This is an excerpt from the letters of Imam Hassan al-Banna.
Islamic government is based on a well-established principle, which forms the basic structure of the Islamic system of government. It is based on the responsibility of the ruler, the unity of the nation, and respect for its will. After this, different terminology and models are of no importance.
Responsibility of the Ruler (Al-Hakim)
The ruler is responsible before Allah and the people, he is their employee and worker. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,
أَلاَ كُلُّكُمْ رَاعٍ، وَكُلُّكُمْ مَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ
“Each of you is a guardian and each of you is responsible for his charges.”[1]
Abu Bakr (ra) said when he assumed power and ascended the pulpit:
أيها الناس ، كنت أحترف لعيالي فأكتسب قوتهم ، فأنا الآن أحترف لكم ، فافرضوا لي من بيت مالكم
“O people, I used to work as a professional for my family to earn their living, but now I work as a professional for you, so give me from your treasury.”
With this, he explained the theory of the social contract in the best and most just way, and he even laid its foundation. It is nothing but a contract between the ummah and the ruler to look after the public interests. If he does well, he will be rewarded, and if he does badly, he will be punished.
Unity of the Ummah
The Islamic ummah is one, because the brotherhood that Islam has united hearts upon is a fundamental principle of iman that cannot be completed without it, and cannot be realized without its existence.
This does not prevent freedom of opinion and giving advice from young to old, and from old to young, which is what is expressed in the Islamic tradition as giving advice, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said (three times):
إِنَّ الدِّينَ النَّصِيحَةُ إِنَّ الدِّينَ النَّصِيحَةُ إِنَّ الدِّينَ النَّصِيحَةُ
“Indeed, the deen is advice (naseeha).”
.قَالُوا لِمَنْ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ لِلَّهِ وَكِتَابِهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَأَئِمَّةِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَعَامَّتِهِمْ وَأَئِمَّةِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ وَعَامَّتِهِمْ
They said: “To whom, O Messenger of Allah?” He said: “To Allah, His Messenger, His Book, the leaders of the Muslims, and their common people.”[2]
He ﷺ also said:
إذا رأيت أمتي تهاب أن تقول للظالم يا ظالم فقد تودع منها
“If you see my ummah afraid to say to an oppressor, ‘O oppressor,’ then you have bid farewell to it.”[3]
In another narration:
وبطن الأرض خير لهم من ظهرها
“And the belly of the earth is better for them than its surface.”[4]
He ﷺ also said:
سيد الشهداء حمزة بن عبد المطلب ، ورجل قام إلى إمام جائر فأمره ونهاه فقتله
“The master of martyrs is Hamza ibn Abdul Muttalib, and a man who stood up to an unjust leader, enjoined him and forbade him, and he was killed.”[5]
There is no division in essential matters in the Islamic ummah, because the system of social life that it includes is one system, which is Islam, recognized by all its sons. Disagreement in branches (furu’) does not harm, and there is no hatred, enmity, or partisanship with which the ruling revolves around. However, it requires research, scrutiny, consultation, and the offering of advice. Whatever is stipulated in the text (nass), there is no ijtihad in it, and whatever is not stipulated in the text, the decision of the ruler (wali ul-Amr) unites the ummah upon it.
Respecting the will of the nation
It is the right of the Islamic ummah to closely monitor the ruler, and to advise him on what it sees as good. He must consult them, respect their will, and take the best of their opinions. Allah ta’ala has commanded the rulers to do this, saying:
وَشَاوِرْهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَمْرِ
“And consult them in the matter”[6]
He ta’ala praised the believers for this, saying:
وَأَمْرُهُمْ شُورَىٰ بَيْنَهُمْ
“And their rule is by mutual consultation”[7]
This is stated in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the Rightly-Guided Caliphs who came after them. Whenever a matter came to them, they would gather the people of opinion among the Muslims, consult them, and accept the correct opinion. In fact, they would urge them to do so.
Abu Bakr (ra) said:
فإن رأيتموني على حق فأعينوني وإن رأيتموني على باطل فسددوني أو قوموني
“If you see me in the right, then support me, and if you see me in the wrong, then correct me or straighten me out.”
Umar ibn al-Khattab said:
من رأى فيّ اعوجاجًا فليقومه
“Whoever sees something crooked in me, let him straighten it out.”
The Islamic system in this regard is not concerned with forms or names when these basic principles are achieved, without which the rule cannot be valid, and when they are applied in a way that preserves balance and does not make some of them overpower others.
This balance cannot be preserved without a living conscience and a true feeling of the sanctity of these teachings, and that in preserving and maintaining them there is success in this world and salvation in the hereafter, which is what they express in the modern terminology as “national awareness” or “political maturity” or “national education” or similar terms, and they all go back to one truth, which is the belief in the validity of the system, and the feeling of the benefit of preserving it… since texts alone do not raise up an entire ummah, just as the law is of no use if it is not applied by a just and honest judge.
Notes
[1] Sahih al-Bukhari 7138, https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7138
[2] Sunan Abi Dawud 4944, https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4944
[3] Al-Hakim, Ahmad and Al-Bazzar, https://www.islamweb.net/ar/fatwa/56122/%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%AD-%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AB%D9%81%D9%82%D8%AF-%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%AF%D8%B9-%D9%85%D9%86%D9%87%D9%85
[4] https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/content/56/4323/%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%85%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%87%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%B3%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AD
[5] Al-Hakim
[6] Holy Qur’an, Surah Al Imran, ayah 159
[7] Holy Qur’an, Surah Ash-Shura, ayah 38
Islamic Civilization 