Thank Allah, we are now in the blessed glorious month of Ramadan, during which the gates of Paradise are opened, the gates of Hellfire are closed, devils are chained and hopefully Allah releases our necks from the Hellfire. I ask Allah the Almighty to confer its blessings on the whole Muslim Ummah, unite its forces, raise high its flag and give it victory over its enemy, for indeed he is the One capable of doing so.

Many would expect that at the beginning of the blessed month I will advice readers to persist in performing Tarawih (night supererogatory prayer during Ramadan), fasting and reciting the Qur'an in the best manner. No doubt, such are great deeds drawing people closer to Allah. However, as I stated in my last article "The Last Ramadan", we may not be isolated from the great events the Ummah passes by no matter what circumstances we experience. It is unjustifiable not to be updated about hot issues of the Ummah during the month of Ramadan, for, in fact, history does not stop, Ummah's enemies do not stop to conspire against it and Mujahids (strugglers in Allah's Cause) do not halt Jihad and movement. Hence, I regard it very important to discuss the last Gaza events, i.e. conflict between Hamas and Jund Nasrallah group, a subject commenting on which and giving which a detailed explanation is inevitable. Actually, I will not deal with the event itself as it may be just incidental. Rather, I will deal with it in the sense that it spots light on the difference between variant good and bad ideologies prevalent in the Ummah. I have always viewed that the greatest mishap is confusion of thoughts and absence of clear vision. When this happens, a Muslim might indulge in a fight for something which in the actual fact is sinful and may sacrifice his life for something which is impermissible for him to do.

Allah the Almighty said the truth in the Qur'anic verse that reads, "Say (O Muhammad SAW): "Shall We tell you the greatest losers in respect of (their) deeds? "Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life while they thought that they were acquiring good by their deeds!" [Surah Al-Kahf: 103, 104].

Steadfast free Gaza

I say wholeheartedly, "God help you Muslim steadfast free city of Gaza."

It seems it was not enough torture for them to conflict with the tyrant cruel Jews and for Hamas to be confronted with world powers who kept on describing it as terrorist.

It seems also it was not enough that the US and Europe led a boycott campaign against strugglers in Gaza and that all contiguous and non-contiguous Arab countries give up Muslims besieged in Gaza in addition to being stabbed from the back by the PLO who would cooperate with Jews.

To add insult to injury, a man, violating the legitimacy in this country that suffers from disorder, declares the establishment of a new Islamic emirate based on just tens of men. By doing so, he challenged the Mujahid Islamic entity of Hamas, pointed his weapons at his Muslim brothers and sew the seeds of discord and instability.

How wondrous indeed!

Hamas steadfastness

Hamas passed by very difficult circumstances during the last few years during which it experienced many crisis only one of which was enough to demolish the whole entity had not it been for Allah's protection and endowing with steadfastness. Actually, they deserved this because of their faithfulness, relentless enthusiasm, respect for the Qur'an and Sunnah and literal commitment to the Prophet's way. Few months ago, I wrote an article titled "Hamas, How Great is Hamas", in which I stated how much I admire, even am fascinated, by such a faithful group that preserved the dignity of all Muslims and represented a shining example in a fully dark world.

In spite of such harsh circumstances, and to our surprise, some armed organization came upon the scene calling for rebellion against the government unanimously accredited by the Ummah scholars for its Jihad, sacrifices and honorable history and present. The last organization to come to light was the Jundullah organization, belonging, as claimed by its founders, to the Salafism Jihadism (a school of thought of Salafi Muslims who support violent jihad). Actually, I cannot really grasp who are the Salaf (righteous predecessors) they follow and what kind of Jihad they mean.

I wonder, was it the approach of Salaf to indulge in internal disputes with their Mujahid Muslim brothers? Is Jihad a means to disuniting Muslims?

Kharijites: Ideological deviation

In fact, such a kind of organizations are recurrent along the Islamic history. Most prominent among them is the sect that rebelled against the fourth rightly-guided caliph and the great scholar Ali bin Abu Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), a sect that was historically known as Kharijites. Actually, they did not represent only a stage of history but also a constant ideological deviation that we could see in many areas of the Muslim world and many stages of the Ummah's development. Reverend Imam Ali bin Abu Talib fought against them after having called them peacefully to re-subordinate themselves to the Muslim main authority, a call to which they have never responded. Their stubbornness caused the battles regarding which the Prophet (peace be upon him) had prophesized that Muslims who will take part in them will receive a great reward from Allah, which motivated Ali bin Abu Talib to lead Muslims in such confronts.

Attributes of Kharijites?

I conducted a comprehensive research on that sect that rebelled against the Mujahid caliph Ali bin Abu Talib analyzing their attributes and exploring their roots, reality, way of thinking and way of dealing with events. I could infer some attributes of them through which we can recognize, and thus can judge, their likes in our modern life. Below are listing of their attributes.

The first attribute: Ignorance about religion

Although they appear to the masses to be committing to religion principles, taking the form sometimes of Du'ah (callers to Allah) and orators, they know very little about religious rulings and thus make ignorancet-based decisions, which can hardly do any good.

The second attribute: Easily judging people to be disbelievers

This attribute is at its clearest knowing that they judged to be disbelievers Ali, Mu'awiyah bin Abu Sufian and 'Amr bin Al-'As, a judgment which they applied by analogy to all their followers and armies consisting of Companions and Successors. By doing so, they have judged the whole community to be disbeliever. As a result of such a judgment, they totally isolated themselves from their communities and acquired public dislike. It also led them to apply the judgments relating to disbelievers to the Muslim community, which absolutely has serious and evil repercussions.

The third attribute: Indifferently shedding blood

Actually, this follows from the previous attribute. They would so easily sentence people to death maybe by no means bothering themselves to search for evidence, substantiate the claim, excuse those convicted or listen to their opinions. According to them, killing is no more than a dagger's stab or a bullet fired as if shot at a soulless body.

The fourth attribute: Severe rudeness while enjoining good or forbidding evil

They do not take into consideration the Qur'anic verse that reads, "And had you been severe and harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you" [Al Imran, 159]. Although the Prophet (peace be upon him) is backed by Divine revelation and supported by the strongest evidence and proofs, he would not have kept people gathering around him had not he dealt with them kindly and been passionate. Speaking about those people, they deal with people so harshly, violently and arrogantly. Therefore, people hold them in a low esteem as they are characterized by harshness even while dealing with their next of kin.

The fifth attribute: Disrespect of scholars

They are impudent to great scholars and imminent Faqihs (jurisprudents) although they might not be even of the degree of a student. Nevertheless, an individual of them might mock a reverend scholar who spent forty or fifty years of his age in investigating, researching, teaching and practicing Da'wah and Jihad. They can easily claim to be of equal authority to great scholars. Actually, they do not regard as important a scholarly degree or a glorious history. In this regard, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "He is not of us who does not have mercy on our young ones and does not know the respect owed to our old ones."

The sixth attribute: Adherents of the one-truth approach

They do not believe in plurality of opinions regarding one given issue and that many sensitive and significant issues were subjects of difference of opinion among great Muslim scholars. They cannot grasp the fact that each of two conflicting views on a certain subject might be right. They also cannot realize the fact that some rulings fit certain era, country, circumstances but do not fit others. Consequently, it is easy for them to accuse others of being negligent in religion as they are blind followers of their Fiqhi (jurisprudential) school which might be corruptly based.

The seventh attribute: Jumping to conclusions

They cannot understand what is called "Stage-based Fiqh" and thus want to achieve all goals in one moment. Thus thinking, it seems they have not read the biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him) telling us that the Prophet (peace be upon him) stayed in Mecca for thirteen years during which he fought against no one. Moreover, they could not take notice of the fact the Prophet (peace be upon him) fought first against polytheists putting off the files of Romans and Persians to a more suitable time. To the same effect, the Prophet (peace be upon him) accepted certain provisions of some early treaties which he did not accept in later stages of the Islamic state establishment. Actually, jumping to conclusions as such does not harm them only but also the whole Muslim community and the whole Ummah including all its sects and might lead them to hinder Islamic movements that are thousands of miles far from their countries.

The eighth attribute: Superficiality and inability to analyze

Events taking place around them might be so complicated that they require intelligent and skillful Faqihs who can precisely read events exploring their depths, who are aware of the objectives of the multiple enemy camps and can define who is friend and who is enemy. In fact, they do not have all such characteristics as they are, according to the Prophet's description, young foolish people. Accordingly, they do not have the ability to infer sound rulings in ordinary situations not to mention complicated and thorny situations. In other words, they suffer from absence of clear vision and ambiguity of objectives. It might even happens that laymen and masses have a better vision than they have.

The ninth attribute: Close-mindedness and lacking breadth of view

They are not broad or elevated in scope or understanding of religion and thus cannot have a comprehensive view. Therefore, they concentrate on certain aspects while are heedless of many others. Moreover, they do not have the least knowledge about the Fiqh of Balances and thus cannot make balance between priorities. To clarify, they might enthusiastically proceed to do something recommendable while abandoning something obligatory or might fight something only abhorred while paying no attention to something prohibited. Actually, this is because they are stubbornly unreceptive to ideas of religion other than the one they hold.

The tenth attribute: Security breached on a large scale

Paying no attention to personality building and being haste in reaping benefits, they join members without careful examination and hold enthusiastic persons in a high esteem without deliberation. As a result, their security policy is easily breached by enemies and are joined by secret agents, who diffuse corrupt ideas, sow discord and cause misfortunes and disasters. Moreover, such agents may spy on Muslims secretly gathering and reporting information about their activities, which might destroy the whole society and threaten the security of all Muslims.

Thus far, I have listed ten characteristics of theirs.

How should we deal with them?

Finally, what are we to do in case such people emerge trying to rebel against a rightly-guided Islamic government wishing good for Muslims, not only in Palestine but also in the whole Muslim world?

What we are to do is calling upon them to re-join the Muslim community, not to insist on rebellion and to unite Muslim forces in order to form a one united entity.

If they refuse, fighting them will be the last resort so as to avert social disorder, protect the masses against the evils of such a minority and ward off evils of the Ummah's enemies.

Nevertheless, we do not judge them to be disbelievers or out of the scope of Islam; rather, we say they are our brothers who wronged us. Moreover, we will receive them with open arms so happily as if our children or dearest persons to us if they re-join the mainstream Ummah.

To say the truth, this is what the blessed Hamas did. Actually, the problem of such organization rose long ago. Hamas's reaction was adopting legal means conducting debates and dialogues with them and dealing with them in the kindest manner. However, they stubbornly insisted on fighting as they declared the Islamic emirate consisting of thirty persons. Thus, the only choice available was protecting public interest through fighting against those who rebelled against the rightly-guided Islamic government.

I, during these blessed days, I adjure our Muslim brothers in Gaza and in Palestine as a whole to reunite, unite forces and know their real enemy and struggle against it as they used always to do. I also call upon Muslim scholars and Du'ah to make things clear for the public so that they may not be deceived by a corrupt Jihad call or be fascinated by people who want to do them harm while they do not know.

To conclude, I call the whole Muslim Ummah to raise their hands to heavens supplicating Allah to safeguard Muslims religion, lives and honors and to free Palestine as well as all other occupied regions.

I ask Allah to glorify Islam and Muslims.

Dr. Ragheb ElSergany

https://islamstory.com/en/artical/3407503