Here one may ask: “Was it with such ease that the Kuffar managed to destroy the Khilafah and wipe out Islam from the political scene, and while the Muslims number hundreds of millions, yet they do not defend their Deen nor do they defend their political entity?” The answer to this is: “Yes! It was that easy for the Kuffar to topple the Khilafah and wipe out Islam from the political scene; and the Muslims did not defend it; they did not even fight to the last ditch, like the vanquished would do before leaving the battlefield. The reason why this occurred was because these vital issues were not perceived by the Ummah as those which necessitated life and death measures to be taken. Thus the Ummah was dealt this fatal blow without a complete effort to repel it. This was because the Ummah did not consider what took place as being a vital issue upon which her survival or her demise depended. Hence, she did not view this calamity with the importance with which she would normally view issues upon which her survival depends. Consequently, she did not undertake the resolution of this calamity with the urgency of life and death. As a result, the Kuffar managed to topple the Khilafah and to wipe out the system of Islam from existence.

The instinct of survival makes it incumbent upon every nation in the world and every people on Earth to have its own vital issues, for which a nation or a people would give its blood with consent and with utmost fervour, without any hesitation or any argument or debate. These issues are those related to either perishing or staying alive, or related to the removal of a people from existence or the safeguard of their survival.

Such measures are unique and almost identical to all people and the measures undertaken towards them are similar or very similar to all people, because they are tangibly life threatening. Hence, the issues are the same and the measures are also the same. However, the issues related to the survival instinct do not compose all of the vital issues, nor are the vital issues only those related to the survival instinct; for there are other vital issues related to the spiritual instinct and to the procreation instinct.

However, people differ in these issues according to the difference in their viewpoint about life; thus they differ in the measures undertaken towards them; this is so because what makes these issues vital is the specific viewpoint about life; thus they differ and the measures they undertake also differ. Therefore, some vital issues differ between peoples and nations according to the difference in their viewpoint about life. The Muslims are one Ummah and they undoubtedly have a host of vital issues. The Ummah’s vital issues, whether these were related to the survival instinct or the spiritual instinct or the procreation instinct, should be according to their viewpoint about life. Their viewpoint about life is determined by Islam alone. Hence, it is Islam that determines the vital issues and also determines the measures which need to be taken.

Islam has explained to people what are the vital issues, and made the measure of life and death towards them an obligation. Hence, the Muslims have no choice in determining their vital issues. That which is considered by Islam to be a vital issue must be viewed by the Muslims as such.

Likewise, they have no choice in the measure of life and death undertaken towards such issues; because when Islam determined the vital issues, it also determined the measure that Muslims should undertake towards them.

For Islam to have faced events which threatened it and for Muslims to have come up against what threatened their existence, in their capacity as Muslims, was inevitable. It is self evident that any movement in life would face that which threatens its existence, especially the movements of reform and more specifically the sound movements. Ever since the dawn of Islam, the struggle has been fierce between Islam and Kufr. This struggle has been about the fate of Kufr and the fate of Islam. The bloody struggle that was added to the intellectual struggle since the establishment of the Islamic State in Madinah was in defence of the vital issues. Hence, the existence of vital issues was to the Muslims inevitable and axiomatic, and their undertaking of the measure of life and death towards them was also inevitable and axiomatic. It is a matter for which Jihad has been made one of the most important duties, in which the Messenger of Allah (saw)

said: “The head of the matter is Islam, its pillar is the Salah and the peak of its hump is Jihad.” It is also a matter for which Jihad will continue until the Hour comes, for he (saw) said: “And Jihad has been constant since Allah sent me until the last generation of my Ummah fight the Dajjal, it will not be revoked by the tyranny of a tyrant nor by the justness of a just.” The Messenger of Allah (saw) also said:

“Jihad is constant with the pious and the dissolute.” Hence, the Muslims did not slacken for one moment in defending the vital issues, nor did they ever hesitate in undertaking the measure of life and death towards every vital issue.

Therefore, when they were faced with what threatened their fate as an Ummah and as a state during the crusades, the Muslims undertook measures which necessitated life and death. Thus, they engaged the Kuffar crusaders in a fierce war for more than a century. The Islamic Ummah managed to repel the fatal blow that threatened her. Likewise, the Muslims acted in the same way when the Mongols invaded the Islamic lands. The Islamic Ummah considered this invasion as a matter that threatened her existence, thus she undertook towards it the measure of life and death, and the Muslims engaged the Mongols in a war in which they sacrificed their lives without seeking any worldly gains until the decisive victory was theirs.

Therefore, the Muslims used to perceive the vital issues and used to undertake towards them what was obligatory upon them, that is the measure of life and death. This was so because that which Islam had explained in terms of vital issues was considered as facts by the Muslims, which they clutched with a tight grip, and the perception of any danger was clearly manifested to them. Hence, it was inconceivable for them to face a situation that threatened their existence without undertaking towards it that which Islam has obliged upon them, that is the measure of life and death. Neither the Islamic Ummah, nor the Islamic State ever failed in the past to perceive and be aware of the vital issues. However, when the perception of Islam receded to the level of deviation and when the piety in the souls weakened to the level of keeping silent over the flagrant Kufr, these vital issues lost their consideration as being vital, and the measure of life and death was not undertaken towards them. Consequently, the threat to the existence loomed and the Muslims failed to give their blood and their lives generously in order to repel this threat. Hence, the Khilafah was destroyed, the system of Islam was abolished and the whole of the Islamic Ummah was threatened with extinction.

Thus, it is imperative to perceive the vital issues from the Islamic viewpoint as Islam decreed in the Book and the Sunnah. It is also imperative to perceive the compulsory measures which ought to be undertaken towards them as outlined by the Qur’an and by the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (saw). Only then would awareness of the vital issues and of the compulsory measure towards them be generated and their neglect would then become inconceivable.