12. At this stage, it must always be realised that the society in its entirety is the main school of the Hizb. At the same time, however, we must keep in mind the differences between the school and the Hizb with respect to its culturing circles.
Realising that the entire society is the Hizb’s school stems from the nature of the Hizb’s task at this stage, which is to awaken the true ’Aqa’id (convictions) and produce the correct concepts. This task can only be achieved through an educational process where the Hizb’s ideology is the teacher, that is the source from which the ideas are taken, and where the Hizb’s culture is the subject being taught. The ideology and the culture of the Hizb would be manifested in those whom the ideology is completely embodied in. These individuals would be the direct instructors in the society. The local committees with their circles would serve as society’s classrooms, and the entire society would be the school. This teaching process necessitates that the Hizb’s members, and those who adopt its concepts, must maintain a profound study, so as to develop a correct understanding, and must continuously learn the Hizb’s culture at all times. In addition, they are required to memorize the constitution, the important rules, and the general principles adopted by the Hizb. This necessitates a learning process similar to that in a school, and it is imperative that every person who joins the Hizb adheres to this process, including the one who is educated, as well as the one who is not educated but has the potential to be educated. It also does not matter as to what level of education a person has, whether it is university level or elementary one. Any leniency in the culturing process with any individual will leave this individual outside the Hizb, even if he has joined it, and this may harm the Hizb structure.
It is important at this stage for the Hizb not to get involved in any action until the Hizb has cadres who have acquired the Hizb’s culture before involving in any action. Hence this stage would only be a culturing stage.
Realising the difference between the school and the Hizb in terms of culturing will prevent the Hizb’s culture from turning into academic culture and thus losing its effectiveness. Therefore, it is important to place a thick screen between the Shabaab of the Hizb and the academic aspect of the Hizb’s culture, and to recognise that the objective of the Hizb culture is to change the concepts, to work in the realm of life and to carry the intellectual leadership in the Ummah. One who carries the Hizb culture must not hasten towards the academic aspect. If one is in need of just academic knowledge, then the appropriate place is the school and not the Hizb. Taking the culture towards the academic aspect would take away the quality of the work and would delay the Hizb from moving towards the second stage.
13. The second stage of the Hizb is the stage of interaction with the Ummah, which invloves struggle. The second stage is very delicate. Its success would attest to the correctness of the formation of the Hizb, while its failure would prove there is a defect that should be addressed. Since this stage is built upon the preceding one, success in the first stage is a pre-requisite for success in the second stage. However, the mere success in culturing in the first stage is not sufficient to bring success in the second stage. The success in culturing must be made known to the people, and they should know that there is a functioning Da’wah and should know that the Hizb’s member carries a Da’wah. Furthermore, it is necessary for the members to have developed the collective spirit during their cultural transformation in the study-circles and by their contact with the society they live in, and through their attempts to influence that society. This collective attitude will be present when they move to the second stage, which will facilitate their interaction with the Ummah.
14. The Hizb’s member does not proceed from the culturing stage to the interaction stage until he has matured culturally. Maturity in culture makes him an Islamic personality by conforming his Nafsiyyah (inclinations and feelings) to his Aqliyyah (mentality). The Messenger of Allah (saw) said:
“None of you will have real belief until his inclinations conform to what I came with.”
In addition to maturity in the culture, the Hizb’s member does not proceed to the interaction stage until it became known to the people that he is carrying an Islamic Da’wah. The collective attitude should have been strengthened in the member through his presence in the circles and his communication with society, to remove from him any tendency towards isolation. Isolation is a blend of cowardice and despair, which must be uprooted from the individuals and society.
15. The Hizb should move from the cultural stage to the interaction stage naturally. If it tries to proceed prematurely, it will not be able to. During the cultural stage, the Hizb passes the starting point. During this stage, the culture makes the ideology embodied within the individuals, and makes the society clearly feel the presence of the Da’wah and the ideology. Once the ideology is embodied within the individuals, and the society feels the presence of the Da’wah, the Hizb will pass the starting point and the Hizb should move towards the launching point (NuqTat al-InTilaaq). In order for the Hizb to proceed towards the launching point, it must address the Ummah. The Hizb must first make many attempts to address the Ummah before it will be successful. The Hizb addresses the Ummah through concentrated culturing in circles, mass culturing of the people wherever possible, exposing the plans of the colonialists, and adopting the interests of the Ummah. When the Hizb succeeds in these four tasks, it moves towards addressing the Ummah, and proceeds to the launching point naturally. This natural progression carries the Hizb from the first stage of culturing to the second stage of interaction. Furthermore, this natural progression ensures that the Hizb begins to interact with the Ummah only at the right time and in a natural way.
16. This interaction with the Ummah is essential for the Hizb’s success in its duty. The Hizb’s members must interact with the Ummah, because they, by themselves, will not be able to carry out an action, regardless of their number or strength, unless the Ummah worked with them. They will not also be able to motivate the Ummah to work with them nor she will work them unless they succeeded in this interaction. The interaction does not mean that the members gather a large group of people around them, rather it means that the Ummah adopts the ideology of the Hizb, which is Islam, as her own. This ideology already exists in the cultural and historical heritage of the Ummah, and in her sentiments. It is the feeling of the Ummah that evolved into a thought, which has been crystallized in a select group of people that the Hizb has emerged from. The basis of these feelings, that thought and action must be for a specific objective, represents the true expression of the ideology. Hence the ideology - Islam - is the inner feeling of the Ummah, and the Hizb is the expression of this feeling. If the Hizb is clear in its address, eloquent in its language, and honest in its expression, the Ummah will quickly understand the ideology and interact with the Hizb. As a result, the entire Ummah will be considered as the Hizb, and the select group will carry the leadership of the movement through the Hizbi structure. Through this movement, the Ummah, led by the Hizb, will proceed towards the third stage. This is the stage of comprehensively implementing the ideology by the Hizb, by acquiring the authority. The implementation of the ideology by the authority is the only method to implement the idea, and it is part of the ideology.
However, there are several obstacles in the way of such interaction. It is necessary to be aware of them and to know their nature in order to be able to overcome them. The obstacles are numerous, the most important of which are:
A. The contradiction between the ideology and the system being implemented in society.
The Hizb’s ideology will be a new system for life compared to the prevailing system in society. It will contradict the existing system that the ruling class implements upon society. Hence, this class will regard this ideology as a threat to itself and its entity, and will inevitably confront it and fight it through various means, such as propaganda, harassment and physical persecution of the Da’wah carriers. Therefore, while working for the interaction with the Ummah by calling for their ideology, it is essential for the carriers of the ideology, to protect themselves from harm by all possible means, and to counter the misleading propaganda by explaining their Da’wah, and to endure all kinds of hardship in the process of achieving this.
B. Another obstacle would be the cultural difference.
In addition to disparate thoughts in the Ummah, there exist various cultures in society. The Ummah however, has one feeling. The various cultures, especially the culture of the colonialists, are the antithesis of these feelings, while the ideology’s culture, the Islamic culture, is the true expression of the Ummah’s feelings. However, public opinion in society regarding the culture, the curriculums in schools, institutions and cultural centres, as well as political and cultural movements, are all made to conform to foreign culture. Therefore, it is necessary for the Hizb, with its own culture, to struggle against other cultures and other thoughts to make visible the true expression of the Ummah’s feelings and sensations, which would lead the Ummah to proceed with the Hizb. While the Hizb, with its culture and thought, will inevitably enter into a conflict with other cultures and thoughts carried by the Ummah, the interaction should not take the form of futile arguments. The members of the Hizb should draw the straight line alongside the crooked line and avoid engaging in futile arguments that could lead to egoism and could obstruct the person from seeing the truth. Instead, the thoughts of the Hizb should be explained, and the error of other thoughts, the falsehood of other cultures, as well as the dangers of their consequences, should be exposed. Eventually the Ummah would turn away from the falsehood and incline towards the Hizb’s culture and thoughts. Even the people carrying the foreign culture and false thoughts would eventually turn away from them, if they were sincere, aware and objective, once the foreign culture’s fallacy becomes apparent to them. This task will be one of the most difficult ones for the Hizb. Interaction with the Ummah in places where foreign culture is strong will be more difficult than in places where the influence of foreign culture is less. Also, the likelihood of revival in places where those educated with foreign culture are few would be greater than in places where their number is high. Therefore, the Hizb should be aware of the community with which it aims to interact, so that it can proceed in a course that is most suitable for that society.
C. Another major obstacle would be those individuals within the Ummah who adhere to the status quo (pragmatists).
Due to the poisoning by the foreign culture, and the prevalence of ignorance, two types of pragmatists exist in the Ummah. The first type accept the status quo and surrender to it as an inevitable matter, because they adopt the situation as the source of their thinking and take solutions to their problems from it. Overcoming this group requires deep discussions, after which they would realize that the current situation should be taken as the subject of thinking in order to change it. As a result, it would be possible for them to abandon their current thought. The second type is the “Adh-Dhalaamiyyeen” section who refuse to open their eyes (live in the light), because they have become accustomed to living in darkness, triviality and superficiality. In addition, they suffer from physical laziness and mental lethargy and cling to the old ways which they found their forefathers adhering to. They are the true pragmatists, because they are of the same nature as the status-quo, and their thought is stagnant. Therefore, this group requires more perseverance. Overcoming such people requires culturing them and striving to rectify their concepts.
D. Another major obstacle in the path of the Da’wah is the attachment of the people to their interests. Human beings are by nature tied to their personal interests in life while simultaneously attached to the ideology. It may happen that one’s interests conflict with the Da’wah, and one may attempt to accommodate both. Overcoming this obstacle requires every person who embraces the ideology to consider the Da’wah and the Hizb as the focus around which his personal interests revolve. Therefore, he would not allow anything which contradicts, hinders, or makes him forget the Da’wah. By doing so, he shifts the Da’wah from revolving around his interests to making his interests revolve around the Da’wah.
E. Another obstacle that stands in the way of the Da’wah involves the difficulty in sacrificing matters of worldly life, such as wealth and business, for the sake of Islam and for carrying its Da’wah. To overcome this obstacle, the believer is reminded that Allah (swt) has bought from the believers their lives and their wealth in return for Paradise. This reminder should suffice, and the choice should be left to the individual to sacrifice these matters without any coercion. The Rasool Allah (saw) wrote in a letter to ’Abdullah Ibn Jahsh, when he sent him to lead an expedition to keep an eye on Quraysh at Nakhlah, between Makkah and Ta’if:
“Do not coerce anyone of your companions to proceed with you, and go forth with my order with those who follow you.”
F. It seems that one of the difficulties will be urban differences within societies. The environment in cities is different from those in villages, which in turn differs from the environments of the Bedouins. As a result, the degree of material progress in the city is different than that in the village, which differs from that in the Bedouins’ sites and tents. Therefore, these differences in patterns of material aspects of life, may suggest to the Hizb the notion of a difference in the culturing or in the ideological orientation towards each setting. This is a very dangerous fallacy because the Ummah, regardless of her patterns of urbanization, is still one Ummah with the same feelings and ideology. The Da’wah to the Ummah should be the same in a city, a village, or in a Bedouin camp, and similarly the work towards interacting with her should be the same.
17. The Hizb itself may face two dangers during this interaction stage: an ideological danger (a danger to the ideology), and a danger of elitism.
The ideological danger may surface from the underlying currents within the community, as well as from the desire to respond to its persistent and immediate demands, and from the dominating residual opinions of a section in the community over the ideas of the Hizb. Such a danger may arise because as the Hizb interacts with society, it will communicate with the masses in order to interact with them and lead them. At that time, the Hizb will be equipped with its ideology, whereas the masses will have many old, contradictory and reactionary thoughts, legacies from the past generations, dangerous foreign ideas, as well as the people’s imitation of the disbelieving colonialists. When the Hizb interacts with the masses, it will provide them with the Hizb’s opinions and thoughts and will strive to correct their concepts, to awaken the Islamic ’Aqeedah within them, and to produce the correct traditionss and standards. This requires Da’wah and propaganda, so as to gather the Ummah around it on the basis of the ideology in a way that strengthens in the Ummah her belief in the ideology, provokes in her confidence in the Hizb concepts, builds respect and appreciation to it, and makes the Ummah ready to act under the leadership of the Hizb. At that time, the duty of the Hizb will be to increase its members who are trusted by the Ummah so that they will have full command of the Ummah, like the general in the army. If the Hizb succeeds in this phase of interaction, it will then lead the Ummah towards its objective within the boundaries set by the ideology, without being derailed or deviated. However, if the Hizb were to lead the masses before the interaction is completed and before the public awareness amongst the Ummah is generated, the leadership of the Ummah by the Hizb will not proceed according to the ideology. Rather, the leadership will be by diagnosing what is simmering in the Ummah’s mind, by tickling her sentiments, and by falsely portraying the Ummah’s aspirations as being at hand and within her grasp.
However, in this case, the masses will not have lost their previous emotions, such as patriotism, nationalism and priestly spiritualism, and the ‘mob instinct’ will stir such emotions. Thus trivial traditions, such as sectarianism and “madhabism,” old thoughts such as independence and freedom, and corrupt chauvinism such as racism and tribalism, will re-emerge amongst the masses. The contradictions between the masses and the Hizb will begin to surface, and the masses will assume for themselves demands which do not conform to the ideology. They will call for short-term aims harmful to the Ummah and become enthused over these demands, and their rage will increase in order to achieve these demands. In this case, the Hizb will have to choose between two difficult options: either to face the anger of the Ummah and her resentment and thus destroying all that the Hizb had built in order to dominate the society; or to face a deviation from its ideology and become lenient towards it. Either of these two options poses a great danger to the Hizb. If the masses and the ideology come into conflict, it is imperative for the Hizb members to adhere to the ideology alone. Even though the Hizb members would be subjected to the Ummah’s resentment, for this negative feeling would only be temporary. Their adherence to the ideology will win them the trust of the Ummah again. Hence, the Hizb should always caution itself not to contradict the ideology or deviate from its essence, even slightly. The ideology is the life of the Hizb and the guarantor of its survival. In order to ward off such grave situations and to prevent such a danger, the Hizb should endeavor to cultivate the ideology in the Ummah, to maintain the clarity of the Hizb’s thoughts and concepts and to work towards maintaining the predominance of its thoughts and concepts over the Ummah. All of this will be facilitated by being careful in the culturing stage and mass education, by meticulously exposing the colonialists’ plans, by constantly watching over the Ummah and her interests, by melting the Hizb with the ideology, by constantly examining thoughts and the concepts of the Hizb so that they remain clear, and by expending every possible effort in achieving all of this, no matter how much effort and suffering this may cost.
The second danger to the Hizb, namely elitism, may penetrate the members of the Hizb themselves and not the Ummah. When the Hizb represents the Ummah or the majority of the Ummah, it enjoys an exalted position, a respected place, and complete admiration from the Ummah and the influential people, and this position may arouse arrogance. Hence the Hizb’s members may consider themselves to be superior to the Ummah, and to believe that their role is to be leaders while believing that the role of the Ummah is to be led. Thus, they may look down upon the Ummah or her individuals. If this were to happen, the Ummah will begin to feel that the Hizb is a class different from her. The Hizb will also begin to perceive itself as a different class. This feeling will mark the beginning of the collapse of the Hizb, because it will weaken the Hizb’s concern about the ordinary individuals of the masses, and it will undermine their confidence in the Hizb. The Ummah will start to turn away from the Hizb, and once the Ummah has turned away from the Hizb, the Hizb will collapse. Restoring and re-gaining the Ummah’s trust and confidence will require a great deal of effort. Therefore the Hizb’s members should proceed through life as simple individuals of the Ummah and not think of themselves as anything but servants of the Ummah. They should realize that their role as Hizb’s members is to serve the Ummah because this guarantees them immunity and will benefit them not only in maintaining the confidence of the masses, but also in the third stage when they will have acquired the authority to implement the ideology. As rulers they would remain servants of the Ummah in the eyes of the people, which would make it easy for them to implement the ideology.
18. The third stage is acquiring the authority.
The Hizb acquires the authority through the Ummah and the works of seeking Nusrah. It implements the ideology in its totality, which is known as the radical method. This method does not allow sharing authority in government, but seizes complete power and uses it as a method to implement the complete ideology. It implements the Islamic ideology in a comprehensive manner and does not accept the gradual method, regardless of existing circumstances.
Once the state has implemented the ideology completely and comprehensively, it should then proceed to carry the Islamic Da’wah. Hence it should assign in the State’s budget a special fund for propagating the Da’wah. The State will oversee the Da’wah either through the State’s international relations, or through the Hizb, according to the circumstances. Despite the Hizb’s acquisition of authority, it will continue operating as a Hizb and its apparatus will also remain as such, whether its members are holding ruling positions or not. The authority is considered as the first practical step towards the implementation of the Hizb’s ideology in the state as well as in every part of the world. These are the steps in which the Hizb proceeds in life in order to transfer the idea into practice, which include transferring the ideology into the life by resuming the Islamic way of life, reviving the society, and carrying the Da’wah to the world. At that time, the Hizb would begin the practical role for which it was founded. Hence, the Hizb is the true guarantee of establishing the Islamic State, maintaining it, implementing Islam, enhancing its implementation, continuing this implementation, and carrying the Islamic Da’wah to the world. This is because, once it established the State, it will act as a monitor (raqeeb) over the State. It will hold it accountable, and it will lead the Ummah in this mission. At the same time, it would carry the Islamic Da’wah in the Islamic countries and all other parts of the world.