Islam instills the true feeling of pride of Allah the Almighty and His Prophet (PBUH) in the Muslim’s character so as to resist any temptations and withstand any pressure. The Muslim should mull over Allah’s ways of universe while being upbeat for victory when calamity strikes: bearing in mind that the darkest hour is that before the dawn. One is required to turning to Allah; Glorified is He, and getting closer to Him by doing good deeds and being righteous to obtain satisfaction of Allah and lasting bliss.
These concepts affirm the fact that all affairs are under Allah’s control. Thus, a Muslim should neither be allured by lusts nor suffer any inferiority compared to the alleged superiority of others. In his pursuit for glory, the Muslim should seek refuge of Allah by compassing himself towards the objectives and rulings of Shariah in sayings, deeds and behavior in compliance with the following Qur’anic verse: “Faint not, neither sorrow; you shall be the upper ones if you are believers.” [Q. 3:139]
Although this meaning represents a high value that relates with others within the framework of the fundamentals of Islam, the extremist and radical groups narrow this broad meaning into a political concept called “pride of faith” or “superiority of faith”. They consider this formulation as a basis for their fallacious opinions; subsequently, it is wrongfully twisted to a behavioral pattern based on disrespect for each and every value and everyone. Furthermore, it includes practices of racism against the other, and then, such groups justify violence and hatred, as they argue, by considering it as an Islamic approach. Not to mention that they adopt this approach as a plan of action to safeguard the religion. They think that they are the only source of the true Islamic methodology and lawful absolute truth and consequently, they should, assumingly, be accounted for any praise mentioned in Shari evidences
This misperception is not aloof from their other focal radical idiosyncrasies, the likes of “the ignorant society” and “Sovereignty” (Al-Hakimiyya), the exigencies of which are the absolute takfir and fighting the righteous as well as the wicked of the Ummah. This imbalance bred great vices, ranging from isolation, lack of participation and coexistence with the nation in its social life, sowing disaccord and disintegration among the members of the society or the family, prioritizing parallel references to the institutions that are well-established for centuries. Accordingly, they masqueraded their stances and idiosyncrasies as the absolute truth, and that the massive infringements upon religion, money and honor- which are supposed to be manifestations of faith superiority- as retaliatory acts against the claimed manifest error of others. This caused relentless wars and strife and spread of destruction as well as bloodshed. They are falsely committing all these vices under the slogan “pride of faith”.
They used this concept as a way to rekindle enthusiasm of the public and strengthen the concept of “blind obedience” which makes their followers look down upon the society and hate homeland. Furthermore, they make individuals unable to contribute in the stabilization of the society and supporting the states’ efforts, thus they do not accept coexistence or believe in dialogue. Not to mention that the ambiguous denotations of this concept resulted in the division of these extremists into different groups, the first believe that they are the standard bearers of Jihad until Khilafah (caliphate) on the method of Prophethood and Shariah are applied; the second believe that they are the messengers of the political reform; the third think that they are the standard bearers of Ahl as-Sunnah wal-Jamaah and the fourth advocate affiliation to the Shari (Islamic lawful) sciences and Dawah, etc.
Lamentably, their unawareness of the Ummah’s status quo, unfamiliarity with Shari facts and their established goals, alongside with the patronizing view and self-conceit, all led them to be dragged into the quagmire of vices. The aforementioned qualities are derogatory and frowned down upon by the dictates of reason and divine law; they give triggers to racism impulses which Shariah warns against. Allah orders us to be humble, merciful, kind and altruist and not to be arrogant about the merits Allah gives us. As the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said: “Allah has revealed to me that you (people) should be humble, so that no one transgresses another, or boasts to the other”, narrated by Muslim.
Dr.Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam
Grand Mufti of Egypt
