Highlights of Sheikh Zakzaky’s Speech at Mauled in Kaduna

Highlights of Sheikh Zakzaky’s Mauled at the 10th Annual Mauled Lecture organized by the Resource Forum of the Islamic Movement at Arewa House, Kaduna on Sat. the 9th of Feb. 2013.
Sheikh Zakzaky delivered lecture on areas such as the pre-Islamic period, the coming of the last prophet, the message of Islam, state of Islam, African balkanization and need for change.
True guidance disappeared before the Prophet
Sheikh Zakzaky started his lecture after normal salutation on the significance of Mauled period which he described as the period of sober reflection; a period in which Muslims compare their lives and that of the holy prophet(SAWA)- the Prophet who was sent to humanity at a time of dire need of guidance. Before him , other messengers were sent to various nations from Adam, Sheeth, Nuhu, Musa, and Israeli Prophets upto Isa (SA). Rejection of Isa as messenger By the Jews brought about two factions- Judaism and Christianity each following its own way with Christianity having its center in Rom . However, the true message of Allah, in both cases, got missing due to manipulation, distortions and interpolation. Thus the religion was nowhere to be found at that time.
The prophet was sent at a time when true guidance and religion is highly needed. At a time when the Children of Israel, despite having covenant with God to never hide any part of the religion from people, made the religion an ethnic affair by making it an affair of Children of Israel only, thus betraying the trust. They made many fabrications like the saying that they are only chosen people of God; All non-Israelites are lower creatures, according to them.
On the other hand, the Christianity was not made an ethnic affair; however, it was distorted to the extent the true Bible is not found again. Having all this, the humanity was in need of true religion and guidance.
The Arabs before the Prophet.
Before the coming of the holy Prophet(SAWA) there were two powerful empires ruling the world- The Roman and the Persian Empires. The rest of the world inclined to one of the two. There was only few areas that were not inclining to any of the two. The Makah or rather the Arabian Peninsula was not colonized or inclined to any of the two empires. It was never colonized by the Roman , the Persian or the Christian’s. Arabian Peninsula was a sort of island surrounded by vast desert thus making it difficult going there. Thus, external influence politically was lacking; they had their own leadership system without influences of other empires.
The Hijaz (Makka and its surroundings) had their kind of leadership with no king; it was a sort of oligarchy system with Sheikhs (elders) and Sayyids(leaders) at the helms of the affairs. Elders were leaders because of their life experiences and also sayyids who are respected personalities. They had also sorcerers who settled other despites.
Some of the bad cultures of Arabs include burying of their female child alive because, according to them, it could bring shame to the family; they settled disputes with swords and fighting; they practiced Gazwah ( robbing of caravan along routes).
The Arabs are descendants of Ibraheem through Ismail (AS). They didn’t have religion, thought they practiced some remnants of Ibraheem teachings like ritual birth and avoiding women during menses. They hate adultery too. They did respect honest person; they abhorred telling lies.
Coming of the Messenger.
It was in this period of ignorance and lack of civilization the holy Prophet was sent among the Arabs. He was born 40 years after the Year of Elephants when Abraha of Habasha attempted to attack Ka’aba to destroy it.
After his birth, the prophet lived among them for 40 years before declaring his mission, thus he was well known among them. In according with their popular culture of respecting men of trust and sincerity they nicknamed him Al-ameen ( the trustworthy) for his excellent virtues. He settled disputes among them like the popular matter of replacing hajr aswad (black stone) back to its original position after the reconstruction of Ka’aba; each of the tribes wanted the honour of doing the work. However, as tension heightened, they agreed to settle it through the judgment of whoever would come through the gate at the moment. It was the holy prophet who came through gate. They hailed and cheered upon seeing him and accepted his decision in which he said each member from a tribe should hold to part of the stone and together they lifted it back to its position, thus each tribe had the honour. The matter could lead to bloodshed if not for the Judgement of the holy Prophet.
He was highly trusted and when he called all tribes for a meeting they all gathered at a time only noble one could organise such a gathering. He said to them “if I say to you there are warriors at the outskirts trying to attack you, will you trust me, they all said “yes, because you had never spoken a lie” Thus, he declared his mission of calling to Tawheed: “ there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah’ upon hearing this Abu Lahab ridiculed the Prophet out of envy.
The idol worshippers really understood the meaning and implication of the kalimah which the Prophet declared. So, they started all sorts of plots to stop him, they even tried to use method of persuasion through his father Abu Talib, which failed.The Prophet promised them of leading and controlling the world should they submit.
The Prophet left two things
The Prophet brought a message which eventually changed the Arabs and the world. He left behind two things. First the book of Allah, Qur’an which will remain unchangeable to the End of Time. Though, some may change its meaning for their interest, however, there are still verses which cannot be manipulated, unlike previous scriptures.
Secondly, there will always be true adherents of the Islam even if they are few in number. There will be a people who will stick to the Qur’an even if they are few. This shows the true religion will never be lost. This gives us hope of the coming of a Qa’eem or Savior who is also expected by followers of other religions. We are in the Time of Hope.
Islam and the current situation
Looking into the situation of Muslim Ummah today one can say that change is about to occur similar to the change in the time of the holy Prophet (SAWA). In the world today, there is Western capitalist and Eastern Communist systems. The East viewed religion as weapon of controlling people for worldly purpose. This is wrong; the religion should not be seen as such for the fact that some people used it for a motive. Take the example of a computer system in which one can use it for good or bad, the computer is not to blame. Religion is a message of God and if some used it wrongly, it should not be blamed or condemned. On the other hand the West sees religion as backwardness.
There is still another misconception regarding religion in which others see it as something belonging to a particular ethnic group or an affair to do with birth. In contrast, Islam is not by birth or by belonging to an ethnic group; it’s God’s message to humanity and one becomes a Muslim by accepting the message willingly and abiding by it commands. The Qur’an is a guide to those who believed in it and all branches of faith and deeds.
Presently, We are in a situation in which two empires- the West and the East, are ruling the world; at a time when religion is used for selfish motives by some of them.
Balkanization of Africa.
The African nation or the Muslim counters in Africa are now facing the second colonisaton. The first colonization for the resources in the continent was in the form of economic tie and trade between Kings and colonizing countries such as France, Germany, England etc . However, now it is in the form of fighting Islam in the name of restoring security and fighting terrorism. Everyone can see how they captured Mali in the name of fighting ‘Islamists’ who are not even Malians.
One day the British will come to fight ‘terrorists’ in Northern Nigeria. Now everyone can see how religion is used by even non-Muslims to achieve their goals at a time when Humanity is searching for a way out which can be found in Islam. The enemies of Islam will fight Islam by force against hujjah (right argument) for seeing it as potential solution and way out for humanity.
Ever since, Islam had never controlled world by Swords as some asserted but by Hujjah. Even those who used swords only did so for expansion of their empires, similar to the colonialists who colonized Muslim nations by the use of weapons against right argument (hujjah).
Hujjah is stronger than guns or weapons that is why Islam kept developing and increasing in number of adherents to date. So, out of fear of Islamic growing, the enemies of Islam now cast fear in the minds of people by saying Islam is about killings and fighting.
Situation in Nigeria
Now everyone feels the atmosphere of fear and insecurity in Nigeria which makes people search for solution and way out. Everyone needs change and the change cannot come up automatically without effort. And one cannot expect external agents like angels or jinn to come and change the situation for good. The change must be from the people themselves- individually and collectively. Neither the change will come by itself nor from the men in power or political reform by the selfish ruling class. Prophets and messengers had to suffer to bring change.
People must wake up for struggle and leave the rest to God as no Success without Effort. We must go back to the root and in doing so everyone shall do his part of the contribution. Aspiring for change in minds only without work cannot bring about a change.
We must not limit religion of God to being born in it as this will prevent others from understanding the message. The best method of invitation to Islam is by abiding by its teachings in all our conducts.
Islam will surely come back going by the many signs that are emerging. If one does not see the signs the enemies of Islam have seen them.
Our prayer is that may we be instruments of the change in bringing back the glory of Islam.