Reality of Political Islam
By Dr Basheer Ahmed Khan
Garden Grove, CA
When I was a student of medicine a blind Hafiz e Qur’an used to come to our place in the month of Ramadan to recite Qur’an in Taraveeh prayer. I used to have a lively discussion on religion whenever I happened to visit him. On one such ocasion Hafiz sahib observed: Even though Islam is a universal religion and the entire universe is Muslim (obedient to Allah), Islam never intends to establish its rule over the world by force. He quoted several verses to establish his point. Not being aware of the script and spirit of Qur’an in those days I could not endorse what he said.
As a student of history and biographies during that time I was enamored by the biography of Nabi SA by Nayeem Siddiqi RA with the title “Muhsin e Insaniyat”. The author, who was a Jamaat e Islami activist, had written that the world is changed by few activists who have a mission and are dedicated to establish it. Nabi SA established the Islamic order based on the mission given to him by Allah swt with the support of dedicated companions. He contended that if we take the mission of Nabi SA seriously and develop that companionship and organization and strive to change the established order we can do so even now. It must be made clear here that the official position of Jamaat e Islami is that it wants to establish Islam in society not by force or political intrigues but through Dawa (conveying the message effectively).
It is not just the Muslim world which is divided between the apolitical view of Islam which the blind Hafiz Saheb held and the political view of Islam which Mr Nayeem Siddiqi RA espouses, but even Christians and Jews have undergone this conflict before. The conflict between Rome and Jews, conflict between Church and Jews, and between Church and Kings in Europe established the reality of this age-old rivalry between Church and State. This conflict, which is now being reenacted in the Muslim world and amongst many other religious groups under several names, is only a déjà eve of the same conflict.
As I analyze the views of Mr Nayeem Siddiqi RA and see the apparent reality of the failure of “Islamic movements” and the destruction of Muslim world in its name in the last few decades, I find two reasons for the failure of the hypothesis postulated by Nayeem Siddiqi RA. One is that he has not been critical in understanding the errors which Muslims committed in the earlier part of history during the rapid spread of Islam and our weak responses to rectify them. I have briefly alluded to it in my article “The Myth of Political Islam” (Pakistan Link July 11, 2014). The other was that he failed to recognize the difference between the dynamics of establishing a reformative order and a political grab. As Allama Iqbal RA puts it, “Khas hai Tarkeeb men Qaum e Rasool e Hashami " (Ummath of Nabi SA is different in its constitution than others). Taking his model from the movements of political grab and using it for the establishment of reformative movement of Islam was an error. Those with the hope of an immediate gain by ascending to seats of power and riches are more likely to be cohesive and hence successful in their aim than those whose aim is to reform the society. This is one of the main reasons behind the apparent failure of “Islamic movements”.
When the Muslim countries ruled by self-seeking dictators under various titles failed to meet the aspirations of the masses, Muslim masses turned to religion and religious organization to bring about change. Sensing the mood of the people these dictators infiltrated their agents into religious organizations. The last nail was hit when power seekers joined these organizations and hijacked them. They were successful in recruiting the disenfranchised masses and impressionable youth as fodder for their power grab in the name of ideologies. A mix of these negative factors could not have produced the successful change just because it was all done in the name of Islam; all the more when it was not the Islam of Nabi SA and his companions RA, but their own distorted version. As rulers are trying to cleanse the mess they created, Islam and Muslims are being viewed in a negative context by the world.
As against the political view of Islam which was a disaster in action the apolitical view of Islam held by people like the Blind Hafiz e Qur’an is likely to be a disaster in inaction if it is not understood correctly.
In the first stage Allah wants that a person should recognize Him of his free will and that is why He says: There is no compulsion in religion (Ch 2 V 256). He also says that had He wanted He would have compelled all people to believe in Him (Ch 10 V 99). He says that He did not send His messengers as guard over people (Ch 88 V 22), but only to convey the message (Ch 16 V 35-37). He asks believers to be steadfast on the guidance in order that they are safe from being misguided by the wayward (Ch 5V 77). Having emphasized personal responsibility for personal guidance, Allah swt goes to the second stage and asks the believers to save their wives and children from the hell fire (Ch 66 V 6) by instilling in them God consciousness. In the third stage, Allah swt commands us to warn the society we live in to beware of the consequences of following our vain desires (Ch 45 V 23), and invite them to faith (Ch 26 V 214). The whole Qur’an is a manual to engender this God consciousness in the individual, family and society to make good individuals, good families and good society.
Muslims and knowledgeable non-Muslims both look with nostalgia as to how Nabi SA made his companions good individuals and their families good families and his state a good state which was a force of such great good that it pulled the world out of the Dark Age. Individuals were so good that a businessman in the market after making enough earning for the day would close his shop so that other merchants could also make their living. Muslims preferred others over their kith and kin to the extent that Qur’an had to stop them from over indulging in such a practice (Ch 33 V 6).
One must listen to the three Friday sermons given by Dr Muzammil Siddiqi recently which summarize the role which Islam plays in nurturing good individuals, good families and good society.
Even though personal responsibility is highly emphasized in the Qur’an and it is repeated several times that everyone has to bear the burden of his actions and no one will bear it on others' behalf (Ch 6 V 164); the burden of encouraging good and forbidding evil (Ch 3 V 110) is made obligatory upon Muslims because of the reciprocal relationship between the individual and society. Muslims who have a responsibility to advance the cause of common sense good (Ma’roof) should know that Ma’roof is not just puritanical faith and abstract piety but accepted and time- tested values; and obvious evil (Munkar) is not the cultural taboo, but precepts and practices that are considered abominable by consensus and accepted as such since time immemorial. The mean to establish these values is not arbitrary and through violence but by consensus and persuasion of knowledgeable Islamic scholars enforced through agencies that hold the writ of governance. One should read the explanation given by Mufti Muhammad Shafi RA in Ma’ariful Qur'an explaining this verse to understand the possibility and limitation of individuals in this important matter.
As values in society have gone topsy-turvy because of ignoring this responsibility of promoting good and curtailing evil, so has the response of society to it. Those who are going with the flow are adding to the momentum of decay and those who are trying to resist it are becoming more intolerant and radicalized. Ma’roof (common sense good) and Munkar (Obvious evil) have lost their meaning in a society where deviant behavior has replaced established values. While deviant behavior is gaining acceptance in the name of freedom, attempt to curb this trend is either altogether absent as it is considered an infringement on human rights, or it has gone to the extremes. The liberals and the conservatives should change their attitude to morality and make it more a common sense issue rather than a conservative or liberal dogma. Otherwise more deviant reformers will rise to correct the deviant behavior of society and plunge it into further rot.
We have glowing examples of how this task was achieved during the life of the Prophet SA. After having inculcated the belief in the existence of the Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent Allah and accountability before Him, when Nabi SA gave the command of Allah that intoxicants are forbidden, his companions who were addicted to alcoholic beverages emptied the barrels of their seasoned drinks on the street of Medina (Ibne Kaseer). Those who continued to indulge in it did so in the privacy of their home. When Caliph Omar RA tried to apprehend one such person by jumping the hind wall of the house the culprit shamed Omar RA by quoting verses from the Qur’an that forbade entry into someone's house without permission (Ch 24 V 28) and being curious about the private life of individuals (Ch 49 V 12). Omar RA apologized and left (Al Farooque by Shibli Nomani RA). After learning this lesson Omar RA would send to the transgressors persuasive verses from the Qur'an encouraging them to return to the fold of normal life by seeking Allah’s forgiveness through sincere repentance (Ma’riful Qur'an).
If one ponders about the political philosophy of the Qur’an persuasion is not the only aspect but criminal procedure also has its role. But the responsibility of criminal procedure is left to the State. The religious people have an advisory role to advise the State about the moral implications of its action that affect the well-being of the State and its people so that the State takes the right decision. Islam does not want Muslims to grab power but to be the conscience-keeper of those in power. That is why the only key of authority which Nabi SA got on reclaiming Mecca was the key to the door of Ka’bah which his SA uncle Abbas RA wanted to possess so that he could be its caretaker. But Nabi SA did not give it to him and left it with the original caretaker (Ar Raheeq Al Makhtoom). The religious leaders keep themselves away from the responsibility of mundane leadership for fear of being sullied by the intricacies of statecraft. After the martyrdom of Usman RA, Ali RA was reluctant for long to succumb to the demand of the people that he RA should become Khalifa. He said that he would rather like to be one amongst them and be an adviser to the khalifa rather than be a khalifa himself. He further said, "I want you in the way of God and you want me for your interest. It is a matter that does not rejoice the heart or pleases the mind." (Nahjul Blalagha)
Islam wants that the responsibility of state should be given to competent and considerate individuals (Ch 4 V 58). It wants the religious people to fulfill the advisory role as indicated in the example of Ali RA mentioned above. That is why Nabi SA and his companions preferred Abubakar RA to lead the Islamic nation after him even though Nabi SA considered Ali RA as the door to the knowledge of which he SA was the city (Tirmizi 3723). Abu Zar RA was referred to by Nabi SA as the most truthful person which the sky had ever shaded or the earth ever carried. He further said that he is like Isa AS (Tirmizi 3801-02). Nabi SA gave some of the best advises that benefit the seekers of truth even to this day. When Abu Zar RA asked for some position in the Islamic State for himself, Nabi SA did not give it to him and said: You are weak and office is a trust which brings sorrow and humiliation (Riyad us Saliheen 675). When Khalifa Haroon Ar Rasheed met Fuzail Bin Ayaz RA and sought his advice he said: Your great grandfather (Abbas RA) asked Nabi SA to make him the Khalifa after him, Nabi SA told him: Leadership in this world is a cause of regret in the next world (Kashaf ul Mahjoob). Qur’an also says the same thing when it says: Destroyed were they on the Day of Judgment who had the authority (Ch 69 V 29).
Islam is for democracy when it says: Decide your affairs by consultation (Ch 3 V 159, Ch 42 V 38). But this process has three important caveats. One is it should bring competent people to authority and they should rule justly (Ch 4 V 58). The second is that the resulting authority should not exceed the authority given to it by the Creator who is the real sovereign and such rulers should be obeyed (Ch 4 V 59). It means rulers should not act god by making discriminatory laws which disturb the peace and tranquility of the world which Allah has created and He has established a perfect balance in it (Ch 55 V 8). And the third is that those who participate in the process must do so with knowledge and diligence to facilitate responsible governance. A system which fans popular but unethical and unachievable goals to gain power and goes out in disgrace in four, eight, five or ten years after causing immense hardships to the people only to be replaced by a different batch of thugs is anything but democracy.
A great Islamic scholar Sabahuddin Abdur Rahman was invited by the Pakistani government at the turn of 15 thcentury of Islamic calendar to participate in festivities and advise about the form of Islamic government. He said: In Islam it is not the form of government which matters but what matters is how this government meets the need of its people through honest and peaceful practices (Ma’arif, Darul Musannifeen Azamgarh). This political message of Islam was echoed by George Washington when he said while inaugurating the White House: May God make the best men occupy this house (C Span documentary on history of WH).
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