Part 4 (Final)
Akbar Jamal
So here we also need to examine the relationship between the scholars’ fatwas and the trust and reaction of the oppressed people from another important logical and intellectual angle, one that makes the core of this whole subject even clearer. As for the fatwas issued to prevent the movements, the basic question worth discussing is this: “In the scale of the sharia, is the position of these scholars balanced and the same toward both sides?”
When the scholars call the armed resistance that has risen as a reaction from the oppressed side disorder and fitna, or voice fear that it will come about, and issue fatwas against it with great insistence, is the conduct of the oppressive state, its tyrannical rulers and its unjust institutions also judged by the sharia with the same intensity, persistence and courage, and are fatwas issued against it too?
If one pan of the scale, the pan of stopping the oppressed, lies on the ground under the heavy load of advice and fatwas, while the other pan, the pan of turning the oppressor back from oppression, stays hanging in the air or is sacrificed to the interests of the state, it is natural that the oppressed people lose their religious and moral trust in this class of scholars. For the sharia and its knowledge are not the personal property of any particular class, family or inherited seat of learning. This knowledge is universal and natural, and the oppressed can learn it too, and do learn it.
For this reason, when the oppressed people see that the whole flow of the scholars’ fatwas is used only to tie the hands of lawful armed resistance, and that the curtain of silence has been drawn over the oppressor’s cruelty, they look for a sharia justification for not accepting these one-sided fatwas, and they find it. The oppressed class takes up this position in the light of the universal principles of the Quran and the Sunnah, that is, the right of defense, qisas and justice: “When no door for seeking redress is open to us, and the ones who issue fatwas are nowhere to be seen when it comes to holding the oppressor’s hand, then protecting our rights and our existence is our basic and sharia duty.”
At such a delicate stage the oppressed people take the road of armed resistance with trust in Allah (SWT) and firm faith, believing that they are in the right and are the wronged side, and that divine help will therefore be with them. While the scholars stop the movement from continuing only on the basis of “possible worries like civil war,” the oppressed, on the basis of their right of defense, hold this hope and belief: “Allah (SWT), seeing their intention and their condition of necessity, will not only help them in this weakness from the unseen, but will also keep this lawful defensive movement safe from fitna, from falling into the hands of others and being used for their aims, and will keep the country from drowning in the whirlpool of civil war.”
History also bears witness that when a government turns oppressive, its means and resources are always greater than those of the oppressed people. If “lack of means” or “fear of disorder” alone could be made an excuse, no great battle would ever have taken place in the history of Islam.
During British colonialism, the great scholar of India, Sheikh ul-Hind Maulana Mahmud Hasan (rh), laid the foundation of the Silk Letter Movement. The British government had countless means, an army and very advanced weapons, and scholars were being tied to the mouths of cannons and blown apart. Even so, Sheikh ul-Hind and Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, in cooperation with Afghanistan and other countries, drew up an organized plan for armed resistance, because they knew that silence before the usurper and oppressor lets his oppression go on.
When Does Armed Resistance Turn into Disorder?
It should be clear that armed resistance does not turn into fitna or civil war by itself. It becomes a cause of ruin when the reins of the movement fall into the hands of “nationalists, worldly people or untrained people” who neither understand the religion properly nor feel the sanctity of human life. When the only aim of a movement becomes revenge, it begins attacking common people, children and even those who have no part in the dispute at all. This is strictly forbidden in the sharia and is corruption on the earth.
The most important solution to this problem is this: “The leadership of such lawful and necessary armed resistance should be in the hands of the scholars themselves, scholars of good character, who fear Allah (SWT) and are firm in knowledge. That is, instead of issuing fatwas to turn the oppressed back from resistance, the scholars should themselves become the strong arm and support of the oppressed and take the leadership upon their shoulders.”
So when the scholars themselves lead such movements:
1. The movement is saved from falling into the hands of others and from being misused for personal and tribal gains.
2. The limits set by the sharia, such as the principle of not harming common people, women, children and non-fighters, are strictly put into practice.
3. The movement is kept focused only on “driving off oppression” and “establishing justice.”
The biggest contemporary example of this is the twenty-year struggle of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA). On one side stood the world’s biggest superpower, America, and 47 allied countries. On the other side stood the people and the mujahideen, deprived of means but armed with the strength of faith, who fought under the organized leadership of the scholars. This resistance not only defeated the enemy, but because of its organized religious order and discipline it also saved the country from drowning in a lasting civil war.
Unity of Faith and the Prophetic Glad Tidings
At this stage of general oppression the most important thing is “strength of faith” and “unity,” as stated in hadith number 4297 of Sunan Abi Dawud.
It is narrated from Thawban (RA) that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:
“Soon other nations will gather against you and fall upon you, the way diners gather around a tablecloth.”
The Sahabah said:
“O Messenger of Allah! Will our number be small at that time?”
The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:
“No, on that day you will be many, but you will be weightless, like the foam of the sea. Allah (SWT) will take the fear of you out of the chests of your enemies and will put ‘wahn’ in your hearts.”
It was asked:
“What is wahn?”
He said:
“Love of the world and fear of death.”
This blessed hadith shows that when Muslims scatter among themselves and make worldly comfort or fear the lasting companions of their life, they easily fall prey to oppression.
So for an oppressed person, the Islamic sharia is not another name for cowardice, helplessness and going down on one’s knees before the oppressor. If the judicial system fails, the state itself turns oppressive and every road of reform is closed, then armed resistance becomes the human, natural and sharia right of the oppressed, for the survival of their rights and their existence.
The only condition is that this resistance must not become a sacrifice to emotions or worldly gains. It should instead be led by practicing scholars and God-fearing people who create an atmosphere of unity among the ummah, awaken the strength of faith and, by keeping to the moral rules of war, make it a means of true justice, peace and good for the oppressed.
