Rebellion and Civil Disobedience in Islam The Need for a Paradigm ...

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Islamic government has required all the citizens to have identity cards with personalphotographs. Some Muslims believe that photography is prohibited. Many other scholarsbelieve that photography is lawful so long as nothing obscene or unlawful is beingphotographed. Now, the government has a substantiated and plausible interpretation. Notonly this but that requirement appears to be in the best interest of the community as awhole. My inclination 19 is that obeying the government in this issue is mandatory even ifsome Muslims dislike this ruling. On the other hand, assume an Islamic government thattakes a position against organ donation on the basis of the interpretation that body partsbelong to Allah (swt) and it is not up to the individual to denote them. Some Muslimsmay adopt another interpretation based on the analogy between property, which alsobelongs to Allah (swt), and body organs---an analogy which leads to the conditionalpermissibility of organ donation. My inclination is that the government’s opinion is not tobe imposed especially as organ donation is not related to a security issue that concernsthe whole society as the issue of identity cards with photographs. In a similar vein, myinclination is that a Muslim soldier should plead conscientious objection when it comesto a war which he sees as unjust despite being sanctioned by his Islamic government.Refraining from participating in this war is an obligation for those soldiers who, afterdiligent analysis and investigation, view the war as unjust and unjustified. Their decisionshould be unpunishable because it is their religious conscience that should be givendeference. However, if a soldier decides to join the war, he is under obligation to obeythe military plan agreed upon by his superiors, so long as the plan itself is consistent withthe Islamic military principles 20 . If, during the course of war, every soldier operates onthe basis of individual opinion, defeat is inevitable. Put simply: as long as the ruler 21 isfollowing a plausible interpretation or is adopting a respectable school of thought,obedience is due, in regard to some issues, even if some of the citizens dislike the ruler’sdeterminations 22 . Nevertheless, if the ruler decrees a law that obviously contravenes theIslamic Shari‘ah, i.e., it orders something that is definitely prohibited or forbidssomething that is definitely lawful, it is not to be obeyed. The ruler should be admonishedand if he does not recant his position and repent, the sincere Muslim masses should workon ousting him and installing a ruler who acts in accordance with the Shari‘ah.Some scholars surprisingly argue the traditions of obedience specify the general ofthe verses and aHadith of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, meaning that theruler is not subject to these general principles. Moreover, some argue that the ruler’sinjustice is his own problem. If the ruler is unjust, people can still go on with their lives19 I use the word “inclination” not to imply a lack of confidence in this opinion but to highlight that theseissues require the collective effort of many qualified Muslims in order to reach a fair, reasonable, andbalanced opinion.20 A pertinent incidence from the Seerah is when Amr Ibn al-`As ordered his soldiers during the militarycampaign of Zaat al-Salasel not to light any fire despite the intense cold and not to pursue the fugitivesdespite the Muslims’ victory. Notwithstanding their resentment, the soldiers obeyed Amr but reported hisdecisions to the Prophet (saw) who asked Amr for justifications. Regarding the fire issue, Amr said that firewould have revealed their position and hence jeopardized the whole mission. Regarding the fugitives andbooty issue, he said that, despite the victory, Muslims were largely outnumbered and hence if they were tofollow the enemy, their victory would have been turned into a defeat.21 I am using the terms “ruler” and “government” synonymously.22 And that can be the interpretation of the Hadith mentioned at the beginning of this section. Thisinterpretation is consistent with the Quran and the other aHadith.10
so long as they, themselves, adhere to the Shari‘ah. This logic is fundamentally faulty.The ruler is not a mini-god and to say that he is above the obligation of enjoining thegood and forbidding the evil is mere conjecture that goes against many conclusive andself-evident verses and aHadith. Also, it is unreasonable to assume that people can goalong with a tyrant while remaining committed to their religion. If there is an unjust ruler,is it reasonable that the ruler himself will kill his opponents, or usurp the property of thepeople, or imprison and torture those who aspire to truth and justice, or collect the heavytaxes levied on the poor hard-pressed people? The answer is no. To carry out all this evil,which has been rampant all over the Muslim world for centuries, the unjust rulerestablishes a huge hierarchy of morally weak people who are willing to serve him evenagainst all religious and moral values.For example, if the tyrant wants to crush one of his opponents, he will order a highrank official who in turn will command another official of a lower rank and the processgoes on till the instruction reaches the group of policemen who will detain and torture thepoor dissident. What many scholars tend to discount is that the machine of injustice andrepression is a tremendous one with many participants. Injustice, when carried out by agovernment is rarely an individual process. When it starts, even people who are notinherently evil will join because of fear, for their lives and the lives of whom they careabout, if they do otherwise. This is how tyranny always starts. When a tyrant emerges,people think that fighting him will result in chaos and bloodshed. So they choose to bepatient and try to observe the Shari‘ah in their own lives. But then more and more peoplejoin the ranks of the corrupt regime because of fear and/or the normal human desire forpower and immediate worldly gains. Tyranny entrenches its foothold in the society andthe good people decrease in number and grow more powerless and helpless. After awhile, tyranny overtakes everything and devastates everything. It is illogical andpreposterous to call upon people not to obey if they are ordered to transgress and, at thesame time, instruct them to be patient on injustice. If injustice is left alone from thebeginning, it develops its tools of control and power, and people find it impossible not tocomply.The last point in this issue is the Prophetic saying narrated by Hudhifah Ibn al-Yaman that commands Muslims to obey the ruler even if he strikes their backs andusurps their property 23 . This is a version that appears in sahih Muslim. In al-Bukhari andin another version in Muslim, the Prophet (saw) ordered Hudhifah to stick to the jama‘ah.The concept of jama‘ah was previously discussed. In no way, it means following theruler regardless of the substantive quality of his reign. It means seeking and adhering tothe truth as defined by the principles of Islam. In another report, the Prophet (saw)23 Sahih Muslim, “It has been narrated on the authority of Hudhaifa b. al-Yaman who said: Messenger ofAllah, no doubt, we had an evil time (i.e., the days of Jahiliyya or ignorance) and God brought us a goodtime (i.e., Islamic period) through which we are now living Will there be a bad time after this good time?He (the Holy Prophet) said: Yes. I said: Will there be a good time after this bad time? He said: Yes. I said:Will there be a bad time after good time? He said: Yes. I said: How? Whereupon he said: There will beleaders who will not be led by my guidance and who will not adopt my ways. There will be among themmen who will have the hearts of devils in the bodies of human beings. I said: What should I do, Messengerof Allah, if I happen to live in that time? He replied: You will listen to the Amir and carry out his orders;even if your back is flogged and your wealth is snatched, you should listen and obey.”11
Page 1 and 2: Rebellion and Civil Disobedience in
Page 3 and 4: 3) Knowledge of cases of indisputab
Page 5 and 6: Prophet about how honesty can be lo
Page 7 and 8: enactments of Allah (swt). The seco
Page 9: The second point about this Hadith
Page 13 and 14: point is that if revolution compris
Page 15 and 16: 5) There are some scholars among va
Page 17 and 18: the authentic saying of the Prophet
Page 19 and 20: The juristic culture relies on prio
Page 21 and 22: Hajjaj and many rebels were killed.
Page 23 and 24: importance of justice in Islam and
Page 25 and 26: a deep belief and conviction in and
Page 27 and 28: (19:25). As is evident from the ver
Page 29 and 30: 1) Tyranny is the worst of all sins
Page 31 and 32: elievers. Do they seek dignity from

Rebellion and Civil Disobedience in Islam The Need for a Paradigm ...

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