Many of us are observing events in Yemen closely as the possibility of armed conflict balances on near even odds, however, as things often go in Yemen, something unexpected may happen, like an un-armed youth revolution. Who would have ever expected that a few months ago?
For a long time the scholars of Jihad have tried to encourage the citizens of the Muslim lands to rise up against the leaders and declared it halal to do so even against a ruler of a Muslim land because in effect he is an apostate – his actions have nullified his Islam. Because of this perceived nullification, the ruler has lost his right to obedience, and is an invader in a Muslim land implementing the laws and cooperating with the enemies of Allah to fight and kill the Muslims. In the case of the invasion of a Muslim land, Jihad becomes fard ayn (compulsory on all Muslims).
This issue has been for some time one of the most juicy and hotly contended issues of Jihad, the arguement that if the leader of the Muslims disbelieves and resists then it is obligatory to fight him fard ayn and it is even prioritized ahead of other Jihads. Think about it. If we truely want to take back Palestine for example, how can we do that when the leaders of the Muslim lands cooperate and make agreements with the enemies of Islam in regards to Israel?
The hadiths that are used to support the rulers in the Muslim lands are:
The Marfu’ hadith of Ibn ‘Abbas, “Whoever hates something from his Amir then let him be patient because whoever leaves from beneath the authority of a single hand span, then he dies a death of Jahiliyya.” (Agreed upon), and the hadith of Awf ibn Malik al-Ashja’I, that The Messenger of Allah (sas) said, ”The best of your leaders are those whom you love and who love you, and for whom you pray and who pray for you, and the worst of your leaders are those whom you hate and who hate you, and to whom you curse and who curse you.” He said, “We said, O Messenger of Allah, should we not rid ourselves of them?’ He said, “No, not so long as they establish the prayer amongst you.” (Muslim).
According to ahl us-Sunnah, these hadiths are regarding the Muslim Imam, not the disbelieving ruler. And they are not to be used as evidence concerning the apostate rulers because those people do not fulfill the conditions of the leadership (Imamah) in the first place, such as the Shari’ah knowledge and justice. Also, a valid Shari’ah bay’ah was not contracted upon them and the bay’ah would not take place unless it was upon the condition of ruling with the Book and the Sunnah just as al-Bukhari narrated from ibn Umar that he wrote to Abdul-Malik ibn Marwan giving him Bay’ah “and I will agree with you in listening and obeying upon the Sunnah of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger in what I am able.”
Abdul-Qadir ibn Abdul-Aziz (scholar of Jihad and presently in prison in Egypt – May Allah hasten his release) said that this is the condition of the rulers who rule with other than Shariah of Islam in many of the Muslim countries today. They are considered disbelievers due to the statement of Allah swt;
“And whosoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed such are the Kafirun.” Surah al-Ma’ida 44
This ayah is clear and does not use any fancy language, it states that they are kafirun, not just committing kufr but they themselves are kafir. Some argue that if they pray then we cannot call them kafir. I will present the evidence to refute this as it was presented to me, it is up to you if you agree or not.
The way that they implement laws of their own making, they set themselves up as Lords beside Allah and decide that the laws that their hands made are better than the laws of the All-Knowing Allah swt. We find mentionings of such people in the ayat of Quran;
“…yet those who disbelieve hold others as equal with their Lord.” Al-Anam 1
“Or have they partners with Allah who have instituted for them a religion with Allah has not allowed?” ash-Shura 21
Fabricating laws and everyone involved in making up such laws are committing kufr akbar which removes one from the Millah of Islam even if he comes with the five pillars of Islam. This is what many of the contemporary people of knowledge have approved.
So it is obligatory to remove the apostate ruler if he does not have any defenses and then he must be put before the judge. If he repents then he is spared and if he doesn’t he is executed.
In the case of his repentance, he is not to be returned to power. He has lost his rights to this. Abu Bakr and Umar raa never employed a munafiq over the Muslims nor did they ever employ any of their relatives. They fought the people of apostasy and returned them to Islam, and then they prevented these people from riding horses and carrying weapons until the validity of their repentance was shown(Majmo’o al-Fatwa 35/65).
If the apostate ruler is resisting with a group which fights for him then it is obligatory to fight them and everyone who fights for him is a disbeliever like him. And this statement is supported by the statement of Allah swt,
“And whoever from you takes them as awliya, then surely he is one of them.”
Surah al-ma’ida 51
Once again a very clear statement from Allah swt so that we cannot mistake it, yet most of the ummah is mistaken!
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab and others have said that from the nullifications of Islam is the siding with the mushrikin and assisting them against the Muslims. They use surah al-Ma;ida 51 as their dalil.
Therefore all of the people who are fighting for these apostate rulers even if they say the shahada and openly show some of the outward characteristics of Islam, due to their nullification of the foundations of Islam they are to be fought. Allah swt says,
“Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah and those who disbelieve fight in the way of tagut.”
An-Nisa 76
People use the argument in regard to the apostate rulers that they pray so we cannot call takfir on them and I have presented why their Islam is nullified, the other argument is that we cannot see what is in their heart. Yes that is true, we cannot judge someone by what is in their heart, we only have the outward actions and if their outward actions are kufr akbar, and the type of kufr that nullifies Islam, then that is the end of the story, that apostate ruler needs to be removed and those who fight for him are from him and must also be fought until Islam is dominant.
The hadith of Ubadah ibn As-Samit raa explains how these rulers lose their right to obedience by their actions.
“The Messenger of Allah (sas) called us so we gave bay’ah to him. So from what he took upon us was that we offer bay’ah upon listening and obeying, during our eagerness or reluctance and in our difficult times and in our easy times and favouring the commands instead of our own desires and that we would not dispute the authority from its people unless you see an open disbelief for which you have evidence from Allah about it” (agreed upon).
The consensus is that if kufr comes from the ruler, then he should be removed. He has not right to authority and has lost his right to obedience according to the above mentioned hadith. It becomes fard for the Muslims to rise up against him and set up an imam if possible. As we have seen in many of the Muslim countries now including Yemen.
There is no difference if the invader is foreign or domestic because the reason for the obligation of the Jihad against him exists in his characteristic of disbelief just as the domestic disbeliever becomes foreign to the Muslims by his disbelief due to the statement of Allah swt:
“O Nuh! Surely he is not of you family, verily his work is unrighteous”! Surah Hud 46
Abdul-Aziz says that these apostate rulers have set up a fence of lethal alienation between the general Muslims and those holding steadfast to their religion so that it will be easy for the tawaghit to strike those who hold steadfast to their religion while being surrounded by the ignorance of the general population and their silence.
The responsibility of those who are steadfast on the Deen of Allah is to break down these barriers of alienation by informing the general population through the path of one-on-one dawa and the general dawa with the obligation of this Jihad, so that the issue of Jihad will turn into an issue of all the Muslims as opposed to an issue of the groups of the elite. It also needs that the Jihad switches from an issue of the specific population to an issue of the general population. And here the tables will turn against the tawaghit and their helpers. Then their alienation will take place after their disbelief and their crimes have been uncovered, He the Most High said,
“…and turn them out from where they have turned you out.” Al-Baqara 191
It is also important to move the issue of Jihad from the specific population to the general population because Allah does not help a people who do not help themselves as He has told us in His Book,
“Verily! Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.”
This does not mean that the whole population must participate, but a good percentage of the people to form some strength which can force the Islamic system and protect it from foreign and domestic enemies. For the rest of the population it is at least important that they are morally supportive or neutral until the truth is clarified with them because we cannot force someone to believe, that is up to Allah swt.
The Messenger of Allah (sas) started with the dawa until an assembly (Ta’ifah) was formed which had strength with which he performed Jihad against the disbelievers, thus actualizing what Allah swt ordered him to do in his statement;
“Then fight in the Cause of Allah, you are not tasked (held responsible) except for yourself, and incite the believers (to fight alongside you) it may be that Allah will restrain the evil might of the disbelievers.” Surah an-Nisa 84
It is also obligatory for those holding steadfast to their religion to part the tawaghit from their money with which they use to recruit the armies to wage war against Allah and His Messenger. So it is unlawful for Muslims to pay money to the tawaghit in any form of tax except by necessity or compulsion. That is the unavoidable taxes that are hidden in the prices of foods, goods and services.
To recap, fighting against the apostate rulers is put ahead of fighting others besides them from the disbelievers of origin because:
1. It is specified Jihad Dafa’ – the defensive Jihad which is put ahead of Jihad at-Talab and it is Jihad Dafa’ because the rulers are a disbelieving enemy which has taken over a Muslim country. The intruding enemy corrupts the religion and this life and there is nothing more obligatory after faith than to repel it (ibn Taymiyya).
2. The fact that they are apostates and fighting the apostates has been prioritized ahead of fighting the disbeliever from origin.
3. They are the closest in proximity to the Muslims and more severe in fitnah and threat.
You may be familiar with these opinions, and whether you agree with it or not with armed struggle is irrelevant in the current climate of un-armed rebellion. It is something very special and courageous and many never thought that the un-armed protesters would ever succeed, but they have shown exemplary patience, unity and good will between each other.
Even once presented this dalil most Muslims would still have serious doubt about rising up or taking up arms against another claiming to be Muslim, especially fellow countrymen. So the youth of the new uprising are in a unique situation. No one can call them terrorists or claim their rebellion haram, although some have but are now rather quiet about it. The uprising is not linked to any particular political party, so no one can claim conspiracy by another group. They are young and they had nothing to lose by starting this unarmed Jihad against the oppressive (apostate if you prefer that opinion) ruler.
When we have an oppressive ruler, we are advised in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah not to rise up against him to help him to stop the oppression. This happened in Yemen as the President received advice from the Islamic scholars and other highly respected members of the Yemeni society to stop the corruption, stop playing games between the different groups, stop killing the Muslims, not to take America as helpers and to adhere to Islam – Qur’an and Sunnah in making decisions. He did not listen to this advice and became worse in his corruption.
Allah bless and guide the youth who had the courage to stand up against this ruler un-armed and stand fast to their demands despite the violence meted out to them. Amin.
(note: this post was to LPOY in a strange format and after some time spent editing there are still lines across the page in some places. They don't mean anything please ignore. Extracts are taken from a longer text translated into English).
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