26 June 2016

By Pieter Van Ostaeyen

The Muslim Revolutions – Breaking the chains of despair

1. Did the revolutions fail?

Imagine if the Jihaad in various fronts including Shaam will fail to achieve victory. Does this then mean that the Jihaad in and of itself failed? Does this mean that it was all for nothing? There were Prophets who did not have any followers, or they had just a few followers, the Prophet (saws) even said that there will be Prophets on the Day of Judgement who will be accompanied with only one or two or three followers. So does this mean that these Prophets failed in their mission? Does this mean that their Prophethood was for nothing? If you look at it with an objective eye which only considers this materialistic worldly life then yes indeed they did fail. But Muslims do not look at the world with one eye like the Dadjaal Al-Hamdulilaah. Muslims look with the depth of two eyes, one looking at the world and one at the Hereafter. Come to think about it, Jihaad with the worldly eye is loss and nothing else. Because you sacrifice your life children, your wife, your relatives, your belongings, and even your life!
So what is there to gain if we would only look at it with a worldy eye? Rather it is all loss. But we Muslims do not look with this eye. Lets take the people of the Ditch as an example, they were thrown in pits or fire and the oppressive king at that time killed them all when they declared their faith in Allah. So what did they gain? They became Muslim and were all killed? But nevertheless Allah describes their victory in Surah Al-Burooj as a major victory! Why did Allah call it The Major Victory (Al-Fawz Al-Kabeer) while they were all killed? A Muslim knows why.

Looking at the Arab revolutions we must first approach the issue from this perspective. Second, even if we would look at it from a worldly eye, then they did not fail. A baby did not fail because he learned crawling before walking, he did not fail because he learned baby gibber before talking. Life consists of steps, some small, some big. So if a single simple human being needs all of this time developing and learning before growing up into an adult, then what about something major like the revolutions of millions of people? Be realistic, first and foremost. But lets look at what the revolutions already achieved, and how small or big the achievements are, before it will reach its main goal inshaAllah. However keep in mind what we said before, even if it does not reach this main goal, then did it really fail? No, like we explained, it did not. But lets look at the achievements.

The tyranny of Mubarak came to an end after thirty years, the tyranny of Ben Ali after twenty years, and the tyranny of Al-Qadaffi after forty years. After all the victims they made, the dead, the tortured, the widows, the orphans, the oppression, their end came like with any tyrant. This was without a doubt a victory against these tyrants, this was justice. This was the first step of the revolutions, and it could be considered as a major achievements. Rather we have seen nothing like it in the history of human kind, we have never seen four tyrants get deposed in one year! In Tunesia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. And a fifth tyrants soon followed in Iraq. Never have we seen such a victory in human history. Yet some Muslims doubt the victory of Allah because the revolution did not reach its end goal, despite them witnessing this clearcut miracle.

Those who are eager to see the end goal of the revolution must keep one thing in mind. Their fall was the result of the supplications made by the oppressed in the prisons, the widows who lost their husbands, the mothers who lost their sons. The Prophet (saws) explained to us that the supplications of the oppressed are answered, even if they were made by a Kaafir. But these oppressed, the widows, mothers, and prisoners, did they all witness the fall of the tyrants? No they did not, many of them died before seeing the end of these tyrants. But their supplication is answered. So would it be correct for them to think that their supplication was all for nothing? Would it be correct for them to think that their supplication was not answered? Many Prophets made supplications which were answered after several years, some of them did not witness this supplication getting answered, like the Prophet Ibraheem (as). In conclusion we must say that we can not choose to witness the victory of Allah before it is destined. The results are in the Hands of the Allah, He destines them when, where and in which speed He wants. We however are selected by Allah to witness the outcome of the supplications made by those who are not able to witness. We must be grateful that He has chosen us to witness this great moment in history. Likewise another generation will be selected to witness the supplications made by us. So do not despair, give the coming generations something that will please them and increase your efforts and supplications. Let the downfall of the tyrants be a lesson for us, and let the miraculous signs of Allah increase our Imaan in His coming promise and victory, which comes gradually and not in one flood.

These were just some quick notes.

We will continue this series inshaAllah if there is more time left

2. Prolonged war

We often hear people ask why the war in Shaam for example is taking so long. They hope and ask for a quick victory, sometimes they even request the West to intervene on their behalf against the regime, and they even become sad if the West doesn't intervene. But if they understood the reality of the conflict and the wisdom behind this war, they would look at it differently inshaAllah. So let us explore this view in this small article. Lets us first begin with an example from recent history.

Despite their victory against the Sovjets, if you would ask the average Mujahid veteran or military leader who experienced the Jihaad in Afghanistan against the Sovjets, he will without a doubt say that it would have been of great benefit if the war against the Russians was prolonged even further. The war against the Russians lasted about ten years and martyred more than one million and displaced more than five million Muslims. But this war was nevertheless very beneficial for the Muslim Ummah. Many other fronts were opened through Afghanistan; fronts in Chechnya, Bosnia, Dagestan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, etc. The Ummah was mobilized, the youth was trained, the spirit of Jihaad was revived, etc. Until this very day we are still benefiting from the Jihaad in Afghanistan on various fronts. The Jihaad in Afghanistan was without a doubt the solid fundament on which the global modern day Jihaad was built. The military knowledge that was spread, the experience, the leaders that were created, the fronts that were opened, etc. Many good came from the Jihaad in Afghanistan, and its impact can still be felt until this very day on various fronts on the world. So imagine what the great impact of the Jihaad in Shaam would be for the future of this Ummah, if this war would prolong and evolve? And Shaam, unlike Afghanistan, is situated in the heart of the Muslim Ummah, right next to Bayt Al-Maqdis.

Furthermore, a prolonged war does not give the chance for the enemy to pause and catch his breath; so that he could reengage the fight against you in the near future, like the Russians are doing at this moment in Shaam after their defeat in Afghanistan before. We should not hope for a quick victory which gives us a half-way solution. Moreover, the enemy could be even stronger if he comes back the next time. From this perspective it not wise to hope for a quick victory. As guerilla movements we do not have much to loose, rather prolonged war is in our advantage and in the disadvantage of the superpowers who are fighting us. It is our strong point, and their weak point. There is no benefit for a country with large armies and expensive weapons to prolong any kind of intervention or war. Sun Tzu said: ''What is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations. Where the army is, prices are high; when prices rise the wealth of the people is exhausted. There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare.''

So time is on our side. Like Allah said in the Quran: ''Indeed the unbelievers spend their wealth to hinder people from the path of Allah, so they will continue to spend, but in the end they will have only regrets and anguish, then they will be conquered.'' (8:36)

Consider this equation; an IED worth less than 100 dollars destroys an armored vehicle worth millions of dollars. A jerrycan with a couple of litters of gas worth a couple of dollars burns down a truck convoy of military supplies worth tens of millions of dollars. Superpowers can be destroyed with such simple guerilla tactics depending on how long the war lasts. If ten years of war against the Sovjets brought Russia to the brink of collapse, and it took them two decades to rebuilt their economy, until they caught their breath and revived the chance to reengage in a military aggression against the Ummah in Shaam. Imagine what the result would have been if the war was prolonged in Afghanistan?

Think about it, why did Russia announce its withdrawal from Shaam so quick? Because they understand that they can not prolong the intervention in Shaam, especially considering the minimum progress and advance it gave them against the Mujahideen and the opposition, and the minimum loss it inflicted on the Mujahideen and the opposition. The US likewise understood very well that it could not prolong the war in Afghanistan and Iraq any further, they pushes as much as they could, until the US and the world were overpowered by a financial crisis in 2008, so they had to take the time to rebuilt and take a breath. But look at Afghanistan and Iraq after all these years since the US intervention, did the Jihaad decrease or increase? So what did they achieve, and who really benefited from the war?

With the Wisdom of Allah, the passive non-intervention stance, the US took after their new political course in 2009, was of perfect timing. If the US intervened against the regime in the beginning of the uprising in Shaam in 2011 then this would have been in the disadvantage of the Muslims. Look at Shaam at the moment, the spirit of Jihaad is very much alive after being absent for decades. The Ummah is armed and mobilized in a popular Jihaad against the Russian-Safawid-Nusayri -Western backed- alliance. Territories are liberated, the Rule of Allah is implemented, military training bases are built, Islam is being spread, etc. A new free generation is being prepared and trained to confront the future superpowers, like it happened before in the Afghan-Sovjet war. This would all not have been possible if the US intervened against the regime in the beginning of the uprising in Shaam, and it would not have been possible if the war didn't last this long.

Allah said: ''Warfare is ordained for you, while it is hated by you. But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knows, while you do not know.'' (2:216)

If the US would have intervened, they would have deposed the regime and imposed their political will, and the cycle of subordination would have continued. But Allah prevented this, the US thought that their passive stance would let the uprising get crushed, but they plan and Allah plans, and the plan of the Shaytaan is very weak.

Allah promised us in the Quran: ''Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the cause of evil (Taghut). So fight against the allies of Satan. Indeed, the strategy of Satan is always weak.'' (4:76)

These were just some quick notes.

We will continue this series inshaAllah if there is more time left.
 

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