Understanding The Prophet's Life
From Issue: 921 [Read full issue]
Stopping Dictators
The voice of conscience may not be loud enough to ensure that people can resist the strong temptation of an easy gain, especially when this has the backing of a legal ruling. Therefore, the Prophet (peace be upon him) emphasized the Islamic principle of "enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong." This principle works at both the individual and community levels, and states that wherever there is something wrong, people should speak out against it in order to ensure fairness, justice and virtue. The Prophet sought to mobilize everyone's sense of faith in putting this principle in practice. He said: "Whoever sees some wrong being committed should change it by action. If he cannot, then by word of mouth. If he still cannot, then by denouncing it in his heart. This last one is the weakest type of belief." [Muslim] This principle works in all strata of society and in all areas of behaviour. Whatever is wrong should be denounced and changed. When this cannot be done, and there are many situations where this is the case, then the least a believer can do is to feel a strong dislike towards the situation and to desire for it to be changed.
Injustice may be supported by the power of the state. There are numerous cases in history where dictatorship wreaked injustice on large and small communities. Our present age is full of these, in all continents. Indeed, some historians have called the twentieth century "the age of dictators." The brutality of some of these dictators is beyond imagination. Yet dictatorship can only flourish when the people allow it a chance to establish its roots. When rulers try to circumvent the law in the early days of their leadership, and discover that they can get away with it, they move towards tyranny. If people stand up to such a person in those early days, this can keep the would-be dictator in check. The Prophet made standing up to tyrannical rule one of the best actions a Muslim can do. He said: "The best of martyrs are Hamzah and a person who stands up to a dictator, telling him what to do and what to refrain from, but the dictator kills him." [Hakim] It is well known that Islam makes clear that a martyr is certain to be rewarded by admittance to heaven. Standing up to a dictator gives a Muslim a chance of joining the top elite of martyrs in heaven.
While this is the reward for the individual who is killed by a dictator, the entire community is responsible for stopping a dictatorship. The Prophet warns: "You shall enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong and prevent tyranny or else God shall punish your whole community." [Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi]
Compiled From:
"Muhammad: His Character and Conduct" - Adil Salahi