10 December 2010

By Al-Ikhwah Al-Mujahdiun

Soon, the 200+ thousands Indonesian pilgrims will arrive home. Their homecoming is adding up to the list of hajj "alumnis" since there were Indonesian people who went for the pilgrimage. Notwithstanding that, indeed, their tasks are still unfinished yet. As they are returning from the great ritual in the city where Islam first started, it would certainly be very naive if we only hope for a portion of souvenirs from them in the form of zam-zam water and Indian tasbih. It is also very unfortunate if, with their return, they only bring the pride of the prestige because of the addition of the title "H" in front of their names.

Whereas, the ritual of hajj is laden with the symbols of tawheed and opposition against kufr. Their arrival in the holy land itself is already a manifestation of tawheed. They are heading towards the one same kiblat, the one same Masjidil Haram and worshipping in the one same place, though crammed with people from diverse ethnicities, races and skin colors. Since the early morning, Islam melts all the differences under the banner of tawheed. Each person who has accepted the invitation of Allah to come into the house of Islam is welcomed to take off his clothing's of ethnicity, nationality and skin colour at the front porch.

Such is the way, that Abu Bakar RA who had fair skin and Bilal who was dark-skinned, sat together as believers. Umar RA, an Arab and Salman al-Farisi, a Persian fought under the same banner of tawheed. So, if there is an expression of "internationalism", then this is the "internationalism" of Islam, which liberates mankind from the racial boundaries. The Hajj demonstrates this perfectly.

In the plain of Arafah, they unite their hearts. Not only that, they melt, melted by the one blazing sun created by Allahu Ahad. They melt away their national identities. There is no more nationalism which in truth is a shackle of animalism. The Nationalism is destroyed and seen only as a junk before the bond of the Aqeedah.

It is in that moment of wukuf that every pilgrim leaves behind them their nationality and ethnic identities. From then on they are no more Indonesian, Pakistani, Egyptian, Turkish or Malaysian. They, under the intense heat of Arafah, have become a one Ummah, everyone is a Muslim only. Their identity is only Islam. When they return home soon, they are not going back to being the nationals of Indonesia, Pakistan and Egypt, but only to return to their birthplace or residences, nothing else.

The awareness for a unity as Muslims should grow in a moment like this. Furthermore, the awareness for a political unity becomes the consequences that cannot be avoided. Just like the scene in Arafah: one wilayah (territory), dressed in the same white, uttering the same kalimah, thus how the Islamic ummah should be: One Ummah, One Territory of Daulah Islamiyah, the same thoughts and feelings, the same Rules, raising high the same Kalimah i.e. the Kalimah of Tawheed.

When they have completed the hajj and returned to each of their country, actually this "Jama'ah of Arafah" does not simply disperse, but they expand that territory of Arafah as far and as wide as the Islamic countries in which they reside. They must bring this spirit of "unity under Tawheed" to each country in order to break the shackles of the nation-state boundaries.

The Jamarat, Forging The Oppositive Mentality

In Mina, the pilgrims spend the night while collecting stone bullets to be thrown at the Jamarat. This ritual is a symbolization of the opposition of Prophet Ibrahim AS against satan who whispered doubts to him. Ibrahim AS is the Father of Tawheed who opposed the shirk of his people who were idol worshipers. He was the one who rebelled against the shirk of Namrud who considered himself as god, he was the one who confronted the idolatry system of the people of Kana'an at that time. Thus how Ibrahim AS confronted satan and the thaghut. It was in such ways that he raised high the Tawheed.

When stoning the Jamarat, the pilgrims should be aware of the meaning of this symbolic ritual. They are fighting satan in its many different forms, whether it be the satans that show their hostility openly, or the satans that pose as friends, as well as the satan that controls the carnal desires inside the human beings. They are also in confrontation with the symbol of shirk and the arrogance of the thaghut i.e. the leaders who are defined by Sheikh Ibnu Taimiyah as, " ...one who rules by other than Kitabullah where he becomes the reference for legislation, he is called thaghut".

While Allah SWT, since day one, has already ordered us to disobey the thaghut,

"They wish to refer legislation to thaghut, while they were commanded to reject that thaghut." (QS. An-Nisa': 60)

Therefore, take this spirit to every corner of the Muslim countries. Indeed, the biggest shirk is festering on this ummah, when mankind invent their own laws and are unwilling to apply the laws from Allah SWT. Yes, that shirk is called democracy, wherein the sovereignty is placed in the human hands, not in the hands of Allah. Indeed, the thaghuts are sitting on the thrones in the land of the Muslims. They are looking after the system and ideology of the colonial heritage, they even become the tentacles of the invaders until today. They are betraying the Tawheed by making the Christians and Jews as their helpers, whereas at the same time Allah SWT forbids to be allies (al wala') with them,

"O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and Christians as allies." (QS Al-Maidah : 51)

That's them, and pelt them just like the jamarat are pelted with stone bullets. Pelt them with words of da'wah which are sourced from the mabda (ideology) of Islam. There can be no doubt here, just as there can be no doubt when throwing jumrah.

The Tasks Of The "Ambassadors Of Tawheed"

This is their task, the pilgrims who have just returned from the ritual which is a sociodrama of the unification of the Islamic world and an opposition against thaghut as exemplified by Ibrahim AS. They, upon returning from the ritual, will become ambassadors of Tawheed, conveyors of the spirit of tawheed to all corners of Nusantara (the archipelago). They are active in arousing the ummah for the sake of the interests of the akhira, not carried away with worldly prestige when people call them by their title of "Haji". Al-Hasan had been asked, "What is haji mabrur?" He answered, "He returns from performing the hajj to become a person who is zuhud with the dunya and longing for the akhira." (As-Suyuthi, Durr al-Mantsur, 1/473;Al-Qurthubi, Tafseer Al-Qurthubi, 2/408)

We are waiting for the actions of the ambassadors of tawheed. The Holy Land of Makkah is the wellspring of tawheed which channels the roh of tawheed to all corners of the world. It is the pilgrims who carry the streams, just like the reformer ulama's of this native land in the past centuries, who had brought the clear streams on their return from the Holy Land. We are waiting for their tangible contribution in the struggle to cleanse the ummah from the kufr thoughts and feelings, so that it is only the Shari'a of Allah that is established, and the ummah is liberated from the shirk of democracy.

Reza Ageung
Hidayatullah High School Of Shari'a
Balikpapan