KHUTAB VI: 2. REVOLTING AGAINST IMPIOUS RULERS (2)

2. REVOLTING AGAINST IMPIOUS RULERS (2)

          Among the arguments of the majority of Muslim scholars who hold the view that rebellion against impious rulers is prohibited are as follows:

1.    Allah says in the Qur’ān,

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَأُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ (النساء:59)

O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the

Messenger and those in authority among you…

(Q. 4:59)

This verse is supported with the Prophet’s statement, narrated by Abū Hurayrah, as follows:

مَنْ أَطَاعَنِي فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللَّهَ وَمَنْ عَصَانِي فَقَدْ عَصَى اللَّهَ

وَمَنْ أَطَاعَ أَمِيرِي فَقَدْ أَطَاعَنِي وَمَنْ عَصَى أَمِيرِي فَقَدْ عَصَانِي

(رواه أحمد و البيهقي و النسائي)

Whoever obeys me, obeys Allah, and whoever disobeys me,

 disobeys Allah. Whoever obeys my commander, obeys me,

 and whoever disobeys my commander, disobeys me.

(Reported by Ahmad, al-Bayhaqī, and al-Nasā’ī)

In this verse Allah mentions the term “obey” before the word “Allah” and “the Messenger”, not before “those in authority among you” to indicate that obeying Allah and the Messenger is unconditional, whereas obeying those in authority among the believers is conditional that  they do not command to sin. The Prophet s.a.w. said,

...إَنَّمَا الطَّاعَةُ فِي الْمَعْرُوْف  (رواه أحمد)

... obedience is only in righteousness

(Reported by Ahmad)

Disobeying them does not imply fighting them. Several hadiths stated that the Prophet s.a.w. ordered the Muslims to be patient in obeying their rulers although they did not like them, as follows:

مَنْ رَأَى مِنْ أَمِيرِهِ شَيْئًا يَكْرَهُهُ فَلْيَصْبِرْعَلَيْه

فَإِنَّهُ مَنْ  فَارَقَ الْجَمَاعَةَ شِبْرًا فَمَاتَ إلاَّ مَيْتَةً جَاهِلِيَّةٌ

  (رواه البخاري و مسلم و الدارمي و أحمد)

Whoever sees something from his leader that he

 does not like, let him be patient. The one who separates

 a hand span from the community and then dies, dies

 not except a death of the Days of Ignorance.

(Reported by Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Dārimī, and Aḥmad)

2.    In several ḥadīths the Prophet s.a.w. warned us against fighting each other and civil war and tribulations as the consequence of rebellion against oppressive and impious Muslim rulers, such as follows:

                                          سِبَابُ الْمُسْلِمِ فُسُوقٌ وَقِتَالُهُ كُفْرٌ            

(رواه البخاري و مسلم والترمذي و النسائي و أحمد)

Abusing a Muslim is wickedness and fighting

him is kufr (infidelity)

(Reported by Bukhārī, Muslim, al-Tirmidhī,

al-Nasā’ī  and Aḥmad)

إِذَا التَقَى المُسْلِمَانِ بِسَيْفَيْهِمَا فَالقَاتِلُ وَالمَقْتُولُ فِي النَّارِ ، فَقُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ

هَذَا القَاتِلُ فَمَا بَالُ المَقْتُولِ قَالَ:  إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَرِيصًا عَلَى قَتْلِ صَاحِبِه

(رواه البخاري و مسلم و أحمد)

“If two Muslims engage each other with

their swords, the killer and the killed will be

in the Hell-fire. I [Abū Bakrah] said: “O Messenger

of Allah, that is for the killer but what is the case

with the killed?” He replied, “He was

anxious to kill his fellow [Muslim].

(Reported by Bukhārī, Muslim, and Aḥmad)

لَا تَرْجِعُوا بَعْدِي كُفَّارًا يَضْرِبُ بَعْضُكُمْ رِقَابَ بَعْضٍ

(رواه البخاري ومسلم)

Do not return after me to be disbelievers,

striking the necks of one another.

(Reported by Bukhārī, and Muslim)

There is insinuation here that killing each other is like returning to infidelity, and not the behaviour of good Muslims.

The Prophet s.a.w. also advised us not to be involved in fighting among ourselves during tribulation. He said, as narrated by Abū Hurayrah, as follows:

سَتَكُونُ فِتَنٌ الْقَاعِدُ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنْ الْقَائِمِ وَالْقَائِمُ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنْ الْمَاشِي

وَالْمَاشِي فِيهَا خَيْرًا مِنَ السَّاعِي مَنْ تَشَرَّفَ لَهَا تَسْتَشْرِفْهُ فَمَنْ وَجَدَ

 مِنْهَا مَلْجَأً أَوْ مَهَاذًا فَلْيَعُذْ بِهِ  (رواه البخاري ومسلم)

There will be trials and tribulations wherein the one

sitting is better than the one standing. The one standing

will be better than the one walking. The one walking will

be better than the one running. Whoever will expose

himself to these afflictions, they will destroy him.

So whoever can find a place or protection or

refuge from them should take shelter in it.

(Reported by Bukhārī, and Muslim)

What the Prophet means is, in a simple language, keep away from being involved in fighting among Muslims, or you will become victims of this tribulation.

3.    The Prophet s.a.w. had prophesised what some rulers would do, but at the same time he did not order people to rebel against them. ‘Amr ibn Yaḥyā ibn Sa‘īd said that while he was sitting in the mosque of Madinah with others among whom was Marwān, Abū Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet s.a.w. said,

«هَلَكَةُ أُمَّتِي عَلَى يَدَيْ غِلْمَةٍ مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ» فَقَالَ مَرْوَانُ: لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِمْ غِلْمَةً.

فَقَالَ أَبُو هُرَيْرَةَ: لَوْ شِئْتُ أَنْ أَقُولَ: بَنِي فُلاَنٍ، وَبَنِي فُلاَنٍ، لَفَعَلْتُ. فَكُنْتُ أَخْرُجُ

مَعَ جَدِّي إِلَى بَنِي مَرْوَانَ حِينَ مُلِّكُوا بِالشَّأْمِ، فَإِذَا رَآهُمْ غِلْمَانًا أَحْدَاثًا قَالَ لَنَا :

  عَسَى هَؤُلاَءِ أَنْ يَكُونُوا مِنْهُمْ؟ قُلْنَا: أَنْتَ أَعْلَمُ (رواه البخاري ومسلم)

“The destruction of my Nation will be at the hands of

 young men from the Quraysh.” Marwān then said: ‘The

 curse  of Allah be upon the young men.’ Abū Hurayrah

 said, ‘If I willed  to say the tribe of so and so and the tribe

 of  so and so, I could do so.’ Then I [Amr] went with my

grand-father [Sa‘īd] to the Clan of Marwān after they

 gained control of al-Shām. When he [Marwān] saw

 that they were young, inexperienced men, he said

 to us, ‘Perhaps these are from among them.’

 We said, ‘You know best.’

(Reported by Bukhārī, and Muslim)

         

In another ḥadīth, the Prophet s.a.w. said:

إِنَّكُمْ سَتَرَوْنَ بَعْدِي أَثَرَةً وَأُمُورًا تُنْكِرُونَهَا قَالُوا فَمَا تَأْمُرُنَا ياَ رَسُوْلَ الله

قَالَ أَدُوا إِلَيْهِمْ حَقَّهُمْ وَسَلُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّكُمْ (رواه البخاري)

‘After me, you shall see selfishness and some matters

 that you will disapprove of’. They said, ‘What do you

 order us to do [at that time], O Messenger of Allah?’ He

 said, ‘Fulfill their rights and ask Allah for your rights.’

(Reported by Bukhārī)

4.    The Prophet s.a.w. did not order the Muslims to revolt against impious or oppressing rulers, as he knew that this would lead them to destruction more than if they obeyed them. It is what we call   الضَّرَرَيْن أَخَفّ ُ , “the lesser of two evils”. Ibn Taymiyyah  (1263–1328 CE),) said: “Perhaps, no group is known to have revolted against a ruler except that it resulted with more evils than what they sought to remove.” He also said that the Prophet’s order to be patient with the injustice of rulers instead of fighting or rebelling against them is the best for the affairs of the humans in this life and the Hereafter. Going against this command, intentionally or mistakenly, will achieve nothing but evil. In other words, rebellion against unjust rulers will create instability and disturbance in the society.

5.    Historical evidence indicates that rebellion achieved nothing except evil. Ibn Taymiyyah gives many examples of revolts against rulers with power resulting with greater evil than any good. Some examples of these revolts are:

(a)        Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr’s revolt against Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān in Madinah (23 July 647 – 14 November 683), who was the Caliph as appointed by his father Muawiyah I and ruled for three years from 680 CE until his death in 683 CE. Ibn Zubayr ibn al-Awwam was the son of Asmā bin Abū Bakr. He and al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Ali refused to swear allegiance to Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiyah. When al-Ḥusayn was assassinated in Karbala, Ibn al-Zubayr revolted against Yazīd who later invaded Hejaz, took Madinah after the battle of al-Harrah. Tihāmah was invaded and Makkah was sieged. After Yazīd’s sudden death civil war broke out, but Ibn al-Zubayr lost Egypt and whatever he had in Syria to Marwān I. He was finally defeated by ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān who sent al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf, who was notorious for his brutality, killed Ibn al-Zubayr in the battlefield in 692, beheaded him and crucified his body.

(b)            In June 15, 747, Abu Muslim al-Khurasānī who revolted against the Umayyad caliph in Khorasan and other provinces eventually succeeded in overthrowing it. Marwan II, the last Umayyad caliph was defeated and killed in 750. In reward or his services, al-Saffaḥ, the first Abbasid caliph in 749, gave Abū Muslim the governorship of Khorasan. Due to his popularity as a leading politician, a powerful military leader, especially among non-Arabs, despite many services he rendered to the Abbasids, they became more suspicious of him, especially his inclination to separate his native country Khorasan from the rest of the Abbasid states. The caliph al-Manṣūr betrayed him, invited him to his court and put him to death. It was reported that realizing the betrayal, he had said condemning this dirty politics against him, لَعْنَةُ اللّهْ عَلَى سَاسَ يَسُوسُ وَمُشْتَقَّاتِه, “Allah’s curse upon [the words] ‘ruling, and its derivatives’, [meaning سِيَاسَة   policy, politics, diplomacy].”

The companions of the Prophet who had been given the glad tidings of Paradise were not immune from taking part in rebellion, such as Ṭalḥah and al-Zubayr, who joined ‘Ᾱ’ishah against ‘Ali in the battle of Jamal where both of them were murdered. Imām Abū ’l-Ḥasan al-Ash‘arī (d. 324/936) the founder of Ash‘arī school of theology listed 25 members of the Prophet’s descendants who revolted against the corrupt rulers, but none of them succeeded.

6.    The Prophet s.a.w. said,

إنَّ اللَّهَ لَيُؤَيِّدُ هَذَا الدِّينَ بِالرَّجُلِ الْفَاجِرِ (رواه البخاري ومسلم والدارمي)

Verily, Allah supports this religion [even with]

 a wicked man.  

(Reported by Bukhārī, Muslim, and al-Dārimī)

                   In line with this ḥadīth Ibn Taymiyyah said, “The oppressive king is used by Allah to repel  harm greater than his own wrongdoing. It is said, ‘Sixty years under an oppressive ruler is better than one night without a leader.’ And if He decrees to increase his oppression, that is something harmful to the religion, (and) it is like an affliction that acts as expiation for their (people’s) sins…”

          What our scholars mean is that although rebellion against oppressive rulers is not justified to avoid blood-shed, the attempt to end their oppression or their rules by peaceful means should never end. The order of doing good deeds and prohibiting from doing bad deeds (amr bi ‘l-ma‘rūf wa ‘l-nahy ‘an al-munkar) remains. It has to be done by people who have knowledge, gentleness and patience. It is part of the jihad.

A man asked the Prophet s.a.w., “What is the best jihad?” He answered,

كَلِمَةُ عَدْلٍ عِنْدَ إِمَامٍ جَائِر (رواه أحمد و النسائي و الترمذي)

 [The best jihad is] a statement of justice in the

presence of unjust ruler.

(Reported by al-Tirmidhī, al-Nasā’ī  and Aḥmad)

In conclusion, we should not stand idle witnessing any misbehavior, injustice, oppression, and corruption in our society. We have to do something based on our ability, with knowledge, gentleness, and patient, avoiding bloodshed among our Muslim brothers and sisters.                        (CIVIC, 6.9.13) 

Bibliography:

1. Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr

2. Al-Mutairi, Dr.Abdul Rahman (trans. Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo),  Religious Extremism in the Lives of Contemporary Muslims. Denver: al-Basheer Publication & Translation, 2001

3. Al-Maktabah al-Shāmilah

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_ibn_Zubayr