Islam Rediscovered
21. Islam in History
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Husain ibn Ali, Nafs Zakiyya, etc. any political
jihad
engaged in by these traditionists would have come
to the same disastrous end. All the people
concerned would have been assassinated by the
rulers,—as had happened with other political
opponents. And then the inestimable wealth of the
traditions would have been buried along with the
traditionists, in whose memories they had been
preserved.
From a study of the Qur’an and
hadith
, we find that
the actual target of a religious mission is the
Islamization of the individual rather than the State.
The domination of Islam at the level of the state is
only an offshoot of the religious mission and not its
actual target.
The Qur’an has clearly stated that, for believers,
political power is a gift from God, and not a goal to
be striven for. That is why the Qur’an observes:
God has promised those of you who believe
and do good works to make them masters in
the land as He had made their ancestors
before them, to strengthen the faith he chose
for them and to change their fears to safety.
