It is all that gaves power to who ever he wishes. When we return back to are deen and follow it correctly then Allah will give us authority on the earth. But if we shave are beards and use the beads and innovate then Allah will not change are situation. It is all the innovation that weakened the ummah in the first place. Refer back to the post of Mabsoot and read the artical Important of Tawheed in reviving the Muslim Ummah
And also the Ayah that he bought in surah Nur ayah 55 Allah has allready informed us of how to change our situation. The Prophet has allready informed us that this would happen
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If we follow the kufr in every thing that they do so that we may gain power it will drive us further from Allah and his help. We need tarbiya and Tafsiya first. We can not run into other fields without firm knowledge of our religion and knowing the basics of the Tawheed and the Sunnah.
Well, I read the article mabsoot posted. and I TOTALLY agree that we MUST follow Qur'an and Sunnah... If there was a clear statement that says "cut your left hand" in Qur'an or Sunnah, I would definately think that this must be done.. without questioning it! But I doubt that we interpret everything as they should be interpreted in Qur'an and Sunnah, and I fear I will go mad trying soo hard to understand the right message!!! Allah knows how much I want to understand the deen correctly.
Looking back through history I can see that ulaama have been discussing topics like certain things about what to wear and how to wear,what a muslim should look like, how to practice certain types of ibaadah, this and that, to extreme details... and interestingly there are so many views about everything I totally get lost in them whenever i try to learn what's right!!!
Anyway, Allah helps him who wants the truth, sooner or later...I need to be patient.. Innallahe maassabereen!
I think the "innovation" (bidah) discussion is being taken to extreme points... For example some of you argue that using prayer beads is an innovation... Why?...Saying something like "it must be used" would be an innovation since it has no roots in Qur'an or Sunnah but something like "It can be used" wouldn't be I suppose, we need to understand what's haram, if we can accurately define harams we'll know that whatever left is halal, we have the permission to do them... We can not list what's halal, can we?... or should we?.... I don't see that prayer beads have anything to do with tawheed. it just facilitates the zikr for some people... Doesn't Prophet (pbuh) say: Make things simple and do not complicate them. Calm people and do not drive them away.(Bukhari, Ilm: 12,Muslim, Jihad: 6)... I know I should be following sunnah, but does that mean that I should exactly do everything prophet(pbuh) did 1400 years ago. We sure have certain commands to obey but we're not always necessarily told which methods to use and how we should fulfill them... The conditions change so must we! I try to imagine "What would rasulullah do if he lived in this century facing all the conditions we currently encounter... And my reason tells me he wouldn't exactly do what he did 14 centuries ago... I don't think he would grab a sword to fight against kufr or travel on a camel. maybe he wouldn't do many things that we try to imitate just because we know he did these throughout his life... Well those who are deep in these issues might think I'm a little shallow, but I really try to understand! The prayer beads discussion is not the only issue, there are sooo many things.. Why should it be soo hard and complicated for me to be a good muslim? Well I know how much I love Allah and how much I fear him, and Allah knows it too.
I believe doing something that Allah or Rasulullah did not clearly forbade, would not make me any worse muslim!!! so I will choose the easier way unless I see that it's clearly forbidden by Allah or Rasulullah.. Doesn't Rasulullah say: “Avoid that which I forbid you to do and do that which I command you to do to the best of your capacity. Verily the people before you were destroyed only because of their excessive questioning and their disagreement with their Prophets.” (Bukhari)
And let's get to the other point... fighting the ahli-kufr may require copying some of their methods... Why are we using internet for instance? It sure can be used for da'waa just like it can be used for fitna... what matters is your intentions, actions and how effective you are... Back in old times the weapons were swords, guns, bombs so on and so forth, and BOTH MUSLIMS and MUSHRIKs were using them.. and we are in the age of knowledge, why not use their methods if we know that they will be very effective in Jihaad. I don't say that we should look or act like them but let's face it, we also have things to learn from them, ILM (Knowledge) belongs to Allah and he grants it to whoever he wishes no matter they are muslim or mushrik...
Anyway, I'm not trying to teach something to anyone, i admit the fact that I don't know anything but I'm trying to understand... Allah knows the best... May Allah bring the day ,we all understand and practice Islam as we should, soon inshaAllah!