“Obey those placed in authority above you” (*1)
As a people we tend to hold authority in respect, so much so that we all to often fail to hold it to account.
That we are required to do so can be seen in the first address of Abu Bakr (as), where he emphasised that most civic duty.
For excesses of authority lend to tyranny. (*2)
And in the Quranic narrative these are the Taghut that will inevitably be destined for the lowest reaches of hell. (Read on from the greatest verse in the Quran; Ayatul Kursi, and contemplate the real example of Nebuchanezzar given there). (*3)
This therefore is not a theoretical concept for a lazy day of contemplation, but it should be a very real worry at every corner of our civic lives.
For also within the Quranic narrative oppression is twinned with disbelief and freedom with true belief. (*4)
When we read the Seerah with contemplation we see how the Messenger (saw) was keen not to overstep his remit.
How he consulted before the battle of Uhud on the appropriate course of action.
How he was fully aware that the treaty of Aqaba held that the Medinese were bound to defend him against his enemies, but that an offence; even when that offence was for the defence of their own land and in their own interest; had no remit within that treaty.
And this even with regard to his undisputed religious authority. Then what of others’ authority which rests solely on “the one who best serves the interests of the people”. (*5).
Here is the high bar of checks and balances that permeated all of true Muslim society.
That Abu Bakr (ra) worried about his stipend.
That Umar (ra) eagerly asked Uwais ul Qarni (ra) to make supplication to God for his forgiveness.
That Uthman (ra) did not retaliate against those that raised insurrection amongst us.
That all authority needs to be held in check.
That privacy within our society is of paramount importance, made clear by a saying of the Messenger (saw) carrying the weight of the whole of the religion.
That we believe in the innate goodness of all people, even when they do not profess the Shahadah, and are not overtly Muslim.
That those that police us do not hold unchecked power to snoop and make their case. That therefore policing is or should be confined to the public realm, unless what you do in private impinges on the rights of another, and sure evidence or multiple independent testimony can be brought to bear.
How perfect our society where a single accusation carries no weight.
And freedom is not a token of speech.
How backwards this society where the wheels of justice grind slowly, and even slower for those wrongly accused, who then might often succumb to doubt.
And where you are free to wrong, be watched every step of the way and not prevented, but instead facilitated. (*6)
In the name of doing the right thing, upholding justice and championing the victims, they would steal the rights from the majority and put us all within a country wide prison of state surveillance.
It is fear that dominates their every thought. It is fear that blinds them to the (societal) harm that they cause.
It is fear that cements their racism and bigotry.
But for the Muslim, there is ever hope. And hope ever trumps fear, just as belief ever trumps faithlessness and disunity.
Our society needs to be free from racial bias, and the only society that has proven true to that standard is Muslim society which is grounded both in the Unity of God, and the commensurate unity of Man.
A true system of justice needs to be fair, open to all, un-encumbered by convention, grounded in a set of independent checks and balances, and policed by a force that is above reproach and answerable to the courts and not the executive (government). (*7)
A force that is not free, nor left unchecked.
Working for a people that were born to be free to believe, free from tyranny.
Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation. Not through lectures, nor talks, nor this above.
NOTES TO FOLLOW IN COMMENTS
2 comments:
*1 Surah Nisa v59, where obedience to those in authority is predicated on obedience to God and His Messenger (saw). This statement about the executive occurs only once in the Quran, and is followed with a reference to the Judicial Classes.
We know this because the second line is an addendum that would have been unnecessary at the time of the Messenger (saw), since it is a repetition of the first.
The reason for the repetition is that it indicates the need for our Qadis (system of Islamic judges that judge according to the book and the Sunnah).
Here is the basis for the separation of powers that is put into danger by our conservative government, where the judiciary are to hold the executive in check.
Now examine the prior verse 58.
Simonides said that justice is rendering everyone his due.
Here Allah t’ala in the Quran, informs us that justice is rendering everyone his right.
And within our body of knowledge (a famous Hadith Qudsi in which God says I was hungry and you did not feed me...) we know that the poor/ destitute and powerless also have rights.
This is the foundation stone of a rights based society.
Here just two verses of the Quran lay out the vision of a rights based society that we live in today, where there is separation of powers and where the judiciary’s job is to protect the people from the tyranny of the executive (state).
*2
*3 Nebuchadnezzar was either the name of the King at the time of Ibrahim (as) or the title of the King (like Pharoah). Here were the hanging gardens of Babylon.
And he was very much a tyrant.
After taking about Taghut and that they bring you out from light into darkness, God mentions the story of Ibrahim (as) in clear reference to Nebuchadnezar.
And here tyranny and oppression is linked with ignorance and disbelief.
*4 Search for the verse in Baqara that commands the fight against oppression. This gives a feeling of the strength of the Muslim ideal that freedom naturally becomes belief, whilst oppression becomes disbelief.
With freedom man naturally has the capacity to contemplate the cosmos, and cannot then disbelieve.
This understanding is quite unlike our religious forbears, the Christians, who see oppression as a price they are willing to pay for belief. Epitomised by the idea of self-flagellation being part and parcel of beautification.
Not so in the Quranic narrative.
God wants you to not accept oppression, and asks that you fight tooth and nail against it and for freedom.
*5 A man entered the polity of Medina and not recognising the Messenger of God asked : “Who is your leader?”
Without pause the Messenger (saw) did not say I am. But instead said, “the one who best serves the people.”
*6 The justice of law of recompense will always be too late. The job of state is justice but in another form, to appeal to the best in man and to lay the framework for a moral society. The job of state should not be focussed on law.
As in the famous anecdote of Umar (ra) when someone stole his hat .. he ran after him and shouted you have not stolen that but I have given it to you in charity.
I have written an earlier blog exploring this, here it is ....
*7 Not as in this country where the Police forces are amoral, above the law. And with the recent Conservative Bill they wish to make them even above magisterial scrutiny in regards to Police Bail. An increasing power that they will abuse, even as they abuse their powers to this day.
Here I am not advocating anarchy.
We have been commended to follow in the footsteps of our Messenger (saw) who never betrayed trust and was ever honourable.
And we believe in al-husna, in the ultimacy of goodness, that it does not need to be forced nor helped along. That belief is natural. And that Islam’s greatest gift to humanity is the perfect society.
And that for a Muslim everything is a blessing. Even when harm touches him, he finds the good in it. And ever struggles against oppression and wrong.
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