Playing God

"All rights of this book are reserved for the publisher and the author. This copy is for reading purpose only. This copy cannot be uploaded on any website except those of the publisher and the author." Playing God: Misreading a Divine Practice 62 meant by the last part of the narrative. If all the suppressed and implied portions are unfolded in the light of the Qur’ ā n, the last part of the narrative would be something like this: “Humiliation and subjugation is destined for those who disobey me. So O you Muslims who live in the areas of non-Muslims! In order to make your selves k now n to the attacking Muslim army that you are Muslims , make s ome distinguishing mark that makes you distinct from non-Muslims; If you do not distinguish yourself and [as a result] resemble the non-Muslims, then he who resembl es an enemy nation, will be regarded among them by t he attack ing Muslim army.” Hence this narrative has no bearing on wearing the dress or adopting the ways of non-Muslims. In other words, Muslims are not bound in any way in this regard by their religion. Adopting the ways and mannerisms of other nations has been left to their discr etion. xiii. Struggle for the Supremacy of Islam It is held by some Muslim scholars of contemporary times that it is the religious obligation of Muslims to strive for the supremacy of Islam. If a Muslim country is not following Islam, Muslims must organize an effort to topple its rulers and enforce Islam. An obvious corollary of this view point is that if they are living as minorities in some non-Muslim country, here also they should strive to achieve the supremacy of Islam. They term this struggle an “Islamic Revolution” and present the following verse in support of this view: 50 50. See for example Ab ū al-A‘l ā al-Mawd ū d ī , Shah ā dat-i haq , 10 th ed., Lahore: Islamic Publications, 1961; YY Haddad, www.javedahmadghamidi.com www.al- maw id.org