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Bismillah Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem.
Alhumdulillah. Peace and blessings on Muhammad (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his Noble Companions and Family.
Brothers and sisters, committed Muslims…
Audio on http://www.islamiccenterdc.com/apps/podcast/podcast/327484 (11-01-2013)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr-Fj79qDBo
THE ISLAMIC STATE
In beginning to talk about these ayaat last week we mentioned the chief constituency which, in a general sense, is address by the Qur'an and by Islam and this chief constituency refers to those who have an impact on the way that people think, how they think and how they behave. In short this chief constituency refers to leaders in society. We also talked about the fact that the shortest distance between the model of social justice in the Qur'an and the application of social justice on the ground is the performance of just leaders in society. Lastly, we talked about how important it is for Muslims in particular to correct the relationship of the dominant power culture in society with Allah. So all of this suggests that the concept of leadership is something which is very central to Islam; that leaders and the power that is exercised by leaders is something which is very pertinent and very central to this deen of Islam. Without leaders there is no Islam. Without an Imam or a Khalifah there is no Ummah and without an Ummah there is no Islam. If we look at the world around us there is virtually no Islam and because there is no Islam there is a proliferation of injustice. A famous Muslim- and in this case we are referring to Umar (radi Allahu anhu) the second successor to Allah's Prophet- said there is no Islam except with a consolidated unit that is on the same page and there is no consolidated unit except if it belongs to a leadership and there is no leadership except if it adheres to the obedience to Allah's book and the example of His Messenger. Now it is germane that somebody like Umar said this because those in the Muslim world who claim Umar belong to a theological convention that suggests that the Imamah or Khilafah or leadership is not a faridha in Islam; but Umar's language is very binary. It is very black and white- there is no Islam except with the combination of a jama'ah (and) leadership both of which are obedient to Allah's book and His command and council. Let us simplify this just a little bit.
All of us are familiar with the five pillars of Islam, Islam is founded upon five stabilizing entities or pillars one of these is aqama as salah. Now as far as salah is concerned, as an individual you can go and make salah anywhere but as far as aqam as asalah or muqim as salah is concerned we need leaders to socialise the salah, to make it a pattern of behaviour in society (and) to make it a directional course which reverses social and moral deviation you need leaders. When we talk about a socialising influence (and) when we talk about patterns of behaviour we are talking about behaviour that goes in a certain direction and when we are talking about a directional course we are talking about a key function of leadership. Another pillar- zakah; you can give sadaqah anywhere any time but ita' az zakah requires leaders, requires institutions, requires a structure. When we talk about institutions and socialisations and structure and law and legalislation we are talking about the function of leaders. We can talk about saum, fasting (or) abstinence and you can conduct that anytime in the year. On a personal level you can fast any time you want to but to conduct a Ramadhan we need leaders to identify the time Ramadhan begins- we need an Islamic executive authority. Even as far as the most important pillar is concerned (viz.) I testify that there is no Ilah except for Allah; if there were no leaders then we would not recite the shahadah in this way. We would probably say I testify that there is no provider or there is no sustainer other then Allah; but when we refer to Allah's authority (and) when we refer to Him as an Ilah, as a sole authority (and) as a sole legislator then we have to understand the meaning of leadership for without understanding the meaning of leadership we cannot understand the meaning of authority.
The chief problem in the world today is that man's relationship with Allah is messed up. Man is not cognisant of his relationship to Allah and to correct this relationship it cannot be corrected without the proper functioning of leaders and to this end to (i.e.) correct this relationship between man and his Creator, between man and his Provider (or) between man and his ultimate sole authority Allah sent Messengers and messengers did not come to be part of the rank and file. Messengers came to be leaders of men, to set them on a directional course whereby they inspire each other to correct and maintain a proper relationship with their Lord but we understand this regardless of the side of the aisle you belong on- whether you are a Sunni or a Shi'i you understand this. You understand the necessity of leaders whether you call that leader an Imam or an Emir or a Khalifah (or) what have you. We understand that this Islam cannot function without just leaders but what we don't understand is that these leaders need a constituency that supports them. In order for these leaders to socialise new ideas they need constituencies to support them and they need a management team that drives the new behaviours into the fabric of human relationships. This management team that surrounds the leader at the level of a country or at the level of a society or at the level of a civilisation is what we call a state. The purpose of today's discussion is to describe a relationship between a leader and a state.
We all understand that the Qur'an and Islam were Allah's final dispensation to man (and) that this final dispensation came to complete the guidance that was given in previous scriptures. It came to complete this guidance in such a way as to socialise a moral code into a legal system and to create an executive authority that would maintain an alignment to that system. So what we are saying is that for an Islamic leader, an Imam or a Khalifah to be effective in his responsibilities he cannot do so without the instrument of state. It doesn't matter to us what side of the aisle you come from- whether you call yourself a Sunni (or) whether you call yourself a Shi'i or whether you go back to pre-Islamic history- we want you to go back to any of those histories whether it's Sunni history or Shi'i history or pre-Islamic history (and) identify a leader who was effective without the instruments of state. Go back. How effectives were the Imams when they were not able to utilise the instruments of state? How effective were leaders of Islamic movements when they were not able to utilise the instruments of state? Even when you go back to the history of Prophethood- the vast majority of them were not able to use the instruments of state. What distinguished the prophetic career of Muhammad is that he applied or was successful in the application of this moral code to the instruments of state. The instruments of state were utilised to socialise the people in correcting their relationship with Allah. This is the final piece that he put in place with regard to this Qur'anic revelation. So when we talk about an Islamic state is it the same kind of management team that we see here in corporations? Is it a chief executive officer with a chief financial officer and an operation officer and so on and so forth? Is its motivation to expand its markets its economic interests and to magnify its profits? In a sense are we saying that an Islamic state with an Islamic leadership is the same as a corporate leadership or is it the same with a secular leadership with a President or a Prime Minister? As we begin to explore and understand the difference between an Islamic state and a material or secular state you'll have to also explore the relationship between an Islamic state and an Islamic revolution. What is the connection between an Islamic revolution and an Islamic state? For in order to understand what an Islamic state is you'll have to understand how it is achieved through the transformative process of a revolution. When we mention the word revolution it invokes a lot of different thoughts in the minds of people depending on the background they happen to come from. When we attach the word Islamic to it then it evokes even more different and varied thoughts in the minds of people- Muslims and non-Muslims alike. When the changes that affect a people's outlook, that affect their values (and) that affect their preferences suddenly lead to a change in their collective behaviour then you have a revolution. You can call this an Islamic revolution when the means and the ends that are achieved by those means conform to Allah's Book and to the example of His Prophet. When there is a total change from a previous state of values to a new set of values, from a previous administrative structure to a new administrative structure, from a previous leadership to a new leadership, from a previous system of values to a new system of values then you have a revolution and when that new system of values is the Qur'an and the Sunnah and when that new leadership is the Imam or a Khalifah then you have an Islamic revolution. It is these new institutions, this new leadership (and) this new system of values that forms the basis of an Islamic state. An Islamic state is an alternative world system to the material or the secular world system. If, it could be said, the Islamic revolution is the mother then the Islamic state is the infant new born. The Islamic revolution is the consolidation of power that is necessary to establish the Islamic state. So let us better try to understand what it means to conduct an Islamic revolution that leads to an Islamic state for when you go through the pain and the struggle and the jihad to establish an Islamic state through the agency of an Islamic revolution you want to ensure the longevity of your efforts (and) you want to make sure that what you are doing and what you have set up has a chance to succeed. So in order for an Islamic state to be successful (and) in order for it to have a long life the key issue there is the degree of cohesiveness between the people and their leaders or said in another way it is the responsibility of the Islamic leadership to socialise the people to maintain a correct and proper relationship with Allah. It is this level of social cohesion between the leaders and their constituency that separates the Islamic state from all other states and the secular and the material world. Allah's Prophet said help or assist you brother whether he is an oppressor or an oppressed. So the people around him said OK- we can understand how to help the oppressed but how do we help our brother if he is an oppressor? So the Prophet said withhold his hand from doing injustice. There are two things that we ought to know immediately about this hadith. The first thing is that the relationship between a leader and the people he is leading is a relationship of brotherhood- that they have to be close enough to each other so that the people can suggest to the leader that you are drifting to the domain of oppression without him having to come down on them with an iron fist. The second thing that we ought to note about this hadith is that the degree of social cohesion between the leaders and the led is something that makes both of them part of the same Ummah. The relationship between them is close enough so that they can adjust the behaviour one with the other. So when we say that this is something that separates the Islamic state from all the other models of statehood out there we are saying this based on the claim that Islam makes that it is the finest means of social cohesion amongst the people, that it is the best means of ensuring cooperation and peace amongst all people and that is the meaning of the ayah that was quoted at the very beginning
This Qur'an guides to that which is most upright (or) which is the shortest distance between social justice as a model in the Qur'an and the application of social justice on the ground… (Surah Bani Isra'eel verse 9)
Islam also makes the claim that it sets up the finest government and the finest leadership and it makes this claim because that government and that leadership is dedicated to generic justice and to institutional justice and the hand that guides it is taqwa and in moments of indecision this leadership errs into the domain of rahma and this is a far cry from the kind of state and the kind of government that is set up by superpowers. There is no illusion about the way that they communicate the objectives of a superpower state. They say "we are interested in that national interests, we are concerned about the corporate interests of a certain class of people, we are concerned about preserving the wealth of a group in society that controls the majority of wealth in that society." So there are no illusions about their national objectives and we know that the hand that guides the superpower states is the hand of greed, the hand of ambition and the hand of corruption and the means it uses to achieve its objectives are war and oppression. So this world is in need of an Islamic state with an Islamic leadership that is guided by the council and command of Allah.
Committed Muslims…
Whatever side (or) whatever theological convention you belong to- whether you regard the Imamah to be a pillar of Islam or whether you imply that it is a pillar of Islam, whether you come from the Sunni side or whether you come from the Shi'i side- there is no disagreement, despite what some of our detractors may say, on the fact that Islam is castrated without a leader, that Islam is ineffective without a leader, that Islam is non-functional without a leader. What we disagree on is the how and the who but we don't disagree on the what. We don't disagree on the fact that we need a leader. As far as the who is concerned- that is a historical issue. Who should have been the successor to Allah's Prophet in the past is sealed; that cannot be changed! So there is no point in disagreeing about that. As far as the how is concerned- there is very little disagreement on how we ought to choose an Islamic leader- whether that leader is affirmed by the process of bay'ah, through elections, through a referendum (or) what have you. We know that the consent of the people is demanded for an Islamic leadership to be legitimate regardless of what side of the aisle you happen to be on. As far as the Islamic revolution in Iran Iran there were lot of people in the world, Sunni and Shi'ahs alike, that were surprised that it occurred inside of Iran Iran Iran Washington , whether you're in Tel Aviv or whether you are in Riyadh
This khutbah was presented by Imam Afeef Khan on the occasion of Jum'ah on 1 November 2013 on the sidewalk of Embassy Row in Washington D.C.
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