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

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The majority of revolutions aiming at enjoining the good and forbidding the evilfailed because only few people (compared to the whole population) participated in them.Imagine what would have happened if the majority of Muslims had joined al-Hussein’srevolution against Yazid. The balance of power would have shifted in favor of thoseseeking justice. Unfortunately, many Muslims at that time were reluctant to engage in afighting against fellow Muslims. They thought of the whole situation as a fitnah to beavoided. Actually, several companions advised al-Hussein against rebelling againstYazid. Again, it was the imperative of maintaining order and preventing bloodshed thatinduced the majority not to join al-Hussein’s forces in spite of the Quranic verse thatoppression is worse than bloodshed. As a result, he was martyred, many of his followerswere slaughtered, and Yazid remained in the position of power. The problem here shouldbe identified accurately. Revolutions failed, in Islamic history, due to lack of popularsupport and the lack of popular support was due to a variety of reasons. Some peopledefended the unjust Caliph out of blind tribalism or out of fighting for those in powerregardless of whether they were just or not. Some people did not have the bravery anddetermination to defend the truth even if they know it without any ambiguity. Somepeople are only pre-occupied by their day-to-day affairs. Some people argued for theprevention of bloodshed between fellow Muslims in spite of the Quranic injunction tofight those ‘believers’ who transgressed.Civil Disobedience:Rebellion is mainly an act of resisting and defying the political authority. Acts ofrebellion can vary from a mere passive non-compliance with the orders of those in powerto full armed insurrections. Throughout the Muslim history, most revolutions to establishjustice were crushed. In the era of nation states, the problem is exacerbated. Because oneof the major features of modern nation states is the monopolization of power by the state.‘Nine men out of ten detest me. But what is the importance of this if only the tenth isarmed?’ The nation state developed its security apparatuses and its relentless tools ofcontrol and social engineering.This history of failure and the new powers of the state make the contemporaryMuslim jurists believe that there is no hope in challenging the unjust rulers. The missedpoint, as previously discussed, is that establishing justice and fighting injustice areobligations repeatedly emphasized by the Quran and the Sunnah in a clear, definitive, andself-evident language. They constitute an integral part of protecting religion, the mostimportant component of our identity. The temporary, and even repeated, defeat of thetruth before tyranny and falsehood should not push us into accepting injustice andcorruption. This acceptance actually aggravates the problem and this is what the majorityof our history and present is about. The correct approach is to internalize the paramount22
importance of justice in Islam and then to analyze the reasons of failure of revolutions, asin the previous section, rather than accept servility and humiliation 41 .Since, power in modern states is concentrated in the hands of the protectors of thecorrupt system, I propose ‘civil disobedience’ as a plausible first step towards saving theUmmah from the plight of tyranny and injustice. Civil disobedience is a form of passiveyet effective revolution. In the democratic countries, workers resort to civil disobedienceto get what they think is their justifiable right. For example, workers stop working tilltheir demands are responded to or at least till a satisfactory compromise is set betweenthem and the government. No one can deny that a civil disobedience throughout thecountry will result in inevitable harms. But again, a proper balance-of-evils analysis thattakes into account the utmost importance of realizing justice in Islam, will favorwithstanding the harms of civil disobedience till tyranny, which has paralyzed Muslimsfor centuries, is completely eliminated.An effective civil disobedience requires the participation of the vast majority ofpeople. It requires people of both conscience and consciousness. It will be a means ofseizing people’s rights from the unjust regimes while limiting the bloodshed that is anevitable consequence of violent revolutions. The first step of civil disobedience shouldbe convincing people that the time has come to stand up against the ongoing injustice.Tyranny is the source of all degradation of religion, morals, economy, politics, andmanagement. The sad plight of Muslims throughout the World is sufficient to exhort themasses to seek a change. If the corrupt regimes are not willing to give people their rightspeacefully, then there is no other choice but to rebel. Since the people do not have thearms, the least thing to do is to resort to civil disobedience.An obvious example showing the failure of achieving justice in a peaceful manner inthe Muslim World is Algeria. The Islamic Salvation front helped to defuse highlyexplosive human bombs made of clusters of thousands of deprived and trivialized youthwho had been driven into desperation by the system. Through the activities of the IslamicSalvation Front, these young youth had something useful to do for their present, gainedhope for their future, and were convinced of accepting and engaging in a peaceful processof change and reform through the ballot box. But when the ballot boxes were crushed bythe military, when the party was outlawed, when the leaders were sent to prison, andwhen the supporters were banished to desert concentration camps, these young men hadno other choice but to take to the mountains from where they undertook to fight thosewho, cheered by the local secularists and condoned by the West, turned the Algeriandream into a horrible nightmare. You can find plenty of examples here and thereshowing how a peaceful call of reform is always faced with extreme violence. TheMuslim Brothers of Egypt declare, in unequivocal terms, that they apply themselves topeaceful reform. They call for the establishment of an Islamic state but reject the use ofviolence. Yet the Egyptian authorities crack down on them and other Islamic activists. I41 It is surprising that many non-Muslim nations rejected injustice and fought for their rights. Therepercussions of the difference in attitude between those who fought for their rights and those how forfeitedtheir religious obligations are clear-cut.23
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 and 10: The second point about this Hadith
Page 11 and 12: so long as they, themselves, adhere
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: Hajjaj and many rebels were killed.
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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