The Da’wah To Islam by Sheikh Ahmad Mahmoud

The method of Islam in understanding the ahkhaam is based upon: the deep understanding of the problem, followed by the retrieval, study and understanding of the shar’ai evidences required for the treatment of the problem, and finally, the deduction of the hukm from these evidences.

Thus, the presence of the group (or hizb) that works for change is related to the reality in which it exists, in respect of the necessity of adopting the Shar’ee rules that are necessary to change that particular reality in which it exists.

Understanding the reality demands that one undertakes thorough study of it.

Understanding the Shar’a requires the defining of the sources of the Shar’ee evidences, and the extraction of the principles of Usool that are the laws according to which deduction takes place. This process of deduction requires a Mujtahid who has the ability to apply the rules upon their respective realities and to enforce the rules according to their ‘illah (divine reasons).

Thus, the establishment of any group or party is linked to the reality in which it has emerged. The party aims to change the reality, so it makes it the object of its thought and the object of change. Consequently, the party or group is obliged to study the reality in a deep and precise manner and identify the problems that must be solved. The problems are multitudinous so it is necessary to differentiate between them. One must distinguish between the problems that were the result of other problems, and the problems that caused those results. This requires a distinction to be made between a problem and its apparent appearances; between the main illness and its symptoms. With this type of understanding, one will determine the main illness and the symptoms that resulted from it. After identifying the illness, one must move to identifying the cure.

Here we would like to make an analogy with the skilled doctor; he should not be deceived by the symptoms when diagnosing the main illness. If a man has a disease of his stomach and this leads him to have a reaction, this reaction leads to the appearance of a skin rash with a fever. If the doctor is content just to treat the skin rash and fever by prescribing the appropriate medicine, and if he doesn’t treat the stomach, then his treatment is deficient and he has failed to cure the disease. The doctor must first treat the origin of the problem, which is the disease in the stomach. When this is treated, then the disease will go, together with its symptoms. After that, the doctor will decide whether the symptoms will require treatment or not. They may clear up automatically just by treating the disease that caused them, or some symptoms might remain and they may require treatment. In any case, the treatment of the symptoms will only be a partial job; and so the discussion continues as before.

The same apply to the reality that we live in today. We know that in reality, there are fundamental problems, which in turn have created many other peripheral problems. One of the fundamental problems that afflicts the Ummah today is that Allah’s 􀀬 sovereignty has no pressence in the life of the Muslims. This has resulted in many partial problems such as; poverty (which arises from injustice), ignorance, the spread of immoral acts and the dominance of corrupt relationships. Regarding this Allah 􀀬, clarifies the main cause; “Whosoever turns away from My Reminder verily, for him is a life of hardship.” [TMQ 20:124] These partial problems exist because of the presence of this reality. The permanent and radical change cannot take place until this reality is changed first. One cannot eliminate the effects of referring to other than what Allah 􀀬 has revealed, until the work focuses on resuming the Islamic way of life, by making the Islamic ‘Aqeedah a political creed that guides all the Muslims’ actions in life, according to the orders and prohibitions of Allah 􀀬, and pushes them to establish the rule by what Allah 􀀬 has revealed.

Hence, the fundamental problem is not educational, ethical or economic. The fundamental issue is not salvaging the rights of Muslims and strengthening their social, economic or military position. Rather the issue is al-Hakimiyyah (the sovereignty) in its creedal and practical aspects.

This sovereignty is only for Allah 􀀬, so in the reality we must regain the confidence of the Muslims in the rules of their Islam. We must restore what has been lost from the ‘Aqeedah in their hearts; the interest in establishing the system that emanates from the ‘Aqeedah in their life; to long for Jannah and yearn for it, and to fear Jahannam and escape from it, and to have concern for the conditions of all the Muslims - and the whole of mankind - through the Islamic ‘Aqeedah.

With such an understanding, the group will define the fundamental problem and know with certainty that when this disease is treated, then all the symptoms will be eliminated. So, the importance of having awareness of the reality is clear.

This is what the Usuli scholars term the Manat (reality). It is imperative that one scrutinises the Manat before starting to bring the Shar’ee evidences.

Gaining awareness of the reality and understanding it is more difficult than understanding the rules that relate to it. It requires precision, because if we make a mistake in understanding the reality - and this misunderstanding is imprinted in our minds - and then start searching for the Shar’ee evidences to treat this reality, we will inevitably bring evidences that treat the erroneous reality imprinted in our minds, not the actual reality in which we live. Hence we will have brought evidences not relevant to the reality.

Understanding the reality necessitates the use of the mind. It is not allowed to make the reality the source of our thinking. There should be no solutions arising from the reality. Rather, the reality should be understood as it is, in its true state.