A civilized handling for the political discords in Islam

Tuesday, 14 December 2010

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Written by Dr. Ragheb Elsergany

Introduction

The Islamic civilization handled political discords from a different perspective which humans did not have before. It did not handle all discords with coercion and repression as was the case before, but it used various ways to fend every discord separately. The Prophet's traditions highlighted the role of individuals in the times of ordeals and discords. Abdullah ibn Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: as we sat around the Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him), he mentioned fitnah (civil strife), or it was mentioned. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "When you see people's promises are confused, and their honesty becomes disturbed, and they become like this", and he crossed his fingers. I stood up and said: What shall I do then? The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Stay at home, restrain your tongue, take what you know, let what you do not know, manage your own affairs and let the affairs of others." [1]So, the Prophet (peace be upon him) urged Muslims, who are not in a position to solve the problem, not to interact with people in such strife, but it is better for them to stay at home.

Realistic handling of discords

The great discord between Ali and Mu'awiyah  

The Islamic civilization was realistic in dealing with discords, revolutions and unrests. The first discord that faced the Islamic nation was the disagreement between Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abu Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) and governor of the Levant Mu'awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him). Ali wanted to depose Mu'awiyah from the Levant, and the latter insisted on taking revenge for Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). As the two sides disagreed, they engaged into two battles, namely Al-Jamal and Siffin. Then, they resorted to arbitration. After that, Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was killed. At that time, the entire nation was in obvious turmoil and confusion. The most striking thing in this situation is that it was fended by the caliph, Al-Hasan ibn Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). The last recommendation Ali ibn Abu Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) gave to his son Al-Hasan and the children of Abd-al-Muttalib was his saying: "O children of Abd-al-Muttalib, do not shed the blood of Muslims. You say: the Commander of the Faithful was killed, the Commander of the Faithful was killed. No one will kill me but my killer. Look Al-Hasan, if I die by his hit, hit him too, and do not mutilate the man." [2] This prohibition from Ali to his son is inevitable for Al-Hasan and all children of Abd-al-Muttalib not to shed again the blood of Muslims as happened years before the killing of Ali ibn Abu Talib.

In spite of the nation's allegiance to Al-Hasan ibn Ali (may Allah be pleased with them) after the death of Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abu Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) in 40 AH. The first thing Al-Hasan did was that he announced his intention to avoid the blood of Muslims and decided not to rely on the people of Iraq who let him and his father down. He called Mu'awiyah for reconciliation. Indeed, the two sides reconciled and Al-Hasan ibn Ali ceded for Mu'awiyah in order to ward off the blood of Muslims and to fend the strife. [3]

Al-Hasan's voluntary cession for Mu'awiyah to preserve the blood of Muslims is evidence that this civilization took into account the value of Muslim and his blood, something which no other civilization knew. Romans enjoyed watching the battles between wild animals and slaves, where slaves were smashed between the jaws of wild animals, and the audience enjoyed this too. When it comes to the Islamic civilization, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) stated that the killing of a Muslim is graver to Allah than the demolition of the Ka'bah stone by stone! [4]

Maximum flexibility in handling discords

Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr's revolution against Abd-al-Malik ibn Marwan

Islam has dealt with discords with maximum flexibility, as the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) stated that "Hear and obey, even if an Abyssinian slave with a head like a raisin is appointed over you." [5] This order is an approval of the sovereignty of the victor as the majority of scholars stated. The purpose of this is to reach the nation's consensus on one imam to fend bloodshed, achieve unity and prevent sedition. When conflict took place between Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with him) and Abd-al-Malik ibn Marwan (may Allah have mercy on him) over caliphate and Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr took over Iraq, Hijaz and Egypt, while Abd-al-Malik took over the Levant only, seniors of the nation, including the Prophet's companions and their sons, prevented people from getting involved in that sedition, which divided the nation into two parts. They also asked people not to pay allegiance to any one of them as long as they disagreed with each other. As the discord ended up with the victory of Abd-al-Malik ibn Marwan and the nation approved him, some senior companions acknowledged his leadership and paid allegiance to him. One of those companions was Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who sent a letter to Abd-al-Malik saying: "Here I confirm that I hear and obey Allah's slave Abd-al-Malik, the Commander of the Faithful, as per the law of Allah and the traditions of His Messenger as much as I can, and my children did so as well." [6]

Purpose of fending discords

From a civilized Islamic perspective, discord should be avoided as much as possible. The purpose of fending discords is to prevent the shedding of Muslims' blood and to achieve the goal of establishing the Islamic caliphate based on unity, integrity, spreading Allah's religion and worshipping Him rightly. This was – and still is – the purpose of the Islamic civilization. The Islamic Shari'ah (law) stipulates that a second caliph should be killed if there is a caliph running the affairs. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "When oath of allegiance has been taken for two caliphs, kill the one for whom the oath was taken later." [7]Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) explains this hadith by saying: "If allegiance is paid to a caliph unanimously and the matter is settled and then another caliph was paid allegiance, then the latter shall be rendered despot and his supporters shall be rendered despots too. So, they should be fought as wrongdoers. The Prophet's saying: "kill the one for whom the oath was taken later" does not mean to kill him, but to fight him and that he may be killed if necessary." [8]

The sovereignty of victor

The Islamic civilization sought the unity and solidarity of Muslims. It approved the sovereignty of victor[9] with the objective of achieving the unity of Muslims. The best example in this case is what the heroic fighter Yusuf ibn Tashfin did in Andalusia. He united the Andalusian dominions whose rulers fought against each other and sought the help of enemies against each other. After he defeated the enemies of Islam in Al-Zallaqah battle in 479 AH, he decided to combine all these emirates under the banner of Almoravids. He commanded his troops to conquer these states after he got a relevant fatwa from senior scholars at that time, including Imam Al-Ghazali, whose argument shows the philosophy of Islamic civilization in such a situation. He said: "He (Yusuf ibn Tashfin) has acted truthfully in proclaiming the slogan of the rule of Mustazhir (Abbasid caliph at that time). And this is the duty upon all kings ruling over any part of the Muslim lands either in the East or the West…Even if the investiture of the Imam had not reached them or it was delayed because of some hindrance." [10]

The Islamic civilization provided effective solutions to fend discords. It also handled discords quite realistically, something which does not exist in other civilizations. We saw the role of Muslim legislators who sought the unity of the nation, endorsed the sovereignty of the victor and the killing of the second caliph and allowed the sovereignty of the better in the presence of the best. All this aimed to unite the nation around one imam and prevent its social, cultural and religious fragmentation vis-à-vis other nations.

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