Allah specifically mentions that He created men to worship Him alone, but He also says that He created men to be His steward (khalifa) on the earth. al-Mawardi defined the term khalifa as ‘hirasatuddin wa siyasatuddunya bihi’ i.e. to guard the deen and to govern the world with the deen, whereas the Azharite scholar and mufti Mahmud Syaltut said khalifa means ‘iqamatuddin wa siyasatuddunya bihi’ (to uphold the deen and govern the world with the deen) which basically carries the same meaning.

al-Imam al-Ghazali r.a. in his book Minhaj al-Abidin commented on the political world that ‘The deen is the foundation while the ruler is the guardian, something without a foundation will falls down, something without a guardian is worthless’.

Islamic politic is all about putting the right people in power and strive against a corrupt ruler as he sa.w. mentioned ‘The best of a jihad is against a tyrant ruler’.

The Sufis in the past has had great history in removing corrupted rulers, but in several occasion they did not have the correct political awareness when it comes to putting a just and pious ruler in power. After relieving the country from the infidels, they leave the matter of the state in the hand of power-monger, defeating the whole purpose of uprising in the first place.

The Muslims, Sufis and non-Sufis have to learn to have this correct political awareness.

As Islam is not only about worshipping Allah on the sajadah (prayer mat), the strive to worship and uphold Allah’s Law is also not only in the battlefield but in all manners of life, politics or non-politics.

From my experience what I have seen is that when any Muslim or any Islamic organisation challenges the corrupt system of the country and got viewed by the rulers as opponent to their political power soon they are bashed as extremist, wahabi etc. It does not matter what ever their background is. Situation is like this now, as if someone stands for any change to any policies and he is bit Islamic in thinking then he is Wahabi, he is extremist, he is fanatic blah blah. Now this syndrome has caught very well to some western media and government too.

When I say traditionalist political party I really meant it. I am from Bangladesh, and Bangladesh has strong Sufi tradition, in fact it was Sufi’s who played the main role in spreading Islam what was once predominantly Buddhist country.

Sadly, from my observation I have seen that good number of mainstream Western media is too quick to paint any Islamic organisation negatively and this portrayal for sure has caused many young Muslim to be frustrated on West more or less. From some of their point of view it is like “if they don’t follow live and let live policy on us then we will do the same”, which is extreme and they are few but this view did not get backing for nothing there were situation and good reason for having belief like that.

Now a days I see more people from West who says that it is because of Islam this Muslim people are like that … I just pray among Muslims more and more people will understand that the way the West seems arrogant from their own media actually they are not. The people in the West are good and friendly.

A Simple Muslim

And, no doubt, there is nothing wrong with improving conditions in the country in which one lives, with striving to raise religious awareness among our rulers, and with trying to govern by what Allah has revealed. Indeed, we must.

My main criticisms are with trends in Islamic political life here that appear highly separatist. The bulk of political energy is spent on two points: combating US support of Israel, and the use of secret evidence in deportation trials of immigrants. Neither of these are issues that, in my humble opinion, have the slightest chance of success or have the slightest potential for improving the perception of Islam nationwide. Criticizing every move by the government, complaining about every Hollywood product that mentions muslims in a less than saintly way, and being solely concerned with US foreign policy is a recipe for disaster for US Islamic politics.

As for my swipe at Khilafists as being utopian in their outlook, I’ll stand by that. Whereas we must do as much as we can to improve our world, including to govern by Islam where this is feasible, I still don’t feel it is appropriate to believe that this will solve all our problems, that peace will reign on the earth, and that muslims will do no wrong. It is a fundamental belief of the three monotheistic religions that this world is slowly, inexorably deteriorating until the arrival of the end times. It’s a one-way, downward spiral.

You have made good points about political trends among Muslim in North America(by “here” you meant North America or Western world right ??).

Forgive me if I am wrong but it seems it me from your earlier posts your “main” criticisms are against activities of some Muslims in other parts of the world where Muslims population are suffering.

You have talked about “Wahabi” penetration in Russia, Chechnya, Cambodia etc with many sources other than the Islamic one.

Thank You.