a Kafir, now he is a Muslim; he was impure, now he is pure. He deserved Allah's displeasure; now he deserves to be loved by Him. He was going into Hell; now the gates of Heaven are open for him.

On a more concrete level, in social life, this Kalimah becomes the basis for differentiating one man from another.

Those who recite it constitute one nation, while those who reject it form another. If a father recites it but his son refuses to, the father is no longer the same father, nor the son the same son. The son will not inherit anything from the father, his mother and sisters may even observe purdah from him.

On the other hand, if a total stranger recites the Kalimah and marries into a Muslim family, he and his children become eligible for inheritance.

The power of the Kalimah is thus so strong that it takes precedence even over blood ties; it can join strangers together into a nation; it can cut members of the same family off from each other.

Is Mere Utterance Enough?
Why should the Kalimah make such a big difference between man and man? What is so special about it? After all, it contains only a few letters like 'L', 'A', 'I', 'M', 'R' and'S'.

Joined together and pronounced, do they somehow have the power to work magic so as to radically change a man? Can merely saying a few words create such an enormous difference?

Brothers! A little reasoning will immediately tell you that merely opening your mouths and uttering a few syllables can never have such an impact. Idol-worshippers no doubt believe that by reciting some formula of holy words mountains can be moved, the earth can be split and fountains can gush out of it, even though they do not know its meaning.

This is because they ascribe supernatural powers to letters, and believe that only uttering them is necessary to make their powers work.

This is not so in Islam. The effectiveness of words lies in their meaning. If they do not penetrate deep into your hearts and have an impact powerful enough to effect a change in your thoughts, in your morals, and in your actions, then their utterance is meaningless and ineffectual.

A simple example will illustrate this point. Suppose you are shivering in cold weather and you start shouting, 'cotton, quilt! cotton, quilt!' The effect of cold will not be any less even if you repeat these words all night a million times on beads or a rosary.

But if you prepare a qUilt stuffed with cotton and cover your body with it, the cold will stop. Or suppose you feel thirsty and shout the whole day, 'water, water'; your thirst will not be quenched. What you need to do is to get some water and take a mouthful. Or again, suppose you are  suffering from cold and fever and you decide the best remedy is to chant the name of medicines used to cure these illnesses.

You will not get better; but if you actually take these medicines, cold and fever will disappear, insha'allah.

This is exactly the position of the Kalimah. Mere utterance of six or seven words cannot conceivably transform a Kafir into a Muslim, or an impure person into a pure one, or a damned person into a favoured one, nor can it send a man to Paradise instead of Hell. This transformation is possible only after you have understood the meaning of these words and made it penetrate your hearts and change your lives.

So, when you recite these words, you should be conscious what an important commitment you are making to your God, with the whole world as your witness, and what a great responsibility you are taking on as a result of your commitment.

Once you have made the affirmation consciously, the Kalimah must inform all your thoughts and reign supreme in your whole lives: no idea contrary to it should form part of your mental furniture.

Whatever runs counter to the Kalimah you must always consider false and the Kalimah alone true.

After affirming this Kalimah you are not at liberty, as are the unbelievers, to do as you like. You have to follow what it prescribes and renounce what it forbids.

If you recite the Kalimah in this manner, only then can you become true Muslims, only then is created that overwhelming difference between man and man that we have just been discussing.

Meaning of the Kalimah
What, let me tell now, is the meaning of the Kalimah.
What do you in fact pledge through it?

The literal meaning of the Kalimah is simple: there is no God but Allah; and Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, is the Messenger of Allah.

Covenant With Allah
The word 'ilah' found in the Kalimah means God. Only that being can be our God who is the Master, Creator, Nourisher and Sustainer, who listens to our prayers and grants them, and who alone is worthy of our worship and obedience.

Saying La ilaha ilia 'llah means two things. First, you have acknowledged that the world has neither come into being without a God nor has many gods. God is there; He alone is God, and there is no other being except Him which possesses divinity. Second, you have accepted that this same God is your Lord and Master as well as of the whole universe. You yourselves, and each and every thing that you have or is found in the world, belong to Him alone. He is the Creator and the Provider. Life and death are under His command. Both trouble and comfort come from Him. Whatever one receives is really given by Him; whatever is taken away is taken away by His command. He alone should be feared. From Him alone should we ask any and everything. Before Him alone should we bow our heads. He alone is worthy of worship and service.

We are slaves or servants of nobody save Him, nor is anyone else our Master or Sovereign. Our duty is to obey Him and abide by His laws - and His alone.

This is the covenant which you make with Allah as soon as you recite La ilaha ilia 'Ilah, and while so doing you make the whole world your witness.

If you violate this covenant, your hands and feet, the tiniest hair on your bodies and every particle on earth and in the heavens, all that witnessed you breaking your pledge, will testify against you in God's court. You will find yourselves in such a hopeless position that not a single witness will be found to aid you. No barrister or trial lawyer will be there to plead your case. In fact, barristers and trial lawyers who in the courts of this world are themselves all too often guilty of bending the law to their own ends, will themselves be standing there, like you, in the same hopeless position.

That court will not acquit you on the basis of forceful pleading, false witnesses, or forged documents. You can hide your crimes from the police in this world, but not from God's police. The police here may be bribed, but not there. A witness in this world can give false evidence, but not Allah's witness. The judges of this world can do injustices, but God can never be unjust. And there is no escape from the jail to which Allah sends the guilty.

It is a great folly - the greatest of all follies - to enter into a false covenant with Allah. Before making the covenant, think it through thoroughly and then scrupulously adhere to it. You are under no compulsion to give a mere verbal pledge; but empty words shall not profit you.

Accepting the Prophet's Leadership
After La i1aha ilia 'lIah, you recite Muhammadu 'r-rasillu 'Ilah (Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah). This means that you accept Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, as the man through whom Allah has sent you His guidance. If we acknowledge Allah as Master and Sovereign, it is essential to know what His will is.

What deeds should we perform that would please Him and what deeds should we refrain from that would displease Him? What laws should we follow to receive His forgiveness and avoid His punishment? To explain all this to us, God appointed Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, as His Messenger; for this very purpose through him He sent His Book.

The Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, having lived according to God's guidance, showed us the way we should lead our lives. So, when you say Muhammadu 'r-rasillu 'lIah, you pledge to follow the way and law given by him and to reject anything which runs counter to it. If, after making this pledge, you abandon the code of life brought by the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, and follow different and conflicting laws, however widely they may be accepted, there can hardly be any worse liars and more dishonest people than you.

For you enter Islam only by solemnly affirming that you accept the code of life brought by him as the only true law and that you will faithfully follow it. It is on the basis of this affirmation that you become brothers unto Muslims, become eligible for inheritance from your Muslim fathers; on the same basis you were married to Muslim women, your children became legitimate and you secured the right to ask Muslims to help you, to give you alms and to be responsible for the protection of your lives, property, honour and dignity.

Nothing can be more dishonest if, in spite of all this, you break your pledge.

If you make the pledge of La ilaha ilia 'llah Muhammadu 'r-rasulu 'llah with a full understanding of its meaning, then it is inconceivable that you will not comply with the laws of God even though no police or court forcing you to do so is visible in this world. To anybody who thinks that it is easy to break the laws of God because God's police, army, court and jail are unseen, and that it is difficult to break earthly laws because of the undoubted presence of the police, army, court and jails of the Government, I would clearly say: Your affirmation of Lii ilaha ilia 'llah Muhammadu 'r-rasulu 'lliih is simply not truthful. You are trying to deceive your God, the whole world, all Muslims, and your own selves.

Obligations of Commitment
Brothers and friends! Now that we know the meaning of this Kalimah I wish to draw your attention to the obligations that result from it.

What does it mean to say that Allah is the Master of everything? It means that your lives are not your property; they belong to God. Your hands are not yours, nor do your eyes, your ears or any limb of your bodies belong to you. The lands you plough, the animals who work for you, the wealth and goods you derive benefit from - none of these is ):our own. Each and every thing belongs to God, and has been given to you as a gift.

You therefore have no basis whatsoever to make claims like 'life is mine, the body is mine, wealth is mine'. It is absurd to claim ownership after having accepted some other being as the real owner. If you sincerely believe that God is the Owner of all these things, then two things automatically follow.

First, since God is the real owner and you are merely trustees of things owned by Him, you must use these things strictly as He has told you. If you do otherwise, you are abusing your trusteeship; this would amount to cheating God.

You have no right to move your hands and feet against His wish, nor to make your eyes see what He dislikes. You may not stomach anything contrary to His command. You possess no rights over lands and properties against the wish of the Master. Your wives and children, whom you assume belong to you, are yours only because they have been given to you by your Master. Even they, therefore, must be treated not as you desire but as directed by Him. If you contravene His directions, you make yourselves usurpers. Just as you call people dishonest who seize other people's belonging.-::, you, too, will be dishonest if you look on the gifts of God ~s your own property, and utilize them according to your own wishes or according to the wishes of someone other than God.

If you suffer hardship by acting according to the wish of your Master, so be it. If lives are lost, bodies are injured, families are broken or money and property destroyed in the process, why should you be grieved? If the Owner Himself decrees loss of His things, it is perfectly within His right. Of course, if you act against the wish of the Master and suffer hardship, you will undoubtedly be guilty because you will have damaged His property. For example: you do not own your lives. If you give away your lives according to your Master's wishes you will only be rendering His due. Giving your lives while working against Him, however, would be criminal.

Second, you do no favour to your Master nor to anyone else, if you spend something given by Him in His cause. You may give away anything, do any duty, or even sacrifice your lives - which to you are very dear - but you are not doing Him a favour. The most you have done is to have rendered His due for His favour done to you. Is this an achievement to boast about, to demand acclaim for? Should people be praised just because they have repaid a favour?

Remember that a true Muslim never gets puffed up for spending something in his Master's cause or for doing his duty to Him. On the contrary, he remains humble. Boasting and pride destroy good acts. Anyone who seeks praise, or does good work in order to earn praise, loses his right to receive any reward from God: 'He has sought reward in this world and has already received it here.'

Our Behaviour
Brothers! Imagine the extraordinary kindness shown you by your Master! He asks you for things which really belong to Him and yet promises that it is a purchase He will pay you for. What unbounded generosity this is! 'God has bought from the believers their lives and their possessions in return for Paradise' (al-Tawbah 9: 111).

Such is the kindness of your Master. Now look at your conduct. You re-sell things to others which were given to you by your Master and which He had bought back from you.

And what a paltry price you accept for your precious things! The 'buyers' make you work against the wishes of the Master. You serve them as if they are your sustainers. You sell them your brains and your bodies - indeed, everything that these rebels of God want to buy. Can anything be more immoral than this? To sell a thing already sold is a legal and moral crime, even in this world. Those guilty of such crimes are tried in courts for cheating and fraud. Do you think you will escape trial in the court of God?

Why is the Kalimah Unique?
Brothers in Islam! Let us consider further the meaning and essential implications of the Kalimah; for it is the very foundation of Islam. Believe it and you enter Islam on its strength; understand it fully and mould your lives in accordance with it and you become true Muslims. Without it you can neither enter nor remain in Islam.

The Parable
Allah calls it Kalimah Tayyibah, a good, pure and wholesome 'word', and thus defines it: Are you not aware how God sets forth the parable of kalimah tayyibah? It is like a good tree - firmly rooted, its branches reaching into heaven. It gives its fruits every moment by the permission of its Lord. So God sets forth parables unto men that they may bethink themselves.

And the parable of kalimah khabUhah (evil word) is like a corrupt tree - uprooted from the earth, having no permanence. God grants firmness unto those who have believed in the firm word, in the present life and in the world to come, and the wrongdoers He lets go astray, for God does whatever He wills (Ibrahim 14: 24-7).

Kalimah Tayyibah is here likened to a noble tree, whose roots are firmly fixed in the earth and whose branches reach to the sky; and all the while it continues to yield abundant fruit, as commanded by its Lord. Set against it is the kalimah khabUhah, that is, an evil or corrupt word, a false belief and a baseless saying, which may be likened to a self-seeded plant ,growing in poor, shallow earth and easily plucked out with a single pull because its fOots have no firm base.

So striking and beautiful is the parable that the more you reflect on it the more you will come to absorb the lessons that can be learnt from it.

Two Kinds of Trees
Consider examples of the two kinds of trees. Look at an oak tree. How firmly it is rooted, to what great height it reaches, how extensively its branches spread, what fine foliage it bears! How did this tree acquire such strength and magnificence? From the nature of its fruit, the acorn. Its seed has an inherent right to become a great tree. And this right was so self-evident that when it made its claim, the earth, the water, the air, the warm day and the cool night, in fact, all the elements concerned, acknowledged it, and whatever it demanded from them was given to it.

Thus by merit it developed into a great tree; by yielding beneficial fruit and by the nobility of its dimensions it continued to demonstrate that it deserved to become a tree of mighty stature and that the help given it by the combined forces of earth and heaven was totally justified. More! It was the duty of the elements to give such help becausethe power that is possessed by the earth, water and air and other elements to nourish, develop and mature trees is precisely meant for the purpose of helping trees of noble species.

But what about wild, self-seeded plants? Where are their strengths and virtues? Their roots are so shallow they can be pulled up by a child. They are so weak they wither away in the wind. If you touch them you may well be pricked by thorns.

If you taste them they may well be bitter and harmful. God, only, knows how many of these sprout every day, and wither away. Why are they as they are? The reason is that they do not possess the intrinsic right to grow that the acorn does and which allows the growth of the mighty oak.

When there are no trees of noble species to grow, the earth, which by its nature cannot remain fallow, tolerates the growth of shrubs and weeds. Water does give nourishment, and some energy is supplied by the air, but none of the elements accepts the right of existence of these plants as they do of the oak.
That is why neither the earth allows their roots to spread themselves within itself, nor is water willing wholeheartedly to give nourishment, nor is the air inclined to help them flourish. So when, with this poor subsistence, these plants grow unhealthy, tasting bad, often bearing thorns and poisonous fruits, it is conclusively demonstrated that earth and heaven are not created to help the growth of such plants.

Keep these two examples t>efore you and then think over the difference between the Kalimah' Tayyibah and the kalimah khabithah.

Characteristics of the Kalimah Tayyibah
Kalimah Tayyibah is a true 'word'; so true that there cannot possibly be anything truer in the entire world; that the God of the whole universe is Allah alone. Each and every thing on earth and in heaven bears witness to this. Human beings, animals, trees, stones, particles of sand, flowing streams, the bright sun - is there a single thing out of all these which has been created by anybody but Allah, which can survive through anyone's care and sustenance but Allah's, which can be destroyed by anybody but Allah?

The whole universe has been created by Allah and its life and sustenance depend on His mercy; Allah alone is its Master and Ruler. So when you declare: 'In this world godhood and sovereignty belong to none but the One God', everything on earth and in heaven cries out: 'You have told the truth. 

We all bear witness to it.' When you bow before Him, everything in the universe bows with you because all things are obedient to Him. When you obey His commandments, everything in the universe does likewise. When you walk along His path, you are not alone. In fact, the countless hosts of heaven and earth will be with you: from the sun in the sky to the smallest particle of dust, everything is following the path He has laid down. When you trust Him, you are not putting your trust in some insignificant power but in that greatest power which is the Master of the universe.

All the forces of earth and heaven, you can now understand, will support anyone who has faith in the Kalimah Tayyibah and moulds his life in accordance with it. He will grow and prosper throughout his life on earth and on into the world to come. Not for a single moment will failure or defeat touch him. This is exactly what Allah has stated in the Ayah quoted in the beginning: this Kalimah is like a tree whose roots are firmly embedded in the earth and whose branches are spread over the heavens bearing fruit perpetually, by the command of Allah.

Characteristics of the Kalimah Khabithah
In contrast to this, what does kalimah khabithah mean? Only that either there is no God or that there is someone else in addition to Him exercising Divine power. Just think! Can there be a more false and empty proposition? Is there anything in the world which lends credence to it? The atheist says there is no God, but everything on earth and in heaven denounces him as wrong: 'Together with all of us, you have been created by God, this very God has given you the tongue with which to utter this falsehood.'

The idolator says that there are partners in His Divine powP~s; they too provide sustenance, they too have power over things; they too can determine our fates; they too can benefit or harm us; they too can listen to prayers and grant wishes; they too deserve to be feared and trusted; their writ too runs on God's earth and their commands and laws too should be obeyed alongside those of God. Yet everything on earth and in heaven refutes this claim as an absolute lie and totally against reality.

Now consider how a person who believes in such a false proposition and leads a life in conformity with it can ever prosper in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah has, in His mercy, allowed them freedom for a certain duration and promised them sustenance. The elements of nature will therefore provide nourishment to them for a while, but they will not concede it as their right. They will be like the self-seeded shrubs and weeds I have just spoken of.

Contrasting Results
The same contrast is to be found between their fruits. Kalimah Tayyibah produces sweet fruits: it establishes peace in the world. Goodness, truth and justice predominate and people benefit accordingly. But what branches can you grow from an evil root like the kalimah khablthah?

The more it grows the more it shoots out thorny branches; poison runs in its very arteries. And what fruit can grow on such branches as these? Only such as are continually bitter and poisonous.

See with your own eyes what is happening in the world where Kufr, idolatry or secularism prevail: man is bent on destruction of his fellow beings. Preparations for war are constantly being made. Nuclear weapons and poisonous gases are being manufactured.

Nations are set on destroying each other. The powerful subjugate the weak simply to snatch away their bread. The weak are cowed by the armies and police and threats of jail and execution. They can find no escape from the oppression of the strong.

And what of individuals? Their morals are so depraved that even Satan would be ashamed. Human beings are com-mitting acts which even animals would hesitate to do. The rich suck the blood of the poor through exploitation and usury and force the poor to work as if they were slaves born just to serve them.
Human dignity and rights are being trampled upon. Abortion is rife because people do not want their physical pleasures to be interrupted. Even wifeswapping is practised.

Little wonder that whenever a plant has grown anywhere from this kalimah khabithah, it is full of thorns, and whatever fruit it produces is bitter and poisonous.

After giving the two parables, Allah says:
Thus God grants firmness unto those who have believed in the firm word in the present life and in the world to come, and the wrongdoers He lets go astray (Ibrahim 27: 14).

Thus Allah will grant strength and endurance in this world and in the Hereafter to those who have faith in the Kalimah Tayyibah.

Conversely, He will set at nought all the endeavours of those wrongdoers who put their faith in the kalimah khabithah. They will not do anything good which will bear fruit in this world or the next.

Why Are Believers in the Kalimah Not Flourishing?
You have heard, brothers, the difference between the Kalimah Tayyibah and the kalimah khabithah and their results. You will now surely ask: We believe in the Kalimah Tayyibah. Then how is it that we do not flourish and why are the unbelievers prospering?

I should answer this question, and I shall. But, rather than just becoming angry at my words, look into your hearts to see if I am speaking the truth.

In the first place, your claim that you believe in the Kalimah is not true. Believing in the Kalimah does not consist in its mere utterance. It must be rooted in the heart, it must drive out any belief opposed to it, it should make any actions in contravention of it well-nigh impossible.

Tell me, brothers, in the name of God, is this true of you?
Are not hundreds of idolatrous and polytheistic beliefs prevalent among you - ideas totally opposed to the Kalimah Tayyibah? Are not the heads of Muslims being bowed before objects other than God? Are not Muslims afraid of forces other than Him? Do they not expect succour from sources besides Him? Do they not take others as their providers? Do they not sometimes put the laws of God aside and follow other laws instead without any qualms?

Do they not sometimes openly state in the courts that they do not abide by the Shari'ah but by custom and usage? Are there not people among us who do not hesitate to violate the law of God for the sake of trifling material benefit? Are there not those who dread the anger of unbelievers but not the wrath of God?

And those who are ready to go to any lengths to curry the favour of Kafirs but are unwilling to do anything to secure God's favour? And those who take the supremacy of Kafirs to be real but the rule of God as imaginary?

Tell me, for the sake of God, if all this is not fact? And if it is, what justification have you for complaining that you are not prospering despite believing in the Kalimah Tayyibah?

First you should become true believers in the Kalimah Tayyibah, and model your lives on the pattern it lays down.

If even then your lives do not become like trees which have firm and deep roots in the earth and which spread their luxuriant branches up to the sky, then (I crave Allah's pardon). you may consider your God a liar for having made you false promises.

Are Followers of the Kalimah KhabUhah Prospering?
Again, your contention that believers in the kalimah khabithah are prospering in this world is not correct. In the true sense, these people have never before prospered nor are they prospering now.

You judge by their excessive wealth, their abundance of luxury goods and their outward trappings of splendour. Material prosperity is not real prosperity. Let their inner selves speak: how many of them have peace of mind? They are laden with luxury but their hearts are fiery furnaces which keep them anxious and restless. How has disobedience to the law of God turned homes into hell?

How?
rampant is suicide in Europe and America? How widespread is divorce? How, through genocide, birth control and abortions, is the human race being diminished? How are drugs and alcohol destroying the lives of many thousands of people?

What a terrible struggle for markets and economic prosperity is raging among different nations and classes? How are jealousy, malice and enmity making men fight each other?

How has the mad race for possessions made life bitter for so many people? And today's huge and magnificent cities, which look like paradise from a distance, contain thousands and thousands of people who are wallowing in misery. Do you call this prosperity? Is this what you are seeking so enviously?

Remember, my brothers, that the word of God can never be untrue.

There is no Kalimah except the Kalimah Tayyibah by following which man may achieve glory in this-world and happiness in the world-to-come. Seek as you will, you will never be able to find any fault with it.

Why Believe in the Kalimah?
Brothers in Islam! Why should we believe in the Kalimah, what benefits shall accrue to us by it? Let us try to find an answer to this important question.

Whatever work we do is done with some purpose or some benefit in view. We never do anything without some objective, goal or need.

Why do you drink water? Because it quenches your thirst. If you were to discover that drinking water failed to quench your thirst, you would not waste your time doing it the next time you were thirsty. Why do you eat food? Simply because you want to satisfy your hunger and keep your strength to live. If it made no difference whether you ate food or not, you would naturally feel that it was a useless activity.

Why do you take medicine when you are ill? Because you want to get rid of your illness and regain your health. But you soon stop taking medicines which do not work. Why do you work so hard cultivating land? So that crops, fruits and vegetables may be produced. But if nothing grew after you had sown the seeds, you would not again exert yourselves to plough the field, to sow the seed and water the ground.

Thus, whatever work you undertake always has an end in view. If the end is achieved, you consider the work fruitful, and if not, you say it was pointless.

Success in the Hereafter
Bearing this in mind, let us now ask: Why should the Kalimah be recited? The obvious answer is: to draw a distinction between a Kafir and a Muslim. But what is the nature of this distinction? Does it mean that if a Kafir has two eyes, a Muslim will have four? Or that if a Kafir has one head, a Muslim will have two? You will say: No. It does not mean that; it means that there should be a difference between the end result of a Muslim's life and a Kafir's life. The end result of a Kafir's life is failure: he will be deprived of God's mercy in that-world, in the Hereafter, and be totally wretched; while that of a Muslim's is success: he will win the pleasure of God and be happy and honoured there.

This-world and That-world
Your answer is correct.

But now tell me:
What is the nature of that-world?
And, what is the meaning of being a failure in the Hereafter?
What does it mean to be successful and honoured there?

We need not delay ourselves working out the answer to the first question, for it has already been given by the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him: 'This-world is the cultivating ground of the Hereafter.'

This-world and the Hereafter are not two separate entities, but a continuous process. This process begins in this-world and ends in the Hereafter. The relationship between the two is the same as that between cultivation and crop. 

You plough the land, sow the seeds, irrigate and tend the field till such time as the crop is ready. When you have reaped the harvest, you feed yourselves from it throughout the year.

You will naturally reap whatever you have sown in the land. If you sow wheat, only wheat will grow. If thorns are sown, only thorns will grow. If nothing is sown, nothing will grow. Whatever mistakes and errors you make in the course of ploughing, sowing irrigating and tending your fields, the effect will become apparent at the time of reaping the crop.

But if you have carried out all the necessary preparations properly, you will get your reward at the time of reaping.

This is exactly the position in respect of this-world and that-world. This-world is like ground to be tilled. Man has been sent into this field for the purpose of raising a crop for himself by his own efforts and hard work. He has been allotted a specific time - from birth till death - to do this task.

Whatever type of crop he sows will be reaped in his life beyond the grave, and that produce will be the mainstay of his life in the Hereafter. If you have sown good seed in the field of this-world throughout your lives and have nourished it with water and careful supervision, you will find the fruits of your labours ready in the next life in the shape of beautiful gardens. You will be able to live happily on the fruits of the garden you have cultivated so assiduously throughout your earthly lives; you will not need to do any further hard work.

This is Paradise, this is the success, the state of gratification in the Hereafter.

In contrast to this, if you sow thorns and grow bitter and poisonous plants during your lives on earth, you will reap a similar crop in the next life. You will not be given a second chance to grow a good crop and will have no choice but to sustain yourselves on the bad crop. You will have to lie on the bed of thorns which you have nurtured, and eat the bitter, poisonous fruits you have grown. This is what is meant by being wretched and unsuccesSful in the Hereafter.

Success in That-world
The same meaning of the Hereafter as I have described is given in the Qur'an and the Hadith. This shows that the success or failure of a man in the life after death depends on whether his knowledge and actions have been correct during his life on earth.

From the above it follows that the difference between Muslims and Kafirs in the Hereafter is determined by the difference which existed between them in the patterns of their lives on earth. Unless there is a difference between the knowledge and actions of a Muslim and a Kafir in this-world there can be no difference between their ultimate states in the Hereafter. It is impossible that the knowledge and actions of a Muslim be the same as those of a Kafir without him suffering the fate that is destined for a Kafir.

True Purpose of the Kalimah
You said earlier that the purpose of reciting the Kalimah was to differentiate between the end results of a Kafir and a Muslim. Now, having discussed further the nature of the end result and of the Hereafter, we will have to rephrase your answer. Now you will have to say that the purpose of reciting the Kalimah is to set right man's knowledge and actions here in this-world so that ultimately he attains happiness in thatworld.

This Kalimah teaches us to plant that garden whose fruits we will pick in the Hereafter. If we do not believe in the Kalimah how can we plant the garden and from where will we pick its fruits in the Hereafter? And if we merely utter the words of the Kalimah without it correcting our knowledge and if our actions too remain the same as those of Kafirs, the result will be the same as if we had not uttered it.

Would you, then, not agree that it is pointless to utter the Kalimah without letting it change our thoughts and deeds?

There is no reason why our fates in this case should be different from those of Kafirs. We do not put God under any obligation by merely uttering the Kalimah. If we do not learn how to plant a garden, and instead sow thorns all our lives, we cannot expect to inherit a flourishing garden with fruits in the next world. Several examples are before you to show that it is meaningless to do something if an identical outcome would result if you had done nothing. 

Medicine is not medicine if a patient's condition remains the same after using it. In the same way, if a Kalimah reciter's knowledge and actions remain the same as those of a non-reciter, such a recital is meaningless. If no difference exists between the lives of Kafirs and Muslims on earth, how can there be any difference between their lives in the Hereafter?

What Does the Kalimah Teach Us?
What, then, is the nature of the knowledge which the Kalimah Tayyibah imparts to us? And what difference takes place between the actions of a Muslim and a Kafir after acquiring this knowledge?

One:
Submission to Allah. The first thing that you learn from this Kalimah is that you are slaves of Allah, and of Allah alone. Fully understand this profound truth, and you will be automatically led to the realization that, in this world, you must live according to the will of that Being whose slaves you are. Because not to do so will be tantamount to rebellion against your Master.

Two:
Obedience to the Prophet. The second thing that you learn from the Kalimah is that Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, is the Messenger of Allah. 

Having learnt this, it immediately becomes self-evident that, to grow flowers and fruits in this world instead of thorns and poisonous plants, you have to plant your gardens as he has taught you. If you follow his way, you will reap a fine harvest in the Hereafter; but if you act against his way, you will grow thorns in this world and reap only thorns in the Hereafter.

Actions Must Accord With Knowledge
When you have acquired this knowledge it is essential that your actions should be in conformity with it. If you believe that you have to die one day, that after death there is another life, and that in that life you will have to sustain yourselves solely on that crop which you produced in this world before leaving it, then it is scarcely possible for you to deviate from the path shown by the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him.

Why do you cultivate your fields in this world?
Simply because no crops will grow unless you do and that without a crop you will die of starvation. If you had not been certain of this, if you had thought that a crop could grow without cultivation, or that you could satisfy your hunger without crops, you would never have laboured to cultivate the fields.

In other words, your actions accorded with your knowledge.

Judge your position with respect to the Kalimah in like manner. You assert that you accept God as your Master and Muhammad, blessings and peace be on him, as God's Messenger. You also affirm belief in life after death. Why should, then, your actions run counter to Quranic teachings and the Prophet's Sunnah? Such undoubtedly is the result of weak faith. If you really have faith that your fate in the Hereafter depends on your behaviour in this life, you would never risk being negligent in living as God wills you to live.

Only someone who does not really believe that what he is sowing will produce thorns and that these thorns will cause him harm would do such a thing. You never pick up embers in your hand knowingly because you know that they will burn you. Only children put their hands in the fire because they do not know what will happen.