Blogger Abdul Haq says the singing of God Save the King by pupils of The Olive School Hackney in London Central Mosque has unmasked the pro-establishment attitude of some of our most prominent Islamic institutions and community leaders.
The latest act of fawning adoration for the monarch is arguably the most visible demonstration of how the hearts and minds of some diaspora Muslims have been completely subjugated.
To see Muslim children collectively marking the accession of the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and singing the national anthem alongside an imam (Mohammed Mahmood of East London Mosque) who was feted by the establishment and given the red-carpet treatment by Islamic organisations and charities is tragic on multiple levels.
And I will explain why by referencing the seerah.
It was during my college years when I developed an intrigue for the seerah of the Prophet (pbuh). Like many of you, I would be overcome with emotion at particular moments in his blessed life.
For me, whenever our nabi (pbuh) would exhort the sahaba to swear an oath of fealty to him, I would always pause for reflection just to allow myself to absorb the gravity of such an event and acknowledge the monumental sacrifices they made with such a vow.
I pictured myself during the pledges of Al Aqabah and imagined how honourable it would have been to congregate under a tree with the companions during the Bay’at Al-Ridwan.
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I recall listening to lectures on the subject and being taught to appreciate how the bay’ah was a demonstration of sincerity towards Allah SWT and a gesture of love for the best of creation.
Regardless of which Prophetic biography I managed to get my hands on, I was constantly reminded that such a solemn undertaking was a litmus test of imaan and a means to earning Allah’s pleasure in this life and the hereafter.
Importantly, I understood that ever since the first successorship to the Prophet (pbuh) was settled, the opinions of Muslim scholars (aqwal al-`ulama’) over a millenia acknowledged that the establishment of the office of Khalifah was absolutely integral to upholding the Islamic faith and organising the collective temporal affairs of the Ummah according to the laws stipulated by the Creator.
There was no dispute that fealty was owed to the Caliph and that a Muslim’s allegiance and loyalty was exclusively reserved for Allah, his Messenger (pbuh) and the believers.
Colonial indoctrination
But after generations of colonial indoctrination where the seeds of westernisation were firmly planted in the Arab world and secular reformist trends took root in the Muslim heartlands, the concept of allegiance as traditionally understood and accepted by Islamic jurists was bastardised beyond recognition and extricated from its original meaning.
In its place emerged an understanding which was completely alien to Islam, such as an obligation of a feudal vassal to his “liege lord” or fidelity owed by a subject or citizen to a sovereign or government which did not implement the shariah of Allah.
This notion has persisted in some shape or form from around the mid 19th century, conditioning Muslim scholarship and the laity to embrace new sovereigns who do not rule and judge by what Allah revealed but rather militate against those who desire to see Islam restored to its original essence as a comprehensive deen.
Such a skewed understanding can be seen with the appointment of Charles III, heralding a new and ugly chapter in the pernicious project of “British Islam,” the rotten fruits of which have ripened with your little cherubs in school uniforms being invited to take the first bite.
Today, the ingratiating imams and obsequious mosque committees who would give a limb to attend any honorary appointment with their new Commander-in-Chief are going above and beyond the call of duty to confirm their status under his vassalage.
Not only are they the biggest obstacle for Islamic revival having made a career from giving a respectable face to those conniving against the Ummah, they have now made acts which some will consider kufr palatable for their audiences by enlisting Muslim children in the service of their new sovereign.
The companions and the righteous generations that followed them pledged their life to not only protect the Prophet (pbuh) but to ensure that the message of Islamic monotheism prevailed over other ways of life.
Now, obedience and submission to king Charles during times of distress, hardship, prosperity and happiness is hailed as the ultimate act of virtue by two of the UK’s most prominent mosques (London Central Mosque and East London Mosque) and several Muslim community leaders.
The mask is off.
