The Early History of the Call to Return to the Quran and Its Impact

 

The Early History of the Call to Return to the Quran and Its Impact

To garner support, Nu'man bin Bisyir brought Sayidina Ustman 's robe covered in blood to the city of Syam (Syria). The clothes that Uthman wore when he was killed by intruders when his house was surrounded by 25,000 demonstrators from Egypt and Kufa (present-day Iraq). Nu'man also brought along the fingers of Ustman's wife, which was cut off by intruders when the murder took place.

 

Sayidina Muawiyah placed Ustman's robe and his wife's finger on the podium. The crowd was crying hysterically watching the bloodied robe and the fingers of Ustman's wife. Muawiyah gave a speech, "will not have intercourse with his wife and will not rest in bed until he can execute Uthman's killer" . Muawiyah demanded Imam Ali to execute the assassins of Ustman, Ali refused, apart from the fact that there were a large number of them, Ali was also worried that if this was done it would disrupt stability. Moreover, the transition of power from Sayidina Ustman who was killed to Imam Ali recently.

 

Long story short the two armies face to face, there was a war between Sayidina Muawiyah and Imam Ali. The peak of the war occurred on Friday morning. Victory immediately sided with Imam Ali. Seeing Muawiyah's troops pressed , Amr bin Ash gave advice to Muawiyah, “Our troops were ordered to raise the spears high, at the end we tied the Koran and then we ordered them to shout 'we return to the Koran'. If Ali's troops accept this invitation, the war is over, if some troops refuse, Ali's army will break up. This is enough to give our troops a break from war.”

 

Some of Imam Ali's troops shouted "We welcome the call of the Koran". Imam Ali shouted;

 

“يا عباد الله ! امضواعلى حقكم وقتال عدوكم فان معاوية وابن أبي معيط حبيبا وابن أبي سرح والضحاك ليسوا باصحاب دين ولا قران انا اعرف بهم، صحبتهم اطفالا ورجالا فكانواشرا اطفال وشر رجال. ويحكم والله ما رفعوها الا مكيدة وخديعة”

 

"O Servants of Allah, seize your rights and fight your enemies. Muawiyah, Ibn Abi Muith, Habib, Ibn Abi Sarah, Dohak are not "religious" people nor are experts in the Koran, I know them very well. I was friends as a child and when they grew up, they were as bad as children and as bad as adults. By Allah their call to 'return to the Qur'an' is sheer deceit and cunning. (Date of Ibn Khaldun, Dar Turats Ihya Arabi, Volume II, pp. 508-529)

 

Some of Imam Ali's followers who later became embryos of the Khawarij replied, "how can we reject the call to return to the Koran".

 

Imam Ali shouted loudly, "We are fighting them precisely so that they hold fast to the Koran because all this time they have neglected the Koran".

 

So long ago, when gentle and honorable methods were not possible to bring victory, a shortcut was used, "back to the Koran", as Amr bin Ash called. There is also a group of people who feel the most Islamic, the most obedient and the most defending the Koran like the Khawarij, when Imam Ali was advised that the call was a hoax, they lectured on a person who was called the "door of the city of Knowledge" by the Prophet,

 

لا يسعنا ان ندعى الى كتاب الله فلا نقبل

"It is impossible for us to reject the call to return to the Koran."

 

Muawiyah's call for law with the Koran sparked a war between Imam Ali and Muawiyah, because Muawiyah was "insist" in enforcing the qishos law stated in the Koran, so Muawiyah demanded that Imam Ali execute tens of thousands of demonstrators involved in the assassination of Ustman. This call led to the war of Jamal and Sifin.

 

The call to return to the Koran which was sparked by Amr bin Ash in the Sifin war which caused Imam Ali to lose his right as Leader, the Imam of the Muslims.

 

And the jealous acknowledgment (ghirah) of the Koran claimed by the Khawarij made Ali's troops lose their solidity and eventually Ali lost the war and lost his position as Amirul Mu'minin.

 

Such calls are “light” work but the impact is tremendous. Perhaps Amr bin Ash did not imagine the impact of his call later, the Temple Masters were slaughtered for centuries.

 

It is also possible that Buni Yani, Riziq Shihab, Bachtiar Nashir, Abdullah Gimnastiar Cs would not have guessed that the energy expended was so large and the impact would be extraordinary for our nation and the way we are in the future.

 

Ibn Khaldun writes, in primitive society there are only two ways to mobilize the masses and make it solid, the first is the issue of primodialism and ethnic-racism, the second is religious issues and claims.