The I-SOC (Islamic Society) XIII

I spent last night in the company of the legend that is the evergreen Sh Haitham al-Haddad. We discussed many matters and he nearly even got me to pray Fajr with him somewhere around midnight. Alhamdulillah, my fitrah saved me. =)

One of the benefits he mentioned - which I wanted to endorse here - is how important it is to support folks like Erdogan because they aren't just individuals, but rather represent an entire reality, a complete ideological battlefield, a complete wall against a force of kufr that wants Islam to be dissolved away into nothingness.

Sh Haitham sees Erdogan as the Mujaddid of our times. That is a massive claim, but one that I find difficult to reject outright.

See, the immediate emotional response would be to say he isn't a scholar or ruling outright by Shari'ah, but then we would respond and say that such titles are not just earned by status but by struggle. If that is the best a person can do in his capacity and he is unable to do other things, the Lord indeed knows that. If he spreads khayr and revives the love of Deen then he is doing better than the scholar anyway.

Others might say "But how can you compare him to the great XYZs of our history" to which we will say that Mujaddideen are not compared to one another. Periods of time are also not compared. Every one will be judged according to their own context, their own challenge at that time that the Ummah faced, and then how it was dealt with.

Regardless of what you think, there was hardly a normal orthodox Muslim anywhere in the world on Friday night who wasn't deeply depressed and shocked by the news of the attempted coup. The stories that are coming out now of what happened are unbelievable enough to put Hollywood out of business. And there was unbridled relief that he had survived the next day and iA will come out of this stronger.

This unity of feeling is not random. It is from Allah. Yes he isn't perfect, yes some of his policies have rubbed people up the wrong way but the man is working in a hellish environment of enemies galore and who knows how authoritarian *we* would be to deal with it. And if you think he was strict *then*, just wait for what he unleashes now and with our blessing too. What, did that hurt your sensitivies? Awww poor you. You're on the wrong page mate, both on Facebook and history itself iA.

I watched Erdogan cry his heart out at the funeral yesterday of his close friends murdered in the coup. But the reason we love and support Erdogan is not because of his vengeance in grief, but because he knows that he has a responsibility at all times to defend this Deen for the sake of Allah alone regardless of personal cost or motivation. We should support him in that noble goal as best we can whilst remaining as just as possible and not overstepping the boundaries of Shari'ah.

O Allah protect Turkey and its Leader, and guide it to that which You are pleased with. Ameen.