IMPORTANCE OF JIHAD

Brethren-in Islam!

In a previous lecture I had once explained to you the meanings of Deen, Shari'ah and Ibadat. Now again refresh your memory with this subject.

Deen means obedience.

Law is called Shar’ah.

‘Ibadat connotes servitude.

Meaning of Deen'

When you accept subservience to someone and acknowledge him as your ruler, it will be as if you have accepted his Deen. Then he becomes your ruler and you become his subject, his orders and the regulations promulgated by him constitute law and Shari'ah for you. When you submit to him whatever he demands, carry out whatever order he gives, abstain from acts which he forbids, work within the limits which he prescribes for you as proper, and follow his instructions and accept his decisions in matters of your mutual relations, dealings, legal contests and disputes . . then this position of yours will be called servitude or Ibadaat.

The point becomes clear from this elucidation that Deen actually is the name of government. Shari`ah is the law of government and Ibadaat is compliance with its laws and regulations. Whomsoever you accept as your ruler and affirm subjection to him, it means you have actually entered his Deen. If that ruler of yours is Allah, it means you have entered Allah's Deen; if he is some king, it means you have entered the king's Deen; if it is some particular nation, then you have entered that nation's Deen; and if it is your own nation or the commonalty of your country, then you have entered the common people's Deen. In short, whosoever's shacklls of obedience are around your neck, you are actually within his Deen, and whosoever's laws you are following, you' are actually performing his Ibadaat.

There cannot be two 'Deens' of a man

Having understood this point, you can without the slightest difficulty understand this fact too that in no way can there be two Deen of a man, because from among various Deens you can be following only one of them. Out of the various laws, only one of them, in any case, can become the law of your life. And out of the various objects of worship, it is possible for you to worship one god only. You may say that there can also be another method.... that in the matter of belief we accept one ruler while in reality we obey another; we offer worship to one while we do servitude to another; we affirm faith with our heart in one law while in practice the affairs of our life are regulated by another law. In reply to this I shall say: "No doubt this can be done, and in fact it is being actually done, but this is Shirk....and this Shirk is sheer falsehood. In reality, you are followers of that being's Deen only whom you are actually obeying. Is it not then utter falsehood that you are calling that being your ruler whom you do not obey and whose Deen you say is your Deen? And even if you say it by your tongue and feel it in your heart, what benefit and effect does it carry? Your assertion that you have affirmed faith in his Shari`ah is entirely meaningless when the affairs of your life have transgressed his Shari`ah and you are following the dictates of another Shari`ah. You state you accept a certain being as your object of worship but your act of placing your head on ground in Sajdah before him becomes a pseudo-exercise when in practice you are doing servitude to another being. In reality, your object of worship is that being, and you are actually offering Ibadat to him only, whose orders you are carrying out, on whose bidding you refrain from some deed, within whose prescribed limits you carry on your work, on whose specified system you conduct yourself, according to whose procedure you exchange goods with others, whose judgments you seek in your affairs, according to whose Shari`ah your mutual relations are regulated and the division of rights among you is settled, and on whose bidding you surrender all the energies of your heart and brain, hands and feet together with your earned wealth and even your life. Therefore, whatever may be your belief, if the actual practice is against it, then the latter coustitutes the solid reality. In such a situation there will be no room for belief at all nor will such a belief carry any weight. If in reality you belong to a king's Deen there will be no room in it for Allah's Deen. And if you belong to the Deen of the common people (Jamhoor) or the Deen of Britons, or Germans, or your country and motherland, then here also there will be no room for Allah's Deen. And if, in reality, you are an adherent of Allah's Deen, in the same manner there will be no room there for any other Deen. In any case, please understand it fully that wherever there will be Shirk, it will be a pack of lies.

Every `Deen' wants power

When this point has been giasped by you, your mind will by itself arrive at this undisputable conclusion, that whatever Deen it may be, willingly wants acquisition of power. It may be the Deen (.1 the masses or of the kings, or of the communists, or of God, or of any other being, in each case every Deen needs its own government to establish itself. A Deen without a government is just like a design of a building existing in your brain but the building is not found on the ground. Of what use is a design which resides in your brain while you live in a building which has been actually constructed. You enter through its door and come out from its door. You will be under its roof and surrounded by its walls. You will have to arrange your residence in it according to its constructed plan. Then what meaning does it carry at all when, while living in a building of a certain design, you keep in mind a structure of another style or of a different design, or even if you harbor a staunch belief in this imaginary model. The matter will exist only in your brain while you yourself will be actually inside that solid building which will be on the ground. In fact, the word building is not used for a structure which exists merely in the brain. That thing alone is called a building, and one can live in that building only, whose foundations are laid in the earth and whose roof and walls % are erected on the ground. Exactly according to this example, there is no meaning in the mere belief that a certain Deen is true, when people are in practice, living their life according to another Deen. Just as an imaginary design is not a building, in the same way an imaginary Deen is not called a Deen, and nobody can live according to an imaginary Deen just as he cannot stay in an imaginary building. That Deen alone is real and genuine whose authority is established on earth, whose law is followed and according to whose rules and regulations the affairs of life are conducted. Therefore every Deen according to its very nature demands its own government and a Deen is meant for this very purpose only that that very authority which it wishes to acknowledge should alone be the object of its Ibadat and servitude, and its Shari`ah should alone be enforced.