After having purified our community of the Shi‘a religion – and, of course, this includes anyone condoning the suicide attacks which have become an integral part of that deen – we can concentrate on the most urgent task of the moment: our coming together as a body in worship of Allah ta’ala.

This coming together will happen by action, by the implementation of Allah’s Commands to His slave. This means being fierce with the kuffar and merciful with each other. Faced with this Ayat, a Deobandi cannot long afford to be more hostile to the Berelwi than he is to the kuffar, the wahhabi will perform the Salat alongside the Sufi, and the Fuqaha will seek counsel from the Awliya.

We must counsel each other with love. We must learn to love each other for the sake of Allah and His Messenger, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, for this is their counsel to us. He said, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam:

By the One in whose hands is Muhammad, (and I will certainly make an oath to you all too if you wish) the most beloved of the slaves of Allah in the eyes of Allah are those who render Allah beloved to His slaves and who render the slaves of Allah beloved to Allah and who they themselves walk the earth giving good counsel, Nasiha.

He also said:

People are the family of Allah, and the most beloved of people in the eyes of Allah are those who are of most benefit to Allah’s family.

“And what could be of more benefit,” Ibn ‘Ajiba says, “than guiding them to Allah?” So this is our task, together. The Deobandis and the Berelwis, by this counsel, will unite in the teaching of the time of the Mughal Aurangzeb, in the complete teaching of the Deen before it split under the British occupation of Delhi. The Wahhabis will return to Ibn Taymiyya who never renounced his Suifsm and the Sufis will learn from Ibn Taymiyya’s love of the people of Madinah. The Fuqaha will recognise that the Awliya are obeying the Command of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. “Remember Allah much so that hopefully you will be successful,” (62:10) and the Awliya, the friends of Allah will help the Fuqaha towards implementation of their Fiqh.

This is not a difficult matter for Allah and it is certainly not difficult for us if we obey His Commands. In Surat al-Hajj, The Pilgrimage, Allah says (22:38):

[…] Allah will certainly help those who help Him –

Allah is All-Strong, Almighty. […]

Again He says in The Family of ‘Imran (3: 160):

If Allah helps you, no one can vanquish you. […]

And (3: 159):

 […] Allah loves those who put their trust in Him.

In Surat Muhammad, Allah ta’ala says (47: 8):

You who have iman!

if you help Allah, He will help you

and make your feet firm. […]

So we really have no choice in the matter. If we really want to come together then Allah has promised his help. Allah has commanded us to hold fast to His rope all together. To deny that this were possible in the face of this promise to help would be to despair of all hope and this is forbidden for us. Look at how Allah describes such a person (22: 15)

Anyone who thinks that Allah will not help him

in the dunya and the Akhira

should stretch a rope up to the ceiling

and then hang himself. […]

Islam means success. If we are not having success them we must examine what is missing. “Come to the Salat, come to Success,” is the call of the Iqama. Allah has promised us success but again it is conditional upon obedience to Him. In Surat al-Baqara, Allah tells us that success is guaranteed for “those who have iman in the Unseen and establish Salat and spend from what We have provided for them.” (2: 2)

And it is guaranteed for “those who have Iman in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you and who are certain about the Akhira.” (2: 3)

Again in Surat Al ‘Imran, Allah says that He guarantees success to the community “who call to the good, and enjoin the right and forbid the wrong.” (3: 104)

In Surat al-‘Araf, Allah ta’ala promises success to:

those who follow the Messenger […]

those who have iman in him

and honour him and help him,

and follow the Light that has been sent down with him […]

But his obedience to His Command, this following of His Messenger will be by Allah, not by us. It will be by our trust, our Iman in Him (Surat al’Anfal 8: 19):

 […] Allah is with the Muminin.

And 9: 72:

The men and women of the muminun

are friends of one another. […]

The Muminun have success, but then Allah tells us in Surat at-Tawba (9: 112):

Allah has bought from the muminun

their selves and their wealth

in return for the Garden. […]

So the affair is really not in out hands. So there can be no doubt of our success. “You are the best nation ever to be produced before mankind,” Allah ta’ala tells us in Surat Al ‘Imran (3: 110)

In Surat al-Qasas (28: 4-5), Allah ta’ala says:

We desired to show kindness to those

who were oppressed in the land

and to make them leaders

and make them inheritors

and establish them firmly in the land […]

The most swift way of coming together is to recognise these leaders that Allah desires to raise up. The Muslims were always strong when they had ‘Amr, when they recognised leadership. Each of us has a particular task to carry out here on earth as slaves of his, but with this responsibility comes an understanding of the order of things, of the way Allah has arranged the whole affair. In Surat al-An’am, Livestock (6: 167), Allah ta’ala says:

It is He who appointed you Khalifs on the earth

and raised some of you above others in rank […]

Allah has commanded us to obey those in authority. Strengthening our Amir will strengthen us, will protect the Deen and will bring automatic success. It will ensure the taking of Zakat and the taking care of those in need. It will mean that the judgments pronounced by the Fuqaha will be acted upon. It will mean justice will be established and the kuffar will come to us for protection.

The Deen was strong and healthy under the ‘Amr of the Mughals, under the Osmanli Sultans – it became weak immediately following their demise. Reflect upon the words of Allah in Surat Al ‘Imran (3: 139):

Do not give up and do not be downhearted.

You shall be uppermost if you are muminun.

The kuffar slaughtered the Muslims of North Africa but were never able to conquer the Sousse in Southern Morocco or the desert region of southern Algeria. Allah protected these places because they held to the Deen and obeyed their leaders. He is with us wherever we are. There is no doubt about this. Allah commands us in Surat al-Hajj (22: 76):

Do jihad for Allah with the jihad due to Him. […]

 […] He has selected you and not placed

any constraint upon you in the Deen –

[…] hold fast to Allah.

He is your Protector –

the Best Protector, the Best Helper.

This means us, here and now, in Cape Town, in the Karoo, in Southern Africa.