The obligation of adopting thoughts that are necessary for the work of the group
The obligation of adopting thoughts that are necessary for the work of the group
The Shara does not require the mere presence of a group. Rather what the Shara requires is the establishment of a group whose purpose is to establish this order. The evidences for the existence of the group clarify this for us.
- In His (swt) saying; “And let there arise out of you a group inviting to all that is good (Islam), enjoining the maroof (good) and forbidding the munkar (evil). And it is they who are successful.” [TMQ 3:104]. The Shara has obliged the establishment of a political group whose ideology is Islam and that carries the thoughts and Sharee rules necessary for the achievement of the aims the group was established for, which are the dominance, establishment and accession to power [of Islam]. The order is not to have a group for its own sake. It is rather to realise what was commanded, which is the dawah and enjoining the maroof and forbidding the munkar. Also, it is not the dawah and enjoining the good and forbidding the evil for their own sake. Rather the order is to realise the objective for which the dawah and enjoining the maroof and forbidding the munkar exist; dominance, consolidation and accession to power.
- The Messenger (saw) said; “It is not allowed for three people to be on any part of the earth without appointing one of them as ameer (leader). [Narrated by Ahmad b. Hanbal]. The Shara indicated that for any joint action that the Muslims have been ordered to perform they must have an ameer. The obedience to him will be obligatory in the matter he has been made ameer for, and for the people over whom he has been made ameer. The group must comply with the order of the ameer, so that the results of this collective work are achieved according to the Shara.
- Since Allah (swt) has enjoined upon the Muslims many obligations that are entrusted to the Khaleefah only, then it has become imperative to appoint a Khaleefah in order to realise these obligations. Since the appointment of a Khaleefah and the establishment of the Khilafah cannot be achieved except by a group, then the presence of a group whose aim is to establish the Khaleefah and the Khilafah becomes inevitable. This is based on the priciple: ‘That which is necessary to establish a wajib is itself a waajib (ma la yattimmul waajib illa bihi fahuwa waajib).
So it becomes clear that the presence of a group is inextricably linked to the presence of the required Sharee objective. Thus, it is not a group that merely undertakes the dawah to Islam. It is not a group that conveys the message just for the sake of conveying. Rather it is a group established for the purpose of establishing Islam in the life of the Muslims, through the establishment of the Islamic State, which is considered the Sharee method of applying all the rules of Islam, both individual and collective. Hence a group must exist whose purpose is to realise the aim for which it has been established.
Until the group can be considered to have fulfilled all that is required of it, it must do the following things.
- It must adopt all the thoughts, Sharee rules and opinions that are necessary for its work, and it should adhere to them in word, deed and thought. This is because the aim of adoption is to protect the unity of the party. If the group is established and its members have different thoughts and diverse Ijtihaadaat the group will be afflicted with splits and fragmentation, even though they may be united on the aim and on Islam in a general manner. Within it there would be other factions, leading to groups forming within the group. Its dawah will turn from being a dawah to others to work with it and establish the fard, into a dawah to each other. They will start to dispute with each other, with each faction trying to get its view across to the leadership of the group. Hence, the importance of adoption and its legitimacy becomes evident. The unity of the group is necessary by Shara. Nothing can maintain its unity in this situation, except the adoption of all the thoughts necessary for the work, and obliging the shabab with this adoption. Accordingly the adoption becomes required in compliance with the principle ‘That which is necessary for a wajib, is itself wajib.
As long as the thoughts, rules and opinions for the work of the group are all based on the Shar’eeah; and as long as this group has the trust of its shabab it is allowed, in origin, to restrict the shabab in the thoughts regarding the work because it is allowed for a Muslim to leave his opinion and work according to the opinion of others. Thus, in the bay’ah of ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan he accepted to take the pledge of Khaleefah on condition that he left his Ijtihaad for the Ijtihaad of Abu Bakr and Umar (ra), even where it differed with his Ijtihaad. The Sahabah accepted this and they gave him the bay’ah. However, this is considered to be permitted and not obligatory as is made evident by the fact that Ali (ra) did not accept to leave his Ijtihaad for the Ijtihaad of Abu Bakr and Umar and not a single Sahabah objected. Also, it has been authentically narrated from ash-Sha’bi that Abu Musa used to leave his opinion for the opinion of Ali, Zayd used to leave his opinion for the opinion of Ubayy b. Ka’b and Abdullah used to leave his opinion for the opinion of ‘Umar. Ahadith have been narrated that Abu Bakr and ‘Umar used to leave their opinion for ‘Ali (ra). This shows that it is allowed for theMujtahid to leave his opinion for someone else based on trust in his Ijtihaad. The shabab of this group must adhere to these two concepts and they should have a be intellectual and emotional body.
(Excerpt from book: Da’wah to Islam By Sh. Ahmed Mahmoud)
great article mashallah! it made absolute sense to me but how and where do i start in order to adopt such concepts and what should be my starting base for learning??