Islam Rediscovered
11. Non-Violence and Islam
~ 157 ~
injunctions, you should attempt to make the truth
clear to them solely through words of wisdom and
advice. So far as revolt and war against them in
order to unseat them is concerned, that is totally
unlawful according to the consensus of the
ulema
,
even when the rulers are
zalim
and
fasiq
(tyrants and
corrupt).” (
Sahih Muslim, bi sharh an-Nawawi
, 12/229)
This command of the Prophet, as clearly expressed
above, was based on extremely important
considerations. In actual fact, in the early phase of
Islam (as well as in the later phase)
da’wah
and
reform works had to be performed, without which
the history of Islam would not have been complete.
If the
ulema
of the Muslim community had tried to
pose a threat to the political institutions, certainly
all this constructive work would have been left
undone. That is why the Prophet Muhammad, may
peace be upon him, expressly prohibited any clash
with political institutions. This avoidance of strife
guaranteed that non-political constructive work
would continue to be performed without any break.
In every society there are always two systems side
by side, one political and the other non-political.
