> Condition of Muslims Today

                    Condition of Muslims Today                                                                           

( An extract from the book : " Let us be muslim"  by moulana Syed Abul Ala Moududi R A )

To be slaves of the three idols (slavery to the self, to society, and to Kafir nations ), I say, is the real Shirk (idolatry). You may have demolished the temples of bricks and mortar, you may have broken stone idols in them, but you have paid little attention to the temples within your own hearts. To smash these idols is the essentials precondition to becoming a Muslim.




This applies to all Muslims throughout the world whatever sufferings you are going through, I am sure, are the result of worshipping these idols. But because I am facing Punjabi brothers here, I have particularly to tell them that the root of all their misery and humiliation is again precisely these three things. There are more than fifteen million of this land. But despite this we have no weight of our own. Some communities numerically far smaller carry much more weight (This was said, it should be kept in mind, in 1938 when Punjab was one province and formed part of British India) and what is the reason? It is solely by beings slaves to our own selves, to family customs and to other human beings in preference to God That our strength has been sapped from within.


Let us look at ourselves. We have created among us many castes, like Rajputs, Gakhars, Mughuls, Jats and many others. Islam asked all these ethnic groups to become one Ummah, to be brothers and to units harmoniously like a solidly built wall of cemented bricks. But we are still clinging to the old pagan ideas. Just as there are separate castes among Hindus, so are we also split. We do not intermarry as Muslims should. There is no trace of brotherhood and fraternity between us , but in reality we observer all those distinctions which were prevalent before Islam.


It is these distinctions, which have prevented us from becoming a strong wall. Each and every brick in the wall is disjointed. We can neither rise together nor face any adverse situation together. If we are asked, in accordance with Islamic teaching, to break these barriers and become one again, what is our answer? Just the same as the opponents of all the Prophets gave: We cannot go against the customs which answer was given by God to this obduracy? Only this: You do not have to break these customs and you do not have to give up following the rites of Hindus. But we shall break you into pieces and shall put you to disgrace and dishonor in spite of your large numbers


Look further: Allah has commanded that your sons and daughters are both entitled to inheritance. What is your answer? 'No, for according the custom of our forefathers, only sons and not daughters are entitled. We will follow the way of our forefathers in preference to the law of God'. Tell me, in the name of God, is this Islam? When you are asked to break this ancestral custom you say that you will break it. When asked why, you say because if others did not give a share to their daughters and we did, then we would be at a disadvantage when our sons took wives. Just consider what this reply means. Are we to obey the law of God only on condition that others commit adultery, we shall be saying next: If others commit theft, we shall also steal. In short, till such time as others give up sinning, we shall continue to commit sins.


In following you caste system and inheritance customs in such a manner all the three false idols we have been discussing are being worshipped. There is slavery to the self, to society, and to Kafir nations. And at the same time, while serving all these idols, we still claim that we nonetheless somehow belongs to Islam!.


These are only two examples. We need only look at the situation with open eyes to see countless others. And in all these we will find that sometimes there are is worship of one idol, sometimes of two, sometimes of three. While these idols are being worshipped alongside the claims of allegiance to Islam and God, how can we expect Allah to shower His blessings on us-blessings, which have been promised only to true Muslims?