OUR GREATEST HERITAGE
“MY companions are like the twinkling stars. Whichever of them you follow, you will be on the right track.”
The above is a well-known authentic saying of the Prophet ﷺ. Read between the lines it is a warning that instead of quarrelling about the relative rights or wrongs or merits and demerits of the Prophet’s Companions, we should seek inspiration from their lives to guide our own footsteps, and an assurance that when confronted with a difficult choice we are sure to find light and guidance there.
We have made so much of the mutual quarrels the Islamic State was involved in, over the succession issue after the Prophet – quarrels which in Hazrat Ali’s regime burst into a conflagration, dividing the Muslim community into a number of warring camps. In the midst of these quarrels, however, there were so many shining examples of high Islamic character which we so often miss, but which, according to the Prophet’s above dictum, should be the specific moral lessons for us to draw inspiration from.
One section opposed to Hazrat Ali was the Khawarij, the fanatic doctrinaires who went to the extent of denouncing the fourth Caliph as a Kafir, and rose in rebellion against his rule, which they called a Jihad (holy war). Hazrat Ali’s followers urged him to resort to retaliatory measures and declare these rebels as renegades from Islam. Any lesser man would have readily seized upon the suggestion and declared the Khawarij as Kafirs. Ali, however, was not a man to be swayed by the heat of political exigencies and put his personal likes and dislikes above the clear dictate of the Quran that all Believers are brothers. In the midst of that war-climate when passions were running high, what was the reply he gave to the demand of a fatwa against the Khawarij?
No! – came his words ringing clear-cut and sharp. “They are our brothers just the same, even though they have revolted against us”.
هم إخواننا بغوا علينا
Another most controversial figure who looms large in Muslim politics of those times was Mu’awiya, who set himself up as a ruler in Syria, contesting Ali’s title to the Caliphate. In the course of the war conditions between the two that ensued, the neighbouring Roman Governor sent word to Mu’awiya offering his fullest support in men and money to overthrow Ali’s rule. The reply Mu’awiya sent to this offer is another shining example of a true Islamic attitude.
“How dare you talk of the overthrow of Ali?” – he wrote back. “If ever you commit the folly to move against Ali, you will find Mu’awiya fighting under the banner of Ali.”
Here are two shining gems of right Islamic behaviour in the lives of two shining stars of the Prophet’s two companions, to guide us in this difficult phase of our statecraft through which Pakistan is at the moment passing (Referring to the Election of 1965 between Ayub Khan and Fatima Jinnah). In the heat of the recent elections which swept a whole wave of mutual hatred, we must not forget the basic brotherhood into which Islam binds all sections of the population.
The high demand of religion must come above the dust and din of politics. Whereas politics naturally divides, religion applies the healing balm, reminding of our common brotherhood and common destiny. That is our greatest heritage – our greatest politics. That is the path to Pakistan’s true solidarity and greatness.
Hazrat Ali whose martyrdom took place on the 22nd of Ramazan and at the hands of a member of the same group, the Khawarij, whom he refused to declare as outlaws, outside the pale of Islam because they professed to be Muslims, and Islam enjoins to treat all Muslims as brothers. The highest tribute that can be paid to his memory is to respect and follow the high tradition he set up in regarding his deadly enemies as brothers in faith.
M.Y.Khan
(The LIGHT – February 1, 1965)
