بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم-role of muslim community

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In the Name of Allh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Role of Muslim Community in the Development of Islam

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All praise and thanks are due to Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Who destined

us part of the Muslim community; may it please Him that we would never leave

the fold till we die. I beseech Allah for the choicest of all benedictions be on the

noble soul of the undisputed leader of the Ummah (community), Muhammad,on his steadfast companions, consistent members of his household and all

sincere believers in the path of rectitude till the end of time.

Role of Muslim community in the propagation or in the development of deen.

Development is more encompassing; hence the focus of the talk will be along

that line.

Essence of Muslim Community

Allah (SWT) mentioned the fact that His desire is that the believers should be

organised under a banner; when He said in Quraan 21: 92

Verily this community of yours is a single community and I am the Sustainer of

you all, therefore worship Me Alone.

In the Tafsir of Ibn Kathir, he reported that Ibn Àbbas, Mujahid, Saìd bin Jubayr,

Qatadah and Àbdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam said, "Your religion is one

religion.'' Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: "In this Ayah, Allah explains to them what they

should avoid and what they should do.'' Meaning, your path is one path. Certainly

this is your Shariàh (Divine Law) which I have clearly explained you.'' So Allah

says: (and I am your Lord, therefore worship Me).

In Hadith 57 of Al-Tirmidhi, narrated by Abdullah bn Umar, Allah's Messenger

(peace be upon him) said: Verily my Ummah, or the Ummah of Muhammad , will


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1. They are one nation to the exclusion of other people.

2. The Emigrants of Quraish unite together and shall pay blood money

among themselves, and shall ransom honourably their prisoners. Every

tribe of the Helpers unite together, as they were at first, and every section

among them will pay a ransom for acquitting its relative prisoners.

3. Believers shall not leave anyone destitute among them by not paying his

redemption money or blood money in kind.

4. Whoever is rebellious or whoever seeks to spread enmity and sedition, the

hand of every God-fearing Muslim shall be against him, even if he be his

son.

5. A believer shall not kill another believer, nor shall support a disbeliever

against a believer.6. The protection of Allh is one (and is equally) extended to the humblest of

the believers.

7. The believers are supported by each other.

8. Whosoever of the Jews follows us shall have aid and succour; they shall

not be injured, nor any enemy be aided against them.

9. The peace of the believers is indivisible. No separate peace shall be made

when believers are fighting in the way of Allh. Conditions must be fairand equitable to all.

10.It shall not be lawful for a believer, who holds by what is in this document

and believes in Allh and the Day of Judgement, to help a criminal nor

give him refuge. Those who give him refuge and render him help shall

have the curse and anger of Allh on the Day of Resurrection. Their

indemnity is not accepted.

11.Whenever you differ about a matter, it must be referred to Allh and to

Muhammad.

12.Killing a believer deliberately with no good reason entails killing the killer

unless the sponsor deems it otherwise.


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This guideline proved to be very useful to the nascent community and has even

been adopted by many organisations and groups who have no religious

orientation to further their causes. It must be said that the guideline provided is

still very relevant to contemporary Muslim communities because most of the

issues raised in it have not been imbibed by Muslim whereas the issues are

supposed to be rudimentary issues to all and sundry.

Over the years, rivalry and love of leadership (without concerns for the attendant

responsibilities) became the lot of Muslims, who abandoned the etiquettes of

leadership for vain desires. These eventually led to the ultimate collapse of the

Islamic government in Turkey; when the bait of nationality was dangled at some

unscrupulous Muslims who fell for it headlong and fought their brothers to bring

the Caliphacy to its knees. Hence, the Muslim community was reduced tonational levels for those countries that are willing and courageous enough to bear

the identity.

Given the fact that there is no true Muslim nation on the globe today, Muslim

communities do not even exist at national level again but at micro-mini levels, too

fragmented to be really effective to do what an ideal Muslim community should

do in the lives of believers; and in the propagation and development of the deen.

Roles of the Muslim Community

1. Education and Orientation of Muslims this is a paramount necessity to

the development of any group. This is emphasised by Prophet

Muhammad who regarded it a compulsory act. He took care of the need

for the religious knowledge and even identified individuals who are

qualified to take the Muslims through in his absence. He equally

emphasised the importance of secular knowledge; as inferred in his

allusion to knowledge from the then China. As the community grows, one

other important issue in this regard is the organisation of human resources

in the pursuit of knowledge according to the needs of the Ummah. This will

be pursued so much so that the leadership of the community will be the

one to determine what course a particular person pursues and where he

works afterwards. If this can be achieved, most of the problems that


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manifest in our haphazard outlook would have been taken care of. In this

circumstance, it will not matter whether I was ordered to go for education

and you are ordered to go for medicine or engineering. The correct

orientation will have imbibed the concept of sacrifice in all the Muslims so

that we abide by whatever comes to us for the overall goodness of the

Muslim community.

2. Enactment of Correct Strategy of Dealing with Contemporary Issues this

remains a real problem in Muslims experiences over time and space.

Though part of issue on orientation, it is worth mentioning separately.

Everyone is left to his discretion on such issues among others such that

the Muslim personality remains entirely unpredictable when subjected to

the same circumstance.3. Harmonisation of Muslims Disposition and Views with a good leadership

in place, proper orientation and education; the ubiquitous problem of lack

of harmony and disagreements over religious issues would never have

arisen. Today, Muslims are poles apart on so many issues that bother of

their deen, whereas the source of their instructions is supposed to Prophet

Muhammad alone. Even if passage of time and numerous versions of the

same saying had been responsible for the problem, the problem couldeasily be harmonised by unitary leadership for the community so as to

provide guidance for all and sundry. This is because there should be no

individual, group or tribal consideration in the derivation of such decisions;

it should necessarily be based on the best interest of the community.

4. Welfare and Wellbeing of Muslims this is considered an important duty

by the model community. Prophet Muhammad said believers shall not

leave anyone destitute among them. Without such a robust community in

place, we all experience so many destitute among the believers on regular

basis. An effective leader of the community can even command a person

to sacrifice what he has at his disposal to fulfil the need of some other

persons, which would be done without complain; if there is correct

orientation.


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5. Disciplinary and Punitive Measures this is important in any group in

order to ensure compliance to rules and regulations. This important issue

has been reduced to mere advice and appeal in Muslim communities

today; they lack the power exact punitive measures. This is what is

considered important at the model Muslim community even up to the

supreme punitive measures.

Conclusion

These represent the central issues that should be taken into consideration in the

affairs Muslim community. Other issues may be derived from these ones from

among others.

The issues now is that in the absence of ideal Muslim community, we can decideto make do with those duties that are within the ambit of what the contemporary

Muslim communities can do and coordinate the affairs of the members as such.

Subuhanaka Allahuma wabi hamdika, Ash adu an Lailaha ila anta astagfiruka wa

atubu ilayka.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم-role of muslim community

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