10. Prayer, Salah is the training, practice for character building to perform Jehad. To establish this way of life over the whole of mankind, a unique group of people is mandatory, and it is Salah that readies this group in the physical, spiritual and character building senses. Yet, the goal remains the same; it is the all out struggle to establish Deen–ul–Huq on earth. The most important part of a house is its roof, if that is absent, the house is not livable, even if it is encrusted with gold, silver and precious stones like rubies, the pillars that hold up the roof are of equal importance. It is for this that Messenger of Allah has stated, “Islam is a house, the pillar of which is Salah and Jehad is the roof” – [Hadis Muaz (RA) Ahmed, Termizi, Ibne Majah, Meskat.] Just as pillars are inconsequential if the roof is absent, similarly, Salah is meaningless if its purpose, Jehad is absent.
11. There are four highly important elements that are imperative to achieve success in any great endeavor. Similarly to achieve the gigantic success of implementing the Deen in this world through Jehad, all out struggle, failure or even lacking in any of those four elements will not bring success. The subjects are:
(a) Objective: – A clear idea about the objective the goal to be achieved meaning concept. If the objective of a mission is lost from sight, or deviation occurs in the course, all is lost.
(b) Unity: – Strength lies in unity. If unity is absent or lacking defeat and failure is only one step away. Allah has warned against disunity over and over again in the Qur’an. Difference in opinion is the first step of disunity for this, the Messenger of Allah has likened differences to Kufr, he has forbidden the different interpretations of Qur’anic ayats or verses calling it Kufr and warned his followers to go quiet to avoid differences in opinion, rather leaving it on Allah to decide – (Hadis, Abdallah Bin arqu (ra) Muslim, Miskat). In his speech at the final Pilgrimage, the Messenger of Allah has in clear terms associated internal feuding to Kufr.
(c) Training, practice:– The next important point in achieving the arduous job of implementing the Deen in this world is the training, the practice that prepare this nation of warriors to undertake this task. Even if the first two steps of clear objective and unity are present, success cannot be achieved without proper training and practice. This is where Salah comes in – it is Salah that is the character builder of the Islamic nation. Salah is the practice for punctuality, discipline, methodical following and various character building, physical and spiritual training. The goal, objective of this training is to prepare to engage in all out struggle with the aim defeating Eblis and snatching victory for Allah by establishing His Rule on earth. If this objective is lost and only training gains momentum or if the training itself is considered the objective, then it is absolutely meaningless.
(d) Not to engage in excesses about Deen: – The very goal and objective of the Deen is to be established over mankind, therefore, if the process to do so, the struggle is left midway, then what is the point in becoming engrossed with petty issues? It is completely useless. For this, if the Messenger of Allah was enquired about different petty issues, he would get extremely angry. In the case where only Tawheed and the struggle to implement it are sufficient to be granted paradise, it is of no use whatsoever to become busy in performing other lesser rewarding jobs while neglecting that all important factor. In this Deen, the precondition for reward for any good deed (e.g. nek amal) is Tawheed; if this Tawheed is absent or relegated to application only in the personal lives of people, then all good deeds are indeed worthless. This all encompassing Tawheed is prevalent no where on earth today. When people busy themselves with discussing or working on petty, trivial issues (masla–masael) of the Deen, they deviate from the straight, simple and easy Serat–ul–Mostaqeem. This is why the Messenger of Allah would get highly vexed if any of his Sahabis asked too many questions about any other topic than the highly important aspects of the Faith. He is known to have replied in anger and said to try and follow only as much as he had prescribed; furthermore warned his followers to refrain from engaging in discussing the masla–masael in detail because the followers of Messengers before him had delved into the same, fought among themselves over these and brought doom upon themselves over those divisions (Hadis). Little heed have we paid to the Messenger of Allah’s warning or his anger. Instead, this nation as a whole has long abandoned the true essence of the faith, the Tawheed and busied ourselves with such hair splitting of the masla–masaels that it puts other nations to shame. The result too has been what the Messenger of Allah feared the division into 73 Ferkas or ideologies and the inevitable destruction of unity.
12. Individual and group: – The two arguments the Malaeks or farishtas had put forward against the creation of Allah’s Khalifa, Man were that these would create Fasad- unrest, injustice and anarchy and Safakuddima- bloodshed, war on earth. Notice that both these issues are collective ones, not individual problems. Therefore, the root problem, main issue is collective. The solution Allah provided for this is Deen–ul–Islam, another collective issue.
