دار محمد Daar Muhammed

“I was given all this. Therefore, I am smarter, better, and more civilised. This wealth and this power are proofs of my legitimacy. So do as I say— or else.”

As complex as it feels, it is quite simple, too. Iron rails snaked through their world; factories devoured the lives of their own people, choking on coal dust and ambition. From this haze, the coloniser emerged, eyes glistening. This feels good. I’d rather have more of it. With a starving bottomless pit, he looked beyond his land. The East looked fine. Gold, spices, and everything that would do him good. We’d better get going, he thought.

Wealth as Proof of “Worth”

But they’d have to be strategic. Securing long-term dominion and long-term pillage requires some unique architecture. To plunder the East’s treasures and to plunder fully, they first had to rewrite its very lexicon: success, civilisation, progress. The task was huge, but they relished it. Morality was nowhere in their books. The mines of the East were too much to let go of. Cloaked in trivial worldly fortunes, they portrayed themselves as saviours of mankind— all while lining their pockets with the fruits of native labour. And so it began. Villages razed down, cultures destroyed, and livelihoods weaponised. You are either with us or against us, turning their invasion into a frenzy of mad greed and humiliation of natives and native culture.

Over centuries, the poison of their dominance ran deep. The natives, battered and struggling, were left with little choice. Some of them began to internalise the lie that development—any development at all—could only be mimicry of the British Empire. Speak their tongue, normalise their godlessness, and chase their illusions of wealth. Security hung from the thread of imitation. Adopt their systems, their metrics of success, and their norms, and you’ll be fine. Pursue their goalposts of success. Just do these things, simple, and you will progress to the top. But will you?

This illusion turned peoples of rich history, tradition, and Deen into passive servants of an empire driven by nothing but hunger. An empire that consumed all in its path, leaving worlds fractured and undone. Disobedience, however, came at a price. Livelihoods were threatened, lands seized, and opportunities withheld from those who refused to conform. Painful punishments were unleashed, often in public, while psychological wars raged without pause. Survival itself became conditional upon obedience. This was a cruel bargain that chained dignity to imitation of the same oppressors who desecrated land and families.

And today’s world, though more discreet, is not too different. Those who withstood, from among the believers of yesterday, gave it their all. They made it their mission to resist an enemy who knew nothing but material desire and greed without bounds. Upon their strife and sacrifice do we stand today. Their endurance is the soil from which our freedoms, our kutub, and our knowledge sprouted.

O Allah, bless their graves and raise them among the steadfast on the Day they stand before You just as they did in the dunya.

Thus, one of the most striking elements of this invasion of native epistemology was the thick, deep materialism that plagued the coloniser’s mind. Everything—absolutely everything—about empire was founded on a frothing love for wealth. Wealth became their compass. And based on it, they made their decisions, and through this did they first target, then wreck the moral bedrock of the societies they plundered. The Prophet ﷺ warned of this sickness long before there appeared the factories and flags.

عن أنس بن مالك أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ لَوْ أَنَّ لاِبْنِ آدَمَ وَادِيًا مِنْ ذَهَبٍ أَحَبَّ أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُ وَادِيَانِ وَلَنْ يَمْلأَ فَاهُ إِلاَّ التُّرَابُ وَيَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَى مَنْ تَابَ

صحيح البخاري

Anas bin Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If the son of Adam had a valley full of gold, he would want to have two valleys. Nothing fills his mouth but the dust of the grave, yet Allah will relent to whoever repents to Him.”

—Al Bukhari

In this, independence from the coloniser meant very little. The minds were already shackled, and a sign off on paper could not undo the deep damage. Nor were some local elites concerned with this. So there was them too.

Enter Qarun—laden with keys to treasures that burdened a hundred men—he walked among his people, chest puffed with the delusion of self-made supremacy. This, he sneered, has been given to me only because of some knowledge I have.

Qarun’s Echo: When Riches Become the Creed

إِنَّ قَارُونَ كَانَ مِن قَوْمِ مُوسَىٰ فَبَغَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ ۖ وَآتَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْكُنُوزِ مَا إِنَّ مَفَاتِحَهُ لَتَنُوءُ بِالْعُصْبَةِ أُولِي الْقُوَّةِ إِذْ قَالَ لَهُ قَوْمُهُ لَا تَفْرَحْ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْفَرِحِينَ (76) وَابْتَغِ فِيمَا آتَاكَ اللَّهُ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ ۖ وَلَا تَنسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَأَحْسِن كَمَا أَحْسَنَ اللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ ۖ وَلَا تَبْغِ الْفَسَادَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُفْسِدِينَ (77)

76. Verily, Qarun (Korah) was of Musa’s (Moses) people, but he behaved arrogantly towards them. And We gave him of the treasures, that of which the keys would have been a burden to a body of strong men. When his people said to him: “Do not be glad (with ungratefulness to Allah’s Favours). Verily! Allah likes not those who are glad (with ungratefulness to Allah’s Favours).

77. But seek, with that (wealth) which Allah has bestowed on you, the home of the Hereafter, and forget not your portion of legal enjoyment in this world, and do good as Allah has been good to you, and seek not mischief in the land. Verily, Allah likes not the Mufsidun (those who commit great crimes and sins, oppressors, tyrants, mischief-makers, corrupts).

قَالَ إِنَّمَا أُوتِيتُهُ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ عِندِي ۚ أَوَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَهْلَكَ مِن قَبْلِهِ مِنَ الْقُرُونِ مَنْ هُوَ أَشَدُّ مِنْهُ قُوَّةً وَأَكْثَرُ جَمْعًا ۚ وَلَا يُسْأَلُ عَن ذُنُوبِهِمُ الْمُجْرِمُونَ (78)

78. He said: “This has been given to me only because of knowledge I possess.” Did he not know that Allah had destroyed before him generations, men who were stronger than him in might and greater in the amount (of riches) they had collected. But the Mujrimun (criminals, disbelievers, polytheists, sinners, etc.) will not be questioned of their sins (because Allah knows them well, so they will be punished without account).

“Given to me due to knowledge I possess”—as if riches were a sign of intellect, as if it validated anything. Yet the earth swallowed him whole, a divine punishment to the same creed the coloniser patronises; that opulence is a measure of the man. In his downfall, we glimpse the fragility of all such scales: all built on sand, and they sink.

فَخَرَجَ عَلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ فِي زِينَتِهِ ۖ قَالَ الَّذِينَ يُرِيدُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا يَا لَيْتَ لَنَا مِثْلَ مَا أُوتِيَ قَارُونُ إِنَّهُ لَذُو حَظٍّ عَظِيمٍ (79) وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ وَيْلَكُمْ ثَوَابُ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ لِّمَنْ آمَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا وَلَا يُلَقَّاهَا إِلَّا الصَّابِرُونَ (80)

79. So he went forth before his people in his pomp. Those who were desirous of the life of the world, said: “Ah, would that we had the like of what Qarun (Korah) has been given? Verily! He is the owner of a great fortune.”

80. But those who had been given (religious) knowledge said: “Woe to you! The Reward of Allah (in the Hereafter) is better for those who believe and do righteous good deeds, and this none shall attain except those who are patient (in following the truth).”

Ancient treasuries that echo the East India Company’s ledgers. A glittery façade veiling moral rot and promises that never meant to be kept.

فَخَسَفْنَا بِهِ وَبِدَارِهِ الْأَرْضَ فَمَا كَانَ لَهُ مِن فِئَةٍ يَنصُرُونَهُ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُنتَصِرِينَ (81)

81. So We caused the earth to swallow him and his dwelling place. Then he had no group or party to help him against Allah, nor was he one of those who could save themselves. (Al Qasas: 76-81)

However much strategic and cunning the colonisers’ plans were, yet the timeless guidance lives on for whoever wishes to take it. For whoever wishes to take it. Allah says,

إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

Verily, the most honourable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa (piety). Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.

Al Hujurath:13

The Book of Allah is filled with solutions to the dilemma we face for many decades, from when they first arrived at our shores. But this verse, even if it is just this verse, it would be sufficient to dismantle all of their hierarchies, and their empire, and their class system, and to help us re-establish taqwa, piety, and virtue as the only legitimate measure. A single line of Divine Words that can crumble empires. No birthright, no bank balance, no borrowed banner of “civilisation” avails. Taqwa (piety), the shield against the nafs’s whispers, reclaims the metric. It dismantles class and caste, sending colonial cartography in the bin of history, restoring sovereignty to the One Supreme Owner.

The coloniser disrupted moral order from its core, yet the Book of Allah lived on. So when we reposition ourselves on Allah’s Axis and not the colonizer’s axis, we begin to see things for what they are. Holding fast to the values and virtues of truth become easier the more we understand the Words of Allah. These verses and what these verses teach us help us to redefine and revert back to the original conditions we used to be in, reclaiming agency over our measures. Taqwa is the ultimate decolonial metric that helps us to free ourselves and the Ummah from the mental slavery that we have become accustomed to and to restore sovereignty back to Allah. These ayath, these verses, also educate us on the truth in the natural form.

The Decolonial Metric: Reclaiming Taqwa as Measure

While decolonization is a daunting, tiresome, and demanding process, these verses are an assurance and a consolation that it is indeed possible. It is possible to give up the slave mentality and move towards freedom of heart and mind. The Sahabah were examples of this. Scholars and slaves, Bedouins and Romans, united by taqwa. They were taught to see, to measure differently—by Allah’s Measures, and to bow only to Him. Liberated minds; examples for us as we navigate the chaos of our own age.

Thus emerges a decolonised mu’min, terrifying to the tyrants. Because Islam and the freedom it brings produce people who cannot be bought, who cannot be flattered, and cannot be fooled. The decolonizing believer sees through the façade, values justice, and keeps an eye out for the weak. He navigates neo-colonial traps with iman, moving with ‘izzah (honour) through the glitters of the worldy and measures the universe using the Almighty’s scale, built different, unshaken by worldly glitter, and armoured in clarity.

For the believer who reclaims Allah’s Measure, the empire falls silent.