MY ADVICE TO THE ULAMA
In various traditions, Prophet Muhammad observed that in later times due to the law of degeneration, rulers would become tyrannical and unjust. At such times he advised religious scholars to continue to discharge their duties peacefully in non-political fields without confronting rulers. While distinguishing between the roles of ‘men of politics’ and the ‘men of learning’, the politicians are charged with carrying out administrative duties, while the Ulama have been given the role of educators to people.
In the generations that followed the Companions of the Prophet, this division of spheres of activity was maintained. People were engaged in various fields of knowledge, and there came to be the Quran reciters, Hadith scholars (muhaddithin), fuqaha (jurists), Ulama, dayees (those who conveyed God’s message to people) and Sufis. All of them focused on their respective spheres of activity. No matter how corrupt the system of governance appeared, the Ulama never confronted them under any circumstance. As a result, the Ulama never deviated from the work they had been entrusted with. This division of work resulted in a glorious history of scholarship and dawah work, which is the most precious legacy of the Muslim community.
The Ulama are charged with being eternal guardians of people’s mental fabric, way of thinking, attitude and behaviour. Being charged with this role, religious scholars should impart education to people. A tradition of the Prophet states:
“As you are, so shall be those appointed to govern you.” (Shuabul Iman, Hadith No. 7006)
This tradition explains that while the position of political or societal leadership is that of the outer structure, the condition of individuals in society is of the utmost importance. The role of the Ulama are to lay the foundation of society by developing right-thinking in individuals, and political governance is the superstructure that rests on this foundation.
It is a fact that people think and act according to their bent of mind. The role of Ulama is to direct the mindset of people towards the right thinking and guide them to the right path. Moreover, if the thinking of individuals in society is right, their actions will also be right; if the state of the individuals, a unit of society, is good, then inevitably, society will also be good.
The Ulama continued to discharge their duties on this pattern for around a thousand years. Sadly, with the coming of the age of European colonialism, most of the Ulama abandoned their primary task—the intellectual development of people along constructive lines. Looking at colonialism simply from the point of view of Western nations usurping Muslim lands, the Ulama involved themselves in political conflicts in the name of ‘jihad’.
A fundamental mistake of the Ulama of modern times is that they have taken the dominance of Western nations to be simply a political phenomenon. However, this dominance is a reflection of a powerful civilisation. This indicates that the political aspect is secondary. The fact was that European colonialism had succeeded because the Europeans were in command of new intellectual and technological resources, which gave them an enormous advantage over Eastern people.
In the traditional age, the difference between contending powers was essentially quantitative. However, when the West ushered in a new age, the difference between Western nations and others fundamentally became qualitative. This transformation gave the West a clear and decisive advantage over the rest of the world. The Ulama were leading the revolt without understanding this fundamental qualitative difference.
Becoming involved in political conflicts, wrongly called ‘jihad’, was not the task assigned to the Ulama. As a result, their efforts were also not result-oriented. The political and violent struggles of the Ulama failed to defeat the Western colonial powers who had established control over most Muslim-majority lands. The internecine fighting among the Western countries themselves, culminating in the Second World War, drained their military strength to such an extent that they had no option but to grant political independence to these countries in the mid-20th century.
As a result, around fifty Muslim-majority politically independent states emerged in Asia and Africa. At this time, too, it was the task of the Ulama in these countries to shoulder the very same responsibility that Islam had given them—that is to say, to leave politics to the politicians and to focus their energies, instead, on the spread of education, dawah work and social reform. However, instead of doing this, the Ulama again rushed headlong into the field of politics. In the period of European colonial rule, the aim of the politics of these Ulama had been ‘the struggle for independence’. Now their politics was conducted in the name of ‘the enforcement of Islamic Law’. These efforts of the Ulama did not result in the establishment of purely Shariah-based rule in any Muslim country. However, what did result was that everywhere the Muslims became divided into, broadly, two mutually opposed camps that were at war with each other. If the non-Muslim forces killed the Muslims in the colonial period, now the Muslims began killing their co-religionists.
Had the Ulama of the Muslim-majority countries stayed aloof from politics, and focused, instead, on the reform of the Muslims, awakening the true spirit of Islam among them, producing Islamic literature according to modern standards that would promote an urge to discover Islam among people, and works of a similar kind, they would have been better enabled to play a role in establishing governance more truly in line with the teachings of Islam. They would then have played the role of transforming Muslim societies into Islamic societies.
The true secret behind the dominance of the Western powers was that they had transformed the human mindset. To successfully meet the challenge of the Western nations, it was now necessary to counter them in the realm of ideas. My advice to the Ulama of both Muslim-majority and minority countries is that they should stay aloof from politics and focus on the reform of the Muslims, awakening the true spirit of Islam in them and producing Islamic literature according to modern standards that would promote an urge to discover Islam among people.
To perform this role of intellectual leadership, they must possess a deeper understanding of the times and the capacity to engage in ijtihad, creative interpretation of Islamic sources and their application in changed circumstances. Then they will be able to engage in scholarship, reform the minds of the Muslim ummah towards right thinking and undertake dawah work, conveying God’s message to people.
Another essential task is that of inviting people to God. This task is so vital that if it is abandoned, the whole Muslim community will lose all value in God’s eyes. When this task is left undone, all other tasks, if undertaken, will prove to be ultimately futile and can never result in Muslims gaining respect and honour.
A Quranic principle is that with every problem, there are opportunities. Although Western political dominance appears as a problem, they bring new and powerful opportunities to convey God’s message to people with them. Had the Ulama understood Western thought deeply, they would have welcomed it instead of becoming its enemy. The Ulama should have availed of the new possibilities to convey God’s message to people that emerged in the modern age. I have written extensively on this issue in numerous books and articles. Here I will only briefly touch upon this matter.
The basis of the modern age is freedom of thought. Among the many results of the modern intellectual revolution is freedom of religion, including propagating religion. Through the human rights charter of the United Nations, this has been accepted by all the nations of the world. This development has made it possible for the first time in history to engage in the task of conveying God’s message to people without any obstruction whatsoever.
Rational investigation in the modern age is based on empirical realities that are very useful for Islam based on firmly established truths. The findings of modern science were a confirmation of this prediction of the Quran:
“We shall show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is the witness of all things?” (41:53)
This prediction has become a reality in present times. From the ideological point of view, the scientific revolution has opened a new door for human beings to realise the Creator through direct study and observation of creation. Through this scientific revolution, the divine signs revealed to man have made possible the achievement of a high degree of divine realisation.
From the material point of view, the discoveries of the West have led to many inventions that can be used to convey God’s message to all of humanity, especially the modern means of travel and communication. In this way, modern science became a robust academic and material tool in the hands of those who were engaged in conveying God’s message to people and sharing the message of Islam with them.
I advise all the Ulama to completely dissociate from practical politics, develop the spirit of tolerance, accept open criticism, understand the positive contribution of the modern age, engage in scholarship after a deep understanding of modern thought, reform the minds of the Muslim ummah on positive lines and convey God’s message to humanity using the opportunities presented by the modern age.
