The colonialists were not content with the mere implementation of their culture. They also poisoned the Islamic atmosphere with several political and philosophical ideas and opinions, which corrupted the correct view-point held by the Muslims. Thus, the Muslims’ thoughts in all aspects of life became confused, which caused their alertness to lose its natural focus. The colonialists turned every attempt of awakening the Muslims into a muddled and confused movement, which resembled the convulsions of a wounded animal as it approaches its inevitable death. This crippled movement, therefore ended in stagnation, desperation and defeat. The colonialists exploited the fact that their personality had become the focus of culture and attention in the political aspects. They made the seeking of foreign assistance, as well as dependence upon them, the focus of contemporary politicians, who viewed politics as a career, rather than a responsibility. Therefore, most of the groups attempted unconsciously to seek foreign help. Those who sought the assistance of foreign states did not realize that any such help, and advocating any idea of dependence upon the colonialists, regardless of their origin, would mean that they are contaminated by foreign poison, and it would constitute a betrayal to the Ummah, even if the intention was good. They did not realize, that linking our cause with any other people would constitute political suicide. Therefore, any movement whose thought was poisoned with the idea of relying upon or advocating foreign assistance was doomed to failure.
In addition, Colonialism poisoned the society with ideas such as patriotism, nationalism and socialism, as well as regional attitudes, and made these concepts the focus of any immediate attempts for revival. It also poisoned the society with the idea that establishing the Islamic state and unifying the Islamic countries is impossible because of the cultural, racial and linguistic differences, ignoring the fact that all Muslims constitute one Ummah, bound together by the same Islamic ‘’Aqeedah from which her system emanates. Furthermore, they also poisoned the society with a host of erroneous political concepts, such as “Take and demand (the gradual approach)”, “The Ummah is the source of authority”, “Sovereignty belongs to the people”, “Religion belongs to Allah (swt) and the homeland belongs to all (separation between the state and religion (deen))”, “We are united by our sufferings and our hopes (not united by thoughts)”, “Homeland is above all”, “Glory is to the homeland,” and others. In addition, they introduced in the society many defeatist reactionary opinions such as “We take our system from our reality”, “One must accept the status quo”, “We must be realistic”, and similar expressions.
Due to this poisoning, the societies in the Islamic countries, including the Arab countries, were not conducive to produce a correct Hizbi structure. These parties that were established did not have the deep thinking that leads to organized planning and preparation, rather they were established without any basis, hence it was no surprise to see all these parties fail.
It was also natural for the parties established in the Islamic world, particularly in the Arab world, not to be coherent, because they were not based upon an ideology. A study of these parties leads us to realize that some of them were established as a reaction to some events, or circumstances that necessitated their existence. When these circumstances changed, the parties also disappeared, or weakened and withered away. Others were established based upon personal friendship amongst individuals. As this friendship harmonized between them and became the basis of their structure, they ended up revolving around themselves. Still others were established based upon instantaneous and personal interests. Therefore, the individuals who gathered on such foundations lacked an ideological Hizbi bond. Not only was their presence devoid of any benefit, they were in fact harmful to the Ummah. In addition to their preventing or delaying the emergence of correct parties, they created despair in the masses, filled the hearts of the common people with gloom and doubt, and aroused suspicion about every movement, even if it was a correct one. Moreover, they sowed amongst people the seeds of personal bitterness and family feuds. With their styles, such parties taught the people to be inconsistent, and to revolve around their own interests. In other words, they spoiled the pure nature of the masses, and increased the burden on the correct party structures that would inevitably rise from amongst the masses.
In addition to the Islamic, nationalistic and patriotic movements, many Communist movements based on materialism were also established to revive the Ummah. These movements depended upon, and were directed by the Communist movement in the Soviet Union. Their method was to sabotage the existing system, and to create anarchy. Their objective, apart from introducing Communism to the countries, was to disrupt the Western Colonialism in favour of the Eastern Bloc, for those in charge of these parties acted as agents to the Eastern Bloc. These movements neither responded to the needs of the Ummah, nor had any significant impact. They naturally failed, because they were against human nature, and were not in harmony with the Islamic ’Aqeedah. These movements exploited patriotic feelings of the masses to achieve their aims. The Communist movements further complicated the problems in society.
Other groups were established on the basis of association. So a host of local and regional organisations with charitable objectives emerged within the Ummah. They established schools, hospitals and shelters, and participated in charity work. However, these movements were heavily influenced by sectarianism. The colonialists encouraged these organisations and promoted their efforts, until the results of their work were seen by the people. Most of these organisations were educational and charitable, and seldom were there any political groups among them.
A careful examination of the consequences of these organisations would reveal that they neither yielded benefit to the Ummah nor anything which could have assisted in its revival. The damage caused by these organisations was not apparent, and is only evident to one who scrutinizes the situation deeply. Regardless of their partial benefits, the existence of these organisations inflicted immense harm upon the Ummah. The presence of some Islamic thoughts, the application of some parts of the Shari’ah, and the firmly rooted Islamic emotions due to the influence of Islam, give the Islamic Ummah the potential to revive. The Ummah has a tendency for goodness and a natural inclination for collective work because of the collective spirit of Islam. Had the Islamic Ummah been left alone, this propensity for revival would have naturally turned into a thought that would have generated a momentum capable of reviving the Ummah. However, the presence of such organisations prevented this from happening, as they vented the blazing passion for revival in the Ummah through their charitable efforts. A member of such an organization would find that he had built a school, established a hospital, or participated in a charitable act, and would feel comforted and content with his work. Had this association not existed, the collective spirit would have driven him towards the correct party structure that would then initiate the correct revival.
In addition to these educational and the charitable organisations, a host of organisations preaching ethics and morality were established to revive the Ummah on the basis of morals. They would preach, give lectures, and distribute leaflets calling for morality, on the assumption that morals were the basis of revival. These organisations spent a tremendous amount of money and effort, but produced no significant results. Their boring, stereotyped and repetitive rhetoric merely served as an outlet for the Ummah’s sentiments. The establishment of such organisations was based on a wrong understanding of the Ayah addressing the Messenger (saw)
“And you are of a great character [TMQ Al-Qalam: 4],”
which was meant to describe the Messenger (saw) as a person and not the society at large. They were also established upon an incorrect understanding of the hadith in which the Messenger (saw) said
“Truly Allah (swt) has sent me to perfect the high moral standards,” and
“Truly I have been sent to perfect the high moral standards.”
It should be understood that these ahadith, in addition to others, relate to the characteristics of the individual and not of the society. The establishment of these organisations was also influenced wrongfully by poetic sayings like, “By morality nations live; once devoid of it, no more they exist.”
These organisations did not realize that nations are not established on morals but on the ’Aqa’id (doctrines) they embrace, the thoughts they carry and the systems they implement. Also, these organisations misunderstood the society to mean a group of individuals, whereas the society is actually a whole, composed of human beings, their thoughts, their emotions and the systems. The corruption of a society stems from corruption of the thoughts, the emotions and the systems, and not from the corruption of the individuals. As a result, reforming a society could only occur by reforming the thoughts and emotions of the people, as well as the systems implemented upon them.
The misunderstanding also stemmed from the idea that the community is corrupted by the perversion of the individuals. This idea was firmly embedded in the minds of many social reformers and ethical scholars. Such ideas suggest that the individual is built, or is destroyed, by his morals — sound morals make the individual strong, straight, effective, productive, righteous and reform-minded; whereas, bad morals makes him weak, lazy, devoid of any value and goodness, and with no concern in life other than satisfying his desires and pleasing his ego. These organisations believed that reforming the individual would lead to reforming the community, and therefore they worked to reform society and revive the Ummah through a moral approach.