Question: My
questions concerns the establishment of an Islamic state in this modern
era? What is the basic methodology? Please give a detailed answer.
Answer: Islam
does not give any guidance on the strategy of establishing an Islamic state.
It has left this matter to common sense and experience. The reason for
this is that Muslims have a natural urge in them to live as a collectivity
and adopt the collective directives of Islam. So, Islam has left this matter
to this urge.
Also, circumstances are different
in different communities. So no pattern has been set.
You have asked for a detailed answer,
but I am afraid that there are no details. However, I would like to clarify
one thing: Some religious scholars present the example of the Prophet Muhammad
(sws); they say that he had adopted a particular method of setting up an
Islamic state, and we Muslims should follow this example. I am afraid that
neither did the Prophet (sws) ever undertake the task of establishing an
Islamic state nor was he ever directed by the Almighty to do so.
The scholars who uphold this idea
say that it is the religious obligation of every Muslim to strive for the
supremacy of Islam in his country by all the means he can. They term it
as an ‘Islamic Revolution’ and present the following verse in support of
this view:
It is He Who has sent his Apostle with Guidance
and the Religion of Truth, that he may proclaim it over all religions,
even though the Idolaters may detest [this]. (61:9)
On the basis of the phrase ‘all religions’,
it is understood that the followers of Islam must struggle for its dominance
in their respective countries and territories.
An analysis of the context of this
verse shows that it belongs to the class of directives that relate to the
established practice of the Almighty regarding His Rusul according
to which a Rasul always triumphs over his nation.
Those who show hostility to Allah and His Rasul
are bound to be humiliated. The Almighty has ordained: ‘ I and my Rusul
shall be dominant’. (58:20)
Muhammad (sws) was also informed that
he would triumph over his nation. He and his companions were told that
they would have to fight the idolaters of Arabia until the supremacy of
Islam was achieved there and that these idolaters should be informed that
if they did not desist from their evil ways they too would meet a fate
no different from those of the other nations of Rusul:
Say to the disbelievers that if now they desist
[from Unbelief], their past would be forgiven them; but if they persist,
the punishment of those before them is already [a warning for them]. And
fight them on until there is no more persecution and there prevails the
religion of God everywhere. (8:38-40)
Consequently, it is to be noted that al-Mushrikin
(the idolaters) is used in 61:9 quoted above. The Qur’an uses
this word specifically for the idolaters of Arabia of the Prophet’s times.
As a result, ‘all the religions’ in the conjugate clause can only mean
all the religions of Arabia at that time. Therefore, the verse has no bearing
on Muslims after the times of the Prophet (sws).
Therefore, striving to achieve the
political supremacy of Islam is no religious obligation upon a Muslim.
The verses from which this obligation has been construed specifically relate
to the Rusul of the Almighty. This inference does not mean that
Muslims should not strive for this cause. It only indicates that this is
not their religious responsibility.
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