Islam's Reformers .pdf

was passed from the father over to the son by way ofinheritance. Public property was made mubâh (permitted) forthe relatives and sycophants of these persons and harâm formeritorious people who were adherent to Islam. Umayyads’coming into power was harmful. Had Hadrat ’Umar remained incaliphate a couple of years longer, or had Hadrat ’Alî been thethird caliph, or had Hadrat ’Uthmân been twenty-five yearsyounger than he was when he came into power, the face ofIslamic history would have been rather different. Hadrat ’Umarused to take away from the rich what was more than theyneeded of their property and distribute them to the poorequally.” (Page 247)With these writings of his, he misrepresents Hadrat ’Uthmân(radiy-Allâhu ’anh) as incompetent in administration. Thehadîths telling about his superiority in administration and policycould hardly be tallied. Let us also quote the most famous oneof them here: “The highest of my companions is Abû Bakr.Then comes ’Umar. Then comes ’Uthmân. Then comes ’Alî(radî-Allâhu ’anhumâ).” The superiority expressed in the Hadîthis a superiority in every respect. In Hudaibiya, at such adangerous time as the enemy was making preparations for war,our Prophet (’alaihi ’s-salâm) chose Hadrat ’Uthmân (radiy-Allâhu ’anh) as the ambassador so that he would talk to theenemy and make an agreement. He was among the six personswhom Hadrat ’Umar (radiy-Allâhu ’anh), when he was about topass away, considered worthy and capable of becoming Khalîfaafter him. Our Prophet (’alaihi ’s-salâm) stated, “Allâhu ta’âlâhas put the true word on ’Umar’s tongue.” ’Umar (radiy-Allâhu ’anh), who always spoke correctly and appropriately asnoted in the hadîth, recommended him by saying, “ ’Uthmân isworthy and capable for caliphate.” But Sayyid Qutb said, “No,he was not worthy of it. Islam’s progress came to a standstillbecause of him.” His administrative, political and militaryaccomplishments when he was Khalîfa are portrayed in detail inthe Turkish book Hak Sözün Vesîkaları, (translated intoEnglish in 1992) [1] .Sayyid Qutb’s likening Islamic Khalîfas to the kings ofunbelievers and saying that they prohibited meritorius people[1] Documents of the Right Word, 480 pp., available from HakîkatKitâbevi, Fâtih, Istanbul, Turkey.- 231 -