The Reality of Khilafah — Page 151
An Announcement for Public Awareness 151 who adopts the path of rebellion or hatches conspiracies or par- ticipates in such meetings or is privy to them, disobeys Allah and His Messenger. Whatever I have written about my being a true well-wisher of this government is true. The ignorant maulaw i s do not know of the conditions that are necessary for jihad. Killing and pillaging is not jihad, nor is jihad ever permissible against a government that grants us protection. When a government protects the lives and honour and prop- erty of its citizens and grants them full religious freedom, Allah never warrants that anyone should go out and try to destroy such a government. This is not faith, it is infidelity; this is not virtue, it is transgression. May God have mercy on Muslims who do not understand this issue and are living hypocritical and dishonest lives under this government. I have read the Holy Quran carefully and nowhere have I found it teaching that one should respond to good with evil. It is true that this is a government of a peo- ple who are very wrong about their religious beliefs, and even in this day of enlightenment, they hold a man to be God and a poor mortal to be the Lord of the worlds. However, this makes them even more deserving of sympathy and of being shown guidance, for they have strayed too far from the right path. Being mindful of their benevolence, we should pray for them in the presence of God: ‘O Lord Almighty, guide them and open their hearts to pure Tau hi d [the Oneness of God] and turn them towards the truth so that they may recognize your true and perfect Prophet s as and your Holy Book, and Islam may become their religion. ’ True, the mischief of the Christian clergy has gone too far and they are raising a lot of noise, but their aggression is not of the sword; it is of the pen. Therefore, O Muslims, you, too, fight them with the