Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Question 21: According to the Islamic point of view, is religion supposed tobe regarded separate from politics?

ANSWER:

Before we begin answering this question, it is befitting to clarify the meaning of 'politics' in order to discover the relation between religion and politics. There are two meanings for the phrase 'Politics':

Taking it to be the meaning of 'dissimulation or deception and using any means for achieving the goal.' (a goal justifying the means)

It isquite obvious that such a meaning other than not being the real one is not in accordance with religion.

Taking the term 'politics' to mean the managementof the affairs of a society as a whole through the correct Islamic principles in various fields is can be more precise.

Politics, in the meaning stated above, which is the management of the Muslim affairs according to the Holy Quran and the tradition of the holy Prophet, is part and parcel of religion and can never be considered separate from it.

Now let us remind ourselves of some of the evidences for the concordance of religion with politics and the necessity of establishing a government.

The most substantial proof for this is the fact that the Holy prophet himself during the challenging period he had to face while propagating the message of Islam, had to go through a great deal of hassle and face a lot of ups and downs. It was through the speech and action that when we analyze, becomes crystal clear to us that the Holy Prophet worked effortlessly right from the beginning in order to spread the mission of God, and due to which he established a strong government based on the conviction in God. Such a government it was that it established all the plans for the future set up of Islam and laid a foundation for it.

Here, let us point to some of the examples that demonstrate the ingenuity and strategy of the holy prophet (p).

The Prophet, Founder ofThe Islamic Government:

When God revealed that the message of Islamshould be propagated , he engaged in various ways that constituted the struggle and guidance, not to mention the gathering of Muslim forces. In this way, he would meet the different groups who came from close and distant areas to visit the ka'aba and would invite them to Islam. He also had negotiations with two certain groups from Madina at 'Aqabah' where he concluded the agreement whereby the Holy Prophetwas invited to their city and was offered protection by them.

Thus, the initial steps of the Holy Prophet's policy in an effort to establish the Islamic government, was undertaken successfully.

After migrating to the city of Madina, the Holy prophet (p) worked hard for the organization of a strong army; an army that participated in a number of eighty-two battles during the time of propagating the message of Islam had achieved glorious victories, which removed all the hurdles in the way to the establishment of the Islamic government.

After the settlement of the Islamic government in Madina, the Holy Prophet, by sending envoys and letters of Invitation established relations with all the powerful and socio-political pivots of his time, in addition, he also made economical,political and military agreements with many of the leaders from different groups of people. The history of the lifetime of the Holy Prophet records the details of the letters sent by the Holy prophet to 'khosroe', the Iranian king, 'Caesar', the Roman emperor, 'Mokowkas', the Egyptian sultan, 'Negus', the Abyssinian ruler and other rulers during the time of the Holy prophet. Some of the researchers have accumulated most of the letters thathave been mentioned into separate pamphlets.

The messenger of Allah appointed leaders from different tribes and citiesfor the purpose of achieving the objective of Islam and concordance of the pillars of the Islamic government. For example, the Holy prophet sent Rafaah bin Zaid as his representative to his tribe and wrote a letter:

"In the name of Allah the beneficent the Most merciful,

(This is a letter) from Muhammed, God's messenger (p) for 'Rafaah bin Zaid', whom I have sent him to all of his people and those who joined hands with them to accepting his call, to invite them towards Allah and His messenger, so whosoever accepted it, is of Allah and the Messenger's party and whoever rejected, has a respite for two months."

By taking into consideration these proceedings of the Holy prophet to spread the word of God, there is no doubt left to the fact that the Holy prophet, right from the very beginning of his appointment of prophethood, worked for the establishment of a strong government in order to achieve an Islamic government with implementing the Islamic rules in a world-wide basis, dealing with all the aspects of life in the human society.

Therefore, the question arises here that are such actions such as concluding treaties with powerful groups and tribes, establishing a strong army, sending envoys to different countries, advising the rulers and kings to accept Islam and warning them against the hellfire through sending letters to them, sending governors and commanders to close and distant cities and areas, among other such works, regarded other than politics which means the management and running of the society and its affairs on the whole?

Apart from the prophet's history of his political activities, the practice of the rightly guided caliphs and especially the method adopted by the commander of the faithful, Ali Ibn Abi talib, accepted by both the Sunni and the Shia, at the time of his caliphate, the government established by him testifies the concordance of religion with politics.

The scholars of both the Islamic sects have brought forth broad evidences of the Holy Quran, and the prophet's tradition proving the necessity for a government and a management of the society's affairs. Let us cite some examples to prove this fact;

Abul-Hassan Al-Mawardi in his book, 'Al-Ahkam Al- sultaniah' says:

"The imamate and government are put to replace and continue prophethood in order to protect the religion,politics and management of the worldly affairs; and the establishment of the government by the qualified, according to the agreement of all Muslims, is obligatory."

The above-mentioned Islamic scholar, who is one of the renowned scholars of the Ahl-Sunnah, justifies this point according to two logical evidences: Logical proof.

Legal proof.

Regarding the logical proof, he writes the following:

"Due to the fact that the nature of the wise is to follow a leader who prevents the nation from opposing each other and separation from each other, the result of which creates disunity between them when involved in a dispute. Hence, if we lacked such rulers in the management of the society, the people would be scattered and confused and will loose their efficiency."

As for the legal evidence, he states:

"However, the legal evidence for entrusting the affairs to the guardian and the leader is present in religion, for the Exalted and Glorious Lord says in His divine book that:

"O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Prophet and those in authority from among you."

Thus, God has made it obligatory for us to have obedience towards the guardians, making them the leaders over us."

Sheikh Sadooq narrated from Fazl bin Shathan from Imam Ali bin Musa, the necessity for the establishment of an Islamic government that is included inthis long narration to which we shall mention a part of it:

"We cannot find a group or nation that can live and persevere without having a ruler or a chief that are needed in the affairs concerning this world and those relating to the religious affairs too. Therefore, it is far from God's wisdom to neglect what the people need and cannot withstandwithout . Thus the people fight their enemies with their leader's consent and according to his command, divide the spoils of war, and perform Friday and congregational prayers, and it is the ruler who prevents the oppressors from (oppressing) the oppressed."

Of course the explanation of all the narrations and analyzing of statements by various Islamic jurisprudents from their jurisprudential view is a tedious task and far from possible in this brief writing requiring a whole volume to elucidate it.

When studying Islamic jurisprudence, it becomes clear that a large part of these religious lawscannot be achieved without the establishment of a powerful government.

Islam calls for struggle, defense, litigation of the oppressor, protection of the oppressed, executing legal punishments, enjoining thegood and forbidding the unlawful in a broad framework, establishment of a codified financial system and guarding the unity of the Islamic society.It is evident that the mentioned goalcannot be achieved without the enjoyment of a powerful system and a harmonious government due to the fact that the sacredness of the religious laws and defense of the sanctuary of Islam needs an organized army, and the formation of such a powerful army needs the establishment of a powerful government based on Islamic values.

Furthermore, the executions of punishmentson account of the obligations that are set, the preventing of sins, taking the rights of the oppressed from the oppressors among other cases mentioned, will be rendered impossible without an organized system and a powerful and concordant organization which would otherwise cause chaos and disturbance.

Although the evidences for the necessity of establishing a government in Islam is not limited to what has been already explained, however it becomes clear that not only is religion separate from politics, but also the establishment of an Islamic government based on the system of values of this illuminated religion of Islam is indispensable that we cannot afford to refrain and it is a obligation for all the Islamic societies around the world.

Seerat Ibn Hisham, vol.1 p.431 subject of Al-Aqabah Al-Ula, 2nd print in Egypt.

Such as 'Al-Wataeq Al-seyasiyyah' (Muhammed Hameedallah); and 'Makatib Al-Rasool' (Ali Ahmadi)

Makatib Al- Rasool, vol1 p. 144.

Al-Ahkam Al-Sunnatiyyah (Al- Mawardi), 1st chapter, p.5 1st print in Egypt.

same as the above.

Al-Ahkam Al-Sunnatiyyah, 1st chapter, p.5, 1st print in Egypt.

Ilal Al-Sharayit, Bab 182, narration 9, p.253.

Question 22: Why do the Shia regard theoffspring's of Ali bin Abi talib (Hassan and Hussein) to be the offsprings of the holy Prophet?

ANSWER:

When studying the books of various commentaries, history and narrations, it becomes clear that such a belief is not exclusive for only the Shia, rather itcan be said that all the Muslim researchers of the different Islamic groups have agreed upon this matter.

At this point, let us mention evidences that clarify this matter by referring to the holy Quran, different narrations and the speech of well-known interpreters.

Basically, the Holy Quran considers the consanguineous children of a person as his own children. The children born of ones children (either son or daughter)are also considered as ones children.

From the Quranic point of view and the tradition, there are many evidences proving this fact, some of which are as follows:

The Holy Quran, at the end of the following verse considers Esa (p) of the children of P. Ebrahim whilst H. Esa is the son of Maryam (p) andis related to H. Ebrahim through the mother:

"And we gave him Ishaaq and Yaqub; each did we guide, and Nuh did we guide before and of his descendents, Dawood and Sulaiman and Ayyub and Yusuf and Haroon; and thus we reward those who do good (to others) and Zechariah and Yahya and Esa"

The Muslim scholars consider this verse as clear evidence that Imam Hasan (p) and Imam Hussein (p) are the offsprings of the holy Prophet (p). Yet in other instances, we look up at the following examples in the Holy Quran:

Question 23: Why do the Shias consider caliphate to be through the appointment of God?

ANSWER:

It is evident that the sacred religion of Islam is a universal and eternal religion, and as long as the honorable Prophet was alive, the leadership of the person after him is assigned only to the Prophet; afterhim it would be assigned to the best person of the nation.

The point noteworthy here is whether the position of leadership afthe honorable prophet is an appointed one (according to the command of the Lord of the worlds and the statement of the messenger of Allah) or is it an elected one, to answer this, there exist two views worthy to consider:

The Shia believe that the position of leadership is an appointed one and that the successor of the Prophet must be appointed by God alone; while the Ahl-sunnah believe that it should be an elected one and it is up to the nation to elect a person after the Holy prophet to manage the affairs of the states.

The Social Consideration Testify That The CaliphateShould Be Appointed .

The Shia scholars have expressed many evidences in their books of ideology stating the necessity for the position of caliphate to be an appointed one. However, the only thing thatcan be considered to prove our point is by analyzing the conditions dominating over, during the time of the messenger, which clearly certifies the correctness of the view of Shias.

When studying the internal and foreign policies of Islam during the time of the Holy prophet, one would quickly realize that the successor appointed by the Holy prophet had to be done by Allah through the Holy prophet, due to the fact that there was a bi-lateral danger considering the political condition (the Roman empire, the Iranian kingship and the hypocrites.) that was continuously threatening the Muslim society of defeat and destruction. Moreover, the nation's interests made it necessary for the prophet to appoint a political leader who will unite the whole nation in a unified raw against the external army and in this way, remove the ground for the enemy's penetration and domination- which were aided by the internal conflicts.

Explanation:

On the one hand, there was danger lurking from the Romanempire which was seated in part of the Northern peninsula and the Holy prophet seemed to worry of this danger to the last moments of his sacred life.

The first military collision with the roman Christian army was in the eighth year of Hijra in Palestine. This clash lead to the death of three Muslim commanders namely, 'Ja'afer Al-Tayyar', 'Zaid bin Harith' and 'Abdullah bin Rawaha' and terminated with a bitter defeat of the Muslim army.

This retreat of the Muslim army before the infidels, caused the daring of Cezar's army; and there was danger of attack at any moment to the Islamic centre. Therefore, the holy Prophet moved with a fully equipped army that was very costly, towards the borders of Syria around the ninth of Hijrat. This he did because he wantedto personally command any kind of military encounter faced. The toil and trouble the Muslims had to undergo in this journey was compensated for, and proved to be constructive for the Muslim army which was able to recover its former dignity and thereby renew its political life.

The second adversary of Islam was the king of Iran 'Chosroe' who when read the Prophet's letter of invitation, was so much perturbed that he tore the letter disrespectfully and expelled the messenger's slave and even wrote the governor of Yemen to arrest the Holy prophet if not kill him.

Although the king of Iran 'Chosroe Parviz' died at the time as the Holy prophet, however, the subject of independence of yemen-, which was the colony of Iran, was not far from their perspective and the arrogance of the Iranian politics never allowed the tolerance of the existence of such a power.

The danger lurking from the third side was the danger from the hypocrites that was continuously busy causing havoc and disruption through their hypocrisy among the Muslims. This was to such an extent that they planned to kill the Holy prophet wanted to assassinate him on his way from 'Tabuk' to Madina. These were a group that used to be happy thinking that with the demise of the prophet of Islam, the whole of the Islamic movementwill be terminated and rest will be in peace!

The destructive power of the hypocrites was such that the Holy Quran mentions in the chapters of Nisa, Maidah, Anfal, Baraat, Ankabut, Ahzab, Muhammed, Fateh, Mujadilah, Hadeed,Munafiqun and Hashr.

Thus was it possible to think that the holy Prophet did not introduce a successor to control the religious, political and leadership for the newly established Islamic society considering all the dangers at lurk, not to mention the presence of these fierce enemies ambushing the Islamic state?

As for looking at it from the social point of view, we say that the Holy prophet , through the introduction of a prominent leader did so in order to prevent any kind of dispute after him, with the formation of a firm defensive line ensuring the Islamic unity and preventing it from any bitter accident; and it was not possible to prevent every group after the death of the Prophet from having the claim that "The leader should be from us", except through the introduction and appointment of a divine leader.

These social calculations guide us towardshe correctness and firmness of the theory of the appointment of the position of leadership to succeed after the Holy Prophet (p).

The testimony of the statements given by the God's Messenger.

Based on this social ground among other considerations, the Holy prophet right from the early days of his mission to the last days of his life, time and again presented the matter concerning the one succeeding after him, and infact he had already appointed his successor during the beginning of his sacred mission (in the ceremony that he held for his relatives on the occasion of announcing his prophecy) and in addition to this, he also announced it during his last days in life- (when returning back from Hajjatul wida, his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca in Ghadeer Khum.), and all along his lifetime, there are three examples of the mentioned texts which have already been explained in the answer of our second question accompanied with references from the Islamic scholars and books of narrations.

Thus by considering the social conditions that we have already mentioned at the early period of Islam and by referring to the texts of God's messenger (p) regarding to the introduction and appointment of the master of the faithful as his successor, it becomes quite obvious that the position of caliphate is an appointed one and is absolutely necessary and an unavoidable matter.

Tur: (30)

Depicted from 'Furoogh Abadiyyat' written by ustad Jaafer subhani.

Question 24: Is the swearing of other than God consideredto be polytheism ?

ANSWER:

The interpretation of the phrases 'Monotheism' and 'Polytheism' should be looked for, through the refererence of the Quranic verses and the tradition of the Holy prophet (p), because it is the Holy Quran and the narration of the Holy prophet that is the best criteria for disguising the truth from falsehood and likewise, monotheism from polytheism.

Thus, it is worthy to evaluate any concept or behavior that occurs in us with the reference to the criteria of the logic of revelation and the lifestyle of the honorable Prophet (p).

Let us look at some of the disicive proofs in order for us to clarify the permissibility of swearing of other than God, from the viewpoint of Quran and tradition.

The holy Quran amongst its eternal verses swears by valuable phenomenon such as 'prophets life', 'humans soul', 'the pen', the manifestation of writing, the sun, the moon, the stars, day and night, sky and earth, time, the mountains and the sea, some examples are as follows":

Question 25: Does imploring for help through the friends of God ('Tawassul') apply to polytheism or innovation?

ANSWER:

"Tawassul" is the appointing of an intermediate between oneself and God in order to gain proximity to God. Ibn Manzur in 'Lesan Al-Arab'said:

"He made 'tawassul' with so and so, meaning that he gained proximity to Allah by means of according respect to the beloved servant's lofty status, of that which was of his concern."

The Holy Quran says:

"O you who believe, be careful of (your duty towards) Allah and seek means of nearness to Him and strive hard in His way so that you may be successful."

Jawhari in 'Sahah Al-Loqah' defines 'Waseelah' as such that:

'Al-Waseelah is the means by which we seek proximity to another."

Therefore, that precious being through whom we tend to seek proximity can also sometimes be our own good deeds and sincere worship to the Lord that we can use as a strong means to bring us in close proximity to the Lord of the Worlds, and other times it could also be through a revered person who enjoys exceptional esteem and a high status before the Exalted and Glorious Lord.

Different Sections of tawassul.

'Tawassul'can be divided into three sections:

'Tawassul' through the good deeds, as Jalal Al-deen Al-Soyuti narrated the following holy verse that:

"And seek means of nearness to Him"

Qutadah said regarding the verse that:

" By obedience to God and performing a deed that is pleasing to Allah will he then gain proximity with Him."

'Tawassul' through the sincere supplications of the pious slaves of Allah as the Holy Quran speaks about Yusuf's brothers:

"They said: O our father! Ask forgiveness for us for the faults that we have committed for surely we are sinners. He said: I shall ask forgiveness for you from my Lord; surely he is the forgiving the Merciful."

When pondering over the aforementioned verse, it becomesclearly evident that the sons of Yaqub made 'tawassul' through their prayers and amnesty; and considered it as their means to attain salvation. Prophetyusuf at this incident, did not object to their 'tawassul' and promised them that he would pray for them and ask for the recompence of their deeds.

'Tawassul' through the highly spiritual and respected personalities, who have a special status of dignity before God,for the purpose of gaining proximity to Him.

This kind of 'tawassul' was proficient and accepted right from the early period of Islam by the companions of the prophet.

At this point, let us refer to the concept deriving benefit from various traditions that show the practice of the companions of the prophet and the leaders of the Islamic world.

Ahmad bin hanbal in his 'Masnad' narrated from uthman bin haneefthat: "A blind man came to the honorable prophet of Islam and said:

"Request God to cure me."

The prophet hearing this, replied,

"If you wish, I can make my prayer right now and if you desire, I can even postpone it and make it later which is better."

The blind man insisted,

"Do pray for me."

The prophet (p) ordered him to make ablution and do so accurately; then to pray two units, and then make supplication that:

"O my Lord, I ask from Thee, and through the means of Muhammed, the prophet of mercy, I come towards you. O Muhammed,I attend to my lord through you, that my need be fulfilled. O God, make him my interceder."

The authenticity of this narration is accepted by all the narrators such that Hakeem Al-Nishaboori in his 'Mustadrak' after trathis narration, described it as 'Sahih-sound'. Ibn Majah too, narrating from Abu-'Isha'qsaid:

"This is indeed a correct narration,"

Tirmidhi in the book of 'Abwab Al-adeyah' approved the soundness of this narration, Muhammed Naseeb Al-Rufaee in his book 'Al-Tawassul Ela Haqeeqat Al-Tawassul' said:

"There is no doubt that this narration is sound and is unanimously accepted.. and it was proven in this narration that the blind man recovered his eye-sight through the prayer of the messenger."

This narration makes it apparent that 'tawassul' by the honorable prophet of Islam for the purpose of fulfillment of a need through his asking, is permissible. Moreover, the Prophet (p) ordered the blind man to pray in that specific way, and stated that by presenting the prophet as a means between him and God, he should make his request from God; and this states the actual meaning of 'Tawassul' through the close friends of Allah and those who are very beloved in His eyes.

Abu Abdullah Bukhari in his 'Sahih' said:

"Whenever there was a draught, Omar bin Al-Khattab would request to God for rain through the prayers of Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib-the prophet's uncle, and would say:

"O God, in the life time of the prophet, we used to make 'Tawassul' through him and you would descend the rain of mercy upon us, now we make 'tawassul' through your prophet's uncle so that you may satiate us with rain," and they would be satiated!

'Tawassul' by the friends of God was so prevalent that the Muslims, during the early period of Islam, would introduce the prophet as their means for 'tawassul' in their poems.

For example, Sawad bin Qareb composed a poem where he said the following:

"I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and you are thereliant one as regards all the secrets, and I bear witness that you- O son of the pure and the honored- among other prophets are the closest means towards God."

Although the Prophet (p) heard this poembeing recited from Sawad bin Qareb, he neither stopped him from reciting the verse in praise of him nor did he accuse him of polytheism and innovation.

Shafe-ee pointed out regarding this, in the following two verses:

"The prophet'shousehold are my means towards God and I anticipate through them, to receive my book of deeds in my right hand."

Although there are many narrations quoting the permissibility of 'tawassul' through God's chosen servants, however the mentioned narrations are enough for the clarification the matter regarding 'tawassul' and its desirability from the view of the prophet's tradition and of course the practice of the companions of the prophet and the great Islamic scholars. Hence, there is no need for further discussion.

Thus, the ambiguity of those claiming that 'tawassul' through the beloved ones of God is nothing but polytheism andinnovation, is already substantiated.

Lisan Al-Arab, vol.11 p. 724 (Maidah: 35)

Al-dor Al-Manthoor vol.2, p. 280 printed in Beirut, following the mentioned verse. (Yusuf: 97-98)

Masnad Ahmad bin hanbal, vol.4 p. 138, section of narrations othman bin Haneef; 'Al-Mustadrak' for Hakeem, vol.1, Kitab Salat Al-tatawo, ptinted in Beirut, p. 313, Sunan Ibn Majah, vol. 1, p. 441, printed by Dar Ehya Al-Kutub Al-arabiyah; 'Al-Taj' vol. 1, p. 286 Al-Jame-a Al-Sagheer' for Soyuti, p. 59; Al-tawassul wal-waseelah, (Ibne-taymeyah) p. 98, printed in Beirut.

Al-tawassul Ela Haqeeqat Al-tawassul, p. 158 1st print, Beirut Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 2 Kitab Al-Jumah, Bab Al-Estesqa, p. 27 printed in Egypt.

Al-dor Al-Saneyah (Sayyid Ahmad bin Zaini Dahlan) p. 29, depicted from Tabarani.

Al-Sawaeq Al-Muhreqah (Ibn Hajar Al-asqalani) p. 178, printed in Cairo.

Question 26:Is the celebration of the Birthdays of the chosen servants of Allah regarded to be an innovation or polytheism?

ANSWER:

Although the holding of memory of the pious servants of God such as celebrating their anniversaries and birthdaysare accepted by the prudent, however, just in order to remove any trace of doubt left in this regard, we shall introduce the proofs to its admissibility.

Holding ceremonies is a sign portraying affection and love:

The Holy Quran invites the believers to love the prophet and his household:

"Say, I do not ask of you any favor but love for my near relatives"

It isquite obvious that holding the ceremonies in the honor of God's saints is a manifestation of the love of the people towards them, and is also acknowledged by the Holy Quran.

Holding ceremonies in the glorification of the prophet:

The Holy Quran considers the glorification to the position of the prophet in addition to supporting him as a decisive factor for salvation:

"So those who believe in him, and follow the light that has been sent down, these are the ones who are the successful."

In relation to the mentioned verse, it isclearly evident that honoring the prophet is a recommended act according to the Islamic point of view. The holding of ceremonies in the memory of the prophet and thereby glorifying hisposition, gratifies God because this verse explains that there are four characteristics for the successful: