EXTREMISM IN OBEDIENCE TO LEADERS (2)

By

Ibn Abdillah As-sudaisiy Al-Iloori

Moderation is needed in everything we do as Muslims. We should obey leaders. But we shouldn't obey them in a way to disobey the Creator and the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. Obeying leaders and any other person who is meant to be obey (parents and husband), upon baatil is like worshipping them beside Allaah. Allaah's aid is sought. Abubakr رضي الله عنه was reported to have told his followers to obey him as long as he follows the Qur'an and Sunnah. This is how all leaders should be. They shouldn't force their subjects to follow them upon sinful instructions. But in matters that do not involve sins, we must obey leaders even if those leaders are corrupt and injust. We are to obey their lawful instructions even if it is difficult or hard upon us.

As we stand on not obeying leaders on wrongful commands, we must still watch our methodologies and make sure they are intandem with the ways of the salaf. We are not to rebel against leaders or disgrace them openly. And we should always offer du'a for them, for Allaah to rectify their affairs. We can only rebel against them when they display clear and apparent kufr (disbelief in Allaah), after weighing our options meticulously. If the danger in rebelling against them is higher the the benefit, we shouldn't rebel against them. We should be patient upon the hardship and ask Allaah for our rights.

This is the main area where the khawaarij and all of their offshoots got wrong. They rebel against leaders without just cause. They speak against leaders in public, and even on the mimbar. They tag anyone who fails to follow this misguided ideology many unprintable names. They feel the act of not attacking leaders over a wrongdoing in public is a form of complicity on the part of scholars who fail to do so. It should be noted that the People Sunnah do not support leaders upon evil, they do not follow wrongful commands of leaders, yet they do not revolt against them or attack them in their sermons and public statements, because it is a very strong trait of the deviant sect known as 'Khawaarij'. The fact that it is not permissible for us to follow leaders upon wrongful commands doesn't mean we should be attacking them in public. We are to correct them in ways prescribed in the Sunnah. I have written previously on this with straight forward hadiths. We must give them their rights, even if they fail to give us our rights.

It is funny and hypocritical that many of the offshoots of the Ikhwaanul Muslimoon (the Muslim Brotherhood) who are in the forefront of the fitnah of revolting, protesting and rebelling against leaders are in the ocean of dogmatism when it comes to the leadership of their own organizations. They follow their leaders blindly. They dare not go against the order of their 'Amir'. Whatever the 'Amir' says is final. They follow their leaders, scholars and founders blindly, but they justify revolt against constituted authorities that are not in line with their own ideologies. Who is more deserved of their loyalty and obedience? The leaders of a nation with punitive might or the leaders of their misguided organizations? There are many cases of unlawful instructions of their leaders that they follow blindly. One of such is their principle of not marrying outside their organisations. They force their members to marry men and women within their organizations, and they have their ways of punishing erring members.

In a recent lecture of Dr. Sharafuddeen Gbadebo Raji حفظه الله that I listened to, he narrated his experience on one of such cases, and it was pathetic. A woman went and reported a case to him, and as he was making efforts to resolve the matter based on the provisions of the shari'ah, the leaders of the organization to whom the woman belong, started disturbing Dr. Sharaf not to interfere in the matter. They said their 'Amir' is the only one who can resolve the matter. He was reliably informed that members of the organization can't even marry without the consent of the 'Amir' even if their parents have already consented. May Allaah save us from their evils and guide them and us to the right path.

Another point is that ikhwaanees permit revolution against constituted authorities. But if the authority is one that is connected to them in ideology, it is not permissible. They permitted revolt and protested against the government of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and he was forcefully removed, but they frowned against the deposition of their own leader, Muhammad Mursi. What kind of double standard is that? Revolution is revolution irrespective of the kind of leader against whom it is done.

In conclusion, Imaam Ahmad رحمه الله laid a legacy of obeying the rulers as clearly provided in the Sunnah. But when the ruler's command was against the Sunnah, he didn't obey. This is how every scholars should act. Scholars shouldn't fear the authority to the point of accepting what is not acceptable in the shari'ah. They should always stand their ground upon the truth and in defence of the Sunnah and the creed of the salaf. That was how Imam Ahmad and many of the past scholars were. Imaam Ahmad رحمه الله was asked to deny that the Qur'an is the Words of Allaah. But he insisted on the Sunnah. He was imprisoned, beaten, tortured, yet he didn't deny the Sunnah. And he didn't call for revolution against those leaders. He was patient until Allaah gave him victory.

May Allaah guide us aright.