THIS NATION IS THE BEST NATION FOR THE PEOPLE

[img]http://aydnajimudeen.mywapblog.com/files/google.jpeg[/img] Allah
ascribed to the nation ( Ummah ) of Muhammad the samecharacteristic
which He ascribed to the Prophet himself in the previous verse when He
said:
[You are the best nation brought forth for the people of the world:you
enjoin right and you forbid wrong, and you believe in Allah.] Qur'an
3/110.
And He said:
[Believing men and believing women are the protecting friends of each
other: they enjoin right and they forbid wrong.] Qur`an 9/71.
In the same vein, Abu Huraira, a companion of the Prophet and narrator
of many hadith used to say:
"You are the best people for the people, you tie them in chains and
shackles and drag them off to paradise."
Allah explains in the above verse that this nation is the best
nationfor the people i.e. the most beneficial to them, the one
doingthem the greatest favor. This is because they constitute the
total good and benefit for the people via their enjoining right and
forbidding wrong both in quality and in quantity, since they enjoin
all that is right and forbid all thatis wrong, and their message is
addressed to all people of the world. Furthermore, they uphold this
institution with jihad (struggle) in the path of Allah with their
lives and their property, and this constitutes thecomplete benefit for
the world.
As for the previous nations, none of them enjoined all people with all
that is right, nor did they prohibit all that is wrong to all people.
Furthermore, they did not make jihad (struggle) in this cause. Some of
them did not takeup armed struggle at all, and those who did, such as
the Jews, their struggle was generally for the purpose of driving
their enemy from their land, or as any oppressed people struggles
against their oppressor, and not for sake of calling the people of the
world to guidance and right, nor to enjoin on them right and to
prohibit to them wrong. Allah narrates the following discussionbetween
Musa (Moses) and his followers:
[O people, enter the sacred land which Allah has written for you, and
do not turn back on your heels to subsequently find yourselvesNote:
The change to pitch (12) and font (1) must be converted manually. in
abject loss. They said: "O Musa, therein is a belligerent people, and
we will not enter it until they come out - if they come out, then we
will enter it." ... They said: "O Musa, we will never enter it as long
as they are in it, so you go, you and your Lord, and fight. We are
going to sit right here.] Qur'an 5/21-24
Allah says in another verse:
[Did you not see the assembly of the sons of Israel after the time of
Musa when they said to a Prophet of theirs: "Raise up for usa king,
that we may fight in the path of Allah." He said: "Would you perhaps
not fight then, if fighting were prescribed for you?" They said: "Why
would we not fight in the path of Allah, andwe have been exiled from
our homes and our children?" Then, when fighting was prescribed
forthem, they turned their backs, all except a few, and Allah is in
full knowledge of the wrong-doers.] Qur'an 2/246
Here we see that those speaking with this prophet cited the reason for
their fighting that theyhad been exiled from their homes and their
children. In spiteof this, most of them failed to live up to their
word, when in fact they were ordered to fight. For this reason, they
were not allowed to keep any spoils of war, and were not allowed to
take female captives as right-hand possessions.
It is well known that the greatestnation of believers before us was
the children of Israel. This has been narrated in the agreed-upon
hadith narrated by Ibn Abbas, that the Prophet (sas) said:
"The previous nations and their prophets were shown to me last night.
A prophet would pass withone man, another with two men,another with a
small group, and another with no one with him. Then, I saw a great
crowd, small mountains filled with people, andI said: "This is my
Ummah!" It was said to me: "These are the sons of Israel, but look
over there." Then I saw a huge crowd which blocked the horizons. It
was said to me: "This is your Ummah, and among them are seventy
thousand who will enter paradise with no account-taking." The
Prophet's listeners dispersed with no further explanation being given.
Then, the companions discussed this issue, saying: "As for us, we were
born in associationism, but have believed in Allah and His Prophet...
but these are our sons. When this speculation of theirs about who the
seventy thousand were reached the Prophet, he said:"They are those who
do not practice cauterization, or use incantations (i.e. believing in
some mystical ability to cure or prevent illness), do not believe in
omens, and who depend fully on their Lord." Ukasha ibn Mihsan stood up
and said: "Am I one of them, O Messenger of Allah?" The Prophet said:
"Yes". When someone else stood up and said the same thing, the prophet
said"Ukasha has come before you."
From this we understand why the consensus of this ummah is aproof,
i.e. because Allah has informed us that they enjoin all that is right,
and prohibit all that is wrong. If they (i.e. the Muslim Ummah) were
to all agree to allow something forbidden, to drop an obligation, to
forbid something allowed, or to perpetrate any falsehood about Allah
or about His creation, they would be enjoiners of what is wrong,
prohibitors of what is good, and that is surely not of pure speech and
good works. What's more, the verse implies that whatever the ummah has
not enjoined is not right, and whatever it has not prohibited is not
wrong. Since this is the Ummah which enjoins all right, and prohibits
all wrong, it is not possible for the entire Ummah to enjoin something
which is wrongnor to prohibit something which is good.
Just as Allah has informed us thatthis ummah will fulfill this
function, He has also made it a collective obligation ( fardh kifaya )
upon the Muslim Ummah saying:
[Let there be from among you a group which calls to what is good,
enjoins right, and forbids wrong. These are the successful ones.]
It is not the duty of the practitioner of enjoining right and
prohibiting wrong to deliver the message to everyone in the world.
Such was not even required of the Prophets (Peace be upon them), and
this is an auxillary to the prophetic messages. Rather, what is
required is to make it available tothose who seek it. If they, in turn
are negligent in seeking it, though it has been made accessible, then
the responsibilityis upon them, not him. Since enjoining right is a
collective obligation, as the Qur'an clearly indicates, it is not an
obligation upon every single individual Muslim, rather upon them as a
group.
Since jihad is part of the perfection if enjoining right and
prohibiting wrong, it, too, is a collective obligation. As with any
collective obligation, this means that if those sufficient for the
task do not come forward, everyone capable of it to any extent is in
sin to the extent of his capability in that area. This is because its
obligation when it is needed is upon every Muslim to the extent of
his/her ability, as the Prophet (sas) said in the hadith found in
Muslim:
"Whoever of you sees wrong being committed, let him changeit with his
hand (i.e. by force). If he is unable to do that, then withhis tongue,
and if he is unable to do that, then with his heart."
This being the case, it is clear that enjoining right and prohibiting
wrong is one of the greatest good works that we have been ordered to
do.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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