A Critical Review of the Arguments of Muslim Fundamentalists
Dr.
Mohammad Ghitreef, New Age Islam
5
September, 2022
Main
Points:
1-Quran
prescribes Shura (consultation) for running a government, not a dictatorship.
2-The
commandment of Jihad is given to an established and sovereign state, not to
individuals.
3-Shirk(association)disbelieving
and apostasy are sins, but only God can provide punishments for them, not
humans.
4-It
is not permissible for any Muslim government to force a person to fast, go for
Hajj or Umrah, etc.
----------
The
Taliban in South East Asia finest exemplifies the entire universe of fanatics.
The Taliban, who claimed to be God's army in their area, successfully retook
Kabul one year ago. On completing one year of their victory, they celebrated
the event without any participation from ordinary Afghan people. They have
murdered so many innocent people in the past 20 years that it is impossible to
keep track. Prominent individuals like Maulana Hasan Jan, Mufti Sarfraz Naimi,
and Dr. Mohammad Faruq Khan, all Pakistani nationals, to name a few, were among
their innocent victims. Malala Yusuf Zai, the youngest Nobel laureate, was also
the target of an unsuccessful murder attempt.
Then
what kind of Shariah is it? Under the dictates of that Sharia, do The Taliban
continue to murder innocent people?
Numerous
ulama and Islamists from India and Pakistan, particularly those from the Deobandi
sect, warmly welcomed the Taliban's occupation of Afghanistan and the
establishment of their government there. Some also swore allegiance to the
Taliban emir (in absentia)!
No
surprise there since some of these zealots wrote love letters to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,
too, when he declared his notorious caliphate! The Taliban's victory was
celebrated by Ulama and Islamists, and they are currently spreading the myth
among their followers that because of the Taliban, Allah's mercy and grace have
finally reached earth, and His blessings will now fall on the area.
Shouldn't
someone question these ignorant people if they have any idea what kind of
blessings the Afghan people experience daily? Someone should ask the Taliban
followers what Shariah dictates that women should be imprisoned in their
houses. Should girls' education be outlawed? Why shouldn't non-Muslim
minorities be protected?
There
are two types of rulings in Islamic Sharia, one of which is given to the
individual and the other to the Islamic community. The first type is between
God and His servant. He is responsible to his Lord and not to any government.
Therefore, it is not permissible for any Muslim government to force a person to
fast, to go for Hajj or Umrah, to circumcise or shorten his moustache, to grow
his beard and cover her chest if she is a woman, and so on. It has no authority
beyond education, guidance, and preaching in such matters.Contrasting this
clear Quranic order, now see what the Taliban are doing with the poor Afghan
people.
The
foundation of man's accountability before God on the day of judgment is his
understanding, intellect, and total freedom. He has also been endowed with the
characteristic of discernment, the inner awareness of what is good and what is
evil. As a result, even if some acts may be considered sins and wrongdoings as
association with God (shirk), disbelief, and apostasy. After all, they are
offenses against Almighty Allah, and it is His sole right only to chastise
those who commit these sins or pardon them. How can a man punish someone for
committing one of these three offenses when the Divine has not given anyone the
authority to do so on His behalf?
There
have been divine interventions in certain sins and offenses throughout human
history. However, the sheer nature of these Divine interventions makes clear
that no one after the final prophet of God (PBUH) is qualified to punish these
offenses in any way. Therefore, the premise of Muslim fundamentalists that what
they are doing in several Muslim and non-Muslim countries is following God's
orders and doing it as His foot soldiers, is necessarily faulty and incorrect.
Taliban adamantly insist on what they are
doing,doing according to the Divine commandment and for the sack of God. They
are justifying their stand by citing some incidents from the prophet's era and
some texts from Quran and Sunnah. Here we would like to comment on some of
their arguments and reasoning.
1-Jihad
is unquestionably a mandate in Islam If Muslims have the means. The Quran
commands his followers to engage in war against oppression and torture. It is,
in fact, intended to put an end to what is known as in Arabic فتنة
(religious persecution), which is robbing someone of his religion through
torture and oppression. This directive is meant for a Muslim government, not
the common man.
2-
Individuals are not the target audience of the verses in the Quran that refer
to Jihad and related issues; therefore, only a collective Muslim system may put
them into practice. No one or group from them can enforce them on their own.
Hadis also made an unambiguous indication of that. :A governor is God's bulwark
for Muslims jihad is permitted while he is in office. الامام جنة يقاتل وراءه(رواه البخاري)
Therefore,
anyone who claims to be carrying out a jihad on their own is obviously
disregarding this explicit Qur'anic ruling.
3-Jihad
is undoubtedly commanded by Islam, but what kind of Jihad? Jihad must follow
God's way. Hence it is impossible to carry it out without abiding by the moral
guidelines established by Him and His prophet. Ethics are typically seen as
superior to all else, and must be strictly upheld at all costs, even on the
battlefield. Nobody is permitted to go beyond that point.
4-It
is a strict requirement that only combatants engage in a combat. According to
the Quranic law, a guy who verbally attacks Muslims will also be responded to
vocally. As a result, the fatwa issued by Iranian leader Ayatullah Khomeini
against Salman Rushdi, the infamous author of the Satanic Verses, is ungrounded
and unreasonable. Attacking someone with the intent to kill him is improper,
un-Islamic, and disgusting.
Additionally,
it is a declaration of defeat on the level of logic and thought on the part of
Muslims. One won't be killed even if he throws his arms up in the middle of a
fight; instead, he will merely be held captive. The holy Quran has, in this
regard, the following words:
"Fight
in God's path those who fight you, but don't commit aggression. God doesn't
like the aggressors. (The Cow:190)
Javed
Ahmad Ghamdi sums up their flawed argumentation very aptly in the following:
"Some
argue that democracy depicts a foreign intruder into Islam. And that the ideal
way to establish the government from the Islamic point of view is the one
chosen by the "Taliban" organization in establishing the government
of Mullah Omar (in their first reign) in Afghanistan. Accordingly, the
constitution, Parliament, and elections are all un-Islamic inventions of the
modern era, and Islam does not restrict its implementation to any of them. The
interpretation of Islam that has been done in the Hanafi jurisprudence is
inevitable for us. The jurists have arranged their decisions related to
individual and collective life in the Fiqh corpus, which is available for us.
And they are compiled according to four sources, the Qur'an, the Sunnah, the
Consensus, and the Qiyas(analogy). So, these fatwas and decries must be
implemented. This does not require acceptance by Parliament. The simplistic
approach to this is that the Ulama must control all state administrations, for
they are the ones who are experts at Islamic law. Fundamentalists say that the
history of the past twelve centuries bears witness to this method. And the same
course of action was taken everywhere after Imam Abu Yusuf was appointed as the
Chief Justice of the Abbasid Sultanate, and this system only ended with Western
colonialism. Since Muslims are free now, this course of action must be restored
once again to run the state's affairs according to Sharia anew.
Based
on my understanding of Islam, I (Ghamdi)can say that the Qur'an does not accept
this theory. The method for managing the affairs of the state that the Qur'an
has chosen is a democracy, as the Qur'an says:
"and their command is consultation among
themselves," and HazratUmer, may God be pleased with him, clarified it by
his saying:
"Whoever pledges allegiance to someone
without the advice of Muslims exposes himself to death."
Yes,
we find in our long history the two ways of despotic kingship and tyrannical
dictatorship too (yet it was a deviation, not a permissible rule). Some groups
and parties say that the imam should be appointed by God, but the Qur'an has
settled the matter in this by setting the direction of Shura (consultation) to
manage political affairs."
(
Maqamat, Urdu: P240, translation with some in bracketbrief notes is mine)
Even
if they are out of date, most religious fanatics want the world to adopt their
way of thinking and dictate. They pathetically fail to comprehend that there is
always a common psyche trending around the world. According to the current
political trend, women must be granted absolute rights. Each and every citizen
of the nation has equal rights. There is an agreement between the East and the
West on these parameters. If you defy or reject this consensus, you won't make
it. No nation or community can exist in isolation from other nations and
countries in the modern, globalized world. Because of this, no country in the
world is prepared to acknowledge the Taliban, not even Pakistan, which serves
as their main backer.
Recently,
a high-level delegation of notable ulama from Pakistan visited Kabul on behalf
of the Pakistani government. They met with TTP and Taliban leaders, but their
meetings were unsuccessful. The two sides could not persuade one another, and
after two days, the group left without attaining their intended objectives.
This
demonstrates the Taliban's and their cohorts' level of obstinacy. And their
impending failure rests on it.
*Research
Associate with the Centre for Promotion of Educational and Cultural Advancement
of Muslims of India, AMU Aligarh.
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