Muslims’ current failures are not mere in economy, education, science or technology; the most basic and devastating failure is in the understanding of Islam – the unique and the most valuable possession. Other failures are indeed the results of this basic failure. And all these failures have led to moral, cultural, behavioural and political failures. They have failed even to understand the very purpose of the worldly survival. So their vision, mission, life style and political priorities do not match with those of the early Muslims. Indeed, they are far away from that. Otherwise, like early Muslims, they would have been engaged again in building a civilization force.

But they are far away from that. Islam assigns a clear goal to the believers. And to help reach that goal, shows a clear roadmap. The Divine roadmap of Islam is the only sure and proven road of success: it can lead only to great success in this world and in the hereafter. Failure has never been in its way. But Muslims’ conspicuous failure is a proof that they have gone other way. Knowledge of the Divine roadmap comes only through proper understanding of Islam. But that is a missing element in Muslim societies. For such understanding, knowledge of Qur’an is indispensible. Learning Qur’an is not mere an academic need, is a binding religious obligation on every male and female. To be a Muslim, it is a fundamental pre-requisite. Ignorance is a great sin; indeed, mother of all sins. To free humans from its curse, unlike other religion, Islam made education a binding obligation. But Muslims have failed catastrophically to meet that obligation. Only a conceptual clarity (aqeedah) can move people in the right path. Early Muslims spent so much time and wrote so many books to clear this point. So it gave them much needed moral strength to stand against social, moral and political wrongs. Bold commitment and sacrifices are indeed the outcome of such moral correctness. The implementation of Allah’s guidance only then becomes a reality. Otherwise it is unthinkable. But today, most Muslims show little sense to achieve that goal. Hence, there prevails an awful ignorance or unawareness even about the aim of creation and their role here. The Qur’ran says, “Inni khalaktul jinnah wal isaana illa li yabudun”. Meaning: “Certainly I have created the mankind and the jinn for no other purpose, but to worship Me.” Ibadah is the prime reason of the human creation; and working as His khalifa (representative) on the earth is the assigned role. The humans’ role as His khalifa has been expressed in the verse 30 of Sura Bakara. Here Allah – the Almighty disclose His wish to the angels, “Inni Jayelun fil arde khalifah”: certainly I am appointing khalifa (the representative) in the earth. A player must have to know his role in the field, otherwise how can make a proper contribution? Here comes the binding obligation on every man and woman to understand the job-assignment; otherwise failure to do any justice to the role is quite natural. But Muslims have shown little success in this regard; hence failure is common. Ibadah is a Quranic vocabulary: simply means servitude. But it has a very inclusive connotation. Does it imply simply to offer five daily prayers, observe fasting in ramadhan and give some charity to the poor or performing haj in the life time? Are these all that Allah – the Creator wants from a believer? Ibadah means total submission to His authority, full surrender to His will, and a total commitment to the promotion of His cause. It in fact defines the more inclusive role of a Muslim.He has to fully resign to Allah, His prophet, and His religion. He should submit not only to the full guidance of Islam, but also do the best to implement the whole guidance for the mankind. For that, he has to invest not only the money, energy or intelligence, but also his life. And that has been the tradition of prophet and his companion. Islam not only aims at making good individuals, but also raising best families, societies and civilisation. Individual roles of the Muslims thus merge together to formulate a collective role: Islamic movement is indeed the expression of that shared mission. Islamic identity of a Muslim is not his private or personal matter; it must have a public expression and impact too. Even shahada – the first declaration of acceptance of faith should be announced in public. With such spirit, Islamic movement turns to a collective enterprise of the Muslim mass. It is a duty of every Muslim that he should make best contribution to take the Qur’anic guidance far beyond. Faith in Allah shouldn’t be hidden inside, rather should come out as visible changes in behaviour, economy, culture, politics and warfare. The daily prayers (Salah), the fasting in the month of Ramadhan (Siam), the charity to the poor (zakah), and the pilgrimage to the House of Allah (Hajj), are the training courses of the Qur'anic curriculum. These rituals do not end in themselves; rather aims to meet a far-reaching consequence. That is to bring an Islamic mould to Muslims’ lives as well as to their societies and states. But this is not happening. Instead of influencing others, they have failed to make any discernable impact on their own. Syed Jamaluddin Afghani did not miss this point. He told, “Clouds put shades in front of the sun, and the Muslims have put shades in front of Islam.” Thus, the Muslims gave a great disservice to Islam. By corrupt deed and decadence, they have made real Islam almost invisible to others. But the Muslims of the early days were different. They were the living symbols, - the radiant lighthouse of Islamic faith. Such light could remove the darkness of ancient ignorance: not only from the Arabs but also from people of many far-reaching countries. Their character and behaviour spoke louder about Islam. The Prophet was the best example. Once Hazrat Ayesha (R), the wife of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) was asked about the Prophet’s character. She replied, “Have you not read the Qur’an? You can see the true expression of the Qur’an in him.” The Qur’anic guidance was truly embodied in his life. The companions of the Prophet tried to shadow him; so they too become role-model per excellence for others. Millions converted to Islam; not by learning this religion from schools, mosques or universities but from the behaviour, attitudes and actions of these early Muslims. Each one of them was a living page of the Qur’an. Their faith enlightened not only their own lives and families, but also vast part of the known world. From a tiny population of Hijaz, Islam spread to distant corners of Asia, Africa and Europe. That too happened within only hundred and fifty years. In next 13 hundred years, the Muslims increased only in numbers; could not take the massage much beyond to the other people. Humans are on a short transition in this world. The ultimate goal of the journey is to please Allah; and to achieve His mercy. Those who receive His mercy, get the real success. Only the Qur’anic road-map can help attain that success. The success of the early Muslims lies in the fact that they strictly followed the roadmap. They were very careful to avoid even the slightest deviation. To drive into a disastrous ditch, does it not need a big deviation? Even a slight departure from the road can do the job. So the early Muslims were very meticulous to ensure one hundred percent correctness in their deed: whether social, cultural, political, legal or economic. But today’s Muslims have taken not a narrow deviation, in many areas a full opposite turn. Hence many forbidden deeds like interest-based transaction, prostitution, selling wine and gambling no more forbidden in Muslim lands. And Islamic law – sharia is non-existent. The Muslims’ current decline owes to a single cause: they do not follow the Quranic road-map. They have deviated a long way from siratul mustaqeem. Man-made legal, political and economic road-maps have taken the place of Qur’anic guidance. Hence, tribalism, nationalism, capitalism, socialism, autocracy and western culture could easily make an overwhelming dominance. The regular acts of worship like salah, fasting, pilgrimage, and zakah, are prescribed to train believers to achieve the physical, intellectual and monetary fitness to fully surrender to Allah. And the superb illustration comes from Prophet Ibrahim (AS) superb. His surrender was so impressive that it brought a special mention from Allah in the holy Qur’an, which made him distinctive in whole human history. The Qur’an records Ibrahim’s (AS) declaration as follows: "Say: Certainly my worship and my sacrifice and my living and my dying are all for Allah, Lord of the Worlds. He has no partner. This am I commanded, and I am first of those who surrender (unto Him)". (6: 163, 164) Such surrender is the assigned mission of a true Muslim. He should worship Allah, and should live for His cause. He should sacrifice his wish; spend his wealth and even life for an overwhelming triumph of His religion. He should take Ibrahim (AS) as his role model. 'Muslim’ as a word was firstly introduced by him. It became an iconic word to explain the nature of a true believer. Whenever a command came from Allah, be it for migration from motherland Iraq to distant Egypt, leaving the baby son and the wife in the desert of Mecca, or sacrificing the son - he did not show the slightest hesitation to comply with. Prophet Ibrahim (AS) proclaims: "This am I commanded by Allah and I am of those who surrender unto Him." Allah - the Wise liked this phrase ‘Muslim’ so much that He assigns this term as a title for the believers. This great man of history thus gets a high appreciation from the Almighty. He is glorified as a model character for all believes to come. The Qur'an reveals: "And strive for Allah with the endeavor which is His right. He has chosen you and has not laid upon you in religion any hardship; the faith of your father Ibrahim (is yours). He has named you Muslims of old time." (22: 78) Neither the word 'Muslim' nor the concept of striving in Allah’s way (jihad) is new. Both are old, as old is the human history. When there were only two persons, even then there were two opposing prototypes – as were Habil and Kabil: the two sons of Adam (AS). There exists a clear divide between the followers of Allah and the followers of devil since very early days of the history. The aim of survival and the way of survival of these two people are also different. The conflict between these two people is also inevitable. Hence, the question of making a winning strategy is crucial. The Muslims need to prepare themselves as the dominant force in history. In such context, mere proclamation of faith in Allah is not enough. A believer must go far beyond, his faith must reflect through full submission to Allah’s Will of bringing an overwhelming victory for His religion. If there appears a mismatch or inconsistency between his words and deeds, he falls in another category. He is labelled as a munafiq - a hypocrite. In this context, prayers must play a change making and habit forming role. It should cause constant submission to Allah and bring lifelong consistency in words and deeds. Prayers must transform people’s vision, mission and life style. Only then, sacrificing time, wealth and even life for victory of Islam become a distinctive part of a Muslim’s culture. Hence, prayers must not turn to mere rituals. These must generate and sustain a dynamic movement to serve Allah’s cause. Muslim ummah then gets a propulsive dynamism. In such social and conceptual milieu, Islamic movement becomes a natural outcome. Existence of such movement in a Muslim community is indeed an indicator of its spiritual health. In its absence, the ummah not only loses its progression, goes straight downhill. Then it rapidly degenerates. Indeed, that is now happening in almost all Muslim countries. It does not mean that Qur’an does not exist in these countries. Rather there exist serious impediments in its understanding. For practising Muslims, it is unthinkable not to help grow a mass-based Divine movement to fight the cause of Allah. Muslims’ unity here plays a crucial role. Unity implies believers’ collective adherence to an Islamic cause. Any dissociation from it means dissociation from Islam, as was the case of hypocrites (muniafiqs) of Medina at the time of the Prophet (pbuh).