In part 1 of this article we were talking about the general command by Allah and His Messenger (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) to be obedient to the leaders. We will be discussing a major misconception that has been spread throughout the ranks of the people, which is causing an enormous amount of problems in our societies. This is the issue of being displeased with something that we think that we may see from our leaders. As we look around the globe, we see the evil effects that our ignorance on how we should be dealing with these things are causing.
There are people, whether it be purposely or out of ignorance that are misinforming the people. They are giving the impression that what they like and want outweigh that which is good for the masses of the people. They are telling the people that they know what is best for the society, even though they are not trained to see the reality of what is happening in and around the places in which they reside. People are being told that they need to stand up for what they see to be injustice, even though they do not know the details which will allow them to make an educated decision as to what is really justice and what is injustice.
We have to begin to see that this is a major fitnah that is sweeping over the Muslim Ummah at an alarming rate. This idea that many of us have about things needing to be to our liking in order for us to be obedient to our leaders is incorrect. We have been commanded to be obedient to them even if we do not like what we have been commanded with, as long as it is not disobedience to Allah. Look at what the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said about this. There are many hadeeth about this issue, but the one that we want to bring to your attention is the one narrated by Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) said that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The Muslim is required to hear and obey in that which he likes and dislikes, unless he was commanded to sin” [reported by al Bukhari and Muslim]. Now after reading this, we need to realize that the situation of seeing something that we are displeased with, or being commanded with something that we do not like or feel as though is not right, is not cause for us acting in inappropriate ways toward our leaders.
And even when we are commanded with something that may be disobedience to Allah, we do not remove our hands from obedience to them in anything but that issue. It is not like some people have been trying to spread among the ranks attempting to cause uprisings or revolutions. This fintah (trial) is what we have seen over the last few years, and it is incorrect and destructive. . Look at this statement of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) and see for yourself. On the authority of Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them, that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever takes his hand from the obedience, then there will be no proof for him on the Day of Resurrection, and whoever dies while breaking away from the body of the Muslims, then he dies the death of the days of ignorance (Jahiliyyah)” [reported by Imam Ahmad]
So we see here that these people who are telling us that we need to rise up because we are unhappy, and that we need to break away from the main body of the Muslims are calling us to be disobedient to Allah and His messenger. Regardless of all of the seemingly beautiful speech they may have presented to us, it is not permissible for us to take that and let it overrule that which is clear from the texts that are actually legislated proofs in our religion. As Muslims we are commanded to not put anything over the speech of Allah and His Messenger, especially not our own limited understanding or the rhetoric that others may spew in our direction.
To be continued…
