Political Authority in Islamic Communities in Ibn Taymiyyan Discourse: A Hot Recipe for Islamic Terrorism
By
Grace Mubashir, New Age Islam
26
September 2023
The major
motive of Islamic terrorism and radicalism is the underwhelming concept of the
Muslim community as a political authority. The political ideologies of Al
Qaeda, Boko Haram and Taliban support this concept. The terrorist groups
operating in India are also intoxicated with the concept of political authority
for Muslims which inadvertently lead to clashes with secular societies.
In modern times,
this concept is contributed by the works of Ibn Taymiyyah and later adopted by
Islamist/ Salafi leaders like Ibn Abdul Wahab, and Ikhwanul Muslimun. The
ideology is based on the flawed notion of a legitimate Muslim political power
is compulsory for Muslims in order to implement Islamic Sharia. The proponents
of the idea vehemently attack secular plural society because it fails to
protect and uphold the political and legal premises of Islam.
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Islam As
a Faith Community
The
fundamental sore point while discussing music society revolves around whether
Muslims are a political community or a faith community. The distinction between
the two concepts is about the relation of Islam with polity. The advocates of
Muslims as a political community argue that Islam has no identity without
political power. Political power is indispensable with Islam as a religious
ideology. Maududi in India advocated this argument following the lines of the
Muslim Brotherhood.
The
scholars who support Muslims as a faith community strongly refute the political
ambitions of religion and assert that if Islam is free to practice, even in
individual terms, Muslims are duty-bound to follow any such political setup.
For example, in India, the constitution protects Muslims' social and religious
rights and hence to seek Islamic polity in India is prohibited. Terrorist
organizations often target Muslims abiding Indian constitution as radical
Muslims cannot agree Indian constitution instead of Sharia.
The
reference to the Muslim community as a faith group could be found in the
Medinan Charter promulgated by the Prophet. The fundamental intention of the
prophet was just to establish a religious community tolerant of diversity and
responsivity political problems but not a sovereign political authority. From
the terms of the Charter, the political form of Islam is crystal clear. Islam
is a religion that brings together Muslims as a faith community. Islam as a
religion could be accommodated in any political form as long as secular and
objective freedom for worship is given.
Ibn Taymiyyah
and Islam as Political Power
Ibn Taymiyyah
was a great scholar of his time. His scholarship of Islam is matchless in its
zeal to reform and reinvigorate religion during his time. The problems arise
when his ideas are adopted into modernity without the least care for changed
environments and geo-political situations. Like any medieval scholar, he was
the perfect solution to his times, not to modernity. His ideas have faded into
irrelevance due to the changed nature of global conditions. But radical groups
still, use his scholarship to bolster their positions.
Taqi al-Din
Ibn Taymiyyah (1263-1328) is one of the most controversial thinkers in Islamic
history. Today he is revered by what is called the Wahhabi movement and championed
by Salafi groups who demand a return to the pristine golden age of the Prophet.
His writings have been a source of inspiration for radical groups to justify
acts of violence and armed struggle.
He lived at
a critical historical juncture when Muslims were crushed under the might of
Mongols. His political ideas developed as a response to the degeneration set in
the Muslim community and the resultant collapse. In 1258 Bagdad fell to the
Mongol army who laid waste in the city striping the city of its fabled status
as capital of the Islamic caliphate.
His
earliest writing on Muslim politics came in 1293. In a treatise published that
year he advocated ‘any exercise of authority, political or religious, must be
based on the law of Allah’. He took upon the mantle of Islamic reform in the
aftermath of the Mongol invasion. In 1315 he produced a comprehensive book on
Islamic politics while he was arrested in Cairo.
His major
arguments were:
1. Islam
cannot survive without Islamic politics
2. Implementation
of Islamic law is compulsory
3. The
legitimate political authority of Muslims should be based on the Quran and
Hadeeth.
4. He
elaborated the concepts of Darul Islam and Darul Harb as signified all lands
without Muslim politics as Darul Harb
5. The
belief in the sovereignty of Allah should be the basis for political exercises
in the Muslim community
In short,
he was pioneering the arguments of modern-day Islamicists. He vehemently
objected to the new ideas which crept into Islam and rejected them because they
were un-Islamic. He also opposed Sufi Islam and supported political Islam in
order to gain political hegemony for Muslims in the world. his arguments were
relevant in that historical context when Muslims were politically defeated by
the hands of Mongols. Besides he wanted the Muslim community to reconstruct on
the basis of teachings of Quran and Sunna. According to him all creatures must
leave for Allah the ultimate mystery of things and must submit voluntarily.
He was also
against innovations (Bida’h) and he weighed against the cultural
addition to the Islamic society. he tried to make Islam a puritanical society
which was later taken by the Salafi movements. He supported defensive jihad and
called for all Muslims to defend the Mongol invasion. According to him the
application of the law of Allah and his Prophet was the foundation for
political and religious authority and reformation of Muslim societies.
Modern-Day
Implications of His Political Views
He is
considered to be the intellectual fountainhead of many Islamic terrorist
groups. Usama bin Laden used his fatwas to declare war on America. The
ideologies of Boko Haram are still rooted in Ibn Taymiyyan political ideas. The
modern-day Muslim terror groups reject the validity of secular polity and
plural society and demand the implementation of Islamic Sharia, as demanded by
Ibn Taymiyyah in the thirteenth century.
His ideas
reject the legitimacy of democracy where human beings legislate as per their
demands. He also supported religious dictatorship to implement Islamic Sharia,
an idea courted by many Muslim terrorist groups. The ‘Theocracy’ advocated by
Maududi is the modern-day explanation of Ibn Taymiyyah. The terrorist groups
support the abolition of state and religion separation theory as it is against
the things of Ibn Taymiyyah.
According
to many scholars, the ideology of Al Qaeda is a complete servile to Ibn
Taymiyyan ideology. This is manifested in the way most Islamists see it as a
religious duty to enforce not just the implementation of Islamic law but also
to force others to accept it by whatever means, including the use of violence.
The problem
is the reading of a scholar of the medieval period without critical study in
the modern era. The situations have totally undergone changes as the medieval
polity is no longer relevant in the modern day. According to Islamic
jurisprudence, the fatwas of a scholar have no relevance when the conditions of
the fatwa change. In this respect, the political views of Ibn Taymiyyah are no
longer valid and legitimate.
The problem
with Muslim terrorist organizations is that they dream of the medieval golden
age of Muslim political power. They are not comfortable with the modern ideas
of political and social changes. By invoking the middle-aged scholar in the
modern era without analysing its contemporary importance. The reinterpretation
of middle-Muslim scholarship is overdue to blunt its abusive usages by militant
groups.
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A regular columnist for NewAgeIslam.com, Mubashir
V.P is a PhD scholar in Islamic Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia and freelance
journalist.
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism