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| Sayyid Qutb |
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| Anonymous |
| 05/31/03 at 02:43:58 |
| [center]al-Ustaadh Sayyid Qutb and his uncompromising stance on the Truth By Ahmad Fareed [i](From Mawaaqif Imaniyah, translation and introduction by Abuz-Zubair )[/i] [/center] Introduction: This excerpt is taken from the book: Mawaaqif Imaaniyah by Sheikh Ahmad Fareed (p. 265 ? 271 Daar Taybah 3rd Edition), and it serves a lesson to us all, specially after the events of September the 11th, since our belief, practices, scholars and callers are being scrutinised and put on trial. It is about how Sayyid Qutb, back in the sixties, went through the trials of his time for remaining steadfast on truth, until he was executed, thus actualising his words: ?Indeed, our words remain dead, until we die in their cause, so they remain alive amongst the living?, and truly, his words still remain alive amongst us, as milestones in our journey of struggle and sacrifice. In this translation, I have omitted some lines of poetry in order to increase the fluency of the English translation. May Allah give us the strength to remain firm on the truth, as he gave to the Pharoah's magicians, his wife and daughter, the monk and the boy from Ash.aab al-Ukhdood, Bilaal ibn Rabaah, Khabbaab ibn al-Arat, Khubaib ibn 'Adi, Sa'eed ibn Jubair, Hutait az-Zayaat, al-Imaam Ahmad ibn Hanbal ash-Shaibaani, al-Ustaadh Sayyid Qutb and all those who regarded beliefs, principles and convictions to be more precious then lives and souls. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sayyid Qutb was an outstanding personality from amongst the great figures of Islamic thought, from the men of the contemporary Islamic Awakening. Allah opened up the doors of good, in religion and understanding, to him, and elevated him over many of His creation. He possessed the true eemaanic stance, a person of Jihad, struggle, sacrifice, and sincerity to the Ummah. He enriched the Islamic heritage with masterpieces of work from literature and thought, his grasp of which is recognised by every writer and lecturer. He spent a great part of his life within the prison walls, tasted various colours of torture and punishment, and his life ended upon the gallows. We hope, without claiming anyone?s piety before Allah, that he is from the martyrs and from the people of happiness. Thus we do not prolong this discussion by mentioning his biography, for our intention here is not to write biographies of brave men, but we hope to shed some light over these Imanic stances, whereby the believers uphold the flag of Iman, and feel pride with the religion of ar-Rahman, so Allah elevates them in this world and in the last. We begin by mentioning the dream which the Ustaadh saw, which was later on interpreted by time and reality. The journalist Mahmud ar-Rakaabi narrated a strange discussion that took place between himself and Ustaadh Sayyid ? may Allah have mercy on him ? at the Ustaadh?s house before his imprisonment. Ar-Rakaabi says: I said to him: Praise be to Allah upon well-being ? whatever Allah wills ? your health is good, all you need now is a bride? So Sayyid laughed very much, and then said: Which bride are you referring to [in this world or the next?] I said: We were created for both of them. So we spoke for a while, then he suddenly asks me: Can you interpret dreams? For I had a vision last night that a red snake wrapped itself around me and then tightened itself on me. Then I woke up that hour and couldn?t go back to sleep. I said: My sir! That?s a gift, to be presented to you by one of the believers, wrapped with a red ribbon, and if you wish I will present it to you now, so take it and continue with your sleep. He said: Why can?t the interpretation of the dream be that I am the gift presented to the believers? I said: Isn?t the existence of the righteous more beneficial for the Islamic Da?wah? He said: Not always. In fact, sometimes their departure is more beneficial! Although, I am not intending my own destruction, but we must intend firmness in our stance, knowing that the firmness in stance can bring about destruction. I said: O Man! Don?t be pessimistic like that, for people should aim to be balanced in everything. He said: You will come to know. The first imprisonment of Sayyid Qutb ? may Allah have mercy on him ? was in the beginning of 1953, where he remained imprisoned with the leadership of al-Ikhwaan al-Muslimeen for three months. Then he was imprisoned for the second time, after the dramatic episode that took place on the 26/10/1954, along with thousands of members of the Ikhwaan, who were accused of attempting to assassinate Jamaal ?Abdun-Naasir. Sayyid Qutb was brought to trial in the year 1955 and he was sentenced to fifteen years of imprisonment. The Iraqi president at the time, ?Abdus-Salaam ?Aarif, interceded on behalf of Sayyid Qutb with Jamaal ?Abdun-Naasir, due to which he was released, pardoned on the basis of health grounds in the year 1964. Following his re-imprisonment on 9/8/1965, an order was released for his execution on the 21/8/1966, which was carried out on him and his two brothers (in faith), Muhammad Yusuf Hawwaash and ?Abdul-Fattah Ismaa?eel, with unsurpassable speed, on the night of Monday 29/8/1966. The reason for such haste was the intercession of King Faisal ? may Allah have mercy on him ? for his release. So they subsequently hastened to kill him, and then apologised to King Faisal. Sayyid Qutb ? may Allah have mercy upon him ? anticipated his end before the sentence was issued, and welcomed it, nor would he accept any attempts to change his stance, until his end came. Ahmad Raa?if, one of those who were imprisoned with the Ustaadh, recalls: Once they took me along with some of my companions to get to food from the kitchen. On the way I took the opportunity to speak to Sayyid Qutb. I said to him during my conversation: What are you waiting for? So the man said to me, with a smile and firmness emanating from a peaceful and tranquil heart: I await the departure to my Lord. We cited the story of Ustaadh Sayyid Qutb to demonstrate the attempts made to make him deviate from the truth, or to force him to confess that he was not on the truth, in return for lightening his sentence, but the Ustaadh obstinately refused. Sayyid Qutb ? may Allah have mercy on him ? was made many offers so that he would abandon his da?wah, excuse himself from working for the sake of Allah, and declare himself free from the new Ikhwaan movement. He was requested to write a mere line or a sentence to President ?Abdun-Nasir, seeking his pardon and making excuse to him, due to which he would be released from the prison, the death sentence would be alleviated from him, and the world would be opened up to him, for him to take from it what he liked, from position, centres, jobs and wealth. Such attempts at bargaining continued until the last night of his life, when the tyrants used his Mujahidah sister ?Hameedah? to pressurise him to respond to her request. She says: Hamzah al-Basyuni ? the Prison Officer ? called me to his office, and showed me the death sentence and the signature on it. Then he said to me that the government would be ready to alleviate the sentence if my brother were to respond to their request. He said to me: Surely, your brother is a loss to the entire Egypt, and not you alone. I cannot imagine losing this person after a few hours. We want to save him from execution, by any way and by any means. Only a few words need he utter to save himself from execution, and no one can have the same influence over him as yourself, and you alone can be responsible for saying this to him. Whilst I am responsible for informing him about this, there is no one better than you to inform him of this matter. He need only say a few words, and that will be the end of the matter. We want him to say: This movement has connections with such and such front? After that, the matter has ended, as far as you are concerned, and as for him, then he would be pardoned due to health reasons! I said to him: But you know ? as ?Abdun-Nasir knows ? that this movement has no connections with any front. Hamzah al-Basyuni said: I know, and we all know that you are the only front in Egypt that works for the sake of ?Aqeedah. We know that you are the best of people in the country, but we want to rescue Sayyid Qutb from execution. So he looked at Safwat ar-Rubi and said: Take her ? O Safwat ? to her brother. So I went to my brother, said Salaam to him, and informed him of what they wanted from him. He looked at me to see the expression on my face, as if he were saying: Are you requesting this, or is it them? I managed to convey to him through my actions that it was them. Then he looked at me and said: By Allah! If this speech was true, I would have surely said it! No power on the face of this earth would be able to prevent me from saying this. But it didn?t happen, and I would never tell a lie. Safwat asked him: Meaning, this is your opinion? Sayyid answered: Yes! Then Safwat left us saying: Anyhow, sit with each other for a while. Then I informed him of the story from the beginning, and said to him: Hamzah al-Basyuni called me and showed me the death sentence, and asked me to request this of you. He asked me: Are you pleased with it? I said: No. He said: They cannot harm or benefit themselves. Indeed, the span of one?s life is in the Hands of Allah. They are not able to prolong a life span or shorten it, for all of that is in the Hands of Allah, and Allah is alh encompassing their affairs. Many expressions have been narrated, attributed to Sayyid Qutb, uttered in the air of bargaining and persuasion, rejecting all efforts to shake him from his stance and to abandon his Da?wah. One of the brothers asked him: Why were you so open in the court that holds your neck under its threat? He replied: Because concealment is not permissible in ?Aqeedah, and it is not for the leader to take the allowances in religion. When he heard the death sentence, he said: Praise be to Allah! I worked for fifteen years to achieve martyrdom. When he was requested to excuse himself, in return for release from prison, he said: I would never excuse myself from working for Allah. When he was asked to write a few words seeking pardon from ?Abdun-Nasir, he said: Verily, the index finger that testifies to the oneness of Allah in prayer, utterly rejects to write even a letter, endorsing the rule of the tyrant. He said, while responding to this request: Why should I seek his pardon? If I have been imprisoned rightfully, then I accept the right judgement, and if I have been imprisoned falsely, then I am greater than having to seek pardon from falsehood. |
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