Algeria: Breathing Freedom

   

Much of the Arab world reels under the political consequences of the long colonial subjugation and foreign intervention-induced complications in national social conditions. Even after attaining formal political independence, these nations have been characterized by military dictatorships and 'captive democracies', nullifying expectations of just governance and true freedoms that people have reason to value. Almost invariably, many of these nations  are ruled by modern-day pharaohs of this world: playing God on earth, these pharaohs in their insatiable quest for perpetual power, seek total dominance in the land: the despotic regimes unleash mechanisms of administrative excesses and thought control, choking all critical spaces and voices within. The strategies and tactics invariably lead to political fraud, crony capitalism/economic corruption, and military repression, stifling people's right to good governance and freedom of choice. When injustice penetrates, overwhelms and exhausts state institutions with rampant corruption and pervasive oppression; resistance against evil, revolt against injustice, and rebellion against the oppressive order becomes the duty of the people.

In his Friday Sermon of 24 May 2024, Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam International Hazrat Muhyiuddin Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim (aba) of Mauritius provides a deep insight into contemporary political developments, especially with reference to regime change in Algeria against the wider backdrop of the Arab peoples' open revolt against gross abuse of authority by wily politicians and military dictators in their lands in the last decade. In this spiritual discourse, Hazrat Khalifatullah (aba) underscores the need for Muslims to commit themselves to the Islamic Way and the lawful methods in the fight against political oppression and the social evils within. Moreover, Hazrat Saheb (aba) calls attention to the great need for change and political reforms in the Muslim nations; a transition from military oppression to a peaceful and democratic frame of governance where people are able to breathe freely, and exercise their choices with responsibility and God-consciousness, Insha Allah, Aameen.    

Read the Friday Sermon Below:

Arab 'Winter' and the Euro 'Spring'

 

The Arab Spring is a term used to tag the wave of protests and civil unrest that swept the Arab world back in December 2010 when a street vendor in Tunisia, Mohammad Bouazizi set himself on fire when the police came to seize his vegetable stall after his failure in obtaining a permit to exercise. He furthermore faced harassment and humiliation by a municipal officer and her assistants.

 

He unfortunately set himself on fire as an open defiance against the autocratic regime, and this act of his was hailed by the West as a mighty sacrifice for democracy in the Arab world and he and those who followed his example to self-immolate themselves - nearly a dozen of them in Egypt, Algeria and Mauritania – were granted such praiseworthy titles such as “heroic martyrs of a new North African and Middle Eastern revolution”. This was published in the New York Times, in the article “How a single match can ignite a Revolution” published on 21 January 2011 by Robert F. Worth.

 

This act which the world deemed as a sacrifice for democracy is in fact suicide which is highly condemnable in Islam. No matter how hard a situation may come upon man, he has no right to take the life which does not belong to him. This act of suicide may be deemed by the West as a heroic act but unfortunately it is not so! Islam encourages revenge as per the same degree of torture that one undergoes, reaffirming the Mosaic Law “an eye for an eye” but being more just and lenient in its application. Islam is the Best Model, the Middle Way, between the extreme and the laissez-faire. The leaders who don’t follow the tenets of Islam while proclaiming themselves as Muslim States are accountable in the worldly court of justice as well as the Divine Court of Justice, but no Muslim – I clear and firmly state – NO MUSLIM SHOULD EVER TAKE HIS OWN LIFE! No matter how hard a situation gets, Allah has forbidden His servant to take this satanic step towards self-destruction.

Prophecy on Mass Killings in our times

[47:19]: “They wait not but for the Hour that it should come upon them suddenly. The signs thereof have already come…” 

Several verses in the Qur’an and the sacred traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) indicate, in subtle language and in different ways, the signs of the Later Days. Among these Signs, is the unmistakeable sign of mass killings that are to take place in the world. This sign has been mentioned in almost all authentic Ahadith collections, including Sahih al Bukhari and Sahih al Muslim, and one can thus read: 

Abdullah said, “The Prophet said,

‘Just before the Hour, there will be days in which knowledge will disappear and ignorance will appear, and there will be much killing.’”

-                                   - [Ibn Majah; also narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim, from the Hadith of al-A’mash]

According to the Qur’an, unity and peace in society are among the Divine blessings, whereas dissension, discord, internal strife and civil war are among the ways in which nations come under a trial. The Holy Prophet of Islam (a) described many of these signs of the Later Days in a context indicating the times of a Massih raised by Allah.

Warnings by Divine Messengers

In the previous era, the Promised Massih Hadhrat Ahmad (as) through his writings, including in Tajalliyat-e-Illahiya (Divine Manifestations), repeatedly warned the world about the horrendous events waiting to unfold on the human condition as a consequence of its lack of appreciation for the Divine guidance for ethical and sustainable living. In our own times, the Muhyi-ud-Din Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius repeatedly warns us that humanity is on the brink of disaster.

Reflecting on the ongoing situation in Central African Republic and also in Myanmar and elsehwere, where the Muslim minorities are living under severe threats to their fundamental rights and freedoms of life and libaerty, in a recent series of Friday Sermons, Hadhrat Sahib (atba) had called the attention of the world to pure Islamic teachings that recognize the diversity of races, religions and languages and the need to respect and accord these rights to all groups in every humane society. In a world driven by the powerful vested interests of the developed world, principles of absolute justice and equal application of the laws in all circumstances that protect the integrity of the international system and human rights cannot be ensured. The Divine Messenger of our times has clearly identified the faultlines of diverging interests and the consequent absence of strong enforcement mechansims at the inter-State level as the apparent weaknesses of the existing world system, leading to the present crisis in world governance. 

It is not unknown to the Muslims that natural and man-made disasters strike the world when Divine sayings are ignored and reformers are insulted and humiliated, rather than respected and listened to. Instead of showing attention and concern for what the Divine message contain, the ungrateful and the rebellious seek to shoot the Messenger, leading invariably to various modes of Divine wrath and punishment. Believers who reflect would invariably be struck by the remarkable similarity of the Divinely-inspired sermons and sayings with the course of events in our times. Those who free themselves from the sins of hubris and prejudice can easily discern the proliferation of a series of events that point to the fulfilment of the grand Divine prophecies in the world affairs.

Syria and the Looming World Crisis

The extremely delicate situation in Syria, where the on-going civil war has consumed over 1,00,000 people and rendered millions into refugees and internally displaced persons, has created a mounting fear psychosis in the entire Middle East that a humongous war is in the offing, especially in the aftermath of the US declaration of intent at military intervention. While the regime of President Bashar Al Assad has come under a cloud of accusation of gassing its own people, the “humanitarian imperialists” who are proactive to ‘teach a lesson’ to the regime also face a credibility-deficit/crisis. As the US seek to use military force in Syria, its dreadful and despicable record of duplicitous dealings in matters of war and state terrorism in the past remind us of the devastating consequences the new war will entail for all people who are going to be caught up in it. A western war in Syria will only be putting a match to the tinterbox, engulfing the whole region and the wider Islamic world and beyond into a quagmire of unimaginable proportions.

In the last decade of the Divine Manifestation, Allah (twa) has informed His Khalifa (the Khalifatullah) Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib (atba) of Mauritius several times about the internal and external threats the Muslim Ummah will face and taught him special prayers for the believers to recite in these troubled times. In a Speech on September 09, 2013 the Khalifatullah (atba) spoke on the escalating Syrian situation and the ominous signs of a World War staring at mankind, in the backdrop of the prophecies of the Promised Massih Hadhrat Ahmad (as).

Read the Extracts from the Speech:

Prophecy on the "ARAB SPRING"

Contemporary world is characterized by an upsurge of democratic aspirations and collective struggles over fundamental human rights and freedoms and the quest for dignity and quality of living standards. And the signs of the "Latter Days"- prophecied in the Holy Qur’an -are apparent everywhere: in contemporary history, national political orders, international relations, economic systems, governance systems, human rights, women’s rights,  scientific breakthroughs, technological innovations, emergence of geological and astronomic insights, the phenomena of globalization, etc. At another level, developments in all fields of human activities and critical intellectual engagements, both in the Arab world and outside it, in our times, provide a profound testimonial to the wisdom and foresight of the author of the Holy Qur’an which contains the promise of enduring divine guidance for the believers along with the prophecies on the signs of the “Latter Days”.  It is to guide the mankind in these troublingly complex times that the Holy Qur’an prophecied about the advent of Divine Messengers in the Latter Days. 

According to the Holy Qur'an, "Allah knows  best where to place His Message" [6:125] and He raises His Messenger accordingly. We are, thus, living through a defining moment in world history: at a time when a Messenger of Allah in the person of Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Sahib of Mauritius (atba) is present among the African people to guide us on the path of spiritual upliftment and material progress.  Hadhrat Khalifatullah’s statements in 2009, appears in retrospect, a prescient forecast or prophecy on events yet to unfold with the recent emergence of the Arab Spring when the Arab massess in North Africa Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Algeria and elsewhere- revolted against their dictatorial elites and liberated themselves from decades of oppressive oligarchies.