The recent
victory in the presidential race in Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood candidate
Mohammed Morsi has led to emotional tidal wave of optimism that many Muslims
are pinning their hopes upon. This is hardly surprising as the decades long brutal
oppression meted out by the previous regime was truly a horrific ordeal.
Muslims were denied even some of the most basic rights demanded by Islam.
Today one
witnesses speeches against the state of Israel and other rhetoric that appeals
to the hearts of the Muslims by speakers from the brotherhood. These speeches of
course inspire the Muslims in Egypt and beyond giving them hope that the
Muslims will rise once again.
Whilst some
may genuinely believe that the life of the Muslims of Egypt will take a turn
for the better – they need to get their thoughts together and look at the
situation in a dispassionate way. In this brief article we seek to examine some
of the facts so that we can evaluate if the change being brought to Egyptian
society is a genuine change based upon Islam or nothing more than slogans that
will cover the implementation of other than Islam.
Who Controls the government?
The facts on
the ground as they stand today are that whilst Mohammed Morsi is president
elect of Egypt - the real power in the land lies in the hands of the military, SCAF (the Supreme Council of the Armed
Forces). The constitution of the country is still to be fully defined and there
are many remnants of the previous regime that enjoy power and influence. They
will also undoubtedly be involved in ruling. The military is well funded by
America and will serve to accommodate the US in order to keep their patronage.
Will
Mohammed Morsi be in position to implement what the Shariah demands or will he
have to make compromise upon compromise? Is it possible to implement Islam when
government positions are occupied by a patchwork of individuals of differing
ways of thinking – ranging from sincere but ill informed Muslims, secularists
and downright self interested criminals?
What Islam Demands?
Are Muslims
permitted to indulge in actions that are not permitted by Islam, clearly they are
not. Islam demands that we restrict all our actions to the shariah rule and the
evidences are clear. Equally to rule by other than Islam is not permitted and the
arguments that are often cited like necessity (dhroora) etc have been shown
both from text and reality to be invalid.
Indeed Allah
(SWT) tells us in the Quran
إِنْ
الْحُكْمُ إِلاَّ لِلَّهِ
"The
ruling rests only with Allah." [Yusuf, 12:75]
وَمَنْ
لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الظَّالِمُونَ
"And
whosoever does not judge by that Which Allah has revealed, such are the
oppressors (Zalimun)." [Al-Maida,
5:45]
Islam
demands that the ruling should be based upon Islam. This means that there is no
room in government for other than Islam - secularism, nationalism, selfish interests
or American designs for the nation. The government must be based upon Islam and
Islam alone.
What Should Muslims expect from the
Egyptian Elections?
When one
considers the points that we have discussed – it becomes clear that these elections are not
a path to implement Islam in its entirety. Rather the results of this election will
allow further confusion to be sown into the minds of the Muslims of Egypt. As
the euphoria of the electoral win of Mohammed Morsi dies down, it will dawn on
the people that the success of the Muslim Ummah can only come from the adherence
to the Islamic aqeeda in statecraft and politics. Compromise leads to more
compromise until the original desire to implement Islam if forgotten.
In truth if the Khilafah system is not
implemented completely, comprehensively and radically then very little has been
accomplished for Islam. The possibility
of this electoral win by an Islamic party serving as a distraction for Muslims
to recognise the real path to revive is high. The true revival can
only come by establishing the Khilafah ruling system built upon and driven purely
by the Islamic aqeeda and nothing else.
Abdur Rahman
Siakhi
