Methodology Of The Radicals Versus The Methodology Of The Prophets

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Methodology Of The Radicals Vs. The Methodology Of The Prophets*

In light of the article entitled: The Methodology Of The Prophets in Calling to Allaah: The Path to Rectification, this article will discuss that which the radical groups see as the most important affair in Islām.

One of the chief ideologues for the radical preachers is an individual by the name of Syed Abul Aʿla Mawdūdī (died 1979CE). He was a prominent political figure in his home country of Pakistan, though he was born in India before partition. He was also the founder of Jamāt-e-Islāmī, the Islamic revivalist party and a supporter of the Iranian revolution of Ayatollah Khomeinī.

His views of Islamic revival are shared by the modern-day revolutionary-Jihādists, they are repeated in thousands of writings and sermons delivered by them. Mawdūdī stated:

“Indeed the matter of leadership and rulership is the most important matter in human life and the most fundamental principle. The importance of this matter and its seriousness is not something new to this age, rather it is something which is tied to human life and which human life is dependent upon since the most ancient of times and what an excellent witness to this is the common saying, ‘The people are upon the religion of their kings.’” [1]

The scholar and former professor of Prophetic Tradition (hadīth) at the Islamic University of Madīnah, Rabīʿ bin Hadī al-Madkhalī, commenting upon this statement wrote:

“This is the view of this great thinker?! Whereas I bear witness before Allāh that if I had merely heard it reported by a truthful person I would have thought that he was perhaps mistaken in attributing it to this thinker. But what can I or anyone else say when it occurs in his book, Al-Asas al-Akhlāqiyah lil-Harakātil-Islāmiyah, which he gave as a lecture to a gathering of committee members of the Islamic University. He delivered the talk at a crowded conference more than forty years ago, and the people, particularly his followers, circulated it whilst giving it a warm welcome and respecting it from that day till this… I am very surprised at his using as a proof for ‘the most important matter’ a ‘common saying’.

In reality the most important matter is that which all of the Prophets came with, and that is the matter of Tawhīd and belief. This is summed up by Allāh, in His saying: ‘We did not send any Messenger before you, O Muhammad, except that we revealed to him that none has the right to be worshipped except Allāh, so make all of worship purely for him.’ [2]” [3]

Mawdūdī also stated:

“Perhaps it has become clear to you from our books and treatises that the final goal which we aim for in our present struggle is to cause a revolution overthrowing the leadership, and what I mean by that is that which we wish to attain and be successful in achieving in this world, is to purify the earth from the filth of wicked leaders and their supremacy, and to establish the system of pious and rightly-guided leadership. So this continuous struggle and striving is seen by us to be the most effective way of attaining the pleasure of the Lord.” [4]

The scholar Dr. Rabīʿ al-Madkhalī commenting upon this stated:

“Hopefully the bright, intelligent and knowledgeable reader who memorises the Qurān and recites it during the night and at each end of the day, and considers the call of the Prophets, from the first to the last of them, will not know that this is supposed to be the goal of the Messengers for which they struggled. Nor will he understand that this striving and effort is the greatest and most effective way of attaining Allāh’s pleasure and seeking His face. Rather, the greatest way of attaining the pleasure of the Lord is by following the methodology of the Prophets in their call (daʿwah), and following in their footsteps by purifying the land of corruption and idolatry, and the greatest means [to achieve that] is faith (īmān) with its well-known pillars and Islām with its pillars which are also well known.”[5]

Mawdūdī also stated:

“Therefore the goal aspired for in the Messengership of the Prophets in this world did not cease to be the establishment of the Islamic government upon the earth.” [6]

It is not permissible to speak about the Messengers of Allāh and His Prophets based upon political philosophies and conclusions. The goal of the Prophets has been stated by the one who sent them, Allāh, the Mighty and Majestic, and He never mentioned that which Mawdūdī and the modern-day revolutionaries mention. Rather Allāh, the Most High, stated:

“And we sent to every nation a Messenger, calling them to the worship of Allāh alone and away from the worship of the false deities.” [7]

As you will see from future article (inshaa’Allaah), the methodologies employed by the modern-day Jihādist groups are in complete agreement with Mawdūdī, and in opposition to the Qurānic and Prophetic methodology.

This is not to say that there is no need in Islām and in the Muslim countries for an Islamic rulership – indeed it exists in many countries till this day in one form or another. The orthodox or traditional Islamic scholars [8] see the need for Islamic rule, and regard it to be obligatory. However, rulership is seen in Islām as a means and not a goal in itself, so that the population is able to worship Allāh in peace and security. It is there for the protection of the religion and for the running of the worldly affairs; it is considered to be from the branches of religion and not a fundamental. For this reason the establishment of the Islamic state is not mentioned as a fundamental or a foundation of the Religion in the Qurān or in the Prophetic tradition or in the earliest books of Islamic creed.

Imām Abul-Hasan al-Māwardī (died in Baghdād, 450H) stated:

“So when the rulership is established to be obligatory, then its obligation is binding upon only some of the Muslims (fard kifāyah), as is the case with Jihād and seeking [specialised Islamic] knowledge.” [9]

Al-Māwardī  continues:

“Al-Qādī Abu Yaʿlā said, ‘Establishment of the Imām (i.e. the ruler) is obligatory.’ And Imām Ahmad bin Hanbal said, ‘There will be discord if there is no ruler in charge of the affairs of the people.’” [10]

So rulership is from the obligatory branches of the religion, as a means and not a goal in itself. Imām al-Haramayn  stated:

“The matter of the rulership pertains to the branches (al-furūʿ) of the religion.” [11]

Rulership in the Muslim lands exists till this day. Sometimes this rulership can be pious and just and in other times it can be oppressive and tyrannical; regardless of whichever, rebellion against a tyrannical Muslim ruler is forbidden, as we shall prove later articles, inshaa’Allaah.

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Footnotes:

1 Mawdūdī, Al-Asas al-Akhlāqiyyah, p. 21-22.
2 Al-Anbiyah:25
3 Dr. Rabīʿ al-Madkhalī, The Methodology of the Prophets in Calling to Allah, p. 166, translated by Dāwūd Burbank; the English translation of this book is available from Salafi Publications, Birmingham, UK.
4 Mawdūdī, Al-Asas al-Akhlāqiyyah, p. 16.
5 Dr. Rabīʿ al-Madkhalī, The Methodology of the Prophets in Calling to Allah, p. 158-159.
6 Mawdūdī, Tajdīd ad-Dīn, p.34.
7 An-Nahl:36
8 Orthodox Muslims are known as Ahl as-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah or Salafīs or Ahlul-Hadīth; these are different titles for the same group of people. Unfortunately, there are many who attach themselves to these labels of orthodoxy, but fall well short of knowing it, let alone practising it.
9 Māwardī, Al-Ahkām as-Sultāniyah, p.5-6.
10 Ibid., p.19.
11 Mughīth al-Khalq, p.9.

* See: The Rise of Jihadist Extremist, Salafi Publications, Birmingham, UK.