Surah Al-Hajj (22) — Ayah 41

(Ayah 41) ➊ {اَلَّذِيْنَ اِنْ مَّكَّنّٰهُمْ فِي الْاَرْضِ … :} Regarding those people mentioned earlier who are permitted to fight because they were wronged and were expelled from their homes solely for the crime of monotheism, and that Allah will surely help them, Allah is stating in advance about them that if We grant them authority in the land, they will perform four actions. The first and second are that they will establish the system of prayer and zakat. History bears witness that in the era of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the Rightly Guided Caliphs, such a strong system of establishing prayer was in place that in the books of hadith, seerah, and history, you will read about the commission of other sins and their punishments, but you will not find a single person who did not pray or did not give zakat and was still considered a Muslim. Even the hypocrites had to come to the mosques and pray to prove their Islam. Allah said: «اِنَّ الْمُنٰفِقِيْنَ يُخٰدِعُوْنَ اللّٰهَ وَ هُوَ خَادِعُهُمْ وَ اِذَا قَامُوْۤا اِلَى الصَّلٰوةِ قَامُوْا كُسَالٰى يُرَآءُوْنَ النَّاسَ وَ لَا يَذْكُرُوْنَ اللّٰهَ اِلَّا قَلِيْلًا» [ النساء : ۱۴۲ ] “Indeed, the hypocrites [think to] deceive Allah, but He is deceiving them. And when they stand for prayer, they stand lazily, showing [themselves] to the people and not remembering Allah except a little.” And everyone knows that after the death of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), when some tribes refused to give zakat, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: [ وَاللّٰهِ ! لَأُقَاتِلَنَّ مَنْ فَرَّقَ بَيْنَ الصَّلَاةِ وَالزَّكَاةِ ] [ بخاري، الزکاۃ، باب وجوب الزکاۃ : ۱۴۰۰ ] “By Allah! I will fight anyone who differentiates between prayer and zakat.” The decline of Muslims began the day some rulers adopted the stance of those who said that whether one prays or not, gives zakat or not, it does not affect their faith; they are still firm Muslims. Some people went so far as to say that everyone’s faith is the same, it neither increases nor decreases, so our faith and that of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), and our faith and that of Jibreel (peace be upon him) are equal. Nowadays, some groups go around the world inviting people to prayer, but their own relatives, wives, and children do not pray, yet they keep them close to their hearts. They entrust their business and property to them. The real reason is the corruption of belief, as they consider the faith of those who pray and those who do not to be equal, and openly say that faith is only affirmation and declaration. If today the Siddiq, Farooq, Uthman, and Ali (may Allah be pleased with them), who fulfilled the duty of {’’ اَقَامُوا الصَّلٰوةَ وَ اٰتَوُا الزَّكٰوةَ ‘‘}, were present, we would see how these people would roam about as Muslims without prayer and zakat, and even consider themselves better Muslims than those who pray.

The third and fourth qualities mentioned are that they will enjoin good and forbid evil. This verse proves the legitimacy of the caliphate of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, because besides establishing prayer and zakat, they fulfilled the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil not only with their tongues but also with their actions. They established the limits of Allah, by virtue of which a lone woman traveled from Hira to the House of Allah for Hajj and feared none but Allah. Through jihad, they invited the world to monotheism and forbade shirk and disbelief, and by decisively defeating Caesar, Chosroes, and the great tyrants of Arabia, they conquered their treasures and brought their nations into the fold of Islam. Whoever did not willingly enter this fold was not forcibly converted, but war continued with them until they agreed to pay jizyah and accept the rule of Islam. After the Rightly Guided Caliphs, those caliphs are also included in this glad tiding who fully performed these four duties. How unfortunate are those who harbor enmity towards these great personalities, whose noble qualities and righteous deeds Allah Himself testifies to before granting them authority.

➋ Even today, Allah’s promise of help is only for those people who, when granted authority by Allah, perform these four actions. As a result, they will gain dominance over the nations of the world, economic hardship will end and a welfare state will be established, and peace will prevail. Alas! Muslim rulers, abandoning these four things, are following the ways of the disbelievers—democracy, usury, the promotion of indecency, distancing from the Hereafter, and the pursuit of worldly gain alone—expecting that this will bring them dominance, prosperity, and peace, whereas this is impossible. The reality is that the cure for all our ailments is only and only to act upon the command of Allah.

➌ This same promise and glad tiding of Allah is also mentioned in Surah An-Nur, where He said: « وَعَدَ اللّٰهُ الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا مِنْكُمْ وَ عَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْاَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِيْنَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ وَ لَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِيْنَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضٰى لَهُمْ وَ لَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُمْ مِّنْۢ بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ اَمْنًا يَعْبُدُوْنَنِيْ لَا يُشْرِكُوْنَ بِيْ شَيْـًٔا وَ مَنْ كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذٰلِكَ فَاُولٰٓىِٕكَ هُمُ الْفٰسِقُوْنَ » [ النور : ۵۵ ] “Allah has promised those among you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He granted it to those before them, and that He will surely establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them, and He will surely substitute for them, after their fear, security. They will worship Me, not associating anything with Me. But whoever disbelieves after that—then those are the defiantly disobedient.”

➍ {وَ لِلّٰهِ عَاقِبَةُ الْاُمُوْرِ :} The commentator Al-Biqa'i has stated a very beautiful point under this “waaw” (and), saying that the sentence to which this “waaw” is conjunct is not mentioned here. In connection with the command of jihad and its wisdom {’’ وَ لَوْ لَا دَفْعُ اللّٰهِ النَّاسَ ‘‘}, the discourse is that {’’فَلِلّٰهِ بَادِئَةُ الْأُمُوْرِ وَلِلّٰهِ عَاقِبَةُ الْأُمُوْرِ‘‘}—that is, after giving the disbelievers a long period to severely harm the Muslims, and now granting the Muslims permission for jihad and promising them help, the summary is that the beginning of all matters is also in Allah’s hand, as sometimes He gives respite to the disbelievers at the start, which is intended to establish proof against them and to test those who claim faith, so that the true, the false, the wavering, and the steadfast in faith become evident. And sometimes He helps the Muslims from the very beginning. Thus, the initiation of all matters is only in Allah’s hand, and the conclusion of all matters is also only in Allah’s hand. By omitting {’’بَادِئَةُ الْأُمُوْرِ‘‘} and mentioning {’’ عَاقِبَةُ الْاُمُوْرِ ‘‘}, Muslims are encouraged that at the beginning, sometimes even the enemies of Allah get an opportunity, but in the end, it is yours. Now, it is Allah’s will—if He wishes, He will grant the outcome in favor of the Muslims in this world, and if He wishes, He will do so when every matter reaches its conclusion and when all authority besides Allah’s will have ended (Al-Infitar: 19), and in fact, without His permission, no one will even be able to speak (An-Naba: 38). Then whoever is saved from Hell and admitted to Paradise, he is the successful one and his outcome is good. See Surah Al-Imran (185).