A More Perfect Union: What is an Ideal Muslim State?

…A More Perfect Union:What is an Ideal Muslim State

By: Fatimah Murad

Governments are an essential element of human life; this is why politics dominate the public consciousness and conversation. In the current day they are also often the source of much frustration as the general political landscape devolves into a quagmire of corruption and inefficiency. As Muslims this frustration often leads us to dream of the utopia of a Khilafah, ruled by noble and righteous rulers and governed by a just Shariah system guaranteeing the welfare of its citizens.

The reality, however, is that the most ideal form of the Islamic state, starting with the Prophet SAW establishing a community in Madinah and continuing through the Caliphate of Ali RA, lasted less than 50 years of the fourteen centuries of Islam. Does this mean that everything that came after, including the rise of Islam as the dominant civilization in the worldtook place under an illegitimate or un-Islamic government? The truth is complex and requires some understanding of Islamic political theory and how it defers from the dominant western theory we are accustomed to today.

The first thing we must consider is that Allah SWT and his Prophet SAW did not provide us with a fully developed legislative document akin to the United States constitution. There is no compiled set of laws outlining every right guaranteed within Islam, nor, notably, a set system for selecting and forming a governing body. While the Qur’an is of course, along with the Sunnah of the Prophet SAW, considered the supreme law, it is far more than a set of rules. Therefore, most legislation needs to be extrapolated from these sources, where some rulings are explicitly stated, others are inferred. Even in the case of seemingly straightforward laws, we see nuances within the Prophet’s application. What scholars have derived from these sources and incidents is what we collectively refer to as Shariah. Within, there are rules and obligations that are entirely personal (i.e. fasting and its exemptions, the details of tahara) and do not need to be included within a legislative document for a community, and others that are only applicable by a government in an established political state (i.e. capital punishments, declarations of war and peace), and some that fall a little in between (i.e. rules of marriage, divorce, and inheritance).

At all times there need to be scholars and leaders who can interpret these rules for the community. During the lifetime of the Prophet SAW, this was exceedingly simple. He was at once the religious and political leader of the Ummah, his authority was absolute as a Messenger of Allah SWT who actively received revelation from the Almighty. There was no need to second guess his decisions or seek a different opinion. There was also another element that contributed to the simplicity of that time; the community was very small such asthe population of a small town and the congregation of one mosque. So there was little need to divide up or delegate governing roles, although the Prophet did assign certain tasks to his Sahaba according to their strengths. He also set certain precedents that informed the leaders who came after him.

For example, although taking shahadah automatically meant acknowledging the Prophet SAW as the highest authority in religious matters, before his move to Madinah, he also took from the number of the ansaar a pledge to make war and peace with him and under him when the need arose, thus establishing himself as the political and military authority as well. He also upon arriving in Madinah drafted a document which came to be known as the constitution of Madinah which outlined the basic rules of coexistence among the different tribes which made up the new Ummah, including a sizable minority of Arab Jews. It established the responsibility of all parties in seeing to the defense and wellbeing of the city. For the Muslims it emphasized that their loyalties should be first and foremost to their brothers and sisters in faith and second to their tribes. It also established that although the Jews and Muslims would cooperate in matters of community they would refer to their own authorities and scriptures when it came to religious matter. This was a model for how Muslim governments continued to deal with religious minorities within the Islamic empire.

Upon his death the Prophet SAW did not appoint a successor, nor did he leave any instructions on how the Ummah should do so. There was a divinely ordained wisdom in this seemingly unsettled legacy. Any explicit suggestion the Prophet SAW may have made as far as method or persons would have been enshrined as a religious order. Whatever manner he may have suggested may have worked for the time and place they were given but would have faced challenges in the centuries as the Ummah spread across the globe and diversified in culture and evolved in complexity. Further, if the Prophet SAW specifically appointed a successor, the Muslims may have transferred to them the kind of allencompassing authority reserved for the Messenger. It is a definingcharacteristic of mainstream Sunni Islam that there is no clergy, no man or class of people that has religious authority, only scholars whose opinions are trusted for their knowledge. This concept was established by the Prophet SAW on his deathbed, where he refused to order the Ummah to follow any one person, though he did imply through certain actions (i.e. asking him to lead the prayer in his absence) that Abu Bakr RA would be the best choice. He was subsequently chosen by the unanimous consensus of the community as the best person to lead them.

As far as the remainder of the rightly guided Caliphs, Abu Bakr RA chose to appoint his successor by suggesting Umar RA, while Umar RA assigned a committee of notable Sahaba to choose a leader from amongst themselves, and they decided upon Uthman RA. The death of Uthman RA was so sudden and chaotic that there was no opportunity for him to weigh in on the issue of a successor and the main community came together to nominate Ali RA.

The one element all of these had in common is that they ruled by the approval of the people, demonstrated by the public giving of bai’ah or pledge of allegiance, by the community. Another core element was that they were all chosen for their merits as the best of the community, both in religious matters and capabilities as leaders. A similar process of vetting and public approval was used for those the Caliph appointed in other positions of authorities such as governors and judges. This shows that the ideal Islamic government is a mix of representational republic and meritocracy.

There were other key elements from the reign of the Khulafah ar Rashidun that are considered essential to a proper Islamic government and applicable throughout time and place.

First and foremost is that the Caliph is considered not the Sovereign ruler of the land, but rather the Imam, the spiritual and political leader of the Ummah. Sovereignty belongs to Allah SWT the Creator and true King. Therefore, he must rule by the Shariah, as explained earlier, and not by arbitrary man-made laws. This is by far the greatest difference between Islamic and western governments. When they were ruled by monarchies, the king or queen had sovereignty and absolute power often with the justification of divine right to rule. We, of course, know that only the Prophet SAW had what could be considered a divine right and it did not transfer to his successors. When the monarchies ended, they were replaced with a secular democratic system that forms the basis formost governments today. While this system does include many of the rights and freedoms also included within an Islamic system, it replaces the authority of the monarch with the liberty of the individual. A secular republic is founded on the principle that the leader is purely a political head and the laws are in place only to minimally maintain basic order over a people who are free to choose their own truths and values. The leader is simply the person who the majority of people chose, not beholden to any higher moral standard.

The Caliph though also chosen by the people must demonstrate certain qualities. As a spiritual leader he has a responsibility to set an example of righteousness and proper Muslim conduct and can be removed for committing major sins or abandoning regular prayers. Furthermore, the people have an explicit right and responsibility to protest and correct a leader when they see him in wrong. The nature of a true Islamic ruler is beautifully stated in Abu Bakr RA’s first address to the people upon being given the Caliphate.

“I have been given the authority over you, and I am not the best of you. If I do well, help me; and if I do wrong, set me right. Sincere regard for truth is loyalty and disregard for truth is treachery. The weak amongst you shall be strong with me until I have secured his rights, if God wills; and the strong amongst you shall be weak with me until I have wrested from him the rights of others, if God wills. Obey me so long as I obey God and His Messenger. But if I disobey God and His Messenger, you owe me no obedience. Arise for your prayer, God have mercy upon you.”

This is a clear indication that blind fealty and absolute rulers have no place in Islam, they have to earn loyalty by standing up for truth and good over evil and indecency, and standing up for justice and the rights of the weak against the strong who would oppress them. This is, quite possibly the most essential tenet of an Islamic government. It is derived from the Qur’anic injunctions of enjoining good and forbidding evil as well the oft emphasized point that Allah SWT gives power on the earth to those who establish order and justice.

The Rightly Guided Caliphs upheld these tenets to the utmost. Not only were they personally from the elite of the Sahaba, commended for their piety, knowledge, and character among even their illustrious generation, they held themselves and their appointed officers to the highest standards of accountability. There are instances of Umar RA, for example, supporting the rights of common citizens against family members of prominent Sahaba when they were mistreated. He also instituted a social welfare system for the care of the less fortunate and almost eradicated poverty. Though the many Caliphs that came in later decades did not maintain the same high standards, the concept of accountability, of caring for the general population and establishing a just and morally upright society was maintained.

As far as the process of selecting a leader, the fifth Caliph Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan RA started a dynastic tradition by securing allegiance for his son Yazid as his successor, that continued with the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates that came after. While this concept of dynastic succession was opposed by many among the sahaba as being against the republican spirit of Islam, which especially emphasized faith bonds and piety over blood preference, and while Yazid ibn Mu’awiyah proved himself to be a notorious ruler who oversaw multiple atrocities, it is important to consider the shift from popular nomination to hereditary succession. For one, the number of prominent sahaba was diminished by this time and the small intimate community of believers who all knew of each other’s strengths and capabilities had grown into a massive and complex empire where no one man was the obvious or preferred choice. For another, at this point in human history, the vast majority of civilizations were ruled by dynasties because of the simplicity of the succession, having general elections over vast swathes of land full of different ethnicities and cultures was logistically impossible. Finally, Mu’awiya RA was a sahaba who had witnessed and been involved in deeply troubling events and seen the Ummah descend into confusion and discord. While he may have made an error in judgement, he still did so while desiring the wellbeing of the Muslim community.

Another thing to note is that throughout the Umayyad Caliphate Islamic knowledge and scholarship flourished and grew, the Shariah was codified through the four major schools of thought and the teachings of the Prophet SAW were compiled into the books of Sahih that we still use today. While a monarchy was not an ideal form of Islamic government, it was not illegitimate enough for the greatest scholars of the Ummah to continually protest against or publicly repudiate. Also, within the dynastic tradition there was still an effort to appoint suitable and practicing leaders. This was seen in transfers of powers that forewent sons for brothers or cousins who were more qualified.

Ultimately the most important elements of an Islamic government did flourish. Shariah, applied with wisdom and understanding, was the law of the land, and through it the Islamic empire was a force for the betterment of humanity. It fostered the spread of knowledge among populations, rather than allowing education to become a luxury for the elite. Public hospitals not only treated peoples’ ailments at no cost, they also gave endowments to the families of the gravely ill to provide for them until they recovered. Systems were in place to ensure that citizens would not suffer hunger and widows and orphans were cared for by the state. This is in contrast to modern governments that are based around national interest and an individualistic rather than an altruistic approach. By acknowledging the supremacy of the Creator, recognizing His moral authority, and remembering that they would be accountable to Him in the Hereafter the officers of Islamic governments avoided many of the corruptions and issues present in governments today.

There is no such thing as a perfect government or ruler; after all they consist of human beings and we are imperfect. But a community that humbles itself before the Creator and defends the rights of creation instead of being preoccupied with self-interest will be able to choose one that can come close.

“All of you are shepherds and each of you is responsible for his flock. An Imam is a shepherd and he is responsible for those in his care. A man is a shepherd in respect of his family and is responsible for those in his care. The woman is a shepherd in respect of her husband’s house and is responsible for what is in her care. The servant is a shepherd in respect of his master’s property and is responsible for what is in his care. All of you are shepherds and each of you is responsible for his flock.”

- The Prophet Muhammad SAW (Bukhari) -