SUFFICIENT is Allah as Reckoner [33:39]; And suffices Allah as Disposer of affairs [33:48] , says the holy Quran. The following incident is just an example.In the year 571 AD when Abraha, the warlord from the Kingdom of Aksum (Yemen), marched on the Kaaba to raze it down with his army of elephants, Abdul Mutalib, the sagacious chief of the Quraysh, led his tribe into the hills around Makkah, leaving the battle for Kaaba to be fought between God and His transgressor.
Meanwhile upon setting camp in the outskirts of the town Abraha captured the Makkans' livestock, including 200 camels belonging to Abdul Mutalib and sent for the Makkan chief to negotiate. Upon being asked by the powerful aggressor of his terms to assure no resistance would be offered by his tribe, Abdul Mutalib merely requested that his beasts be returned. Surprised, Abraha inquired if the chief had no concern for the Holy Kaaba which all of Arabia regarded a Sanctuary? “The House has its Lord and He shall defend it. I am a mere lord of the camels, and seek their return,” proclaimed Abdul Mutalib, and with his demand met, he turned to the hillocks, concerned more about the welfare of his clan than the Almighty's House.
Wise, old Abdul Mutalib was no messenger of God, but a man of reason. And reason had taught the pre-Islamic tribal chieftain to perceive well that the Almighty would look after what's His without craving help from, or sharing His burden with his tribe. Surely enough, Abraha having invited God's wrath, met a terrible fate. He was the obvious transgressor, not the Quraysh for logically minding their business and leaving God's work to God. The same year, Abdul Mutalib's household was blessed with the birth of his grandson, who the world came to know as Muhammad (PBUH), 'the last Messenger of Allah, a blessing for mankind and the universe'.
Today, 14 centuries years later certain lessons radiate from this episode between AsHaab al-Fil (people of the elephant) and the Quraysh. We ought to wonder why the self-appointed protectorate of Islam is ever so concerned about Allah's House and his message while neglecting their camels (economy, wellbeing of the people). This blatant incongruity doesn't seem to be helping Islam or its cause. The fanatical anxiousness to preserve Allah's supremacy while ignoring matters of pressing human concerns, despite basic religious values emphasising personal faith and human rights equally, reeks of ostentatious conduct. The depraved, self-styled saviours of Islam seldom feel the pangs of Allah and His Messenger's (PBUH) teachings being violated by widespread defiance of Islamic principles when immorality of every possible order is committed right under their noses.
Consequently, in our land some 2,800 kilometres away from Makkah, Islam and its teachings are mocked everyday by rampant acts of corruption, murder, rape, theft and plunder committed most often by Muslims against Muslims. It's ironic the only evils the protectorate of Islam finds directly desecrating Islam or our Holy Prophet (PBUH) have the least to do with Islam's elementary teachings pertaining to matters affecting everyday lives of Allah's creatures — for whose very wellbeing and salvation Islam was revealed upon mankind as a code of conduct.
Despite years of suffering from socio-economic dereliction while a dozen people are being blown up by suicide attackers or target killers every week and another half-dozen resort to suicide upon losing unforgiving battles against poverty every month, these saviours choose to remain comfortably numb. Their piety and morality remain unshaken against evil-doers, oppressors and violators of Allah's laws, causing misery and suffering to the Almighty's creatures.
Never does one witness religious rallies held to express solidarity with victims of rape or demand punishment for violators of a woman's dignity. There is no tyre-burning ritual observed by religious party activists to protest against absconding robbers, phone-snatchers or kidnappers harming life, property and peace of society across the country. Never is there a long-march from Karachi to Islamabad to get broad daylight killers of the Butt brothers of Sialkot punished. Never ever has any drug trafficker relying on mighty back-savers or benefiting from tardiness of our judicial system been a victim of any form of religious mob justice.
While the Almighty is fully capable of protecting His Supremacy, religion and prophets, and punishing whomsoever He feels is His lawbreaker, mankind's real test remains in the way individuals relate to Him and treat their fellow beings on earth. Our honour lies in protecting our societal interests (read camels), standing up for the weak and the wronged, and challenging the might of evil; a natural predisposition to ensure any fire consuming those next door doesn't end up engulfing our backyards.
In suppressing this instinct out of overzealous religiosity founded upon symbolism, instead of striving towards fulfilling individual duties to one's self and fellow creatures, the dilemma of Islamic society to our utter detriment, has always remained in focusing strengths towards defending Allah, His Messenger and Islam — all of which by any logic are in no need of such support or the blood that's spilled in their name.
Woe unto such decadent saviours of Islam who are devouring Islam's sanctity through their conceited disregard for the principal Islamic duty not to harm another human's life and for lacking the essential moral purity to rightly perceive which acts desecrate our Holy Prophet's (PBUH) honour and the Islamic way of life as per Islam's most basic teachings. Until such time that Islam's men of honour uphold Islam's honour by doing honourable deeds, Islam shall continue to be ridiculed.
Initial interrogations in the grave and on the day of resurrection shall pertain to faith and human rights. Allah can protect His House, and will not question us about dust particles which the desert wind blows into the courtyards of the Kaaba. We meanwhile must account well for our camels.