POLITICAL INSURRECTION UNLAWFUL
No Confrontation
AFTER the period of the pious Caliphate, corruption set in amongst the Muslim rulers. However, the religious scholars did not rise in revolt against the rulers, scrupulously avoiding any confrontation. They continued to expend their efforts in non-political fields. This was not simply a matter of chance but the adoption of a policy based on the clear injunctions of the Shariah.
Books of Hadith record the teachings of the Prophet in detail, in this regard. The Prophet had clearly foretold that in later times all kinds of rot would set in amongst the rulers. They would become tyrants and unjust, but even then his guidance to the people was never take up arms against the rulers. Instead the Prophet advised that when the believers found themselves being ruled by such tyrants, they should take to the mountains with their ‘camels and goats’, instead of launching campaigns against them.
‘Camels and goats’, signify those opportunities which existed in nonpolitical fields, and which will always exist irrespective of the corruption of the rulers. The Prophet’s injunction meant that at such times, the believers have to peacefully exploit the existing opportunities in nonpolitical fields by avoiding any confrontation in the political field. These injunctions of the Prophet were so clear that the religious scholars formed a consensus that, staging an insurrection against the rulers was unlawful, and therefore to be totally avoided in all circumstances.
In the commentary of Sahih Muslim, Imam an Nawawi, commenting on the traditions in the chapter ‘Al-Imarah writes: “Do not adopt the way of confrontation with the rulers in the matter of their power. If you find them going against Islam, you should try to make the truth clear to them by sincere counseling. So far as launching campaigns and taking up arms against them to oust them from positions of power is concerned, that is unlawful by the consensus of Muslims, even if the ruler is evil and a tyrant (Sahih Muslim).
This injunction of the Prophet of Islam, as made clear above, was based on extremely important considerations. The truth is that in the first phase (and in later phases as well) a large number of academic, dawah and reform works outside the political field, had to be performed.
Without this, the very history of Islam would have remained incomplete, for if the religious scholars had engaged themselves in confrontation with the political institutions, all these constructive activities could never have been carried out. Therefore, the Prophet of Islam gave express commands to avoid political confrontation with the rulers at any pretext. This avoidance served as a guarantee that all the constructive activities outside the field of politics would continue uninterrupted.
The Prophet of Islam gave express commands to avoid political confrontation with the rulers at any pretext. This avoidance served as a guarantee that all the constructive activities outside the field of politics would continue uninterrupted.
In every society, two parallel systems exist side by side—one political and the other non-political. The latter governs a variety of institutions, which function independently of politics. According to the scheme of Islam, the non-political system established at the social level has to be always kept stable; all believers are expected to do their utmost to ensure that despite changes, rot or corruption in the political set-up, Islam should be firmly established on a non-political basis.
Extracting the spiritual content
from material things will give you
the spiritual food to enable you
to develop yourself as a spiritual
person. If your earnest desire is to
live your life as a spiritual person,
you must learn the art of such
extraction.