WAR AS AN INSTRUMENT TO ACQUIRE POWER
The Quran lays down:
Fight them until there is no more [religious] persecution,
and religion belongs wholly to God: if they desist,
then surely God is watchful of what they do.
THE QURAN 8: 39
THIS verse has two parts. The same point is made, first in the form of a negation, and then as an affirmation. The verse indicates that persecution or fitna should be put an end to in such a way that an environment entirely free of persecution is established. The persecution that this verse mentions relates to compulsion in religious matters, which, in ancient times, prevailed all over the world.
At that time, monarchy was the norm almost everywhere. The two fundamental bases of power were political position and ownership of land. Generally, both rested in the hands of the monarch. In this way, almost the whole sphere of human life was practically under the monarch’s control. People were even compelled to follow the same religion of their rulers.
Communities which have discovered the power of modern institutions have been able to achieve impressive success despite not possessing political power.
This sort of coercion was opposed to the scheme of Nature devised by God. Under this coercive system, people could not do anything at all without the monarch’s consent. Ordinary people simply had no freedom whatsoever. The situation was akin to Communist rule under the Soviet Union.
God wanted this unnatural system of political coercion to end and for the whole of human life to run according to the natural conditions that He has devised. He wanted people to be free of political coercion. In the early Islamic period, the overthrow of monarchical despotism and its replacement by the Caliphate was the beginning of this process.
This Caliphal system was first established in Arabia. At that time, there were two big empires in the region — the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanian Empire. The establishment of the Caliphate and the ending of monarchical despotism in Arabia was a major challenge to these two powers. Hence, they wanted to destroy it. As a result, the companions of the Prophet had to face stiff opposition from these quarters. With God’s assistance, they were victorious, and the coercive system of absolute imperialism was ended.
Ending a system of coercion that was several thousand years old and replacing it with a system based on freedom was a very revolutionary development. This development unfolded over a period of time. With God’s help, Islam, in the seventh century A.D., broke this ancient system of coercive rule. Thereafter, this transformation assumed the form of a process that began to unfold through human history. Belgian historian, Henri Pirenne has acknowledged this historical fact with these words, “Islam changed the face of the globe. The traditional order of history was overthrown.”
Islam then went through various ups and downs and reached its climax in the 20th century, when political power became very limited, remaining essentially in the form of administration. And so, today the influence of political institutions on human religious life is minimal. In almost all spheres of life, people are now free of political interference and can manage these spheres as they like. This enormous change in the system of human life is in favour of Islam. As with other people, it is now possible for the followers of Islam to mould and lead their lives, free of coercion or interference.
The shift of the focus of influence from politics to institutions has rendered political power into nothing but a political headache.
Today, we live in an age where institutions now enjoy the influence that political power and monarchs once did. Like other people, the followers of Islam too, can establish all sorts of institutions to progress in all spheres of life. In this way, they can progress even in the political sphere. Through institutions, they can establish their influence in a manner that was earlier possible only through the possession of political power. By setting up educational institutions, they can educate and train the next generation. Through media houses, they can help shape the intellectual climate of society. Through books and scholarship, they can spread their views. Through research institutions, they can promote new thinking. By setting up industries, they can improve their economic conditions. Using modern means of communications, they can link up with others. Through NGOs they can organize their religious and cultural affairs in a more effective way. And so on.
In the modern age, the communities that have discovered this reality — of the power of modern institutions — have been able to achieve impressive success despite not possessing political power. Some of them have set up their own educational empires. Others have established industrial empires or publishing empires or media empires. The latest example of such a non-political empire is the information technology empire, which has enabled those who run it to exercise an enormous control over peoples’ lives at the global level.
In almost all spheres of life, people are now free of political interference and can manage them as they like.
The shift of the focus of influence from politics to institutions has rendered political power into nothing but a political headache. And so, it is not necessary now, nor even desirable, for the followers of Islam to wage war for the sake of capturing political power. Irrespective of who wields political power, the followers of Islam can now, under all conditions, establish non-political institutions and thereby access all the desirable benefits.
This does not mean that the followers of Islam must totally ignore politics. It simply means that while accessing the benefits that accrue from institutions and organizations, they can take to the path of peaceful political work in a limited arena. They must abstain completely from political agitation, however, and, instead, pursue their political journey calmly, within the possible limits. It may be then, that God will give them the opportunity of entering into institutions of political significance.