Salah, but in the Wrong Order

Salah, but in the Wrong Order

1990 9 September 7-9 Salah, but in the Wrong Order (1058) One who performs salah (prayer) first and his ablutions afterwards cannot truly be said to have prayed. The Shari’ ah would class such a man as a rebel rather than a namazi (one who says his prayers). Even if all the parts of a prayer are gone through, it is no prayer if the different parts are said in the wrong order. No religious scholar or jurist would accept that true prayer could emerge from such disorder.

True namazis throughout the world will invariably say their prayers in the order prescribed, for they are fully aware of the rules and regulations on this subject. The namazi knows full well that a prayer which is lacking in order will not be accepted by God.

On an exact parallel with the so-called namazi, who gets his salah and his ablutions in the wrong order, are those present-day Muslim ‘crusaders’ who want first to seize power then, later, prepare the minds of individuals for the introduction of the Islamic system. They go about shouting slogans about the establishment of Islamic government without having done any of the necessary preparatory work. They need, however, to stop and reflect upon the method adopted by the Prophet. His way was to impose Islamic law only after a long and laborious struggle to win over the minds and hearts of the people.

These crusaders maintain, however, that the Islamic way of life can be established only after taking possession of a country and its territory. First they have to annihilate the evil rulers, then they will set up a just leadership. First they have to destroy the cinema houses, then they will stop people from watching movies. First they have to bring about political change, then they will change the thinking of the individual. First they have to get control of the media, then they can use it to communicate the message of Islam.

All these activities come under the heading of ‘salah first, ablutions later’.ln actual fact, people seldom go against the prescribed form of ritual in observing salah because it has continued to be done in a particular order right from the days of the Prophet. But as far as establishment of Islamic government is concerned, there has been no such unbroken tradition. Therefore, the order in which this takes place does not seem to them to be immutable in the way that the ritual of salah is. This is in spite of both the sunnah of the Prophet and the Shari’ah being quite specific on this subject.

Had the precept of ‘Power first and preparation of the mind later’ been favoured by God, all His prophets would have unhesitatingly followed this rule. But events show that they did not do so, even when the opportunity presented itself.

The Meccans, for example, offered to let the Prophet of Islam rule over them, supposing that the work of da’wah he was engaged in prefigured such a goal. (Seerat ibn Hisham, vol. 1,p. 315) But the Prophet declined their offer of forming a government. Remaining aloof from power, he continued to strive to enter into the minds of the people through the concepts of monotheism and the Hereafter.

Many centuries prior to this; Moses found himself in a similar situation. He had been sent to the Egyptians, where he presented the call to monotheism before the Pharaoh. He continued to struggle for this cause over an extended period, but the Pharaoh refused to accept this message. Finally he was held punishable in the eyes of God, whereupon he, along with his entire army, was drowned in the sea. The military power of the Pharaohs had come to an end.

Now there was nothing to prevent Moses from coming back to Egypt along with his people and occupying the throne, the palace and all the other vacant seats of power. Then, after seizing this power, he could have started working towards influencing the minds of the Israelites. But Moses eschewed this path completely. In spite of all the opportunities he had for grasping political power, he left Egypt for the Sinai Desert. There he continued his struggle to reform and train the Israelites in a purely missionary way. Only when this work of training had been completed over a period of forty years did the Israelites launch political and military campaigns under the leadership of Moses’ successor, Joshua. Then they overpowered the Ghassanids and established their rule over Syria and Palestine.

The modern inventions of radio and television have opened up new opportunities for spreading the word of God. These media certainly provide a very effective and far-reaching means of influencing people’s minds. But there are people who say that to put them to proper use, the first prerequisite is the acquisition of power. That is, first seize power, then attempt the conversion of the people through the news and electronic media. They consider that the task of mind preparing itself demands that things should be done in this order. They think that no other order cap favour Islam.

But this is only a facade of words behind which there is no valid concept. The truth is that just as the order of ablution in salah is unchangeable, so also is the order of mental revolution first and political revolution later. This was the way that a meaningful revolution was brought about in the early days of Islam, and there is no reason for any other method to be used today. Adopting any other policy would be counter productive. This is a matter of recorded experience. For example, General Mohammed Ziaul Haq seized power in Pakistan in 1977 and remained absolute ruler for the lengthy period of eleven and a half years. Immediately after coming into power, one of the many steps he took was to make an Islamist leader, Mahmood Azam Farooqi, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting.

Subsequent to this, a full-scale campaign was launched “to give religious training to the public through the media.” But a long struggle ensued without there being even one per cent benefit to show for it. Social conditions in Pakistan continued to deteriorate. A stage came when at the first election to be held in Pakistan in November 1988, after the death of Ziaul Haq, the Pakistani public deserted the Islamists and voted known secularists to central power.