Khutba on Amirate
الحمد لله، الحمد لله الذي حفِظ دينَه بالخلفاء والأمراء والسلاطين، وجعل مبايعتَهم وطاعتَهم الطريق إلى وحدة الأمة والنصر المبين، نحمده تعالى ونستعينه، ونشكره تعالى ونستغفره ونستغيثه، نعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا، من يهد الله فهو المهتد ومن يضلل فلن تجد له وليا مرشدا، ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك و له الحمد، يحيي ويميت، بيده الخير، وهو على كل شيء قدير، ونشهد أن سيدنا و مولانا محمداً عبده ورسوله، وحبيبه وصفيه، بلغ الرسالة وأدٌى الأمانة ونصح الأمة، النبي الأمي الذي أرسله الله بالهدى والدين الحق، بشيرا ونذيرا بين يدي الساعة، صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيا عباد الله اتقوا الله حق تقاته ولا تموتن إلا وأنتم مسلمون. يأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله وقولوا قولا سديدا يصلح لكم أعمالكم ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم. ومن يطع
الله ورسوله فقد فاز فوزا عظيما. اتقوا الله فيما أمر وانتهوا عما نها عنه وزجر.
Muslims, look around the world today at the Muslim umma and what do you see? weak, squabbling statelets where corruption is rife and money is king. We see division, not unity? We see anarchy, not governance – look at Tunisia, Iraq or Somalia. We see powerless Muslim ‘despots’ plotting the ruin and destruction of fellow despots while kowtowing to the money men and bankers of the world, and selling their people’s assets and futures for paper promises and a seat at the high table The Muslims can scarcely be described today as a single umma. And that is because an essential element is lacking and has been lacking for almost a century now. The Muslim umma has been likened to a body by the Messenger of Allah, but for a body to function it requires a head. It requires an organ that delivers instructions to the rest of the body and allows it to act as a harmonious whole – that organ is an amir/ a leader.
The solution to the woes of the Muslim world, we are being told is democracy, the only way that just government and leadership can arise is through elections. By the oppressed Muslim masses being granted the opportunity to make their voices heard, they will finally get leaders who serve them and their interests, and not just their own interests and that of their cronies. In the modern political dialectic, the only viable alternative to the unjust tyrant, stripping his country of its natural resources and lining his own pockets, the only alternative to a Saddam or a Pol Pot, is a democracy. It is the most peaceful, enlightened and fairest form of government, for it is government for the people by the people. Just look at how successful it has been for America and Europe, they say.
This is how our governments and the media – itself far from the free press that it claims to be but more a tool of control and means of shaping the opinions of the masses – try to sell it us. As the most perfect form of government and the best way of choosing a leader. This is a fantasy that is at complete variance with the facts – let us take France as a case study. Their great ‘democracy’ was born out of genocide, for the streets of France ran red with the blood of the enemies of the people and its rivers bloated with their swollen corpses. And their fabled ‘liberte and equalite’ – freedom and equality have been shown to be but empty words, mere tools to justify exploiting the masses for the benefit of the few as the recent financial crisis has shown.
For politicians are not there to serve the people, but to serve the wealthy, the money brokers. Democracy does not serve us, but robs us blind and then blames it on the previous administration. Indeed, far from being the only just and viable alternative to dictators, it is democracy that provides the circumstances that brings them to power, Hitler being just one of countless examples.
And, even were we to accept their definition as being true, that democracy is the rule of a country by its people, still that would be in complete contradiction to the deen of Allah, for it would mean accepting the will of the majority regardless of their deen. It would mean accepting the tenets of ‘human rights’ in inverted commas – that a Muslim is the same as a mushrik and that religion is a lifestyle choice, just like one’s model of car or brand of toothpaste, and can be swapped just as easily. Such a view is completely incompatible with Islam, since it is based on the doctrine that human reason – and for human reason read human whim – is the ultimate criterion upon which to base a society, not divine justice. It is an inversion of natural reality, for it implies that the created knows better than the Creator, the jahuul – ignorant, knows better than the ‘aliim – All-Knowing and khabiir. And that is clear nonsense. Believers and non-believers are not equal. Allah says:
أَفَمَنْ كَانَ مُؤْمِنًا كَمَنْ كَانَ فَاسِقًا لَا يَسْتَوُونَ
the translation of which is, “Is someone who is a believer like someone who is a deviator? They are not the same!” And to view them as the same is to accept shirk as a viable lifestyle choice. And we as Muslims cannot do that as we are commanded to combat shirk, until Allah alone is worshipped upon the earth, and until the deen of Allah is uppermost in the land. Allah says,
هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ
the translation of which is, “It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the Deen of Truth to exalt it over every other deen, even though the mushrikun detest it.” We reject totally the notion that a kafir has as much right over how the nation is run as a Muslim, and if the early Muslims were to have accepted that then the deen would never have taken hold in the land since, for the first few generations, they were in a minority, with the number of non-Muslim subjects in the Caliphate far outweighing the number of Muslim ones. The majority is never, and can never, be right. Allah says,
وَإِنْ تُطِعْ أَكْثَرَ مَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ يُضِلُّوكَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ إِنْ يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ
the translation of which is, “If you obeyed most of those on earth, they would misguide you from Allah’s Way. They follow nothing but conjecture. They are only guessing.” Government is not there to bring about the will of the people but rather to implement the Commands of Allah.
So, democracy is clearly not the solution. But, then, what is the solution? What is the umma lacking today? The answer is leadership – at both a macro level and a micro level. You must realise that the most significant event of the twentieth century was not WW1 or WW2, not the emergence of the US as a global power, but the abolition of the khalifate. From the time of the Prophet up until 1922, the Muslim umma had been continuously ruled by a single ruler, the khalifas of the Messenger of Allah. They were the glue that held the umma together, and with their removal the whole thing fell apart at the seams. There is an Arab saying:
ستون سنة من إمام جائر أصلح من ليلة بلا سلطان
“Sixty years under the rule of a tyrannical despot is better than a single night without a sultan,” and our experiences of the past century have shown us the truth of that. Even at the end of the Ottoman Caliphate, despite how far it had sunk and how corrupt it had become, still the Muslims were far more united and in a far better state than today. The necessity of leadership is something that the Muslims have recognised from the beginning of the affair – the very first thing the Muslims did after the death of the Messenger of Allah, even before burying him, was to appoint someone to lead the community in his stead, that someone being Abu Bakr. They refused to let even a single night pass without a leader. We, on the other hand, have let nearly 100 years pass.
They understood that there could be no deen in any real sense without leadership. Umar ibn al-Khattab said, as is transmitted by Ibn Abd al-Barr,
لا إسلام بلا جماعة، ولا جماعة بلا أمير، ولا أمير بلا طاعة
“There can be no Islam without jama’a, no jama’a without an amir, and no amir without obedience to him.” And Ibn Taymiyya said,
يجب أن يعرف أن ولاية أمر الناس من أعظم واجبات الدين، بل لا قيام للدين إلا بها. فإن بني آدم لا تتم مصلحتهم إلا بالاجتماع لحاجة بعضهم إلى بعض، ولا بد لهم عند الاجتماع من رأس
“It must be understood that leadership of the people is one of the greatest obligations of the deen – indeed the deen could not stand without it, for the best interests of the human race can only be served by them coming together to fulfil each other’s needs, and every gathering must have a head.” And that is clear when you look at the deen and see all those matters that can only be implemented by a leader: the taking and distribution of zakat, the beginning and end of Ramadan and so on. Ibn Taymiyya says,
ولأن الله تعالى أوجب الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر ولا يتم ذلك إلا بقوة وامارة، وكذلك سائر ما أوجبه من الجهاد والعدل وإقامة الحج…واقامة الحدود لا تتم إلا بالقوة والامارة
“Because Allah making commanding the right and forbidding the wrong obligatory, and that is not possible without strength and authority. And the same is true for other things He made obligatory, such as jihad, justice, the establishment of the hajj and the carrying out of the hudud punishments – none of that is possible without strength and authority.”
This is true on a macro level – in other words, the Muslim umma must have a khalifah, but is also true on a micro level. Every Muslim community, no matter how small, must have a leader. The Prophet said, as narrated by Abu Saeed al-Khudri,
إذا خرج ثلاثة في سفر فليؤمروا أحدهم
“When three people go out on a journey, they must appoint one of their number as their amir.” Thus, is the well-being of the group preserved. We ask Allah to establish this sunna in us and by us and protect and strengthen our communities by placing right-acting amirs over them.
أقول قولي هذا و أستغفر الله لي و لكم و لسائر المسلمين من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرَّحيمالحمد لله الحمد لله رب العالمين، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله، صلى الله وسلم وبارك عليه وعلى آله وصحبه، والتابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
أما بعد! فيأيها الذين ءامنوا اتقوا الله ما استطعتم واسمعوا وأطيعوا وأنفقوا خيرا لأنفسكم. يا عباد الله أوصيكم وإياي بتقوى الله وطاعته وأحذركم وإياي عن معصيته ومخالفته.
قال الله تعالى في كتلبه الكريم: لَّقَدْ رَضِيَ ٱللَّهُ عَنِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ يُبَايِعُونَكَ تَحْتَ ٱلشَّجَرَةِ فَعَلِمَ مَا فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ فَأنزَلَ ٱلسَّكِينَةَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَثَابَهُمْ فَتْحاً قَرِيباً
Allah says in His Noble Quran, the translation of which is, “Allah was pleased with the muminun when they pledged allegiance to you under the Tree. He knew what was in their hearts, and sent down the Sakeena to them and has rewarded them with an imminent victory,
The leader of the Muslim umma may be appointed in a number of ways as demonstrated by the actions of the rightly-guided khalifs: by agreement of the people of knowledge and influence in a community, by being named by the previous incumbent or simply by ‘asabiyya and force of arms. But as soon as he has been appointed, it is incumbent on the Muslim umma to obey him and make bay’a to him. Allah says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ وَأُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنْكُمْ
the translation of which is, “O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in command among you.” And Abu Hurayra narrated that the Messenger said,
من أطاعني فقد أطاع اللَّه، ومن عصاني فقد عصى اللَّه، ومن يطع الأمير فقد أطاعني، ومن يعص الأمير فقد عصاني
“Whoever obeys me has obeyed Allah and whoever disobeys me has disobeyed Allah. Whoever obeys the amir has obeyed me and whoever disobeys the amir has disobeyed me.” You must obey the amir even when he himself is corrupt, so long as he is not commanding you to disobey Allah. Ibn ‘Umar narrated that the Prophet said,
عَلَى الْمَرْءِ الْمُسْلِمِ السَّمْعُ وَالطَّاعَةُ فِيمَا أَحَبَّ وَكَرِهَ إِلَّا أَنْ يُؤْمَرَ بِمَعْصِيَةٍ فَإِنْ أُمِرَ بِمَعْصِيَةٍ فَلَا سَمْعَ وَلَا طَاعَةَ
“It is obligatory upon a Muslim that he should listen (to the ruler appointed over him) and obey him in the matters that he likes and in the matters he does not like, except when he is ordered to disobey Allah. If he is ordered to disobey Allah, then he should neither listen nor obey.” And Ibn ‘Abbas narrated that he said,
من كره من أميره شيئاً فليصبر، فإنه من خرج من السلطان شبراً مات مِيتة جاهلية
“If you see anything in your amir which you dislike, then endure it with patience. For whoever splits away from the Sultan by even so much as an inch will die a death of Jahiliyyah.” Once the amir is appointed, no matter how he came to power, it is our duty as Muslims to give him our obedience – by doing that, we fulfil our side of the bargain. If he falls short in meeting his responsibilities, then that is between him and Allah. As the Prophet said when Wa’il ibn Hijr asked him what they should do if their leaders became unjust tyrants,
إنما عليهم ما حملوا وعليكم ما حملتم
“They are only responsible for what they are charged with and you are only responsible for what you are charged with.”
This obedience is solemnised by the act of bay’a. This act of bay’a is a pledge of allegiance to the amir, a promise to obey him and not challenge or oppose him, and is a fard kifaya. In other words, it must be undertaken by some of the umma – namely the men of importance and influence within the community – and by that the obligation of the rest of the umma is met. The sunna of the bay’a was first established at ‘Aqaba when a number of the people of Madina came to the Prophet and pledged to serve and obey him and continued after his lifetime with the Muslims giving bay’a to Abu Bakr in the mosque of Madina while the body of the Prophet was still above ground. Such is the importance of this contract between the Muslims and their leaders, for it affirms their commitment to him and his to them. The Prophet said,
من مات وليس في عنقه بيعة مات ميتةً جاهلية
“He who dies without having a pact of bay’a around his neck, dies a death of the Jahiliyyah.” If we have not given our amirs bay’a. then we have not taken their leadership seriously nor taken it upon ourselves to obey them. ‘Amir’ is simply a meaningless title without us accepting their authority and undertaking to obey them. And as ‘Umar said, “There can be no Islam without amirs.” So we must allow our amir to lead us – we must unite behind him. And every Muslim community, wherever it is and no matter how small, must also take amirs. For it is only by re-establishing true leadership at a local level that we will develop the strength and unity to revive the khilafa. And it is only through the khilafa that we will see Islam regain its rightful place at the head of world affairs. So we ask Allah, in the words of the great Shaykh an-Nasir, that many of us know and recite,
يا رب وافتح فتحك المبين لمن تولى وأعز الدين، وانصره يا ذا الطول و انصر حزبه واملأ بما يرضيك عنه قلبه، يا رب وانصر ديننا المحمدي واجعل ختام عزه كما بدي
O Lord, grant Your clear victory to the one who takes charge and empowers the deen. And help him, O You who are forbearing, and help his party and fill his heart with what will make him pleasing to You. O Lord, help our Muhammadan deen, and make its end mighty just as its beginning was.
إنَّ اللهَ ومَلائِكَتَهُ يُصلُّونَ على النَّبِي يَا أَيُها الذينَ آمنوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وسَلِّمُوا تَسْليماً. اللهمَّ صَلِّ وسَلِّم وبارِك عَلَيْهِ وعلى آلِهِ وصَحْبِهِ أجمعين.
وارض اللهم عن الخلفاء الراشدين المرشدين الحنفاء ساداتنا وأئمتنا أبي بكر وعمر وعثمان وعلي ، وعن سائر الصحابة أجمعين، خصوصا الأنصار منهم والمهاجرين، وعن التابعين وتابعي التابعين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين.
اللهم اهد أولات أمور المسلمين لما يرضيك ولاتباع سنة نبيك صلى الله عليه وسلم وثبت أقدامهم على الصراط المستقيم وأصلحهم يا رب العالمين.
اللهم بارك على شيخنا، و على أميرنا، وعلى جميع أمراء وزعماء المسلمين.
اللهم بارك على المسلمين في هذه المدينة ووفقهم لما تحبه وترضاه يا أكرم الأكرمين.
اللهمّ أَعِزَّ الْلإسلامَ والمُسِلمينَ (3) واَخْذُلِ الكُفْرَ والكافِرينَ، وانْصُرِ المُجاهِدينَ في سَبِيلِ اللهِ. واجْعَلْ كَلِمََتَكَ هِيَ العُلْيَا وكَلِمَةَ الكُفْرِ هِيَ السُّفْلى.
ربنا ءاتنا في الدنيا حسنة وفي الأخرة حسنة وقنا عذاب النار.
اللهم لا تضعْ في مقامِنا هذا ذنبا إلا غفرْتَه، ولا عيبا إلا سترْتَه، ولا مريضا إلا شفيتَهُ وعافيتَه، ولا مسجونا إلا طلَّقْتَ سراحَه، ولا مسافرا في برِّك وبحرِك إلا سلِمتَهُ وغنِمْتَه.
إن الله يأمر بالعدل والإحسان وإيتاء ذي القربى وينهى عَنِ الفحشاءِ والمُنكَرِ والبغي، يعظكم لعلكم تذكرون، ولَذِكْرُ اللهِ أكبر والله يَعْلَمُ ما تَصْنَعُون. وقُومُوا إِلَى صَلاتِكُمْ يرحمكم الله