Enforcement of Islam Through Muslims- a look into Ghamdi’s views

We have already seen in the article  http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/08/allahs-sunnah-and-allahs-amr-we-have_4.html that there is a difference between ‘amr e Ilahi’ and ‘Sunnat e Ilahi’. Amr e Ilahi are Allah’s such deeds which are performed by Allah without involving human beings; whereas ‘Sunnat e Ilahi’ are Allah’s such deeds which are performed by Allah through human beings. We have also seen in the article http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/12/muslim-ummah-and-methodology-of-rising.html that Islam never gets downfall. Islam is always on the rise; Islamic systems/principles always dominate against non-Islamic principles/ systems in the world. When Muslims are on the rise, Islamic systems are adopted by them, and Islamic systems dominate against non-Islamic systems through the Muslims. When Muslims experience downfall, and non-Muslims are on the rise, Islamic principles and systems are adopted by the non-Muslims (of course partially), and Islamic systems dominate against non-Islamic systems through the non-Muslims. In this way Islam/Islamic systems/principles always remain on the rise. The dominance of Islamic systems against non-Islamic systems is ensured by Allah through Muslims and non-Muslims alternatively. (for details pls see http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/11/secret-of-rise-and-fall-of-muslim-millat.html); this is Allah’s Sunnah through which dominance of Islamic systems against non-Islamic systems is alternated through  Muslims and non-Muslims; this alternation is based on the deeds of the respective Muslims and the non-Muslims.

 The primary choice of Allah is the Muslims through whom He desires to dominate Islam against other religions. But if the Muslims do not come forth for the cause of Allah, He gets the job done through the non-Muslims.  Quran says: “O you who have believed, what is [the matter] with you that, when you are told to go forth in the cause of Allah , you adhere heavily to the earth? Are you satisfied with the life of this world rather than the Hereafter? But what is the enjoyment of worldly life compared to the Hereafter except a [very] little. If you (Muslims) do not go forth, He will punish you with a painful punishment and will replace you with another people, and you will not harm Him at all. And Allah is over all things competent (tawbah- 38-39).  This verse clearly states that if Muslims do not go forth for the cause of Allah, they would be replaced by another people. The point is if Muslims do not come up to Allah’s expectation, who would be the other people to do the job?; the answer is very obvious; the other people would be no other than the non-Muslim people.

But it must be appreciated that domination of Islam/ Islamic systems (politico-economic-social)  against other non-Islamic systems is something different from enforcement of Islam over the other systems/religions. Domination of Islamic systems means Islamic systems (politico-economic-social) are considered superior as against the non-Islamic systems; there is no elimination of non-Islamic system in this case. In case of domination of Islamic system, non-Islamic system may continue but would be considered as inferior to Islamic system. But in case of enforcement of Islamic system, non-Islamic systems are eliminated as systems to the extent such non-Islamic systems (politico-economic-social) are contradictory to the Islamic systems (though non-Islamic religion may survive as different religion); for detail plz see http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/01/enforcement-of-islam-vs-propagation-of_15.html ) ;  Domination or superiority of Islamic systems is alternated through Muslims and non-Muslims. But, as far as enforcement of Islam is concerned, Islam is to be enforced over other systems in the world through Muslims only. However, domination of Islam against other systems as well as enforcement of Islam over other systems, both are Allah’s Sunnah. The enforcement of Islam over other systems, through Muslims only, has been predicted in the Quran as follows:

“He it is Who hath sent His messenger with the guidance and the Deen al Haque/Religion of Truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all systems, however much the ‘mushrakeen’ may be averse” (al-taubah-33).

The words ‘to prevail over all religions/systems mean only Islam would be in apparent position, and no other system would be apparent. It implies enforcement of Islam over other systems. This verse states about enforcement of Islamic systems over non-Islamic systems through the Muslims. This verse clearly states that Allah has taken it on Himself that He will enforce Islam (Deen al Haque) over all non-Islamic systems; this is what is  Allah’s Sunnah. For the purpose, Allah has sent His ‘Rasool’ with the ‘Guidance’. The word ‘guidance’ has been used separately from the words ‘Deen al Haque’; it means ‘guidance’ mentioned in this verse is something different from the ‘Deen al Haque’. Actually the guidance mentioned in this verse is regarding how to implement Islam. Such methodology of implementation of Islam may include structures of administrative,  military, financial, judicial and political systems e.g. process of appointment of officials, judges and Shura, military maneuverings; devising battle plans; establishment of number of administrative units; delegation of powers; level of autonomy of administrative units; channel of reporting and accountability; similarly counseling and advices made to companions etc. Though such methodology is our Nabi’s ﷺ Sunnah-  it was revealed to our Nabi ﷺ, in its form, and it was based on principles contained in Islam- such  methodology/ guidance is supposed to be different in various situations because such different methodology in various situations is shown in  our Nabi’s ﷺ  Sunnah itself.  We need to be careful in declaring our Nabi’s ﷺ Sunnah as situation specific; situation specific Sunnah is only that which is shown as situation specific through our Nabi’s ﷺ Sunnah. If our Nabi (s.a.w.w) has acted in contradictory manner in two different situations, pertaining to same subject-matter, only such Sunnah would be declared as situation specific. No Sunnah should be declared as situation specific on the basis of whims only, and without basing on principles exacted from the Sunnah and Quran (as Mr. Ghamdi is doing). Such methodology-which is situation specific Sunnah- may be adopted in various manners by the Muslims after our Nabi ﷺ.

From the words ‘ sent His rasool’ used in verse stated above (al-taubah-33), it does not mean that responsibility of enforcing Islam  over other systems was restricted to our Nabi ﷺ only; primarily this responsibility has been shouldered by Allah Himself. As this responsibility is Allah’s Sunnah, Allah gets His responsibility disposed of through various people in various periods of time, on the basis of deeds of people. A part of Allah’s responsibility was disposed of through our Nabi ﷺ; whereas the remaining parts of this responsibility were supposed to be disposed of through Muslim Ummah after our Nabi ﷺ.

We have seen in the article http://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/11/rebuttal-of-qadyani-concept-of-imamate.html that a prophet, as a prophet, receives wahi from Allah and communicates it to the people. If a prophet happens to be an Imam as well (an Imam is who has followers), he not only receives wahi but also implements/enforces it among his followers. This role of our Nabi ﷺ through which he ﷺ implemented/enforced Islam among his followers by a methodology, as explained above, is also to be followed by Muslim Ummah through their Imam/leader; but, of course,  methodology may be different and in line with requirements of the time. According to Quran “The Messenger of Allah is certainly a good example for those of you who have hope in Allah and in the Day of Judgment and who remember God very often” (al-ahzaab-21). This verse advises that roles performed by our Nabi ﷺ are a good example of conduct for the Muslims; out of all roles performed by our Nabi ﷺ, only one role (i.e. role of receiving and communicating wahi as a Rasool and Nabi ﷺ) has been discontinued; all other roles including implementer/enforcer of Islam, are to be followed by the Muslims. Similarly Quran says:  “Say, [ Muhammad ﷺ], "If you should love Allah , then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful” (al-Imran-31). This verse also commands the people to follow our Nabi ﷺ; it means people are advised to follow all the roles performed by our Nabi ﷺ, except the role which has been discontinued for ever (i.e.  role of receiving and communicating wahi as a ‘rasool’ and ‘nabi' ).

 Ghamdi says that role of our Nabi ﷺ to implement/enforce Islam in Arab Peninsula, through aggressive jihad, is not to be followed by the Muslims in the world at large; such a approach is clearly repugnant to commandments contained in the Quran; the fallacy of such a view is obvious due to  following reasons:

 Al-taubah-33, stated above, clearly states about enforcement of Islam over all other religions/systems; Mr. Ghamdi says it means enforcement of Islam over all religions of Arabia only. But the verse does not contain word ‘Arabia’; Ghamdi says he has adduced this connotation on the basis of context of the verse. But when we look into context of the verse, the fallacy of Ghamdi’s view becomes obvious because the context of this verse does not refer to Arabia only. If we take 13 verses (from 25-37) preceding and succeeding the verse 33- the reason of taking 13 verses is these 13 verses constitute two complete ‘raku’- we find that only 4 verses (25,26, 27 and 37) state about conditions of Arabia; whereas the remaining 9 verses state such conditions and commandments which are generally applicable to all non-believers, sinners, and Muslims living not only in Arabia but also living outside Arabia. Some of these general verses are given below for instances: 

“O you who have believed, indeed the polytheists are unclean, so let them not approach al-Masjid al-haram after this, their [final] year. And if you fear privation, Allah will enrich you from His bounty if He wills. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Wise” (28-al-taubah).

This verse clearly forbids all polytheists from entering Masjid al-haram; this injunction is not applicable to polytheists of Arabia only; rather it is applicable to all polytheists of whole world. In other words, this verse is not only about Arabia but also about the world beyond.  Similarly, verse 29 states:

“Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled (29-al-taubah).

This verse commands Muslims to fight all non-believers until they give ‘jizyah’ and they are humbled. We know non-believers of Arabia were not given option of ‘jizyah’ for safe living with the Muslims; the non-belivers of Arabia were given only one option i.e. acceptance of Islam. those who were not to embrace Islam, were to be killed, captured or besieged after four months (al-taubah1-5). In other words, verse 29 stated above is not about Arabia; rather this verse is about the world beyond Arabia.  We may conclude that Ghamdi’s interpretation of verse al-taubah-33 is neither based on any principle of interpretation nor based on factual position; it is based on totally whimsical approach towards Quran. The principle of interpretation of a Quranic verse is that every verse has basically two types of meanings; first that is independent of other verses, and the second that is linked with meanings of other verses. The independent meaning and the linked up meanings should not be contradictory to each other; though these two types of meanings of a verse may be different from each other. (independent meaning does not mean principal clause;  independent meaning may be contained in a subordinate/conditional clause as well. Similarly linked up meaning does not mean subordinate/conditional clause;  linked up meaning may be contained in a principal clause as well).   This principle of interpretation is based on the Quran which says that Quranic verses are separate as well as linked up. In case of al-taubah-33, the independent meaning as well as predominant linked up meaning do not show this verse is relating to Arabia only. This verse clearly states about enforcement of Islam/Islamic systems/principles over whole world’s systems through the Muslims. Similarly Ghamdi’s view that Islam is not to be enforced over world’s other religions/systems through aggressive jihad is also not tenable in the light of Quran’s commandments mentioned above.

We may conclude that domination of Islamic systems against all other religions/systems is an eventuality which is shaped primarily by Allah Himself but, of course, through the people; it is what is Allah’s Sunnah. The primary choice of Allah is the Muslims through whom He desires to dominate Islamic systems against other systems/religions. But if the Muslims do not come forth for the cause of Allah, He gets the job done through the non-Muslims. Similarly, enforcement of Islam/Islamic systems over other systems is also Allah’s Sunnah which He performs through the Muslims only. Day would come when Islam would be enforced in the whole world through the Muslims.