Mouood Mouood English Edition
Twenty three years of efforts to promote the divine message among the people
Therefore, the first step after Be’that is to start a movement. No divine prophet managed to follow this path, fulfill his responsibility and announce his message to people without being forced to fight. It was not the case that the people of their societies easily accepted the new world that their Be’that was proposing. For this reason, they would start fighting divine prophets. Among the people with a truthful message, divine prophets have had the largest number of enemies.
Since the first day after his Be’that, the Holy Prophet (S) was faced with different kinds of hostilities. The Holy Prophet (S) started countering these hostilities from the first day and continued doing so until the moment he passed away. He fought this battle for twenty-three years.
Notice that those twenty-three years were very auspicious. Twenty-three years is not a long period of time. You see many people who do not even manage to do something that is presentable in twenty, twenty-three or twenty-five years. Normally, people spend almost all their time on personal matters. If you take a look at the biography of great personalities including scientists, philosophers and politicians you will see the amount of work they did in twenty- three years.
Depending on their capabilities, people may or may not be able to make great achievements in twenty-three years. But notice how many blessings originated from the twenty-three years of the Holy Prophet’s (S) life after Be’that. At the heart of this Jahiliyya and at the heart of Jahiliyya eras throughout the world, the Holy Prophet (S) managed to build such a system and raise such a beacon of guidance which will become more brilliant on a daily basis and will help and guide increasing numbers of people.
The Holy Prophet (S) started following this path in the first thirteen years of his prophethood and he gradually built an Islamic system. Therefore, the next step is to establish a system that is based on this idea and on the foundations of Be’that. These things clearly show that what is claimed by those who try to draw a line between religion particularly Islam and government, is wrong. Of course, all divine religions are similar in this regard, but this claim is particularly unbelievable in the case of Islam.
It is unbelievable that some people try to separate Islam from daily life, from politics, from management of national affairs, from government. It is unbelievable that some people try to push Islam out of these areas. Since the first day when Islam was introduced, there was a fierce battle to move towards establishing an Islamic society and government. And after thirteen years of resistance, the Holy Prophet (S) managed to establish this system, although this did not happen in his birthplace and in the city where Be’that had taken place.
After that long-lasting resistance, this is the second step. It is on the basis of this idea that an Islamic system is built. As long as Islamic and divine ideas are not backed by this system and this source of power, it is not possible to spread divine ideas, rules and concepts into the lives of the people. This is the exact opposite of the distorted view which is held by those who claim that religion becomes corrupt when it achieves power.
On the contrary, if religion achieves political power, it will spread and gain ground. It will be possible for religion to fulfill religious goals and wishes. It will be possible for religion to implement the values that are promoted by religion. These things are impossible in the absence of power. It is through political power that these things can be achieved. For example, do you think it is possible to establish justice in society through advice and begging? In the absence of political power, it is not possible to establish justice, eliminate discrimination and help establish equity in one’s society and in the world.
When a word of justice is uttered in the world, global powers do not hesitate to work against it unless they believe that it is not important enough to take action. This has always been the case. Wherever in the world the voice of Islam and Islamic thought is raised, the arrogant powers, capitalists and company owners quickly become alert, fearing that they might be threatened.
This has always been the case. Wherever a word of justice was uttered by somebody, wherever great men decided to promote truth, suddenly they were faced with the iron walls and fists of the enemies and opponents. The enemies would deploy their forces against them. Of course, they would be defeated. Falsehood is always defeated by truth. There is no doubt in this regard. If truth resists, there is no doubt that falsehood will be defeated.
However, the important point is that in the absence of resistance and struggle and without political power, it is not possible to implement religious ideas and values and to fulfill religious wishes or any other wish for that matter. Of course, there are certain things that can be done through reasoning and offering advice.
Therefore, even divine prophets were after establishing a government. The Holy Prophet of Islam (S) is an obvious example in this regard. From the first day, he started his struggle and he focused his efforts on establishing an Islamic government. Later on, he managed to establish a government in Medina and he defended it. He even extended the scope and this movement continued for many years.
Thus, the next step is to establish a government. However, establishing a government is not the goal and this is the essential point. The purpose of establishing a government is to implement values. If an Islamic government is established but it fails to move towards implementing values, that government is corrupt. This is a general rule. This is the standard. It may take years to implement values.
There may be obstacles and problems, but the Islamic government that has been established should move towards the goals and values that it has promoted, the goals and values that can be found in the Holy Quran and in Islamic teachings. If the orientation is different, that government is definitely corrupt. The goal is to establish social justice and order that is based on the law. The goal is to establish divine laws everywhere.
If divine laws are established in society, if Islamic order is resorted, if social justice is established, only one of the stages has been completed. Only one medium-level goal has been achieved. The next stage is to encourage the people who are living comfortably in justice and peace under this government to develop moral virtues in themselves. This is the point that I would like to stress: after establishing a government, the goal is to encourage the people to develop moral virtues in themselves. This is the goal after a just government has been established, after justice has been administered in society, after a truly Islamic government has been built. This is the next goal.
People should try to develop moral virtues in themselves, which will of course lead to transcendence, spiritual development and a noble understanding. This is one of the stages of human perfection. We cannot even understand this appropriately. Everything said is based on what has been heard from the Islamic luminaries.
