We came across an article by a journalist that sparked mixed reactions on social media. The article was titled: (Secularism and the Complex of Falsified Islamic History)!

In response to some of the points raised in the article, we say:

First: The writer's statements reveal her ignorance of Islam, leading her to fabricate lies about Islam and its rulings, and to utter falsehoods. To be fair, here is the text in which she fabricated lies about Islam: (Throughout its history, Islam has never achieved equality between people of different faiths in any of the states established by Muslims. Armies would march from the Arabian Peninsula, conquering countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa, and presenting the inhabitants of those lands with only three choices: Convert to Islam, pay the jizya (tribute) while being humiliated, or fight, which, if it ends in a Muslim victory, leads to the enslavement of men, the capture of women, and the seizure of wealth as spoils of war...)!

Firstly, the author acknowledges that the Muslim war was a conquest, not colonization or aggression. Furthermore, the three options were always prior to the war, not after the conquest, as she stated.

The One who commanded fighting the disbelievers is the Lord of the Worlds, and He is the One who imposed the jizya on those who did not enter Islam, but were content to live with the Muslims under the rulings of Islam. Allah (swt) says:

[قَاتِلُواْ الَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَلاَ بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَلاَ يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَلاَ يَدِينُونَ دِينَ الْحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَابَ حَتَّى يُعْطُواْ الْجِزْيَةَ عَن يَدٍ وَهُمْ صَاغِرُونَ]

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, nor comply with what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth from among those who were given the Scripture, until they pay the tax, willingly submitting, fully humbled” [At-Tawbah 9:29]. This writer, who claims to be a Muslim, objects to Allah's word and judgment!

As for her statement: (Or fight which, if it ends in a Muslim victory, leads to the enslavement of men, the capture of women, and the seizure of wealth...), this is a false statement, one that even the most bitter enemies of Islam would not have uttered! If the Muslims were victorious in their conquests in any battle against the disbelievers, the rulings of Islam would be implemented, and people would be left to their own beliefs and worship. If the matter were as the writer claims, all Muslim lands would be enslaved today. Rather, Islam came to liberate people from the bondage of slaves to the servitude of the Creator of slaves.

Secondly, the writer stated: (Islam is a religion that encompasses spiritual guidance, ethical content, and a holistic view of humanity and life in terms of meanings and purposes...etc.). This is a clear contradiction. How can Islam be a religion that encompasses spiritual guidance and ethical content while simultaneously offering a holistic view of humanity and life in terms of meanings and purposes?

Islam is a spiritual and political doctrine that came to address the problems of humankind, recognizing that humans possess instincts and physical needs that require fulfillment. Islam has clarified how these needs should be met without excess or deficiency, through rulings from the All-Wise, the All-Knowing. He who created humankind knows what benefits and harms them! The writer's lack of knowledge of these rulings does not absolve her of responsibility; rather, it underscores her ignorance of Islam.

Third: The writer states in her article: (We must stop repeating the claim that we preceded Europe in justice, freedom, and equality. These are merely propaganda, claims, and emotional, ideological biases. Europe produced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the airplane, the train, the computer, modern science, etc.). What European justice is the writer talking about?! The history of Europe, both ancient and modern, is a history of colonialism, replete with injustice against vulnerable peoples, especially in Africa. Indeed, the world today only recognizes the powerful. The words and actions of the president of the world's largest democracy, and the thuggery he perpetrates—from which even his allies are not spared—are sufficient proof. As for what they say about freedom, it is the freedom of debauchery and a violation of natural instinct. It is the freedom for men to marry men and women to marry women. It is the freedom of Epstein—and what a disgrace Epstein was!

As for the modern nation-state, yes, it temporarily put a stop to the endless wars that were taking place between them.

As for us, the nation-states they created for us are merely puppet states, their purpose being to serve the interests of the colonizers. They install the rulers and remove them, and the people of all Muslim lands are oppressed. Were it not for the kafir (infidel), colonial West, these rulers who oppress their people would not have remained in power for a single day. An example of the Western rulers' satisfaction with Muslim rulers is what Trump said about the Egyptian ruler, calling him his favorite dictator! This truly reflects the views of all Western rulers, except that the rest are hypocrites.

As for human rights, they are a Western fabrication. They mean by them the human rights of white Europeans, with no regard for the rest of Allah's creation. What the Zionist entity did in Gaza, with the help of the world's largest democracy, is enough, amid the silence of the rulers of the so-called civilized world, who claim to uphold human rights. Furthermore, the writer conflates science and its outputs with governance and politics, and rulings with thought. What do airplanes, trains, and modern sciences have to do with governance and politics?! Strangely, she cites China, which oppresses the Uyghur Muslims in East Turkestan!

Fourth: The writer said in her article: (We are now backward, how do we escape this backwardness...?), and in her answer she says: (Likewise, we must move beyond the idea that Islam is both religion and state, that is, move beyond the central myth upon which political Islam groups are founded).

We tell her, yes, we are backward, not because we adhere to Islam or because we rule by Islamic law, but quite the opposite. Islam is submission and obedience to Allah (swt), the Lord of the Worlds, and this writer and those with her want us to submit and obey created beings like ourselves, who are also disbelievers. And Allah (swt) warns us against them, these disbelievers, saying:

[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ لاَ تَتَّخِذُواْ الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَى أَوْلِيَاء بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاء بَعْضٍ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّهُم مِّنكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ مِنْهُمْ إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ]

“O believers! Take neither Jews nor Christians as guardians—they are guardians of each other.1 Whoever does so will be counted as one of them. Surely Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people” [Al-Ma'idah :51].

The idea that Islam is a religion from which the state originates is a central tenet of Islam. For whoever implements the rulings of Islam is, in essence, a state that applies the laws of governance, politics, economics, society, and other areas. And Allah (swt) has commanded us to implement His law, as He, the Exalted, said:

[فَلاَ وَرَبِّكَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ حَتَّىَ يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ لاَ يَجِدُواْ فِي أَنفُسِهِمْ حَرَجاً مِّمَّا قَضَيْتَ وَيُسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً]

“But no! By your Lord, they will never be ˹true˺ believers until they accept you ˹O Prophet˺ as the judge in their disputes, and find no resistance within themselves against your decision and submit wholeheartedly” [An-Nisa 4:65]. The noble Prophet (saw) is the one who advised us, if we want salvation, to follow his Sunnah in governance and politics, and the Sunnah of the Khulafaa Rashidun (rightly guided Caliphs) after him, saying: «فَإِنَّهُ مَنْ يَعِشْ مِنْكُمْ فَسَيَرَى اخْتِلَافاً كَثِيراً، فَعَلَيْكُمْ بِسُنَّتِي وَسُنَّةِ الْخُلَفَاءِ الرَّاشِدِينَ الْمَهْدِيِّينَ، فَتَمَسَّكُوا بِهَا وَعَضُّوا عَلَيْهَا بِالنَّوَاجِذِ، وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَمُحْدَثَاتِ الْأُمُورِ فَإِنَّ كُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ، وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ»“For whoever among you lives will see much disagreement. So adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided Caliphs. Hold fast to it and cling to it with your molars. And beware of newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance.”  After this warning, the writer wants us to abandon the Islamic system and its rulings, and follow the misguided ideologies of the disbelievers, such as secularism, democracy, capitalism, communism, and other whims of disbelieving people?!

Fifth: The writer concludes her article by saying: (No one in Europe now dreams of bringing back the Inquisition, for example, or the slave trade, but some Muslims dream of implementing the punishment for apostasy, the return of the era of Islamic conquests, concubines, captives, and the return of the Khilafah (Caliphate)). We say to her that the Khilafah, which you do not want Muslims to be governed by, is the only path to their salvation from oppressive regimes and the tyranny of rulers of unjust states. Moreover, it is an obligation, not merely wishes or dreams, and it will come despite the disbelief of the West and its allies, for it is the promise of Allah (swt), who said:

[وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُم فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَى لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْناً يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئاً وَمَن كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ]

“Allah has promised those of you who believe and do good that He will certainly make them successors in the land, as He did with those before them; and will surely establish for them their faith which He has chosen for them; and will indeed change their fear into security—˹provided that˺ they worship Me, associating nothing with Me. But whoever disbelieves after this ˹promise˺, it is they who will be the rebellious” [An-Nur 24:55]. This is the good news of the Prophet (saw) of the return of the Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) on the model of Prophethood after the oppressive rule we are living through these days. He (saw) says in a hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad: «ثُمَّ تَكُونُ مُلْكاً جَبْرِيَّةً فَتَكُونُ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ أَنْ تَكُونَ، ثُمَّ يَرْفَعُهَا إِذَا شَاءَ أَنْ يَرْفَعَهَا، ثُمَّ تَكُونُ خِلَافَةً عَلَى مِنْهَاجِ النُّبُوَّةِ. ثُمَّ سَكَتَ»“Then it will be a tyrannical monarchy, and it will last as long as Allah wills it to last. Then He will remove it when He wills to remove it. Then it will be a Khilafah (Caliphate) based on the prophetic model. Then he fell silent.”

In conclusion, we say to the writer: Yes, the history of Islam is falsified, but not, as you claim, in favor of Islam. Rather, it is falsified in favor of its enemies. Those who wrote the history of Islam were Orientalists, enemies of Islam—and what do you know of Orientalists? Unfortunately, some Muslims who wrote history have taken from them, and you are taking from them too! Furthermore, Islam is not derived from history, nor from human interpretations, but rather from its sources: divine revelation, the Book of Allah (swt) and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saw).

We ask Allah to guide us and the writer, for He is the Guardian of that and is capable of it.

Wa Assalamu alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatahu