Should We Be Living Among Disbelievers ?
(Please read this article thoroughly and with an open mind)
[2:272] You are not responsible for guiding anyone. GOD is the only one who guides whoever chooses (to be guided).
[28:56] You cannot guide the ones you love. GOD is the only One who guides in accordance with His will, and in accordance with His knowledge of those who deserve the guidance.
[29:56] O My servants who believed, My earth is spacious, so serve Me.
[4:100] Anyone who migrates in the cause of GOD will find on earth great bounties and richness. Anyone who gives up his home, migrating to GOD and His messenger, then death catches up with him, his recompense is reserved with GOD. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.
Recently there seems to be so much talk among Quran alone Believers concerning the establishment of a GOD Alone society/community. Ideas and views have been traded and attempted, projects have been implemented and goals have been made.
Based on historical cases as well as the above mentioned verses from The Quran, I strongly believe that the ONLY way to truly establish such a thing is to initiate a phase by phase Migration Project where the believers can all agree on various locations to try and migrate to.
The conventional way of establishing a community/society is through what can be called Dawah Efforts (for lack of a better term concerning this endevour). I am not against dawah efforts at all. However, as the first two above verses bring to our attention, it is ONLY GOD who can give guidance, learning and wisdom. So I think the 'KEY' is for all those who have been granted a reconizable level of guidance from GOD to come together in specific and agreed upon locales and work from there to establish a community/society where the majority of the people will eventually be those who serve GOD Alone (GOD Willing).
If taken seriously and attempted by the right individuals with the right vision, this can definately be accomplished. However, before even attempting such a thing, we need to clear the air concerning what exactly makes a Quran alone and GOD alone community.
What Is a Quranic Society and WHY Should We Establish One?
GOD Willing, my position will be made clear as I attempt to explain WHY I believe we should have a community, as well as WHAT I [personally] envision a GOD Alone society to be....
I always thought that the WHY part of it should be easy.....to be in an environment that is not only conducive to the Quranic life-style, but to actually be in an environment that fosters and promotes it. I believe it is of the utmost importance for those of us who are raising children and wish to guide them adequately and strive to keep them from walking the paths of the majority of people all over the world. We all know that it is always much easier and more preferable to raise our children in an environment in which the majority of the people share the same sense of morals, principles, ethics and values.
Now as far as WHAT I believe a Quranic community to be, that's fairly simple. To me, a Quranic society is one which is the opposite of society today. Today's society is immoral, crooked, corrupt, dishonest, uncaring, dangerous, greedy, selfish, decadent and down right ignorant. To me, a Quranic society is the Complete Opposite of these things.
One thing I feel as though that I must stress....To me, a Quranic society is not one in which everyone thinks the same and has the same views and interpretations!! I am speaking the robotic, cult-like, zombie minded community with a "Religious Overseer/Enforcer" watching over everyone. If I wanted that kind of living, I can migrate to Saudi Arabia.
Only GOD can guide and GOD is the teacher of His Book. It is absolutely pointless to waste our time debating about the same things over. Do you HONESTLY believe everyone in the Jewish community in New York city think exactly alike and see everything alike?? Do you HONESTLY believe the Chinese of Chinatown in San Francisco think and see everything exactly alike?? Do you HONESTLY think and believe the Cuban community in Miami think and see everything exactly alike?? I can tell you now that they don't.....it's not going to happen!! We are all our own individuals and because of that, we will never, I repeat, NEVER think EXACTLY alike and interpret The Quran EXACTLY alike.
So if the people of the above named communities do not and will not ever think exactly alike, how did they manage to successfully establish their own commuities?
THEY DID IT BY FOCUSING ON WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT AND THAT IS TO HAVE A PLACE THAT THEY CAN CALL THEIR OWN HOME!!
And this is exactly what we must emulate if we are to get the motions going in that direction. For the people who think that we have to establish a universal or general consesus of theological issues before we attempt this strategy, I firmly believe that they are approaching this thing entirely the wrong way. Let us not put the cart before the horse.
So, if a Quranic society isn't one in which everyone in it has the exact same spiritual/theological views, then what is it? What is it about a Quranic society that sets it apart from any other society?
To me, a Quranic society is one where the people strive hard to 'aata-uz-zakaa'... to contribute towards the betterment/purification of the society they are in as well as to purify/better themselves. This is done through the righteous works that GOD always speaks about and by being examples of morals, ethics and GOD-conciousness to others around us.
The Quranic Community Step-by-Step
#1 Personally, I belive that we are supposed to be one Unified community as per 21:92, 23:52, 49:10 and Definately 2:143 (this last verse is essential).
#2 I believe that we are to establish ourselves as this community by systematically coming together as per 4:100, 8:72, 8:74, 8:75, 9:20, 9:100, 9:117, 16:41, 16:110, 22:58, 59:9.
#3 AFTER we come together, we democratically decide HOW we will implement laws amongst ourselves and vote upon WHO we will entrust to be the Central Authority as per 3:159 and 42:38.
#4 Then, it is just a matter of respecting this Central Authority as per 4:59.
We are not told in the Quran how far we must travel in implementing the practice of migration, nor are we told that we MUST go to another country or try to form a new country altogether. This leaves scope for us to easily carry out this project and is a good reminder of the practical applicability of the Quran. We can, therefore, form new communities without going very far.
One way of doing this would be for the believers to establish Quranic Institutions in their areas and live close to them. If enough people firmly decide to do this, very soon the community around the Quranic Institution of an overwhelming Muslim majority. When this occurs, the Muslims can easily run their communities under Quranic principles, and implement the Quran in every aspect of life. The neighborhood schools, as well, will then be at the disposal of the Muslims to be run on Quranic principles and quite possibly at government expense. Even the churches may eventually be put up for sale and made available for Quranic schools, masaajid and other institutions.
Another way would be for the Muslims to form smaller towns having majority Muslim population. This would provide an easily distinct Quranic society right from its inception. BUT ARE WE READY TO GO OUT AND DO THIS??!! As explained before, other people have already done this, e.g. Chinese, Sikh, Jews, Amish, Mormons, etc. How is it that people who do not possess the Quran are able to do this, but WE cannot do the same when we DO have the Quran??!!
It is not unattainable. Remember, The Mormons as well as the Amish have established this among themselves long ago and continue to live this way as we speak. We're just not willing and ready to do the same even though we should be doing so, due to our lack of trust, understanding and tolerance for one another.
May GOD guide and strengthen the SINCERE and TRUE Believers!!
