Since the Peshawar tragedy where more than 130 school children were killed on 16th December 2014, the government has announced stern actions. It has made severe changes in legislation including the amendment to the Army Act while turning a blind eye to the increasing American footprint in the region. Thus, the regime has callously exploited the anger of the public over the tragedy to further the American “war on terror” by bombarding the areas inhabited by mujahedeen fighting in Afghanistan. It is also making laws to curb support enjoyed by Afghan Mujahideen in the past. Not only this, the regime has taken all the steps it can to obstruct the call to Islam and the system of life that emanates from it. It is spreading fear amongst the people through arresting men, and even a woman with a child, without any discrimination.
The government treachery against the Ummah and slavery of US is exposed to all. It is an open secret now. The regime’s silence over Salala and Abbottabad incidents, the Raymond Davis network and its budget made upon the dictates of the IMF is exposed to all. However, the regime is still able to hold its ground. This raises a question: how does a regime manage to maintain its authority, whilst working against the interest of the people and state? How is it that people are aware of the regime’s atrocities and crimes against its own citizens are not able to prevent it or remove it?
Awareness alone does not guarantee a change in society, unless this awareness leads to strong accountability of the regime, such that the people seize the regime with its hand. This is why accountability of the rulers and struggling against them is of foremost importance to the Ummah that is striving for its revival. Revival cannot occur without removing the authority established on the basis of other than Islam.
Rulers in society are supposed to represent the authority which people placed to look after their affairs and safeguard their interests, based on the basic creed that the society has agreed upon. Therefore, it is the people who are the real source of authority. The people grant the ruler authority to manage their affairs and safeguard their interests. Hence, no authority can ever exist if people realize the treachery of the rulers and account them harshly, such that they will remove the invalid regime and bring the rulers that they want for themselves.
The slackness in accountability of the rulers today represents a lack of feeling and sensation in the Ummah that it represents the real source of authority. As for the rulers, it seems they have understood that to safeguard their narrow personal interests, they need appreciation of the West and that is why the authority and legitimacy they look for is not from the Ummah but the foreign powers. Hence, the revival of the Ummah is not possible until the Ummah resumes the responsibility of accounting the ruler. Only then will it move naturally to remove them from the authority. Only then will it revive on the basis of practically implementing Islam.
Revival demands addressing the relationship between the regime and the people. This is political work. Only a party that is political in its nature can revive the society. The work of political parties and political leaders is not to turn deaf and dumb upon the action of the rulers and let them usurp the right of the Ummah. It is incumbent upon them to account the rulers fiercely and repeatedly, bruising the regime’s ribs and stripping it of reverence, such that people are able to sense the corruption of the regime and the need for changing it. This is the work of the political party and the leadership, which is to challenge the thoughts, actions and conducts of the rulers, related to the governing the affairs of the Ummah, including the relationships with other states.
The political party must clearly account the rulers and not remain silent upon their evil, if the party were to preserve its status as a political party. Its political actions expose the regime and its opinions become embraced by the society which it aims at changing, such that they become the prevalent opinions in society. Keeping silent upon the crimes of the rulers would be a gross neglect of this duty. Allah سبحانه وتعالى said,
وَاتَّقُواْ فِتْنَةً لاَّ تُصِيبَنَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ مِنكُمْ خَآصَّةً وَاعْلَمُواْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ
“And fear the Fitnah (affliction and trial) which affects not only those of you who do wrong, and know that Allah is severe in punishment.”
Imam Ahmad recorded that Jareer (ra) said that the Messenger of Allah said,
«مَا مِنْ قَوْمٍ يُعْمَلُ فِيهِمْ بِالْمَعَاصِي هُمْ أَعَزُّ وَأَكْثَرُمِمَّنْ يَعْمَلُونَ ثُمَّ لَمْ يُغَيِّرُوهُ إِلَّا عَمَّهُمُ اللهُ بِعِقَاب»
“There is no people among whom sins are openly committed, while they are mightier and more numerous than those who commit these sins, and they do nothing to stop them, except that Allah encompasses them all with punishment.”
Islam has made accounting the rulers Fard upon the Muslims and has commanded them to account them with the word of truth. Narrated by Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi and ibn Maja that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
«أَفْضَلُ الْجِهَادِ كَلِمَةُ عَدْلٍ عِنْدَ سُلْطَانٍ جَائِر»
‘The best Jihad is the word of Justice in front of the oppressive ruler’
and
عرض لرسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم رجل عند الجمرة الأولى، فقال: يارسول الله! أي الجهاد أفضل؟ فسكت عنه فلما رمى الجمرة الثانية سأله ؟ فسكت عنه ، فلما رمى جمرة العقبة، وضع رجله في الغرز ليركب، قال: أين السائل؟ قال: أنا يارسول الله. «قال كلمة حق عند ذي سلطان جائر»
Abi Umaamah said at Al-Jamratu-l-Uolaa (the first throwing) the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم was asked: ‘O Messenger of Allah which Jihaad is best? He remained silent and then when he had thrown the second stone he asked him again but was silent again. Then when he had thrown the last stone and had placed his foot in the stirrup to ride away he said, ‘Where is the questioner?’ So he said, “I am here O Messenger of Allah’. He صلى الله عليه وسلم said, ‘the word of truth that is said to (or in the presence of) the Sultaan Al-Jaa’ir (the oppressive ruler).”
It was also reported by Ibn Hibban that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said,
«سَيَكُونُ مِنْ بَعْدِي خُلَفَاءُ ، يَعْمَلُونَ بِمَا يَعْلَمُونَ ، وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ ، وَسَيَكُونُ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ خُلَفَاءُ ، يَعْمَلُونَ مَا لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ ، وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا لاَ يُؤْمَرُونَ ، فَمَنْ أَنْكَرَ بَرِئَ ، وَمَنْ أَمْسَكَ سَلِمَ ، وَلَكِنْ مَنْ رَضِيَ وَتَابَع»
“There will be after me Khulafaa who act according to what they know (from Islam) and do what they were ordered and there will be after them Khulafaa who will act according to what they do not know and do what they were not ordered (with), so whoever rejects them is innocent from them, and whoever holds themselves (from following them) is safe, but the one who is pleased with them and follows them (is blameworthy).
The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم exhorted struggling against the oppressive rulers no matter what the consequences, in terms of harm, even if it led to being killed. He صلى الله عليه وسلم said,
«سَيِّدُ الشُّهَدَاءِ حَمْزَةُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْمُطَّلِبِ وَرَجُلٌ قَامَ إِلَى إِمَامٍ جَائِرٍ فَأَمَرَهُ وَنَهَاهُ فَقَتَلَهُ»
“The master of martyrs is Hamza Ibn Abu Mutallab and any man who stood up to an oppressive ruler accounting him and was killed because of that” (Hakim).
This is from the most clear of expressions in respect to exhorting the Muslim to bear harm and even to accept death in the path of accounting the rulers and struggling against the oppressive rulers. A person may take the concession (rukhsa) in such cases where harm will result but the path of virtue and excellence, for which every Muslim should strive, is to bear the harm in doing the right thing for the sake of Allah.
That is why we see the best of our generation the Sahaba, Tabieen and Taba Tabieen were ready to account the rulers harshly, whatever consequence it may bear for them. At the time of Khilafah of Hazrat Umar (ra), his rule over the vast expanse of land did not stop a Muslim from raising his sword in front of Umar (ra) when Umar (ra) inquired as to who will stop Umar if he deviates from the rule of Allah. This was the level of awareness in the Ummah regarding its fard of accounting the ruler when they deviate from the path of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. The same can be witnessed at the time of the Tabieen. When Khalifah Abdul Malik decided to take Bayah for his sons in his life time; he asked his Walis to take bayah from the people for them. Saeed Ibn Musayb, one of the best amongst the Tabieen, was then asked by Hashim, the Wali of Madina, to give Bayah to the sons of Khalifah Abdul Malik. Saeed Ibn Musayb responded saying, “I cannot give a second bayah in the life of Abdul Malik”. On this he was hit by lashes by Hashim and later sent to prison. In prison, Abu Bakr bin Abdul Rahman visited him and he wrote to Hashim saying, “Hold your hands, with your action (beating) he has become even tougher than before”. This was the firmness of our predecessors against the rulers who tried to transgress from the rule of Allah SWT in a single issue, even though they implemented Islam on society and carried the duty of Jihad as ordered by Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
Such is the foremost responsibility of accounting the ruler, no matter what might occur of harm. However, many leaders today not only remain silent, they submit and surrender to every transgression of the regime. They are forgetting the words of Abu Bakr (ra) when he said “O people, you read this verse of the Book of Allah and you apply it in a way Allah did not intend it,
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا عَلَيْكُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ لاَ يَضُرُّكُمْ مَنْ ضَلَّ إِذَا اهْتَدَيْتُمْ إِلَى اللَّهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَمِيعًا فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
“O you who believe, take care of your selves. If you follow the right guidance no harm can come to you from those who are in error”
(5:105)
I heard the Messenger of Allah say if some amongst a people act upon sins or without right, and the people do not change it, then they are close to Allah covering them all with punishment”. Also Imam al-Siddiqi al-Shafi said that the one who infringes the prohibitions is destroyed by his sin, and the one who remains silent on them is destroyed due to his contentment.
Thus, it is imperative upon the political parties and leaders who sincerely seek revival and to restore the glory of the Ummah to adopt the interest of the Ummah and expose the plans of the Kuffar. They must raise the voice of Haq against the tyrants of today. By their brave and bold example, they must motivate and lead the Ummah in its struggle against the colonialists and their agents serving as rulers in the Muslim World. Else, they will rightly become regarded by the Ummah as the dumb shaitan, as defined by Imam Ibn Qayyim who said,
“The Shaitan has misled most people by beautifying for them the performance of certain voluntary acts of worship such as voluntary prayers and voluntary fasting while neglecting other obligatory acts of worship such as enjoining the good and eradicating the evil, to the extent that they do not even make the intention of performing them…For the essence of our Deen is to perform what Allah سبحانه وتعالى ordered us to do. The one who does not perform his obligations is actually worse than the one who performs sins. Anyone having some knowledge about the revelation of Allah, the guidance of the Prophet and the life of the companions would see that those who are pointed at today as the most pious people are in fact the least pious…Indeed, what Deen and what good is there in a person who witnesses the sanctities of Allah سبحانه وتعالى being violated, His Hudood not applied, His religion abandoned, the Sunnah of His Messenger shunned, and yet remains still with a cold heart and a silent tongue – a dumb shaitan…”.
Written for the central media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Engineer Saham, Pakistan