Avertissement sévère aux Musulmans pacifistes et intégrationnistes !
On ne vote pas pour un gouvernement anti-islamique (islamicide) quel qu’il soit, en pays musulman ou non, en abandonnant Al-Jihaad sans qu’on ne soit humilié !
Friday, 27 Rajab 1428
What is the legitimacy of the modern secular state when judged according
to the religion of Islam? Is it Halal (permissible) or Haram (prohibited) for
Muslims to vote in elections of the modern secular state? This essay attempts
to answer those questions.
A US-based Egyptian Islamic scholar declared in a widely circulated Fatwa
(legal opinion) that it is Wajib (compulsory) for Muslims to vote in
elections of the modern secular state such as USA. The preposterous implication
of that Fatwa would be such that if Muslims were to refrain from voting in
such elections they would have committed a sin!
On the other hand the outstanding Pakistani Islamic scholar, Dr. Israr
Ahmad, has categorically declared that it is Haram for a Muslim to
participate in the electoral politics of the modern secular state (i.e., the
state which is established on the basis of a secular constitution). He has
prohibited all members of Tanzeem-e-Islami, the Jama’at (community) of which
he is the Amir (leader), from voting in elections of the secular state. He
also disclosed that Maulana Maududi (rahimahullah), who took a stand in favor
of participating in electoral politics, subsequently changed his position
before his death and opposed such participation.
Our view is that the opinion of the US-based Egyptian Islamic Scholar is
false and that he is dangerously misguided. We pray that Allah, Most Kind,
may guide our learned brother to the right path. Amin! Millions of Muslims in
USA
accepted his Fatwa, reassured themselves that they were rightly guided, and
then went out and voted for George Bush. But by September 11th (2001) they
were wringing their hands in anguish and grief over the fact that their own
government (the Bush Administration), which they had themselves had
constituted by their votes, was now waging undisguised war on Islam! (See my
analysis in ‘A Muslim Response to the Attack on America’ on the website:
www.imranhosein.org .)
In my own native land, Trinidad
and Tobago, the system of electoral
politics has consistently polarized the people racially. In 1956 a secular
People’s National Movement (PNM) emerged with nothing more profound to offer
than ‘black’ nationalism. It polluted the country. It created a stench far worse
than the corruption which it spawned and which led to an epitaph on a 1986
tombstone which read: “All ah we tief” (All of us stole). I myself suffered
professionally from the racism of the PNM, and so did my father. In fact it
drove my father to his grave.
In time the PNM’s ‘black’ nationalism produced its corollary in the form
of ‘Indian’ nationalism. When Indians won political power the racial stench
that the ‘Indian’ nationalism of the United National Congress (UNC) spawned
was no different from that of the previous ‘black’ nationalism. But the one
thing that remained consistent throughout this long dark night of political
Jahiliyyah was that Muslims participated in the electoral politics of race
without any consciousness that Islam had something significantly different to
offer to mankind. How else can we explain the phenomenon of African Muslims
supporting the PNM and Indian Muslims supporting the UNC?
Many Trinidadian Muslims are probably going to be surprised by this essay
since it would appear that since 1956, when the first real general election
took place, few learned Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago have ever
seriously questioned the Halal or Haram of elections. There have been
frivolous responses that have sought to dismiss Islamic objections to voting
in elections based on the inconsistency involved in also having, for example,
“a dollar bill in one’s wallet”, “a driving license”, “owning a car or a
house”, etc. When distinguished Islamic scholars equate “Shirk” with a
“driving license” we know that we are truly in grave danger. The
distinguished US-based Indian Islamic Scholar who engaged in that
unpardonable frivolity went on to declare that it was Fard (compulsory) for
Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago to vote in elections.
But Trinidadian Muslims should pause to consider that there are so many
other strange things that also cry out for a response. For example, we have
been singing the National Anthem of the State of Trinidad and Tobago in which
we have declared, time and again, “This our native land, we pledge our lives
to thee,” (i.e., to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago), when the Qur’an has
specifically asked us to pledge our lives totally to Allah, Most High:
“Say! Verily my prayer,
and my service of sacrifice, and my very living, and my very dying, are all
for Allah the Rabb (i.e., Lord, Creator, Sustainer) of all the worlds . . .”
(Qur’an, al-An’am, 6:162)
Indeed, in pledging his life to the state, or his native land, or a mango
tree, rather than to Allah, Most High, the Muslim would commit an act of
Shirk. The Muslim would also be repudiating the Hijrah (migration) of Abraham
(‘alaihi al-Salam) who left his native land because of Islam, and the Hijrah
of Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) who did the same.
Again, the Inter-Religious Organization of Trinidad and Tobago,
which includes Muslims, has adopted as its motto the slogan of the fatherhood of God and the
universal brotherhood of man. But the Qur’an has categorically declared that
God is not a father (lam yalid). Anyone who is a member of the
Inter-Religious Organization of Trinidad and Tobago
has ipso facto recognized Allah to be father and has thus committed
Shirk!
This essay commences with a description of the world order today,
including an introduction to the modern secular state and a description of
its origins. We discover that the foundations of that state are firmly rooted
in Kufr (disbelief) and Shirk (blasphemy) – terms that are defined in the
essay. Shirk, or blasphemy, is one of the major signs of the Last Day, and it
is connected to Dajjal the false Messiah or Anti-Christ.
Muslims are reminded that Islam gave to the world a conception of
political organization and of state in which there was no Kufr and Shirk.
That was the Islamic Caliphate. It was destroyed by Europe because it
constituted an obstacle to Europe in its
quest to force all of mankind into Kufr and Shirk.
We admit that there are obvious merits of the secular state and we go on
to examine, from an Islamic perspective, the status of the modern secular
state. This includes a Qur’anic explanation for the universal Shirk of the
modern secular state. We conclude by offering to Muslims an alternative to
electoral politics of the modern secular state. In presenting that
alternative we call believers back to the political Sunnah (example) of the
blessed Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).
THE WORLD-ORDER TODAY
An essentially godless medieval Europe, which had conveniently cloaked itself
in the garb of Christianity and which subsequently and mysteriously discarded
that Christianity for materialism in the modern age, was strangely armed with
a scientific and technological power that appeared to be irresistible and
indestructible. Europe used that power to
take such military and political control of the Muslim world that the Islamic
Caliphate was destroyed. Europe then
proceeded to render it impossible for Muslims to liberate any of their
territories and to establish authentic Islam anywhere on earth. A relentless
and merciless European attack on Islamic civilization that has continued
uninterrupted for more than a thousand years, and which witnessed the
destruction of the Caliphate in 1924, has finally resulted in the subjugation
of Muslims to European political control. This control commenced with Europe
and then continued with the new Europe in America. Not only is Islamic
civilization in a state of utter political and cultural disarray, but also it
is fast approaching a state of total economic enslavement through European
Riba disguised as ‘Capitalism’.
The result of this attack is that large numbers of Muslims have
essentially left Islam and have become part of the new secular world that Europe created. This is emphatically so in respect of
governments in the new world of Muslim nation states. Such Muslims are busy
creating a new Islam (i.e. Islamic modernism) that can be accommodated in the
modern godless world. The late outstanding Islamic scholar, Maulana Dr.
Muhammad Fadlur Rahman Ansari, denounced this Islamic modernism and urged
Muslims to grasp dynamic orthodoxy in which they would turn to the Qur’an to
locate both the explanation of the modern world as well as the way to respond
to its great challenges.
In the midst of all of this Europe succeeded in first ‘liberating’ the
Holy Land of Muslim rule and then in ‘restoring’ a State of Israel in the Holy Land. After that the Israelite Jews were brought
back to the Holy Land by European Jews in
the strangest and most mysterious ‘return’ of a people history has ever
witnessed. Indeed it has become clear that godless European control over the
whole world was meant to make possible the return of the Israelite Jews to
the Holy Land. The fact that Israelite Jews
accepted this road back to Jerusalem, and interpreted it as an act of
fulfillment of a divine promise concerning the return of the golden age and
the advent of the Messiah, is indicative of their spiritual blindness. In
fact Dajjal, the False Messiah (i.e., the Anti-Christ), deceived them.
How should Muslims respond to this drama that is still unfolding? How
should Muslims extricate themselves from their present predicament? The
answer is that nothing can possibly explain the strange world of today and
nothing can save Muslims from its perils except the Qur’an and the Sunnah of
the blessed Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). Salvation depends upon the
reconstruction of Muslim society as authentically as is possible.
Authenticity depends upon fidelity to the Qur’an, and to the one who was sent
to teach the Qur’an and to establish its guidance in a concrete model.
It is not possible at this time for Muslims to take such control over
territory anywhere in the world in order to establish Islam as a ‘public
order’ or ‘state’ (i.e., Dar al-Islam). Any effort to do so would result in
the entire godless world ‘ganging-up’ to prevent the emergence of Islamic
control over the state. Those Muslims who do not recognize this are a people
who do not understand the Gog and Magog World Order that now controls the
world. The only exception to this appears to be the territory
of Khorasan (of the time of the
Prophet) i.e., territory located within the East of the Euphrates.
It is significant that modern godless Europe
never succeeded in conquering the heart of this territory. The British tried
to conquer Afghanistan
and failed. Then the Russians tried and they also failed. The present
American effort represents the most sophisticated ever launched by European
civilization to subdue and control that territory. But this effort is also
doomed to fail as Islam slowly reasserts itself. Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu
‘alaihi wa sallam) prophesied that Islam will reemerge from precisely that
part of the world when a Muslim army proceeds to liberate every occupied
territory from Khorasan all the way to Jerusalem:
“Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet said: Black banners shall emerge from
Khorasan and no force would be able to stop them until they are inserted in
Aelia (Jerusalem).”
(Sunan, Tirmidhi)
The world may not have to wait for long before that event takes
place.
How should Muslims respond to the relentlessly increasing attacks on Islam
and on Muslim society in the immediate future? How can they survive this
remaining period of time (before freedom and victory) if they cannot
establish macro-Islam anywhere since nowhere can they take control of the
state? We will attempt to answer that question when we deal with the
alternative for Muslims to the electoral politics of the modern secular
state.
It is strange that in a world that still comprises many great non-European
civilizations, some of which are thousands of years old, none today has
control over territory. Everywhere in the world today mankind is subjected to
the rule of European civilization. Everywhere in the world mankind is imprisoned
by the European model of a secular state. This political globalization of the
European model of a secular state is something absolutely unique in human
history. It is also something mysterious and ominous. The European system of
secular states eventually produced a novel international political
institution called (initially) the ‘League of Nations’ and then resurrected
it as the ‘United Nations’. In the name itself, ‘United Nations’, was
enshrined the goal of the New World Order created by Europe.
That goal was to unite the world under European political influence and
control so that Europe could eventually rule
the world as world government. At the time this essay is being written, Europe (i.e., the white world order) stands at the very
verge of final and complete success of that political goal. All the
non-European civilizations in the world appear helpless to liberate
themselves from the secular European strangle hold.
Arnold Toynbee, the well-known British historian, has responded to this
unique phenomenon with the view that all previous civilizations (i.e.,
previous to modern western civilization) are either ‘dead’ or ‘moribund’, and
that “it is not inevitable that western civilization would suffer the fate
which attended all previous civilizations.” (Toynbee: Civilization on Trial,
Ox. Univ. Press, London,
1957: p.38). The European goal was clear, mysterious and ominous. Europe’s goal was to establish European rule over the
whole world. But that was not all. The rule of Europe was supposed to mark
the ‘End of History’ since there was nothing that could possibly replace Europe’s rule over the world! Toynbee made an amazingly
candid statement in his famous book, “Civilization on Trial”:
“Western civilization is aiming at nothing less than the incorporation of all
of mankind in a single great society and the control of everything in the
earth, air and sea … ” (Ibid. p.166).
The ultimate European goal, however, was to make possible the return of
the Jews to the Holy Land and to deliver the rule of the world to the Jews so
that they could rule the world from Jerusalem.
My recent book, Jerusalem
in the Qur’an explains that otherwise inexplicable fact which even Toynbee
did not understand! The return of the Jews to the Holy Land and the
establishment of the State of Israel some 2000 years after Allah, Most High,
had Himself destroyed Israel and expelled the Jews, is the strangest event
ever to have occurred in history. Only the Qur’an has explained it. And only
the Qur’an can describe the destiny that now awaits Jerusalem and the Jews.
The Qur’an (al-Anbiyah, 21:96) has very plainly declared that when Y’ajuj
(Gog) and M’ajuj (Magog) were released into the world by Allah, Most High,
they would eventually “descend from every height, or spread out in every
direction”. The Qur’an declared that in consequence of this, a people who had
been expelled from a ‘town’ which was destroyed by Allah, Most High, and
whose return was prohibited, would now return to that ‘town’ to reclaim it.
My book has argued that the ‘town’ is Jerusalem.
But when Gog and Magog descend from every height, or spread out in every
direction, it would be impossible for the rest of mankind to resist them
because of the divine declaration:
“I have brought forth from
among My servants such people (i.e. Gog and Magog) against whom none will be
able to fight . . .” (Sahih, Muslim)
It is clear from the above that modern European civilization is the
civilization of Gog and Magog. And so, the World Order that now controls the
world in its iron grip and which is waging war on Islam, is the World Order
of Gog and Magog. It is Gog and Magog that explain the indestructible power
of the ruthlessly oppressive, corrupt, decadent and essentially godless
rulers of the modern world. Gog and Magog also explain the strange phenomenon
of globalization in the modern world.
My book, ‘Jerusalem
in the Qur’an’, also explains the phenomenon of Dajjal, the False Messiah. He
constitutes, with Gog and Magog, one of the major signs of the Last Age.
Since it is his mission to impersonate the Messiah who must rule the world
from Jerusalem, it follows that he, too, must
rule the world from Jerusalem.
My book has explained the famous Hadith of Tamim Dari in Sahih Muslim. It is
this Hadith that made it possible for us to identify Dajjal’s initial
location, from which he embarked upon his mission, to be the island of Britain. From Britain, the ruling state, he relocated in USA, the second ruling state, and he is soon
to relocate in Israel.
The Jewish State would then replace USA as the new ruling state in
the world. We anticipate that event to take place soon. Thus the ultimate
European goal was to not only make possible the return of the Jews to the
Holy Land but also to deliver to them the rule of the world so that they
could rule the world from Jerusalem!
The reader should understand that the modern secular state formed an
essential part of the overall political strategy through which Europe sought to achieve political rule over the world.
In other words, the modern secular state was specifically designed to
function as the instrument of political globalization that would deliver to
the white world order political rule over the whole world. That process of
political globalization was, in turn, linked to Euro-Jewish Israel becoming
the ruling state in the world.
THE MYSTERY OF THE MODERN SECULAR STATE
The modern secular state emerged in consequence of the application of
secularism to political philosophy and political theory. The secular state
then universalized itself in the modern age in a new secular world order.
This did not happen by accident. Secularism emerged in Europe
after European civilization was mysteriously attacked from within and was
subjected to ominous and revolutionary change. That revolution caused a
civilization that was ostensibly based on faith in Christianity and Judaism
(since one emerged from the other) to be strangely transformed into one with
a terrifying combination of characteristics. Here are just some of those
characteristics (there are many more not mentioned here):
• A scientific and technological
revolution delivered unprecedented power to Europe.
That power was then used to take control of the world. No people in human
history had ever previously succeeded in imposing their total control over
the whole world;
• Power was used to oppress all those who resisted the new masters of the
world;
• Religion bereft of its internal spiritual substance suffered constant
decline until society became essentially godless. The external form of
religion survived in a state of such pathetic weakness that eventually men
were legally permitted to marry men;
• The godless way of life caused a collapse of morals to such an extent that
society descended into a state of decadence;
• Greed and lust provoked society to self-destruction;
• Deception was used to steal
mankind’s wealth and reduce the masses of humanity to poverty. It was also
used to lure mankind into copying the new godless European way of life;
• Globalisation is taking the whole world into the grip of Israel’s new
messianic dictatorship. This was one of the most unique and momentous events
ever to have occurred in both European and world history. Yet so many
so-called educated people never seem concerned about understanding how and
why all of the above happened. They see nothing mysterious in it. Let us therefore explain some more.
The godlessness of modern European civilization was plainly apparent in
its choice of ‘materialism’ to replace religion’s spiritual interpretation of
reality. What this meant was that Europe no
longer recognized the existence of any reality beyond material reality. The
resort to materialism was itself the logical culmination of the adoption of a
new ‘one-eyed’ epistemology (Dajjal sees with one eye) that adamantly
insisted that knowledge was derived from only one source, i.e., external
observation and experimentation. The other ‘eye’, i.e., internal intuitive
spiritual insight that comes from the heart, was rejected as a means through
which knowledge could be acquired.
The godless European revolution was an even more mysterious phenomenon
since it was accompanied by a scientific and technological revolution that
empowered godless Europe with a ‘power’ that
seemed invincible, and gave it such ‘glamour’ that made it irresistible. The
steam engine, trains, motorcars, trucks, mechanized tanks for warfare, ships
powered by steam and oil, airplanes, etc., completely changed the way the
world traveled and waged war, and that, in turn, changed the way people
lived. Electricity produced power and this changed peoples lives. Telephones
and telegraph made instantaneous communication over long distances possible
and this, in turn, changed the way people lived and behaved. And a feminist
revolution took the ‘night’ and made it ‘day’ and, in doing so, gave to woman
the freedom to adopt the functional role of men in society. This was done in
defiance of the functional difference established and ordained by Allah, Most
High. (See Qur’an, al-Lail, 92:4, where an analogy is established between the
functions of the ‘night’ and the ‘day’ on the one hand, and the creation of
the ‘male’ and the ‘female’ on the other.) That was heralded as women’s
liberation! It resulted in the most momentous and ominous change of all in the
way people lived.
The new Europe directed a sustained
attack on mankind by appealing to base instincts of greed and lust. A sexual
revolution promised to make sex – natural and unnatural – as readily and
freely available as sunshine. Pornography, homosexuality, lesbianism, public
nudity and public sex of the white world now inundated the rest of the world.
Marriage was increasingly considered to be redundant and people could choose
to live together without being married and yet be considered as respectable. Jacqueline Kennedy, the wife of former President John F.
Kennedy and an American icon of the days of Camelot, lived the last years of
her life cohabiting out of wedlock.
When she died, her Jewish ‘partner’ in life was introduced to the world as
her ‘companion’. Homosexuality and lesbianism were defended as alternate
sexuality and became so acceptable in the popular consciousness that a
homosexual or lesbian priest or Rabbi could emerge out of the closet to claim
respectability and continue to function as a priest or Rabbi. Indeed, even
the word ‘homosexuality’ was secularized in order to remove the social
repugnance attached to unnatural sex. It was replaced with the word ‘gay’. An
unsuspecting public accepted the apparently innocent change of name. Those
who opposed homosexuality were accused of something called
‘homophobia’.
A consumer revolution gave to mankind an insatiable appetite for acquiring
more and more of the new consumer goods that dazzle the eye. The consumer
goods revolution penetrated mankind to such an extent that even the kitchens,
bathrooms and toilets of all but the most primitive of homes were totally
transformed.
The new godless Europe proceeded to use
‘power’ to conquer the rest of the world and to colonize it, and then to use
‘glamour’ to seduce all of mankind into imitating the godless decadent
European way of life and new consumer culture. The godless European
revolution witnessed its political turning point in the American, French and
Bolshevik revolutions in 1776, 1787-1800, and 1917. The economic turning
point was the emergence of the usurious economic system based on Riba,
(borrowing and lending money on interest, and the replacement of real money –
having intrinsic value – with paper money whose value could be manipulated
and changed so that it constantly decreased), and it was fully achieved
through the Protestant revolution. (See R. W. Tawney’s classic work:
‘Religion and the Rise of Capitalism’.) The cultural turning point was the
emergence of the feminist revolution with its struggle for women’s
liberation. But none of these revolutions would have been possible without
the accompanying scientific and technological revolutions.
MERITS OF THE MODERN SECULAR STATE
The secular state could not have won acceptance amongst Euro-Christian and
Euro-Jewish people, or amongst Muslims, had it not camouflaged its Kufr and
Shirk with certain obvious merits. What were those merits? The modern secular
state emerged in Europe in response to a dominant and oppressive Euro-Christian
theocracy and in order to challenge the ‘temporal’ power of the Euro-Christian Church. It challenged the Church when
it proclaimed a fresh and exciting new gospel of complete and unfettered
intellectual and religious freedom, human rights and religious tolerance for
all. It also established the political conditions that preserved peaceful
coexistence amongst different religions within the same territory. It thus
put an end to all the bloody religious warfare that had plagued Europe for so many centuries.
It also skillfully bribed its way into the bellies and the hearts of
mankind through its inventive creativity. It discovered or produced most of
that which has been joyfully accepted by mankind, regardless of religious
beliefs, as an indispensable necessity of modern life, e.g., electricity,
radio, telephone and hand phone, television, computer, aircraft, automobile,
fax machine, photocopying technology, etc. etc. Whenever anyone accepted
modernity with all its wondrous inventions one also accepted the secular
state and the secular way of life. That was no mean achievement!
But these obvious merits of the secular state, some of which also existed
in the city-state of Madina established by Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu
‘alaihi wa sallam), did not change its basic foundation of Kufr and Shirk.
Indeed the modern secular state slowly began to reveal its real hidden agenda
of rivalry when it began to wage a relentless war on the religious way of
life. As society became secular, fewer and fewer people went to church, and
empty churches and synagogues were put on sale to become ‘bingo’ halls.
Indeed, religion slowly became a receding force in the new essentially
godless secular world.
The democracy of the modern secular state turned out to be a sugar-coated
pill of poison. The ‘political’ democracy worked in such a way as to sustain
a usurious system of economic oppression and exploitation of the masses
(since the economy was based on Riba). Economic oppression was oft-times
supplemented by racial and ethnic oppression. The impoverished masses could
never wrest real political power from the rich predatory elite, and hence,
could never have the power with which to end economic oppression. This was
because it was the wealth of precisely that predatory elite that increasingly
made the difference between success and failure in expensive electoral
campaigns. The new gospel of the modern secular society was that the rich
shall inherit the earth. And that is precisely what has happened.
The new Europe proceeded to use its
invincible military power and awesome powers of deception to dominate and
brainwash non-European humanity. The new godless political philosophy with
its godless conception of a sovereign state, exploitative economic system,
and corruptive culture, eventually globalised itself. That was no mean
achievement!
Western colonial rule was now imposed upon the rest of mankind, including
the Muslims, and through this means the new godless political system, based
on Kufr and Shirk, was deceptively and subtly introduced. The Ottoman Islamic
Caliphate was destroyed. From its ashes emerged the modern godless secular
Turkish state. The Dar al-Islam which was established by the Prophet
(sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) himself in the Arabian
peninsula was destroyed, and from its ashes emerged the modern
secular State of Saudi Arabia (complete with all the trappings of territorial
sovereignty, citizenship etc.) as a client-state of the godless West. Thus
the ominous prophecy of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) was
fulfilled. He prophesied that his community (of Muslims) would imitate and
follow the Jews and Christians to such an extent that even if they were to go
down into a lizard’s hole, his community would do the same.
The result was that the world of Jews, Christians and Muslims entered into
a collective trial of all trials (fitnah) and failed miserably in obeying
Allah’s command when He ordered:
“Follow what has been
sent down unto you by your Lord-God, and follow no Master other than Him. How
seldom do you keep this in mind!”
(Qur’an, al-’Araf, 7:3)
The new modern secular state devised a system of electoral politics for
constituting Parliament, Government and (sometimes) for electing Judges.
Citizens of the secular state, regardless of their religious beliefs, voted
in democratic elections. Even if the elected government were to be
constituted of those who worshipped Satan himself as their Lord and Master,
the principle of democratic elections required that Christians, Jews,
Muslims, etc., who voted in such elections, were obliged to accept such a
government as lawful, legitimate and authorized to rule over them. They were
also obliged to submit to its authority and be obedient to it. If the
elections were to produce a government dominated by idol-worshipping Hindus
who were openly hostile to those who worshipped the God of Abraham (‘alaihi
al-Salam), or a government which declared to be Halal (permissible)
everything which Allah Most High had declared to be Haram (prohibited), then
the principle of democratic elections required that Jews, Christians, Muslims
etc., who were citizens of that secular state, must recognize that government
as their lawful government, submit to its authority, and be obedient to
it.
There is nothing in the revealed scriptures (Torah, Gospel, Qur’an) or the
Sunnah (example or way of life) of the Prophets that can be used to justify
Jews, Christians, Muslims, etc., participating in such elections in which
they freely vote for such a government as lawful to govern over them. On the
contrary, there is very clear prohibition of such conduct!
“… nor does He share
His Command (i.e., His Sovereignty, Supreme Authority, Governance, Rule,
etc.) with anyone whatsoever.”
(Qur’an, al-Kahf, 18:26)
“Praise be to Allah
(Who) has no partner in His Sovereignty … ”
(Qur’an, Banu Israil, 17:111; al-Furqan, 25:2)
The Qur’an also warns those who help in an evil deed that they will share
in its burden:
“Whoever recommends and
helps a good cause becomes a partner therein: and whoever recommends and
helps an evil cause shares in its burden: and Allah hath power over all
things.”
(Qur’an, al-Nisa, 4:85)
SHIRK AND KUFR IN THE MODERN SECULAR STATE
Euro-Christian and Euro-Jewish civilization used to be based on faith in
God and in His Sovereignty and Supremacy. In Euro-Christianity this was done
through the theory of the Divine Rights of Kings administered by ‘God’s
representative on earth’ in the institution of the Church of Rome. But in
consequence of revolutionary change, that civilization no longer recognized
the God of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam) as Sovereign, and no longer recognized
His Authority and His Law as Supreme. The ‘modern secular state’ was now
recognized as ‘sovereign’, and that was Shirk! (Shirk is the worship of any other
than the God of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam). Any corruption of that worship of
that one God is also Shirk. Kufr is the rejection of Truth.) The authority
and law of the ‘modern secular state’ were now recognized as ‘supreme’, and
that, also, was Shirk. The state had the authority to declare Halal (i.e.
legal and permissible) that which the God of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam) had
declared to be Haram (illegal and prohibited) – and it proceeded to do so –
and that, also, was Shirk. The Qur’an declared Shirk to be the only sin that
Allah would never forgive.
The Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) prophesied that Muslims would
betray Islam by imitating and following the Jews and Christians (i.e., the
Jewish-Christian alliance) to such an extent that even if they were to go
down a lizard’s hole, Muslims would follow them down the hole:
“Narrated Abu Said al-Khudri: The Prophet said, You will follow the ways of
those nations who were before you, span by span and cubit by cubit (i.e.,
inch by inch) so much so that even if they entered a lizard’s hole, you would
follow them. We asked, O Messenger of Allah (Do you mean) the Jews and the
Christians? He responded, Whom else?” (Sahih, Bukhari)
Then he warned that when Muslims would imitate the Jews and Christians
(i.e., the Jewish-Christian alliance) there would be frightful consequences:
“Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr, Allah’s Messenger said: There will befall my
Ummah exactly (all those) evils which befell the people of Isra’il, to the
extent that if one amongst them openly committed fornication with his mother
there will be among my Ummah one who will do so. And if the people of Isra’il
were to fragment into seventy-two sects my Ummah would fragment into
seventy-three. All of them will be in Hell Fire except one sect. They (the
Companions) asked: Allah’s Messenger, which one is that? Whereupon he said:
It is one to which I and my companions belong.”
(Sunan, Tirmidhi)
Muslims who pledge allegiance
to the modern secular state, or vote in the elections of that state, cannot
expect to be recognized as belonging to the one group that would escape the
hellfire! Shirk is a very great sin. Indeed it is the greatest of
all sins. It is the one sin that Allah, Most High, does not forgive:
“Surely Allah does not (or will not) forgive Shirk. But He (can) forgive
everything else to whomsoever He wishes. And whoever commits Shirk has
committed an awesome sin.”
(Qur’an, al-Nisa, 4:48)
Whoever commits Shirk, and dies in that state, can never enter into
heaven:
“… Allah has made it
Haram for whoever commits Shirk to ever enter into heaven. Such (people) will
dwell in hell.”
(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:72)
The worship of idols is the most overt form of Shirk. This form of Shirk
has largely disappeared from the world today. But the Hindu world has clung
stubbornly to it. And so a believer can never be excused if he fails to
recognize the Shirk of the Hindus! The Qur’an has clearly warned the
believers that they would find, time and again, that Jews and those who
commit Shirk (such as the worship of idols) would treat them with the
greatest hatred and hostility:
“You will find Jews and
those who commit Shirk to have the greatest hatred and enmity (time and
again) for the believers . . .”
(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:82)
But there are other forms of Shirk that are also described in the Qur’an.
Pharaoh, for example, declared to Moses (‘alaihi al-Salam): “I am your
Lord-God the Most High”, and he declared to the Chiefs of his people: “Oh
Chiefs! No God do I know for you but myself . . .” That was Shirk. The
worship of Pharaoh by the Egyptian people required them to submit to his
authority as the supreme authority, and his law as the supreme law, in the land of Egypt.
The Qur’an has repeatedly admonished those who, like Pharaoh, establish
Hukum, i.e., government, law and justice, on the basis of ‘other than’ or
‘contrary to’ Allah’s authority and Allah’s law. However, when the divine
guidance reaches a people (such as Jews, Christians, Muslims), and they
accept that guidance, then the situation is quite different. If such people
have an opportunity to establish their control over territory, as the Muslims
of India did when they established Pakistan, and they then fail to establish
law and authority on the basis of the revealed Divine Law, then the Qur’an
unequivocally condemns them and accuses them of Kufr (disbelief), Dhulm
(injustice) and Fisq (enormous sin):
“ . . . And whoever fails
to govern (judge, etc.) on the basis of that which Allah revealed has
committed Kufr (disbelief).”
“ . . . And whoever fails to govern (judge, etc.) on the basis of that
which Allah revealed has committed Dhulm (injustice and oppression).”
“. . . And whoever fails to govern (judge, etc.) on the basis of that
which Allah has revealed, has committed Fisq (enormous sin).”
(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:44 - 47)
Since the declaration by Pharaoh and its concrete application in the land of Egypt were acts of Shirk, it follows
that the same declaration by the modern secular state is also an act of
Shirk. Since the God of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam) declared that: “Whoever
fails to judge on the basis of that which Allah revealed has committed Kufr
(disbelief), Dhulm (injustice and oppression) and Fisq (enormous sin)”, and
the modern secular state has done precisely that, it follows that Jews,
Christians and Muslims who establish the secular state after having received
the Divine Law through the Torah, Psalms, Gospel and Qur’an, would be guilty
of having committed Kufr, Zhulm and Fisq!
If a Jew, Christian, or Muslim, were to cast a vote in a national election
in a modern secular state, that vote would imply that he considered that
party he voted for to be fit to govern over him. And if that party as
government committed or commits Shirk, Kufr, Dhulm and Fisq, then the
implication would be that the Jew, Christian, or Muslim, would follow his
party and his government into Shirk, Kufr, Dhulm and Fisq! (The same would be
true for Hindus, Buddhists, etc.) The Qur’an has also denounced as Shirk the
act of making Halal whatever Allah had made Haram (and vice-versa). Thus
revelation came down from the Allah, Most High, in which He denounced Jews
and Christians of precisely such a sin:
“They took their Priests
and Rabbis as Lord-Gods beside Allah; and (they did this in respect of) the
Messiah, the son of Mary (as well). But they were not ordered other than to
worship and serve one God. Glory is to Him. He is far and above the Shirk
which they commit.”
(Qur’an, al-Taubah, 9:31)
When this verse of the Qur’an was revealed a man came to the Prophet
(sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) and protested that the Jews and Christians did
not worship their priests and rabbis. How then, he asked, could the Allah,
Most High, accuse them of such? The Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) responded
by asking rhetorically: Did they not make Halal that which Allah had made
Haram? That, he declared, was Shirk. Then he asked: Did the people (i.e. Jews
and Christians) not follow them in it? That, he declared, was their Shirk!
Among the Haram things which were declared to be Halal were gambling and
lottery, the consumption of alcohol and the consumption of Riba (interest on
loans). In some cases the Torah itself was rewritten in order to make them
Halal. (See my books: ‘The Religion of Abraham and the State of Israel – A
View from the Qur’an’, and ‘The Prohibition of Riba in the Qur’an and
Sunnah’.)
When the Jews acted in this
way, David (‘alaihi al-Salam) and Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salam) cursed them:
“Curses were pronounced on those among Banu Israil who rejected Faith, by the
tongue of David and of Jesus, the son of Mary, because they disobeyed and
persisted in excesses. They did not enforce the prohibition of that which was
sinful and evil which they committed: evil indeed were the deeds which they did.”
(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:78-9)
Whoever dies with a curse of a Prophet upon them have no chance whatsoever
of ever escaping from the burning flames of the hellfire! In fact, it is the
height of hypocrisy for a people to declare that they worship the God of
Abraham and to then proceed to legalize that which He had made illegal and to
prohibit that which He had made permissible:
“The Hypocrites, men and
women, (have an understanding) with each other: they enjoin evil, and forbid
what is just, and they withhold their hands (from doing good). They have
forgotten Allah; so He hath forgotten them. Verily the Hypocrites are
rebellious and perverse.”
(Qur’an, al-Taubah, 9:67)
If it was an act of Shirk when priests and rabbis made Halal that which
Allah declared to be Haram, then it would also be an act of Shirk when a
government does the same thing now. If it was an act of hypocrisy at that
time, it would be the same now. And if it earned the curses of Prophets at
that time, it would do the same now.
The usual method of approach for studying this subject is to weigh the
‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of participation by believers in the electoral politics of
the modern secular state. The defenders of the secular state wax eloquent
about its merits. They argue that it is the most advanced and progressive
model of a ‘political order’ and of a ‘state’ ever to have emerged in
history. Some argue: “If we do not participate in electoral politics then we
will have no political representation, and no one to struggle for our rights.”
At a more serious level of thought another argument is raised: “Participation
in electoral politics is the necessary condition for any successful struggle
to change the godless political system.” The matter of Shirk is addressed by
way of a subterfuge (i.e., a deceptive stratagem or device): “We will
participate in elections but will do so on the basis of a public stand that
we do not accept the secular constitution and the secular state which it
preserves. This escape clause will protect us from Shirk.”
Our response is to point out that participation in electoral politics in a
secular state, ipso facto, signifies acceptance of the secular character of
the state. The secular state makes the same declaration that Pharaoh made to
Moses (‘alaihi al-Salam). That declaration is: The state is sovereign! Its
authority is supreme! Its law is supreme! That is Shirk. When people vote in
elections in a secular state they thereby accept the claim of the state to be
sovereign, its authority to be supreme, and its law to be the highest law.
When believers vote in such elections, therefore, they cannot escape from
committing Shirk. Even if the above does not convince a Muslim reader there
should at least be doubt in the heart that one might be committing Shirk.
Secondly, when believers vote in elections in a secular state they have to
vote for a political party. If that party, as government, declared to be
Halal what Allah, Most High, made Haram, or enforced laws as such, then that
government committed Shirk. A few years ago right here in Trinidad
an attempt was made by a Muslim Minister in the Hindu-dominated government to
organize the Muslim youth of the country. Had the effort succeeded there
would have been significant political benefit for the government and the
ruling party. Some 600 Muslim youths were provided with free transportation
to a convention center. They were also provided with free meals. It was later
discovered that a grant for $25,000 from the National Lotteries Board was
used to fund the meals provided for the Muslim youth at that Convention.
Apparently, the Muslim Minister must have considered it Halal (legal and
permissible) to use Lottery money to fund transportation costs and meals. If
he did, and still does, then he in effect declared Halal (legal and
permissible) that which Allah declared Haram (illegal and prohibited).
Around the world today governments and parliaments of secular states have
already declared Halal nearly everything that Allah has declared to be Haram.
When believers cast their votes for such political parties and governments
that have already committed Shirk upon Shirk, such votes would imply
acceptance of such people as fit to govern over them. Thus believers follow
them into Shirk, Kufr, Dhulm and Fisq.
Thirdly, this method constitutes a violation and an abandonment of the
Sunnah of the blessed Prophet of Islam (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).
Political parties and governments around the world today are comprised of
those who disdainfully persist in declaring Halal that which Allah has
declared to be Haram. This essay has provided numerous examples of such. When
believers vote for such parties in national elections and then recognize such
parties as fit to govern over them, believers should pause to consider the
practical implication of such an act. When a people disdainfully persist in
Haram they pay a dreadful price. It is as plain as daylight that the modern
secular world is already paying precisely that price. What is it?
“ . . . and then, when
they disdainfully persisted in doing what they had been forbidden to do, We
said to them (i.e., We ordained for them) Be as apes despicable!” (What
this implies is that they would now live like apes, so incapable of
exercising any restraint over their gross appetites and passions that, by the
‘End Time’, they would be showing a distinct preference for sex in public.)
(Qur’an, al’Araf, 7:166)
The modern secular state legalized the lending of money on interest
(Riba). Around the world today an ever-increasing number of modern secular
states have already legalized gambling (and lottery), the consumption and
sale of intoxicants (e.g. alcohol) and pork and the use of paper money that
constantly loses value. (When it does, the masses are ripped-off and are
eventually imprisoned in ‘slave labor’.) Abortion, homosexuality, lesbianism,
adultery and fornication are all legal today. There are businesses in USA that
advertise to those willing to sell their babies. They even have mobile
‘condom delivery service’ for those who wish to take advantage of an
unexpected opportunity, and condoms are available in High Schools in USA. School
girls are increasingly becoming pregnant and having abortions which, by law,
can be concealed from parents. Yet it is illegal for a girl less than 16
years of age to marry.
Around the world today most modern secular states no longer recognize
Allah’s law that a son must inherit twice as much as a daughter. They declare
such a law to be discriminatory against women, and they establish their own
laws that, they claim, are more just than Allah’s laws. In fact their law is
no law. A man can leave his entire estate to a pet and leave nothing for his
wife and children! The modern secular state has prohibited a man from
marrying more than one woman at a time since it claims that such would be
discriminatory against women. Rather the state has made it mandatory for a
man to have no more than one wife at a time, and such, it claims, removes the
injustice against women that is present in Allah’s law. This strict monogamous
alternative has resulted in a sexual revolution that is making a mockery of
marriage itself since a man can have as many mistresses as he wants so long
as he does not marry them. The secular state declares that a wife no longer
has an obligation, legal or moral, to be obedient to her husband since such
would discriminate against the equality of the male and female.
This writer warns that the sun has never risen on a stranger world than
the modern, godless, and glamorous Euro-world. That is surely an ominous
sign.
The defining characteristic of the religion of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam)
is that there is no place whatsoever for Kufr (disbelief) and Shirk
(corruption of, or rejection of the worship of One True God) in it. Yet, the
secular political system of the new essentially godless Euro-Christian
civilization, now known as modern western civilization, is based on Kufr and
Shirk. The United Nations Organization was founded on precisely the same
Shirk. The UN Charter declared that Allah, Most High, is not al-Akbar (the
Supreme)! Articles 24 and 25 of the Charter declared that the Security
Council has supreme authority in the world in all matters pertaining to
international peace and security. In other words, the authority of the
Security Council is higher than the authority of Allah Most High and of His
Messenger (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). That is Shirk.
How then do we explain the acceptance by Muslims around the world of the
modern secular state, such as the Republic
of Turkey, Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia, Republic of Pakistan,
State of Malaysia, etc., as a valid substitute for the Caliphate)? And how do
we explain Indian Muslims in Trinidad
consistently identifying themselves racially and politically with the Indian
political party, and African Muslims doing likewise with the African
political party? Perhaps this is the right moment for us to explain the
political system of Islam and the Islamic conception of a state, i.e., the
Caliphate, and then compare it with the modern secular state. The ignorance
of the world today is such that even Muslims are unaware of the
subject.
THE CALIPHATE AND THE
MODERN SECULAR STATE
The Islamic Caliphate was a conception of a state and political system that
recognized Allah’s Sovereignty, Supreme Authority and Law, and enforced Haram
(i.e., that which is divinely prohibited) as Haram and Halal (i.e., that
which is divinely permitted) as Halal. The Caliphate emerged as a consequence
of the divine imperative demanding obedience of Allah, His Messenger
(sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), and ‘those in authority amongst the Muslims’.
“Oh you who believe, obey
Allah, and obey the Messenger, and (obey) those from amongst yourselves who
are in (positions of) authority. . . “
(Qur’an, al-Nisa, 4:59)
Islam refused to recognize divided loyalties – that one could deliver
supreme loyalty to the state and yet, also deliver supreme loyalty to Allah,
Most High. The two worlds (the worlds of religion and of politics) were not
to be separated from each other since the Qur’an proclaimed that “Allah is
the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden” (Qur’an, al-Hadid,
57:3). Supreme loyalty must be delivered to Allah, not to the state, since
the Qur’an asked the believers to proclaim: “Say: Verily my prayer, and my service of sacrifice,
and my very living and my very dying are all for Allah the Lord of all the
worlds . . .”
(Qur’an, al-An’am, 6:162)
Europe destroyed that Islamic model of a
state and political system when the Ottoman Caliphate was targeted and
destroyed. Europe went on to ensure that the
Islamic Caliphate could never be restored. It did so when it assisted in the
creation of the secular State of Saudi Arabia in the Hejaz
(i.e., that province in the Arabian peninsular in which Makkah and Madina are
located), and then went on to ensure the survival of that state by
guaranteeing its security. The Caliphate could never be restored because of
two reasons. Firstly, the Saudi-Wahhabi regime that controlled the Haramain
(the sacred territories of Makkah and Madina in which are located the Ka’aba
and the Masjid of the Prophet), the Hejaz
and Hajj (pilgrimage) could never claim the Caliphate. Secondly, so long as
they controlled the Haramain, the Hejaz, and
the Hajj, no one else could claim the Caliphate. (For an explanation please
see our book: ‘The Caliphate the Hejaz and
the Saudi-Wahhabi Nation-State’.)
There are a number of reasons that explain why Europe
targeted and destroyed the Islamic Caliphate. The first, of course, was to
facilitate the achievement of the goal of liberating the Holy
Land and returning the Jews to that land. But the second reason
was to make it possible for the new European model of a secular state to
corrupt all mankind with Shirk. When the Caliphate was destroyed, the modern
secular State of Turkey replaced it at the very seat of the Caliphate. Then
emerged a similar ‘state’ in Iran,
in the heartland of Shia Islam, and a similar ‘state’ in Saudi Arabia
in the Arabian heartland of Sunni Islam. Finally Indian Muslims were
exquisitely deceived into accepting the secular Republic of Pakistan.
Thirdly, the Caliphate had to be destroyed because it obstructed the
realization of the ultimate goal in the new godless European agenda. That
European goal was to establish Jewish Israel as the ‘ruling state’ of the
world, ruling the world from Jerusalem.
Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) prophesied that the
Caliphate would disappear. He did so in the following Hadith:
“How will you be at that time when the son of Mary descends amongst you and
your Imam (i.e., Amirul M’umineen or Khalifah) would be from within your
midst (i.e., he would be a Muslim)”?
(Sahih, Bukhari)
This Hadith revealed three things:
Firstly, it informed us that the Caliphate would be present in the world
in the ‘End Time’. This amounted to a prophecy that the Caliphate would
disappear from the world but would one day be restored. Secondly, prior to
the restoration of the Caliphate, Muslims would live for a period of time
under the authority, control and rule of those who would not be Muslims. That
is precisely the world in which we live today. Thirdly, the return of the
Caliphate would be an event that would be contemporaneous with the return of
the son of Mary.
And since we know that when Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salam) returns he will rule
the world from Jerusalem as a just ruler enforcing Allah’s Law, the
implication is that the modern secular State of Israel would be replaced in
the Holy Land by the authentic Islamic state which would be free from the
Shirk of secular Israel.
Those who adamantly defend the status quo of secular Islamic nation-states
should pause to reflect over the prophecy of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu
‘alaihi wa sallam) concerning the restoration of the Caliphate. By our
calculation that prophesy is most likely to be fulfilled shortly.
QUR’ANIC EXPLANATION FOR
THE UNIVERSAL SHIRK OF THE MODERN SECULAR STATE
Only the Qur’an can explain, and has explained, the momentous political
change that overtook the Euro-Christian and Euro-Jewish world, and then overtook
the rest of mankind. What is that explanation? The Qur’an has taught that the
historical process would one day come to an end when Allah, Most High,
ordains that the ‘Last Day’ should come upon mankind and the world. Before
that ‘Last Day’ can occur, however, there would be a Last Age that would be
filled with numerous Signs from Allah indicating that it is the ‘Last Age’.
Among those events that would take place in the Last Age would be the advent
of the Last Prophet, Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). The release into
the world of Dajjal, the False Messiah, and of Gog and Magog took place in
his lifetime (see my book ‘Jerusalem
in the Qur’an’). When they were released into the world they eventually
became the dominant actors in the historical process, and it is they who are
the masterminds orchestrating this unique and ominous transformation of
mankind and the world. The Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) declared
that the age of Dajjal, the False Messiah (i.e., the Anti-Christ), would witness
the universal appearance of Riba with its extreme economic oppression. It
would also be an age of Kufr since Dajjal has ‘Kafir’ written between his
eyes. And it would be an age of Shirk since Dajjal will ‘play’ the role of
God and deceive mankind into accepting him as such. It is as plain as
daylight to this writer that Dajjal is the mastermind behind the creation of
the modern essentially godless secular state and its system of electoral
politics.
ALTERNATIVE TO ELECTORAL POLITICS OF THE MODERN SECULAR
STATE
The Jewish, Christian or Muslim reader is likely to ask: Is there an
alternative (for believers) to electoral politics in the secular state? Yes,
there is! The alternative is to struggle to restore the sovereignty of the
One God in the political system – to struggle for recognition of His
Authority as Supreme Authority – and to struggle for recognition of His Law
as the Supreme Law. That is the highest and noblest of all political
struggles any one can ever wage, and it is a struggle that must be pursued
until the end of time. Indeed Allah, Most High, has guaranteed that time
cannot end before that struggle ultimately succeeds.
The alternative for believers is to uphold whatever Allah made Halal as
Halal, and whatever Allah made Haram as Haram, regardless of the price they
may have to pay. Also, when a people commit Shirk, Kufr, Dhulm and Fisq, then
believers should condemn such conduct, oppose it, struggle against it, and
turn to Allah and ask Him to separate them from such people:
“ . . . So separate us
from this sinful rebellious people!”
(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:28)
The Qur’an refers to this mission of believers as “amr bil ma’aruf”
(enjoining the right) and “nahi ‘an al-munkar” (opposing the wrong). If the
struggle to restore the sovereignty of Allah Most High and the supremacy of
His Authority and Law (in any territory) were to succeed, then that territory
would become Dar al-Islam. Muslims would rule over that territory. But there
is an alternative model of a plural state in which Muslims would share
control over a territory with non-Muslims on the basis of political equality
and through a constitutional agreement that would allow Muslims to recognize
the sovereignty of Allah and the supremacy of His Authority and Law over
‘them’. Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) established that model
of state in the city-state of Madina wherein Muslims, Jews and pagan Arabs
shared control over territory and over the state on the basis of political
equality.
Mankind has the freedom of choice to accept or to reject the religion of
Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam). However, once the religion of Abraham (‘alaihi
al-Salam) is accepted, believers do not have the freedom to choose between a
government of believers or a non-believing government. So long as believers
have the freedom to do so, they must choose fellow-believers to rule over
them. When they are denied that freedom in any territory they must search for
some place where that freedom exists and then migrate to such a territory!
Thus the God of Abraham, Most High, has commanded believers to: “Oh you who believe, obey Allah, and
obey the Messenger, and (obey) those from amongst yourselves who are in
(positions of) authority. . . “
(Qur’an, al-Nisa, 4:59)
When they no longer have the freedom to establish their own government
anywhere, and they have to live under non-believing rule, believers in the
religion of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam) ‘submit’ to that rule until such time
as they can once again choose fellow-believers to rule over them. But ‘submission’
to such non-believing rule cannot involve their participation in establishing
that non-believing government. Secondly, believers submit to such rule on the
condition of religious freedom, i.e., that nothing is forced upon them that
violates the Law of the God of Abraham. Such a law would be, for example the
religious obligation to fight (al-Qital) and hence to receive military
training!
While such a government will not be ‘their’ government, they can advise
and assist the government in all that is true, good and virtuous, while
warning, resisting and abstaining from all that is false, evil and harmful.
Herein lies the most important political role of Muslims in the politics of Trinidad and Tobago.
It is in the very nature of the modern secular state that it would never
allow elections to be used to transform it into a different model of a state
- such as a state that would recognize the Sovereignty of the God of Abraham
(‘alaihi al-Salam) and the supremacy of His Authority and His Law. Electoral
politics must function subservient to the godless secular state.
The Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) declared that the world of Kufr
constituted an essential unity (al-kufru millatun wahidah). This is precisely
what has now emerged in the world. The Jews and the Christians should ponder
over the fact that when the Muslims of Algeria used ‘electoral politics’ to
seek to restore the religion of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam) in Algeria and won
85% of the votes in the national elections, the godless world all came
together to ruthlessly punish that 85% of the electorate which dared to seek
to transform the godless secular foundation of the state. The merciless and
shameless rape of Algeria
by the entire godless secular world still continues even years after that
unfortunate election.
Thus, rather than voting in elections and legitimizing the secular model
of a state based on Shirk, Muslims should protect themselves from Shirk by
disconnecting from the secular state. They should also respond to it by arguing
that the model of a state established by Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi
wa sallam) is a superior model when compared with the godless secular state.
The alternative to the political Shirk of the secular state and its electoral
politics must also be an alternative that would save Muslims from the Riba of
the modern economy. That Riba is bringing upon all of mankind a new
sophisticated slavery. Muslims also need an alternative to the moral
corruption that is descending upon all of mankind. Perhaps the most dangerous
of all evils from which Muslims must flee is an educational system that
secularizes knowledge and education and, in so doing, produces people who are
internally, spiritually blind.
There is only one road through which Muslims can preserve their faith in
the world today and that road is given in Surah al-Kahf of the Qur’an (the
Surah which protects from Dajjal). It is to disconnect from the godless
world, i.e., to ‘drop out’.
The Qur’an itself directs the Muslim to disconnect from the godless world:
“ . . . So separate us
from this sinful rebellious people!”
(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:28)
The method through which Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago can
effectively disconnect themselves from the Shirk that now surrounds them is
given in the Qur’an in the story of the young men in Surah al-Kahf. That
method is to establish Muslim Villages that are detached from the
nation.
THE MUSLIM
VILLAGE
Muslims must concentrate on establishing micro-Islamic communities wherever
they can. But let me at once enter into the record my admiration for the
effort made by Br. Nazim Mohammed in establishing a Muslim
Village at the Boos Settlement
Jama’at in Rio Claro, Trinidad.
I visited the Muslim
Village and found to my
happiness that he succeeded in bringing the races together in a racial
fraternity. This essay is written for the specific purpose of encouraging
readers to take the initiative in establishing wherever possible
multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual villages that would be united in
the fraternity of faith in Islam.
If an authentic Muslim
Village is to be
established, and if it is to provide Muslims with the means of preserving
their faith in today’s increasingly godless world, then, in addition to
abstaining from voting in elections of the modern secular state, it must
fulfill the following conditions:
• The public life of the Muslim
Village must be
established on the firm foundations of the Qur’an and Sunnah. Whatever is not
based on the Qur’an and Sunnah cannot be recognized as essential for
survival. If a Muslim religious practice cannot be so established then,
regardless of how beneficial it may be, or how long Muslims may have observed
it, it should not be brought into the Masjid and into the public life of the Muslim Village, nor should it be allowed to
become the grounds for division and conflict between Muslims. Only thus would
the Muslim Village survive the sinister
contemporary effort directed at purging Muslim communities of all practices
(both harmless and harmful) that are not based on the Qur’an and Sunnah and
the way of the Aslaf (plural of Salaf, i.e., early Muslims). One implication
of the above would be that the Halaqa of Zikr of the Qaderiyyah Sufi Order to
which I belong, or other such Sufi Orders, would be held in private locations
within the village.
• The Muslim
Village must be
self-sufficient in food production and in energy. Surah al-Kahf of the Qur’an
points to solar energy as the solution for energy. The Surah also warns
concerning absolute purity in food, hence abstinence from chemical
fertilizers,genetically re-engineered food, hormones in milk and meat, etc.
Surplus production of this organic food of the Muslim Village
can be marketed out of the Village and this would form part of the foundation
of the Village economy. An effective marketing strategy can include, for
example, an explanation of the link between food, sexuality and sexual
virility. In the process of producing food that is pure and healthy, the Muslim Village would be demonstrating a
capacity to do that which the rest of the people are increasingly incapable
of doing. The same would be true for the capacity of the Muslim Village
to cure alcoholism and drug addiction, to reverse the decline in sexual
morality, to preserve the family unit at a time when it is collapsing around
the world, to establish peace and security and thus eliminate violence and
crime, etc. All of these achievements would make an effective political
impact upon the politics of Trinidad
and Tobago in the sense that they would
demonstrate Islam’s capacity to solve problems that governments and secular
political parties cannot solve.
• The Muslim
Village would also have
to establish a micro-market which would be independent from the macro-market,
and which would use real money (i.e. gold and silver) rather than the
artificial paper money of the macro-market. In this way the micro-market
would survive when the fraudulent international monetary system based on
paper money collapses. I expect the international monetary system based on paper
money to collapse at that time when Israel wages her great war of territorial
expansion to occupy the entire area from ‘the river of Egypt’ (Nile?) to the
river ‘Euphrates’ in Iraq. That war is likely to take place very soon.
One of the most important characteristics of the micro-market of the Muslim Village is that it would ensure that
wealth circulates throughout the village economy. So the poor of the village
would not remain permanently poor and the rich would not remain permanently
rich. Since all forms of Riba would be prohibited in the village — both
‘front door’ and ‘back door’ — the Muslim Credit Union would not be allowed
to do business in the Muslim
Village.
• The Muslim
Village would have to
make a determined effort to pursue al-Ihsan (or Tasawwuf) in order to achieve
internal spiritual insight. Thus the village life would have to be one of
great simplicity, austerity and piety. There will have to be a strict
enforcement of the Shariah. In addition, the Muslim Village
would have to ensure that it takes complete control over education. The
Qur’an must remain at the center of the system of education throughout all
stages of education. The Muslim school in the Muslim Village
would have one great advantage over the Muslim school located outside. The
children of such a Muslim school would be supported by a Muslim community
that would be living Islam! Only such children can truly be trained and
educated as Muslims! • All those Muslims who reside in the Muslim Village
must collectively constitute One Jama’at under the leadership of One Amir.
The Amir must be someone who knows the Din (religion) and lives the Din. He
must also know the world today. Regardless of whether he is African or Indian
or ‘Dougla’, etc., he must enforce the Din on the members of the Jama’at and
they must respond with as-Sam’u wa at-Ta’atu (listening and obeying). This
will preserve the internal integrity and discipline of the Muslim Village.
It will also bring the races of Trinidad and
Tobago together in a racial fraternity and in so doing
it would make an eloquent political statement to a racially polarized Trinidad and Tobago
as well as to a racially polarized world.
• The Muslim
Village cannot be, and
must not be, a stepping-stone for the eventual control over the state. The
only purpose of the Muslim
Village is to preserve
the faith of the believers. Thus, the Village would not be armed except with
the weapons needed to defend it against robbers, rapists and thieves! It
would have no capacity to defend itself if attacked by the state or by
enemies of Islam. In addition, the Village would encourage Hindus, Christians
and others to reside with Muslims in the Village on the condition that they
are not hostile to Islam and they agree to abide by the public norms of
conduct of the Village. In this way, non-Muslims would themselves be able to
dispel the rumor-monger and the ‘doubting Thomas’ concerning the peaceful
nonthreatening nature of the Muslim
Village. But the Muslim Village, despite not being armed,
would still have to develop the means of ensuring the safety and collective
security of all villagers. This cannot be a Village in which people have to
live like prisoners with iron bars on every window of their homes, and with
expensive security and burglar-alarm systems installed in every home.
Security in the Village should be such that even a woman can walk in and
around the Village at night in complete safety and security. This security of
the Muslim Village would make a tremendous
political statement to the rest of the beleaguered nation.
• The entire guidance which emerges from the Qur’an and Sunnah and which
must be applied to the task of establishing the micro-Muslim communities in
Muslim Villages, needs to be extracted and classified. And this is precisely
the task that Maulana Dr. Ansari has accomplished in his magnificent work
entitled ‘The Qur’anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society’. He has
also articulated the concept of Islamic spirituality with great care and with
quite some detail, and in so doing he has answered critics who had not even
emerged at the time that the book was written. But ‘spirituality’ cannot be
achieved unless there is a prior moral struggle for purity. One of the major
achievements of his book is its detailed exposition and classification of the
Islamic moral code and the beautiful explanation and guidance that it
provides of the methodology of Tazkiyah (i.e., moral purification) and of
Zikr (i.e., the fragrance which only true love can deliver when it embraces
the heart and provokes, in the privacy of the heart, a constant remembrance
of the beloved). • “The Qur’anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society”
constitutes a textbook, workbook and a veritable manual for the survival of
Muslims of the present age. I intend to use this book as my manual for
establishing the authentic Muslim community in Muslim Villages wherever I
can. I pray that the reader will also be inspired to do the same. Amin!
Before this essay ends there is a warning that must be entered into the
record. It is this. The secular state and secular political system that
Muslims have inherited from Britain
and Europe is one which requires an
essential homogeneity of godlessness in the polity in order for it to work.
European civilization achieved that homogeneity in the emergence of an
essentially godless secular way of life. The rest of the world does not yet
possess that essential homogeneity. And so it was hardly surprising that
racially and tribally divisive politics should have plagued non-European
polities from the very beginning of self-rule. Indeed it has now reached
dead-end and there is a distinct possibility that it can lead to racial
riots. If Muslims remain a part of the system of electoral politics and
identify themselves politically with the party of their race, they will
remain the most vulnerable of all groups to be targeted when racial riots
begin. When they raise their hands in prayer at that time of bloodshed and
killing, and find to their dismay that they receive no help from above, they
may then understand the verse of the Qur’an which warns that Allah will not
change the condition of a people until they (the people) take the initiative,
using Allah’s guidance, to change their own condition (Qur’an, ar-R’ad,
13:11). That is the basic function this essay seeks to perform.
CONCLUSION
This writer has based his arguments on the Qur’an, the Hadith and the Sunnah
of the blessed Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), to the effect
that participation in electoral politics in the modern secular state
constitutes Shirk and Kufr. In the event of disagreement with the view
expressed in this essay, scholars should respond with arguments based on the
Qur’an, Hadith and the Sunnah of the blessed Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa
sallam). They should declare the specific conditions in which it would be
Halal for believers to vote in national elections. For example, can a
believer vote for an idol-worshipping Hindu, or for an enemy of Islam, a
liar, a drunkard, a thief, an adulterer, a moneylender, who owns shares in a
bank or is a bank director etc.? Can he vote in elections on the basis of
racial solidarity or on the basis of a trade: “We will vote for you on the
condition that we get such and such from you.” Can he vote for a political
party that is committed to supporting the Zionist
State of Israel
in its continuing occupation of, and oppression in, the Holy
Land and Masjid al-Aqsa? Can he vote for a political party that
supports the legalization of the lending of money on interest, lottery,
homosexuality and abortion?
The blessed Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) declared: What is Halal
(permissible) is clear! And what is Haram (prohibited) is clear! Abstain from
whatever is doubtful! It now remains for the Islamic scholars, who are the
guides of the believers, to declare whether it is Halal for Muslims to
participate in electoral politics in the modern secular state. In order to
deliver an unambiguously positive answer the scholars must demonstrate,
firstly, that it is not Haram to do so, and secondly, that it is not
‘doubtful’ to do so. And they must establish their response on the
authoritative foundations of the Qur’an and the authentic Hadith. If they do
not do so, and still insist that Muslims can vote in elections, then such
scholars are very dangerous people and should be avoided like a plague. Those
who insist on following such scholars should pause to reflect over the terror
of the Day of Judgment: “Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, The
people would sweat so profusely on the Day of Resurrection that their sweat
would sink seventy cubits deep into the earth, and it will rise up till it
reaches the people’s mouths and ears.”
(Sahih, Bukhari)
Ruling by
Kufr is Haraam
PART (I)
By Prof. Muhammad
Al-Mass'ari
London
Last revision:
Tuesday 20th of August 2002.
The
'Muslim News' published in its March 28 1997 issue 95, page 4, in its 'Election
Special' feature an article entitled: "Islam is not opposed to
power-sharing" by Brother Azzam Tamimi. The article argues, in essence,
that participating in Kufr governments and elections is perfectly permissible,
even a duty for Muslims! Unfortunately Br. Tamimi could not accept that the
other opposing point of view is based on respectable and considerable train of
thought, rather he insisted to belittle it and its advocates. For example he said: [Islamists, who treat the questions of democracy or power-sharing as
matters of 'Aqidah (faith), usually have no specialised or adequate knowledge
in the humanities, and are indoctrinated with some shallow Islamic literature].
This is most unfortunate! The following discussion will clearly expose Br.
Tamimi's point of view as the weakly founded and shallow one.
In
the first four paragraphs or so Br. Tamimi summarises the position of Ayman
Az-Zhawahiri, a leader of one of the Egyptian Jihaad movements, in his
"Bitter Harvest" and the position of Hizb-ut-Tahreer. I do not have
currently a copy of "The Bitter Harvest", but I am sufficiently
familiar with Hizb-ut-Tahreer, its struggle, literature and thought, to
describe Br. Tamimi's representation as essentially flawed and simplistic. Even
historic facts are given inaccurately.
It
is a matter of public record that Sheikh Ahmad Ad-Da'our, member of
Hizb-ut-Tahreer, did NOT give, after his election to the Jordanian Parliament,
the official oath of allegiance to the King of Jordan (Check the Jordanian
Parliaments minutes and records for this). As a matter of fact he sat with late
founder and leader of Hizb-ut-Tahreer Sheikh Taqi-ud-deen An-Nabhaani, may
Allah be pleased with him, for hours, to devise an oath formula affirming
allegiance to Allah, His Messenger, the Ummah and the Jordanian people and not
contradicting the party's classification of the Jordanian regime as a Kufr
regime.
Br.
Tamimi's claim that: "Only Ad-Da'ur won because he entered into an
arrangement with the Muslim Brotherhood" is not supported by historic
evidence! Both Hizb-ut-Tahreer and the Muslim Brotherhood are Islaamic
organisations. Co-operation and arrangements between them is their Islaamic
duty. They should have been doing it all the time intensively. Unfortunately
the Muslim Brotherhood preferred to treat their Muslim brethren as enemies to the
extent that some researcher believe that the Muslim Brotherhood was more
opposed to Hizb-ut-Tahreer than to the Communist Party! (see, for example,
Prof. Riyadh Yusuf As-Subh's article series about "The Jordanian Islaamic
political parties and their impact on society and politics", in the London
based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, concluded in No. 2471, of Saturday/Sunday
19/20 April 1997, page 14). If this is true than we have to ask ourselves:
Which kind of "Muslim
Brotherhood" is this?!
Prior
to those elections of the early fifties, in which Hizb-ut-Tahreer did
participate, as well as prior to the elections of the late eighties, in which
Hizb-ut-Tahreer did not participate, Hizb-ut-Tahreer issued communiqués in
which its point of view about participating in elections of Kufr systems, like
the Jordanian one, was elaborated and clarified. That basic theory was
developed further in the Hizb-ut-Tahreer's magazine Al-Wa'i and other
publications. Members of Hizb-ut-Tahreer and students in its circles developed
and polished the theory further [see: Memorandum of Advise by a group of
activists, intellectuals and scholars in Arabia; My book entitled: "Taa'at
Uli-l-amr" (Obedience to the Ruler)]. We summarise it here for the benefit
of the readers.
Elected
bodies are either law making, that is making essential laws, or not. The non
law-making bodies are essentially administrative (classical examples are: City
and regional councils, school boards ..etc). They administer and manage within
given "laws", enacted by a higher law-making authority (King and/or
Parliament; Revolutionary Council; Military Junta, Cardinal Convent; Sanhedrin;
Central Committee of the Ruling Party in one party dictatorship, ... etc). They
do issue regulations and by-laws, which are administrative and procedural (That
is regulating the how? when? with which means? .. etc) in nature, rarely
enacting essential law (That is what is obligatory, permitted or forbidden;
conditionals, causatives, exceptions, waivers, valid, invalid, void ..etc).
Since the basic Islaamic ruling about
administrative and procedural regulations that they ALL are permitted in
principle (unless a specific prohibition with its specific legitimate evidence
can be shown), it should be clear that elections and membership in those bodies
(city, county and regional councils; school boards; medical associations; …
etc), as well as administrative and management jobs and positions in general
are basically permitted and not a problem. It is also not a problem, for
example, to work in agricultural banks (like the Saudi Agricultural Bank) which
are designed to give interest free loans, equipment, fertilisers, seeds for
cash or instalment payments.
This
does not mean, that in a Kufr domain problems rarely arise, they do arise frequently!
For example a city council may have to regulate 'red
light districts' made legal by a higher law making authorities. A
Muslim member of the city council will face that and other dilemmas. The same
applies to the Muslim public servant in the domain of Kufr, if he is ordered to
draft and execute an interest (Riba) loan contract. These problems arise, from
time to time, in a Kufr or in an unjust corrupt system, but they are not the
standard day to day basic situation: They are accidental and they are not an
essential part of the job or functions definition. A Muslim should, for
example, never be a party, witness or writer/drafter of a Riba contract, unless
he is comfortable with inviting the Divine course invoked by the Messenger of
Allah on Riba, its parties, its witnesses and its writer! He can never issue
permits for prostitutes or other 'red light
district' businesses.
As
a matter of fact the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, in a strong (Saheeh)
Hadeeth, after warning of coming times of corrupt rulers: (Should any one of you reach that time, do NOT be: 'Areef, Shurti,
Jaabi, or Khaazin!), narrated by Ibn Hibbaan in his Saheeh.
(a)
Shurti = Policeman or security service man. Obviously working in secret
services is a compounded crime and even worse and more sinful.
(b)
Khaazin: Literally Storage Keeper,
mostly used in the meaning of Treasurer.
(c)
Jaabi: Collector of state revenues. This even applies to Zakaat collection, but
also to Kharaaj (land tax), customs and excises, and all other taxes.
(d)
'Areef: Most difficult to translate, literally "Recogniser". From
other Hadeeth evidence we know that a 'Areef is some one who know the people in
a village, city subsection or a sub-tribe, so he could report their opinion,
marital status .. etc. This meaning is evidenced and explained by the following
incident: After the battle of Hunain the Messenger of Allah decided to set his
own prisoners of war of the defeated tribe of Hawaazin free and asked the
people in congregation to do the same, possibly in return for a future
re-imbursement. The masses shouted: Yes, we do the same, but the Messenger of
Allah insisted: "Go to your camps! Your ('Areefs) will check with each of
you one by one and report back to us, so that we know who is really satisfied or
not".
This
Hadeeth together with the numerous Qur'aanic and Prophetic injunctions against
Kufr, oppression, injustice and their
perpetuators and any support for, even 'inclination' or 'closeness' to, them
are strong evidence of the prohibition of at least certain jobs and functions
under Kufr and/or Zulm regimes, as
Allah, blessed be His Names, says: {Do not incline (or lean) towards the unjust
one, else you would experience the touch of hell-fire, you will not find any
protector besides Allah, nor shall you be helped or supported} (Hood;
11:113). Some Islaamists argue even for complete abstaining from any public
office under such regimes, but the above Hadeeth indicates otherwise, because
it enumerates clearly four categories instead of saying, for example: "Do
not work (or do not do any thing) for them!" More over Jihaad is a duty
and called for under the command of even corrupt and oppressive rulers.
I
therefore argue that in principle administrative functions (as public servant
or as a member of such administrative bodies) is in principle permitted. We
must in any case be alert to the above stated prohibition of certain functions
and also ready to stand firm in any single conflict situation (usury contracts,
'red light district', licences for prostitution, quality certification for
alcoholic beverages, .... and much, much more).
The
discussion above was concerned ONLY with administrative function under Kufr
(disbelief) and Zulm (oppressive) systems. The question of law-making
(legislative) functions and court and tribunal rulings (judicial) function has
not been yet addressed.
We
must first clarify the different meanings and usages, in Qur'aan and Sunnah, of
the word 'Hukm' best translated as 'Rule'. If we go through an indexed
dictionary of the Qur'aan (see: Muhammad Fou'aad Abdul-Baqee's famous indexed
dictionary) then we find the following usages:
(a)
Ruling (mostly judicial ruling). The Judge is also termed Haakim (or Qaadi).
(a.1)
Allah, blessed his names, has the sole Hukm in the day of Judgement as in:
Ghaafir (40:48), Aal-Imraan (3:55), Az-Zumar (39:46), Al-Baqarah (2:113),
An-Nisaa' (4:141), An-Nahl (16:124), and
many more.
(a.2)
In this world this function is performed by duly appointed officials (judges),
to arbitrate and settle disputes. This is the most prominent usage of the Qur'aan and Sunnah like in
Al-Maa'idah (5:42), An-Nisaa' (4:58), An-Nisaa' (4:105), Al-Anbiaa' (21:78),
Saad (38:22), An-Nisaa' (4:60), Al-Maa'idah (5:44-50), Al-Baqarah (2:188) and
many more. Most, but not all, these
verses could and should be also understood in the sense of general
"rule" and govern, even manage and administer i.e. applying certain
laws and principle in managing public affairs!
(a.3)
Ruling in the intellectual sense; Informed opinion; Judgement of an opinion or
situation. Allah, blessed be His Names, condemns the practice of burying baby
girls: {If one of them is informed about the birth of a baby girl his face
darkens, and he is filled with inward grief! * Ashamed he hides himself from
the people, because of the bad news he just received! Shall he retain it on
sufferance and contempt, or bury it in the dust?! Oh how miserable they judge
(rule)?!!} (An-Nahl 16:59); See also Yunus (10:36), As-Saaffaat
(37:154), Al-Qalam (68:36,39), Al-An'aam (6:136) and many more.
(b)
Law-Making. The word "Hukm" is used less frequently in this meaning
in the Qur'aan. We have Allah, blessed be His Names, saying after prohibiting
hunting while in the holy precincts and/or in the state of Ihraam: { ...
Allah commands (rules) what he wants} (Al-Maa'idah 5:1). We have also
Al-Maa'idah (5:50), Al-Kahf (18:26), Yusuf (12:40) and Al-Mumtahinah (60:10),
and some others. The word "Hukm" is used there in the meaning of
commanding, ordering, or enacting a law. Normally the Qur'aan refers for such
meanings of commanding and making laws to Allah being Lord (Rabb), Sovereign or
King. The word "Amr" meaning command is more often used, like in: {..
indeed His is the Creation (Khalq) and the Command (Amr), blessed be
Allah, the Lord of the universes} (Al-A'raaf 7:54). The term
(Tashree') is also some times used. This Sovereignty or Law-Making power is the
privilege of Allah alone according to the overwhelming evidence of Qur'aan,
Sunnah and necessities of the reason, any belief to the contrary is necessarily
Shirk and Kufr. The scholars
of Usul-ul-Fiqh (principles of law derivation) have used the term Hukm to
denote any specific legislation and Haakim as the lawmaker. All of them agree
unanimously that Allah is the Haakim, not Humans nor Reason, nor anything else.
The
"law making" process in Islaam is quite complex. We have:
(1)
Revelation: The Divine revelation in Qur'aan and
Sunnah, which is textual and concerned mainly, but not exclusively, with the
details of "essential" laws.
(2)
Ijtihaad:
These textual references
must be understood and applied to real concrete situations. So proper
understanding of the texts and understanding of the reality and the essential
ingredients of the situation is a necessary condition for 'extracting' the
divine ruling for that specific situation. This process of extraction is called
"Ijtihaad". Ijtihaad is both the right and duty of the Muslim Ummah.
The Ummah is empowered, by Allah blessed be His Names, to perform Ijtihaad. It
is a duty on the Ummah as an Ummah. It is "Fardh Kifaayah". For any
new situation we face in life there is a Divine ruling, which we must find,
else we betray the reason of our existence: To worship Allah, that is, love,
respect, glorify, praise, obey and surrender to Him. At least one Mujtahid must
exist to face the challenge and perform that duty, else the whole Ummah becomes
sinful.
The
scholars of Usul-ul-Fiqh (principles of law derivation) have studied the
subject of Ijtihaad in full detail, so we refer to their works in this matter.
We stress only some very important facts:
(2.a) Every single Muslim, man or woman is
empowered to Ijtihaad. You do not need an ordination or authorisation from any
ruler or scholar. There is no Church, and no official clergy, in Islaam. Indeed
you do need the necessary knowledge and other pre-conditions, most likely you
will have "Ijaazah", that is certification, from a scholar, a
university or any other scholarly body, but this is neither necessary, nor sufficient.
You have to argue for and justify your Ijtihaad in the community of the
scholars, and the believers in general, but it is your responsibility in front
of Allah, and Allah alone.
(2.b) The Ijtihaad is a human process and it is
not infallible. The results of Ijtihaad are not THE Revelation or THE Shari'a.
They are the Mujtahid's or Faqih's understanding of the Revelation or Shari'a.
The same is to be said about the bulk of statements in the Fiqh books. It is
generally improper, impolite and arrogant to say: This is Allah's ruling or the
verdict of Islaam, rather a more cautious and humble statement like: This is my
understanding of Allah's ruling or of the verdict of Islaam, or this is an
Islaamic point of view!
(3)
Adoption:
Because Ijtihaad is fallible
human process, and because a considerable number of problems and questions do
not admit a definitive (qat'i) textual evidence and because a considerable
number of Hadeeth references is not of well established agreed upon
authenticity; Because of all these main reasons and other minor reasons there
will be a considerable number of diverging points of view and results of
Ijtihaad today and possibly until the Day of Judgement. The believer will face,
sooner or later, the problem which one of the different, some times conflicting,
rulings he should follow: This the problem of adoption.
For individual Muslims the problem has
been studied extensively by the scholars of Usul-ul-Fiqh (principles of law
derivation) under the Chapters of (Taqleed)
and (Ittibaa'). The
conditions and permissibility of Taqleed, that is following a scholar on the
merit of his personality, reputation, ... etc., but not on the merit of his
argument for the specific ruling, has been extensively discussed. The same was
done for (Ittibaa'), that is following on the merit of the argument for the
specific ruling.
Unfortunately
the question of adoption in the public domain that is by the STATE
has not been addressed in past centuries in any respectable length. All what
the classical scholars have said was only: The legitimate Waliyy-ul-Amr, Imaam,
or Khaleefah generally has the right to adopt and must be obeyed, that is: His
adoption, if duly enacted and published, becomes binding law.
The
problem of scope and limits of the state's adoption were addressed in a quite
elaborate level in the "Draft of Constitution" (Mashroo'-ud-Dustoor),
together with its justification in the "Prologue to the Constitution"
(Muqadimat-ud-Dustoor) published by Hizb-ut-Tahreer over 40 years ago in the
early fifties of the twentieth century. Hizb-ut-Tahreer invited scholars,
movements and all Muslims to participate in the further development of those
drafts, to no avail. Nobody else, including the leading Islaamic movements,
according to my knowledge, contributed any thing significant to this most
important constitutional debate. It is rather regretful that members of such
movements, like Br. Tamimi, preferred to indulge in mockery of such works,
belittlement of their Muslim brethren and admire instead Western democratic
thought, which is based on a completely different view of God, man, life and
the universe.
Further
developments were made in the above-mentioned "Memorandum of Advice",
in which the problem of "essential"
and "procedural" law
has been addressed and largely clarified. This has been further developed in my
book "Taa'at Uli-l-amr" (Obedience to the Ruler). Therein the most
significant problem of adoption in 'Ibaadat (pure cultic activities and acts of
worship) and 'Aqa'id (creed) has been addressed and significant solutions
suggested. It is not an exaggeration to state,
that a satisfactory resolution of those constitutional problems is a necessary
condition for the survival of the Islaamic state in our modern times in
competition with secular materialistic West.
It
is also interesting to note that the "Draft of The Constitution"
(Mashroo'-ud-Dustoor), together with its justification in the "Prologue to
the Constitution" did address and, at least partly, resolved the problems
of existence and permissibility of multiple parties in the Islaamic
state, elections in general and of the head of state (Imaam or Khaleefah) in
particular, accountability of the government, constitutional court, permissible
taxes, public and private ownership, and women participation in elections and
membership in elected assemblies and many other important constitutional
issues. In those times (the fifties of the twentieth century) the
Ikhwaan-ul-Muslimoon, the biggest Islaamic movement, was arguing for
one-party-system and were at loss, to say the least, about women's role and
participation in party activities, not to speak from elected bodies of the Islaamic
state!! Even the Ikhwaan-ul-Muslimoon's more 'liberal' daughter organisation in
Sudan is still stuck with a military one-party dictatorship and still unable to
firm their opinion about such a simple problem like currency exchange over
borders: Is it Halaal or Haraam, and if Haraam should any one, because of it,
face capital punishment, as they did administer?! The brothers should fear
Allah and educate themselves more thoroughly about Islaamic thought,
before even starting with Locke and John Stewart Mill, or even dare to assume
government responsibility!
It
is obvious, from the above, that law making in Islaam is quite involved!
Elaborate developments are needed to clarify the principle of Divine
Sovereignty (God's Rulership) and its relation to human authority and
responsibility. We must distinguish sharply between Sovereignty and Rule
(Siyadah or Haakimiyyah), which is God's exclusively, and Authority (Sultaan),
which belongs to the Ummah (or to a divinely appointed Imaam in the Shi'a's
school of thought). Western Liberal Capitalist democracy is on the other hand
based on human sovereignty or, theoretically at least, sovereignty of the reason.
Things are simple there: People meet and decide with a suitable majority, or
elect an assembly, which has the right to enact, in a suitable majority
decision, essentially any thing: The most base crimes, like Sodomy punishable by death in times past, becomes
respectable expression and assertion of human "dignity" and
"self-determination" and a legally protected right after a simple
vote of the parliament!
Now
since enacting (essential) laws is the Divine privilege, any one doing the same
is transgressing against the Divine Rank and Majesty of God Most High and
trespassing on the secluded Divine Domain of the Sovereign Most Ultimate and
Absolute and hence committing a crime of cosmic proportion: Shirk and
Kufr. If rebellion against a worldly king is high treason, then
rebellion against the King of kings is the Highest of High Treason!! This ought
to be known, by necessity, from Qur'aan, Sunnah, and principles of reason and
consensus of scholars, even consensus of all rational beings.
This
is for enacting of laws, but what about ruling, governing, judging,
administering according to any law enacted not according with the principle of
Divine Sovereignty or God's Rule?!
Allah,
blessed be His Names and exalted be His Attributes, condemned such acts, that
is ruling, governing, judging, administering according to any thing not
sanctioned by the Divine law, as criminal. These acts are classified as acts
of: Kufr (disbelief), Zulm (oppression and injustice) and Fisq (manifest and
public rebellion and disobedience). The appropriate verses in Qur'aan are well
known and lengthy. I will not quote them, rather I would just give their
references. Please refer first to the verses of Al-Maa'idah (5: 41-50) as main
authority in the subject, but the Qur'aan is full with other relevant direct
and indirect evidence for this most fundamental fact, see also An-Nisaa'
(4:105), Saad (38:22), An-Nisaa' (4:60,65), and many more. The scholars are in
agreement that a judge applying any thing other than Islaamic law is
Kaafir, unless he has valid excuse like compulsion ... etc. They have had never
any argument about that. The only dispute was about intentional misapplication
of the Islaamic law for a monetary gain (bribe) or for family, tribal, national
or political bias. Some scholar regard a judge in such a case as only Faasiq
(sinful) Muslim, others insisted in regarding him a Kaafir, that is a
disbeliever and exclude him from the domain of Islaam and out of the community
of the believer, but all agree on the extreme seriousness of this crime.
It
is obvious that a judge is obliged to apply the valid law and hence in a Kufr
system he must generally apply Kufr rules and laws. Such judges deserve then
all the condemnation and the titles of Kaafir (infidel, disbeliever), Zaalim
(oppressor, unjust) and Faasiq (rebellious, disobedient) according to
Al-Maa'idah (5: 41-50), possible exemption are judges in some Muslim countries
in special courts, for example family courts, who apply only and exclusively Islaamic law in marital and other specific
disputes.
The
head of state, prime minister and cabinet ministers whose constitutional duty
is to protect the constitutional order, to govern, manage the public affairs,
administer and participate in the law making process as well members of law-making
bodies, in their law-making capacity, are (in a Kufr system) necessarily in an
even bigger transgression against the Divine Sovereignty as detailed above.
How
then could it be conceivable for a Muslim to accept to fall in Shirk, Kufr,
Zulm and Fisq for the return of a miserable "share" of Kufr or Zulm
power?! Human beings were not created to exercise power or share in power,
rather they were created to worship Allah, Most High, that is to love, respect,
glorify, praise, obey and surrender to non but Him. This SURRENDER legitimises
and empowers them to establish God's Rule and a system of true justice on
earth, based on a firm moral and spiritual base.
The
train of arguments of Br. Tamimi has not yet been discussed here in full. His
representation of the theory of Imaam Ash-Shaatibi in Al-Muaafaqat, his
invocation of the principle of "necessity" and their relevance or
rather irrelevance for the problem at hand deserve another more lengthy
discussion in a future article. Some fine points of the membership in Kufr
law-making bodies and the permissibility of using such bodies as Da'wa platform
and an instrument for accounting the government ought also to be treated in our
future article.
Meanwhile
let us agree on the fact that it is very difficult to live and work UNDER Kufr
and Zulm regimes, but the difficulties escalate to higher order of magnitudes
if you want to work WITH them. Br. Tamimi and the other advocates of
power-sharing should fear Allah, do their home work studying the relevant Qur'aan
verses and Hadeeths before indulging in simplistic, sweeping and virtually
useless general statements and empty slogans about "power-sharing"
Ruling by
Kufr is Haraam
PART (II)
In a previous article entitled:
"Ruling by Kufr is Haraam Part(I)” the present author argued for the
general non-permissibility of "power-sharing" in Kufr and Zulm
regimes. It was argued specifically
that, in a Kufr system, that is in Dar-ul-Kufr, the law-making function of the
parliament, but also the "ruling", that is: sharing in law-making
process; Governing, Managing public affairs, Defending the constitutional
system, Establishing law and order ... etc. normally performed by the head of
state, prime-minister and cabinet minister, in their capacity as cabinet
members, are necessarily: Kufr (disbelief), Zulm (injustice and oppression) and
Fisq (manifest rebellion against God) according to the definite ruling of the
Qur'aan, Sunnah, and consensus of the Companions and all generations of
scholars till today.
We should not overlook the fact that
parliaments do have other functions to perform, besides their basic first
function of law making, these are:
(2) Control and Check of the
government (mainly the executive power), and
(3) Intellectual and Media Platform,
that is representing and arguing for or against certain ideas and views being
widely discussed in the society.
It is known from Islaam by necessity that
accounting the rulers is a fundamental right of every single Muslim, man or
woman, of every group or organisation and of the whole Ummah as an Ummah (See
any standard references about "Al-Amr bil Ma'roof wan-Nahyi
'an-il-Munkar", also our book: (Muhaasabat-ul-Hukkaam)).
Actually it is the duty of the Ummah as an Ummah, that it is "Fardh Kifaayah", if it is not
performed in sufficiency, the whole Ummah becomes sinful and punishable, except
those who are struggling to perform, individually and collectively, that
fundamental duty.
The sad and miserable state of affairs of
our Ummah currently is, partially, the necessary result and worldly punishment
for its negligence of this vital duty, and there is more and severe questioning
coming in the Day of Judgement!
This accounting of the rulers by Muslims
could and should be only based on Islaam. If a ruler punishes an adulterer or
adulteress, his act will be praised and supported by Muslims, but he will be
severely criticised and attacked by Western Liberals for punishing
"love" and interfering with personal "choice",
"freedom" and "self-determination". Both, the Muslims and
the Western Liberals, are doing their "duty" and accounting their
ruler according to their "Deen", that is their ideology and way of
life, Islaam and Western Liberal Secularism respectively.
The accounting process entails many
actions by a parliament (or any other elected body) and its member. The
function of accounting, check and control can take many forms, procedures and
styles: Live debates, votes of
no-confidence, rebuttals, written and oral questions, parliamentary
investigations, petitions, ombudsman action, confirmation of certain officials
in certain systems (American Congress), and many others. All are only
procedures, and as such, in principle, permitted for Muslims if based on Islaam
and Islaam alone.
It is, for example, outrageous and unacceptable
from any Muslim to give his vote of confidence to any government applying Kufr
law. This is precisely the blunder, that a "Muslim Brotherhood"
members of the Jordanian parliament committed arguing that: "A vote of
confidence has no relation to applying Kufr or Islaam"!! A vote of
confidence for Kufr law means that we trust it to make human beings happy in
this world and, as a consequence, in the hereafter! If so, than why Islaam in
the first place?! Why then scream all the time: (Islaam is the solution)?!
Why then the ferocious, some times bloody, confrontation with the secular
regimes in Muslim countries?!
The function of elected bodies,
law-making or not, as intellectual
and media platform is very intriguing, specifically in these modern
times of mass media, which is being declared "the fourth power" in
the public domain, the three other powers being the legislative, executive and
judicial powers. A Muslim member of such a body will have an over proportional
share in the media power and if is he a committed Muslim, then he is by
necessity a Daa'iyah, a caller and inviter to Islaam: Its creed, its laws,
morality, code of conduct and all of its way of life. Almost all parliamentary
functions and actions can by intelligently used for Da'wa and expressing the
Islaamic point of view, but there are, for this purpose, specific actions
possible: Motions, questions, written and oral, to officials, debates,
rebuttals and non-binding resolutions.
It should be clear now that a Muslim could nominate himself for law-making Kufr parliament under the
following conditions:
(1) Abstain
from law-making process. All Muslims would agree that this entails voting
against any law contradicting Islaam in its content. I do not believe that this
is enough, because derivation of the law by reference to Qur'aan and Sunnah is
as essential as, even more important than, the content of the law. Worshipping
Allah necessitates surrender and submission to Him without any question to
content of His command. We submit because He is the Lord, the King, the
Sovereign; He commanded per se, not because He commanded this specific
regulation, which we may like or dislike! Hence the process of referring to the
revelation is the test for Islaam and Imaan. It is very well possible, that our
understanding of a certain revelation is wrong, but this does not make us
Kuffaar (disbeliever), actually not even sinful if we did our best Ijtihaad.
But not referring to the revelation makes us sinful Kuffaar! So a Muslim should never accept any law not derived by a an acceptable Ijtihaad,
regardless of the content. A Muslim member of any elected body must vote
against such law: This is the minimum!
A more cautious Muslim member would
abstain completely from any law-making regarding essential law, because a Kufr
parliament is enacting them based on the belief of its "right" to
enact laws: It is original law-making based on the sovereignty of the People,
the king of the realm or the Reason, or what-so-ever. In any case it is not
derivation and then adoption from revelation!
(2)
Controlling, Checking and Accounting the government based on Islaam. No
vote of confidence for Kufr rule is possible (let alone membership in such
governments in the first place).
(3) Propagating
the Islaamic point of view in every occasion, at every question and towards
every issue.
(4)
Refusal of any oath or statement, which entails allegiance, even
acceptance, of the Kufr regime. The usual way out is to devise a suitable oath
formula or statement, which is accepted by Islaam and sufficiently embarrassing
for the regime! For example instead of allegiance to the King, an oath to "serve
the nation and protect its interests based on Islaam" may be
substituted. This may not work and could result in termination of membership of
such an elected body before is even really started, but their is no way out.
The principle of "necessity" does not apply here, as elaborated
below.
(5) Electorates
must be clearly informed about these points, so they can make their choice and
vote accordingly. They must know that the candidate, if elected as their
representative, is going to adhere to the points given above. The elected
representative is, like any carrier of a power of attorney (Wakaalah), in a
position of trust. Any non-disclosure is criminal cheating and breaking of trust.
These conditions may sound almost
impossible to fulfil, but the Example of
Sheikh Ad-Da'our, of Hizb-ut-Tahreer, who was elected to the Jordanian
Parliament twice in the 1950s, and strictly adhered to them proves otherwise:
It is difficult but not impossible. It sound also quite meagre for power-hungry
characters, who want power at any price, but the reason
of the creation and the purpose of life is not power, full power or share in
power, rather it is to become spiritual by acknowledging and surrendering to
Allah's Sovereignty and Lordship and worshipping Him alone, thus achieving
Divine pleasure, that is achieving eternal happiness!
Now what the individual Muslim is
supposed to do in Dar-ul-Kufr, that is a domain of Kufr rule or Kuffaar
supremacy, with a Muslim majority like Jordan or a non-Muslim majority like
Britain?! Obviously again worship Allah alone and hence stick to Halaal and
avoid Haraam. As Muslim is not permitted to do Haraam, he is not permitted to authorise
Haraam. So he cannot vote for a Muslim candidate who is committing Haraam by
not adhering to the conditions given above. The authorisation is then invalid
and the act is sinful, possibly an act of Kufr!
The same applies for a non-Muslim
candidate too, because he is not permitted by Islaam to rule, govern or have an
all-over authority over Muslims like the one exercised by the Head of State,
Prime minister, Cabinet Members and the like, in short he is not permitted to
be a "ruler". He may manage and administer but only according to
Islaam and under an ultimate and supreme Islaamic authority!
Voting a non-Muslim into a position of
authority (rule), even if he would apply Islaam only, violates the principle of
Islaamic supremacy in any case! Voting for a non-Muslim or an un-Islaamic party
with Kufr ideology and program, and hence approving that ideology and/or
program, is a compounded crime! This cannot be compared and is vastly and
essentially different from pork breading, keeping, selling and eating by
non-Muslims, which Islaam expressively permits for them.
Br. Azzam Tamimi asks: (But
what if such supremacy is not established in the land. Should all Muslim
affairs be put on hold? Should Muslims go to sleep for 309 years like the
"people of the cave"). Obviously they should not, but
unfortunately his answer is
participating in Kufr, which
he gives a nice name: Power-sharing!
Again here he lumps vastly different cases and sub-cases into one pile and
suggests a sweeping, albeit empty general solution, like the old alchemist who
dreamed all his life of the impossible life-elixir, which, in one strike, cures
all ills and keeps youth for ever!
Let give things their right names. the
land in which Islaamic supremacy (that is
Rule of Islaamic Law and authority and power for the Muslims) is not
established is called Dar-ul-Kufr, an old fashioned name, which many people
like Br. Tamimi do not like, but it is extremely precise and descriptive. Such
a Dar-ul-Kufr could be one of several cases:
(1) The
majority of the citizens are Muslims. The domain is then a Muslim country. It
is then obligatory on Muslims to do their utmost best to convert their domain
into a domain of Islaamic supremacy that is Dar-ul-Islaam. They, as majority,
should normally have no excuse in not doing so. If they do not do then they are
all, except those who are struggling individually and/or collectively to
establish Islaamic supremacy, committing Haraam and are sinful. This sinful
state of affairs is not improved at all by adding the sins of participating in
Kufr rule, rather it is worsened and compounded!
The existence of a military dictatorship,
possibly veiled like in Turkey or Egypt, is not an excuse. No dictator can rule without the silent approval of
ignorant or coward masses. The job of the Islaamists is to educate, mobilise
and lead the masses, NOT to betray their belief and defeat their goal by
sanctioning Kufr through power sharing.
In the battlefield Muslims are not
permitted to retreat if confronting a fighting enemy of no more than twice
their strength in numbers and equivalent gear. So it may be argued, that the
same obligation exist for Muslims, to stand firm and reach for full Islaamic
supremacy, if their fraction in the population exceeds a third! They are a minority,
but a significant one. In such a situation every Muslim is facing roughly no
more than two opponents in the ideological and political struggle. The
situation ought to be even better than in military confrontation in the battle
field: If Muslims are such a strong and significant (one third, or more)
minority, then society is normally deeply fragmented, divided and no seriously
organised counter force is to be expected.
Any inability to perform as described
above indicates essential defects in the Muslims themselves: In their
understanding of Islaam, in their commitment and/or in their willingness to
sacrifice. If so, then Muslims are not qualified to exercise power and rule in
the name of Islaam. They are also prohibited, as elaborated above and in the
previous article from ruling by anything other than Islaam, so Da'wa, that is
intensive culturing, education and
purification, that is self betterment, is needed first, leading to self
organising and identity assertion. There is no need for illicit power sharing.
This is the only viable alternative Islaamically.
(2) The
Muslims are a (non significant) minority of the citizens of the realm facing
considerable social forces preventing them from establishing Islaamic
supremacy, but they enjoy some basic protection of their life and individual
liberties like in Britain or the US. In such cases the order of the hour is to
keep the Islaamic identity, carry Da'wa and invite others to Islaam, to
increase the number of Muslims, as to become a significant minority or even a
majority in the long run. This is not possible in Isolation. It is only
possible by interacting with the society, while keeping their
distinguished character and identity, and also not by integration and hence
melting away in the surrounding Kufr society. The slogan should be: Interaction, but not Integration!
Establishing
a strong Islaamic schooling system, in the short run, is of utmost importance
in such cases. This necessitates, at least partial economic self sufficiency:
(a) to
establish a (small starting) number of private Islaamic schools, and
(b) to
achieve sufficient media presence to start exercising pressure on the power
centres in the surrounding society forcing them to acknowledge the necessity of
approving and funding of further Islaamic schools.
This acting as a pressure group for
well-defined and limited objectives (Islaamic schools, non co-educational
public schools, non mixing in sport, more say in certain parts of the
curriculum ... etc.) means concentrating the limited resources on a small
target and hence a higher probability of achieving penetration and success.
The limited
participation in the political and administrative process described above,
which is permitted by Islaam, is more than adequate. I would personally regard
any participation higher than local councils and school board in such a
situation, although Islaamically permitted, as counter-productive. Such a
participation may absorb the energies of talented Muslims in early battles
against economic, tax, penal legislation (homosexuality, incest, ... etc.),
which will be wasteful abuse of limited precious resources.
Even if "power-sharing" on
higher levels of government (ruling and law-making) were permitted by Islaam
(which is not the case), it would, in most cases, be viewed by the surrounding
society (or by any powerful section thereof) as dangerous and provocative,
leading to confrontations, crackdowns and disruptive severe conflicts, and
become hence counter-productive. The current example of Turkey, which should be
followed and evaluated very, very carefully (*), and the recent example of
Algeria should remind and warn any rational thinker. In other cases Islaamists,
who are, unfortunately, less politically and ideologically aware like the
"Muslim Brotherhood" in Jordan, may be abused as tools to stabilise
and serve the Kufr regimes for a limited time and then later disposed off in a
disgraceful way: weakened or eliminated by political manoeuvres and dirty
games, a process, in full swing, going now in Jordan!!
(3)
The Muslims are an oppressed minority, threatened in their lives, wealth
and liberties and prevented from performing their basic individual duties, with
no capabilities to counter or fight the oppressors and with no powerful
Islaamic state around to perform Jihaad for their rescue. In such cases
"power-sharing", irrespective of being Halaal or Haraam, could not be
conceivably a matter of consideration!
A person, or
a few persons, may hide their belief (Tuqyah) and "sneak" in a power
position and help a few Muslims here and there, but could not possibly bring
any real relief for the oppressed general Muslim minority. Such cases may be
justifiable under the principle of necessity, but they are singular and largely
accidental admitting no general theory of political action! The only real
solution is: Immigration to any realm of security, preferably to an Islaamic
domain if it exists.
I admit that the above division in three
main case may not exhaust all relevant sub-cases, but it should be a guide to
more thorough discourse.
I tried my best to see how the argument
of "necessity" fits generally in this study, to no avail. As far as I
know there is no compulsion on any one to participate in election, actively or
passively. We did not hear yet of machine-gun holding soldiers forcing the
populace into election boots. In certain countries you may penalised for not
participating, but all what you need to do is to go to the boot and give an
invalid or empty ballot slip! Even enduring the mild, mostly monetary, penalty
should not be a problem and does not constitute a case of necessity or
compulsion by any stretch of imagination. So could any intelligent human being
out there show me where is the general "necessity" mentioned
by Br. Tamimi in his article?!
It is also very important to note, as we
mentioned casually in the above, that non-Muslims are not permitted under
Islaamic supremacy that is in Dar-ul-Islaam to participate in
"ruling". They enjoy otherwise
the full protection, all the rights and privileges of citizenship together with
exemption from certain duties. This is perfectly well established in Islaamic
thought and rationally acceptable for any fair-minded person completely
comprehending the meaning of Islaamic domain or Islaamic state!
The fundamental principles of equity,
justice and reciprocity requires Muslims to ask for no more than that in any Kufr domain, even if some Kufr
regimes like Liberal Secularism (in a self-contradicting way) grants them more!
Islaam treats all humans in equal manner, there are no "Elected People of
God" with all privileges, and "Gentiles" with treatment like
animals! For these reasons it is also obvious that the opportunistic behaviour,
past experience, successes(!) and achievements(!) of Jewish minorities in the
world could never be a model or a worthy example for true Muslims, however
remarkable those were and however great is the temptation!
So when Br. Azzam Tamimi concludes: (Should
all Muslim affairs be put on hold? Should Muslims go to sleep for 309 years
like the "people of the cave"), the answer must be neither,
nor. There is plenty of permitted (Halaal), effective and wise things to do,
most likely exceeding available precious manpower and resources of Muslims,
which are still very limited indeed. If all resources are pooled together, then
may be we will have soon an Islamic educational network with model schools,
renowned for academic excellency, with little or no drug problems, with little
or no teenage pregnancy problems, with little or no violent bullying problems.
I trust we will be having long waiting lists of Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
Non-Muslims attending OUR schools will come to see the true face of Islaam.
They will be OUR ambassadors to the “surrounding” society. We DO NOT need to be
sucked into the FILTHY ideology and politics of Labour and Conservatives (in
the UK) or Democrats and Republicans (in the US), or whatever. COME ON,
Brothers and Sisters: They just want your vote to gain power, once in power
they will sell you out. DON’T BE fooled by the Zionist example: The Zionist and
the US establishment, for example, are joined in disbelief and are allied in
aggression and injustice. You will never achieve the same without clearly and
openly denouncing Islaam and committing apostasy. If that what you really want,
then by all means: DO IT!
Moreover the
"people
of the cave" were true, committed, rightly guided young believers
who deserted their society and did not "share" in any Kufr power.
They refused to mix with Kufr and Shirk and even isolated themselves
physically. They did not go to sleep, rather Allah, blessed be His Names, made
them to do so, to show a miracle for all mankind! They are actually a prime
counter-example to Br. Tamimi's theory of power sharing!
It is amazing how the largest Islaamic
movements, which diverted the energies of hundred thousands of young dynamic
Muslims during the last half century into politically and socially
counter-productive "charity" activities, and other petty activities
like boy-scouting(!), are now struggling to lead the Muslims in the abyss of "power-sharing", which
has proven disastrous and counter-productive in the past. Even worse: It is Haraam, sometimes-even Kufr!
The large Islaamic movements, Br. Tamimi
and the other advocates of power-sharing should fear Allah, review objectively,
and with devotion to Allah, their wrong and misguided "theory" and
repent. {O, Who you believe turn to Allah
with sincere repentance, in the hope that your Lord will forgive your evil
deeds and admit you to gardens beneath which rivers flow!} (At-Tahreem;
66: 8)
END
(1) An
abridged version of the first article was published in Muslim News, No.96, on
Friday 25 April 1997 (18/12/1417H), Page 6].
(2) These
articles were edited for the last time on Tuesday 20th of August
2002.
(*) Note added on Wednesday 19 November
1997: That was written originally on Tuesday 29 April 1997, when Erbakan was
still in power. It looked like a prophetic statement, but it is not: it is a
simple rational conclusion! The precarious current situation of Erbakan, an the
even more miserable one of his party should be a lesson for all of us. The
future may hold things worse in store. May Allah have mercy on the Muslims in
Turkey!!
(**) Note added on Tuesday 20th
of August 2002: The Sudanese regime established Dr. Hassan At-Turabi is for all
practical purposes politically finished. This shows also that opportunistic and
machiavellian policies must fail. Islaam cannot be served this way!
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