Allah سبحانه وتعالى said:

كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ

“You are the best Ummah to have been raised up for mankind, you command the Ma’roof and you forbid the Munkar”

(Aali ‘Imraan 110)

And He سبحانه وتعالى said:

وَلْتَكُنْ مِنْكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

“Let there be from you an Ummah calling to the Khair and commanding the Ma’roof and forbidding the Munkar and they are those who are the successful ones”

(Aali ‘Imraan 104)

Allah سبحانه وتعالى has requested the commanding of Ma’roof and the forbidding of the Munkar in these two Aayaat in addition to many others in the Qur’aan Al-Kareem. The request (Talab) has been connected by the indicator (by a Qareenah) that indicates decisiveness (Al-Jazm). This is the praise and commendation attached to those who undertake the commanding of the Ma’roof and forbidding of the Munkar. This is when He سبحانه وتعالى said:

كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ

“You are the best Ummah to have been raised up for mankind”

(Aali ‘Imraan 110)

And the saying of The Almighty,

وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

“And they are those who are the successful ones”

(al-Baqara: 5)

And it is also due to what was related by At-Tirmidhi from Hudhaifah (ra) who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

«وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَتَأْمُرُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَلَتَنْهَوُنَّ عَنْ الْمُنْكَرِ أَوْ لَيُوشِكَنَّ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَبْعَثَ عَلَيْكُمْ عِقَابًا مِنْهُ ثُمَّ تَدْعُونَهُ فَلَا يُسْتَجَابُ لَكُمْ»

“By Him in whose hand is my soul, you must command the Maroof and you must forbid the Munkar or Allah will be about to send a punishment from Him upon you. Then you will make Du’aa (supplicate) to him but you will not be responded to”.

Al-Baihaqi, At-Tabaraani and Ibn Hibbaan related from Abu Hurairah (ra) that he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«سَيَكُونُ بَعْدِي خُلَفَاءُ يَعْمَلُونَ بِمَا يَعْلَمُونَ، وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ ثُمَّ يَكُونُ مِنْ بَعْدِ خُلَفَاءُ يَعْمَلُونَ بِمَا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ، وَيفْعَلُونَ مَا لَا يُؤْمَرُونَ فَمَنْ أَنْكَرَ عَلَيْهِمْ فَقَدْ بَرِئَ، وَلَكِن مَنْ رَضِيَ وَتَابَعَ«

“There will be after me Khulafaa’ who will act by that which they know and do as they are commanded. And there will be after that Khulafaa’ who will act by what they don’t know and do that which they have not been commanded. So whoever refuses to acknowledge that from them then he will have freed himself (from sin) however whoever is content and follows (will not be free)”.

In the Musnad of Abu Ya’laa it has come with the wording:

«سَيَكُونُ بَعْدِي خُلَفَاءُ يَعْمَلُونَ بِمَا يَعْلَمُونَ، وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ، وَسَيَكُونُ بَعْدِي خُلَفَاءُ يَعْمَلُونَ بِمَا لا يَعْلَمُونَ، وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا لا يُؤْمَرُونَ، فَمَنْ أَنْكَرَ عَلَيْهِمْ بَرِئٌ، وَمَنْ أَمْسَكَ يَدَهُ سَلِمَ، وَلَكِنْ مَنْ رَضِيَ وَتَابَعَ»

“There will be after me Khulafaa’ who will act by that which they know and do as they are commanded. And there will be after me Khulafaa’ who will act by what they don’t know and do that which they have not been commanded. So whoever refuses to acknowledge that from them then he will have freed himself (from sin) and whoever withholds his hand will be safe however whoever is content and follows (will not be free)” (In the wording of Al-Baihaqi it states ‘after them’ in the place of ‘after me’ in the second line which is more Saheeh).

Similar to this was also related from At-Tabaraani except he used the wording ‘Umaraa’ (Ameers/leaders) instead of Khulafaa’ whilst the meaning of both terms is one and the same.

There is also that which Al-Imaam At-Tirmidhi related with a sound Isnaad from Ka’b Ibn ‘Ujrah who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out to them whilst we were nine (in number) and he said:

»اسمعوا! هل سمعتم؟! إنه سيكون بعدي أمراء فمن دخل عليهم فصدقهم بكذبهم، وأعانهم على ظلمهم، فليس مني، ولست منه، وليس بوارد عليَّ الحوض، ومن لم يدخل عليهم، ولم يعنهم على ظلمهم، ولم يصدقهم بكذبهم، فهو مني، وأنا منه، وهو وارد عليَّ الحوض»

“Hear! Have you heard! Verily there will be after me leaders so whoever joins them and affirms them in their lies and assists them in their oppression he is not from me and I am not from him and he will not approach my Hawd (basin in Jannah). And whoever does not join them, and does not assist them in their oppression and does not affirm them in their lies, he is from me and I am from him, and he will approach my Hawd”.

Through these evidences and others which are abundant in the sources of legislation the obligation (Fareedah) to account the rulers upon their actions and their conduct is made clear. The command to effect change in respect to them has come in a decisive manner if the rulers were to transgress the rights or fall short in the obligations toward the subjects or neglect an affair from the affairs. This is specifically the case if they were to contravene and go against the Ahkaam of Islaam or rule by other than what Allah سبحانه وتعالى revealed. This is all plain and clear within the Noble Aayaat and Ahaadeeth and within the reality of the life of the Muslims throughout the ages.

The Ahaadeeth Ash-Shareefah in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ has urged making a denouncement upon the rulers specifically include when he said:

»ستكون أمراء فتعرفون وتنكرون، فمن عرف برئ، ومن أنكر سلم، ولكن من رضي وتابع«

“There will be leaders, you will recognise and you will deny (what they do). So whoever recognises will be innocent and whoever denies will be safe. However the one who is pleased (or content) and follows…”

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ has therefore commanded denouncing the rulers and made this denouncement obligatory with any style from amongst the styles of reprimanding and reproach and with sharpness in speech and harshness.

This is whilst it considers the one who does not denounce the ruler as a partner to them in respect to sin. Making those who do not account the rulers partners to them in sin is a Qareenah (connected implication) indicating the obligation (Wujoob) of accounting the rulers and applying pressure upon them whilst not being negligent in respect to that.

As for the manifestations in the reality of the life of the Muslims throughout different ages then these are numerous and are nearly too many to be counted.

So it has been established that the Muslims had objections in respect to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in matters related to his capacity as the head of State and not in his capacity as a Messenger in a number of instances. So in the Battle of the Trench (Al-Khandaq) Sa’d Ibn Mu’aadh and Sa’d Ibn ‘Ubadah (rah) rejected the agreement of the Messenger ﷺ to give Ghatafaan a third of the crop yield of Al-Madinah. On this occasion Sa’d Ibn Mu’aadh said: ‘By Allah we will not give them anything but the sword’ and so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: «أنت وذاك»  ‘You and that’ (i.e. this is your right to say) and then he ﷺ acted in accordance to their opinion.

And in Al-Hudaibiah ‘Umar (ra) and a number of the Sahaabah (rah) objected to the Messenger of Allah’s ﷺ agreement to the treaty and said: ‘On what (basis) do we give the Dunyaa in respect to our Deen?’

Similarly the ‘Ulamaa (scholars) of the Muslims and the general masses accounted the Khulafaa’ Ar-Rashidun, the Khulafaa’ of Bani Umayyah and the Khulafaa’ of Bani Al-‘Abbaas.

So you have the example of ‘Umar (ra) preventing Abu Bakr from selling clothing until he had finished dealing with the affairs of the people.

And there is Bilal who accounted ‘Umar in respect to the land of ‘As-Sawad’ until ‘Umar said: ‘O Allah, make Bilal suffice me and his companionship’.

This is whilst delegations would come from the various regions to account ‘Uthman (ra).

The four Abdullahs accounted Mu’aawiyah severely in respect to his taking the Bai’ah for Yazeed during his lifetime.

Sufyaan Ath-Thawri accounted Al-Mansoor with the words: ‘Fear Allah for the land has become filled with oppression and injustice’ causing Al-Mansoor to lower his head.

Ahmad bin Hanbal accounted Al-Ma’moon in relation to what he said in terms of the creation of the Qur’aan.

Indeed there are many examples which have come in the histories of men and some of these were collated by the Eminent Scholar ‘Abdul-‘Azeez Al-Badriy (Rahimuhullah) in his book: ‘Al-Islaam between the ‘Ulamaa (scholars) and the rulers’.

This accounting has had a great impact and effect upon the life of the Muslims throughout the ages in spite of the repression of some of the Khulafaa’ and the dominance of other rulers and in these times the accounting stood out in the best of its forms at the time when it was most needed.

Indeed, how great is the need for us in this current day of ours to account our rulers who rule and govern by other than what Allah سبحانه وتعالى has revealed, to stand in opposition to them, prevent them from conspiring against the Muslims, to stand against their oppression and to take a firm hold of them whatever that costs us in terms of sacrifices in the way of Allah سبحانه وتعالى,

In the Hadeeth of ‘Ubadah Bin As-Samit (ra) it was mentioned that he said:

«إنا بايعنا رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم، على السمع والطاعة في النشاط والكسل، والنفقة في العسر واليسر، وعلى الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر، وعلى أن نقول في الله: لا تأخذنا فيه لومة لائم»

“Verily we gave the Bai’ah to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ upon hearing and obeying in activeness and laziness, and to spend in hardship and ease, and to order the Ma’roof and forbid the Munkar, and that we would say for Allah’s sake (the truth) without being influenced by the blame of the blamer when doing that…”.

This is as extracted by the two Sheikhs, Ahmad and other from the Hadeeth of ‘Ubadah in which there was some additions of variations which included most importantly the matter of ‘Al-Kufr ul-Bawaah’ (Clear manifest Kufr) when he related as part of the Hadeeth:

«وأن لا ننازع الأمر أهله، إلا أن تروا كفراً بواحاً عندكم فيه من الله برهان»

“And that we will not dispute the authority of its people unless we see Kufr Bawaah (manifest disbelief) in which you have from Allah a Burhaan (clear evidence)”.

Abu Dharr (ra) related that his Khalil (the Messenger) ﷺ advised (or exhorted him) with a branch or element of goodness:

«وصاني أن لا أخاف في الله لومة لائم، وأوصاني أن أقول الحق، وإن كان مراً»

“He advised me to not fear in the way of Allah the blame or the blamer (i.e. scorn) and he advised me to say the Haqq (truth) and even if the truth is bitter”. (i.e. hard for others to swallow).

This is whilst Jareer Ibn Abdullah (ra) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying:

«ما من رجل يكون في قوم يعمل فيهم بالمعاصي يقدرون على أن يغيروا عليه، ولا يغيرون، إلا أصابهم الله منه بعقاب قبل أن يموتوا»

“There is no man who is amongst a people in which acts of disobedience are committed whilst they are capable of changing that, whilst they do not (work to) change (that), except that Allah will afflict them with a punishment from him before they die”.

And here we will mention the Hadeeth of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:

«سيد الشهداء حمزة بن عبد المطلب، ورجل قام إلى إمام جائر فأمره ونهاه فقتله»

“The master of martyrs is Hamzah Ibn Abdul Mutallib and a man who stands before the unjust Imaam and then commands him and forbids him and then he (the Imaam) kills him (for that)”

This includes the textual implication in respect to the importance of accounting the ruler and its great merit and even if the matter requires that the Muslim sacrifices his life in the way of Allah in order to remove the injustice or oppression and realise the Haqq (truth).

It is to this act of Khair (good) that Hizb ut Tahrir invites you so that you work along with us in the obedience of Allah and in seeking His pleasure whilst not fearing in Allah’s way the blame or reproach of the blamer. This is because if we were not to do this then the evil will become widespread and the corruption will dominate over the earth whilst the Khair (goodness) disappears from amongst the people and we fall into anger of Allah Ta’Aalaa.

By: Yousuf Salaamah

Written for Ar-Rayah Newspaper – Issue 21