With the beginning of 2015 CE, in Russia, the defense of Islamic values on the backdrop of the caricatures in France was noticeable. Russian authorities had allowed Muslims of Chechnya and other republics in the North Caucasus to express their anger at the publication of the offending caricature of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم in the French weekly newspaper. Russian authorities allowed these protests because the abuse had come from the West, not from within Russia, taking advantage of the anger of the Ummah to emerge as unified against the attacks of the foreign powers. At a time when the Kremlin is turning a blind eye on its war against Islam, the recent events are witness to this.
At the end of January, there was news that Pyatigorsk’s main mosque will be converted into a museum. In the city of Ozyorsk, Muslims were denied from the new mosque which they recently built. And in the city of Yekaterinburg, Muslims were forced to abandon the building that house the Rahma Mosque by a final judicial decision. The Kaliningrad commission is still fighting against the decision to ban the building of a mosque which is nearly completed, the only mosque in the city. Thus, the Russian authorities are preventing Muslims from their mosques whenever it can afford, and it does not mind the construction of mosques in the Muslim-majority republics.
The headscarf ban in schools is similar to what is happening with the mosques. The complete ban on headscarves took place in Mordovia following the Russian Supreme Court in Stavropol. The struggle against those who call for the resumption the Islamic way of life continues in the city of Ufa, where they arrested a large number of Muslims from the members of Hizb ut Tahrir on charges of terrorism; it is the party that does not possess weapons except the weapon of the Islamic belief. The Security apparatus detains Muslims for no other reason simply because they are spreading their Deen.
This war against Islam indicates the intellectual weakness and Russia’s bankruptcy of any idea to unite the society and gathers different people around it. All what the authorities offer is a multi-cultural and religious society, a rumination of the unity in the previous era, the time of the Soviet Union. The communist creed had been depleted and sank into oblivion with its atheistic Union. Russia did not inherit from the Soviet Union but an ambition which is not a match for Islam, because it is afraid of its spread, as well as the Muslims who make up a seventh of the country’s population, and they are an integral part of the billion and a half Muslim Ummah. .
O Muslims in Russia, we all know that our ancestors were killed in this land in which we were born before it became Russian land. Through force, they achieved their victory and publicly killed all those who refused to abandon the Deen; and then Muslims weakened to the point they were forced to comply. Then came decades under the Soviets’ rule, where Islam was reduced to limited customs and rituals. Once the Communist monstrosity fell by the Power of Allah سبحانه وتعالى, we began to return to our Deen. When the Islamic culture became within reach and we became aware that Islam is the truth which we must follow, the authorities decided to take us back to the traditional understanding of Islam according to Russia; i.e. the humiliation and subjugation according to Russian perception. Authorities have begun drawing up a list of extremist materials. The Ministry of Justice, rushed to include these Islamic books in this list in order to prevent Muslims from learning the rules of their Deen. Then they toughened their laws to the extent that they criminalized the call to resume the Islamic way of life that now comes with a harsh sentence in the Penal Code. As soon as Islam began to spread, the authorities were stricken with horror and worked to prevent its influence where Muslims live. Worse still, they found support among the smitten Muslims for the authorities’ anti-Islamic policy, which divided Muslims into moderates and extremist. They found from Muslims who praise Allah Almighty that security forces arrested Muslims who carry the call of Islam. May Allah سبحانه وتعالى guide for repentance the hearts of some whom still have in their heart an atom of sincerity, and may the rest be humiliated in both realms.
O Muslims in Russia, it is true that we were born in Russia and grew up here, but the only Shari’ (law) for us is the one brought by Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. People need Islam, not only Muslims. It is a trust placed by Allah to us and we must carry it to the worlds. We should carry Islam as Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and his noble companions did, since the world lives in ignorance. And we do not have another Shar’ just because we are in Russia, we must follow the path of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, and the great reward for those who follow the same path without seeing the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, and this is what the Messenger of Allah referred to by His صلى الله عليه وسلم saying:
«إنّ مِنْ وَرَائِكُمْ أَيَّامَ الصَّبْرِ لِلْمُتَمَسِّكِ فِيهِنَّ يَوْمَئِذٍ بِمَا أَنْتُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرُ خَمْسِينَ مِنْكُمْ»، قَالُوا: يَا نَبِيَّ اللَّهِ أَوَ مِنْهُمْ؟ قَالَ: «بَلْ مِنْكُم»
“Ahead of you are days of patience, for the one adhering to the deen in them the reward of fifty of you.” They said, “O Prophet of Allah from them?” He said, “But from you.”
O Muslims in Russia, what the Russian authorities perpetrate against our Deen is a major crime, which is not a new issue to the Muslim Ummah, and it is not the first time that the Ummah encounters such a difficulty. However, all these difficulties will disappear if we take the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم as our example and work hard to please Allah Almighty,
لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا
“You have an excellent model in the Messenger of Allah, for all who put their hope in Allah and the Last Day and remember Allah much.”
(Al-Ahzab: 21)
O Muslims in Russia, we have no choice but to follow our Deen comprehensively and look out for the interest of Islam and Muslims, we have no excuse before Allah سبحانه وتعالى, if we do not guard Islam and adhere to it and call for it as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and his companions did. We cannot abandon the implementation of the Shariah law that we know, like the obligatory prayer, fasting, and covering the body (‘Awra) or the call to Islam. We cannot remain in degradation as Russia wishes, especially those of us who know the laws of the Deen, whether an imam or a layman whom Allah سبحانه وتعالى blessed with more knowledge than others. We have no choice but to follow the path of the Prophet and our righteous predecessors. We must learn and propagate Islam, and enjoin the good and forbid the evil, or we will be denied the victory of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and He سبحانه وتعالى will not answer our du’a (prayer), just as in the warning of our Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم to us when he said:
«والذي نفسي بيده لتأمرن بالمعروف ولتنهون عن المنكر أو ليوشكن الله عز وجل أن يبعث عليكم عذابا من عنده ثم تدعونه فلا يستجاب لكم»
“By the one whose my soul is in His Hand, you must enjoin the good and forbid the evil or Allah will send upon you a punishment, and you make du’a to Him but it will not be answered”
O Patient Ummah in Russia, Allah does not accept evil for His believing slaves, but He سبحانه وتعالى is testing us and we must be patient of the trials by being patient in following the way of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, and we must be united in this way, and care for those in need of care, Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:
وَأَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَلَا تَنَازَعُوا فَتَفْشَلُوا وَتَذْهَبَ رِيحُكُمْ ۖ وَاصْبِرُوا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ
“Obey Allah and His Messenger and do not quarrel among yourselves lest you lose heart and your momentum disappear. And be steadfast. Allah is with the steadfast.”
(Al-Anfal: 46)
Following the path of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم will lead us to the pleasure of Allah our Lord and His victory. This road will lead us to resume the Islamic way of life and will bring forward the day when the Ummah will rule by the Deen of Allah, and we hope that in one of the Muslim countries supporters will rise and establish the guided Khilafah upon the method of Prophethood. And then the Khilafah will protect the lives and values of Muslims everywhere, including Russia. Then, the light of Islam will return to dispel the darkness, and the Khilafah will return as a beacon of justice sought by all the other nations. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:
وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا ۚ يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا ۚ وَمَنْ كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ
“Allah has promised those of you who have iman and do right actions that He will make them successors in the land as He made those before them successors, and will firmly establish for them their deen with which He is pleased and give them, in place of their fear, security. ‘They worship Me, not associating anything with Me.’ Any who are kafir after that, such people are deviators.”
(An-Nur, 24:55)
Hizb ut Tahrir Russia
28 Rabii’ II 1436 AH
17/02/2015 CE