Islamic Politics – An Introduction
Five Principles1
Let’s begin a discussion of Islamic Politics with the description of five fundamental principles, followed by a description of several resulting realities or conclusions observable in modern and historical Islamic culture.
First, all of Islam is based upon the Trilogy of sacred texts—Qur’an, Sira (Mohammed’s biography) and Hadith (his Traditions). However, when the Trilogy is analyzed, it becomes apparent that five principles form the foundation of Islam. In addition, it can be said that most of the Islamic doctrine is political, not religious. Islam is as much a political ideology as it is a theology or religion.
Islam seems difficult to understand because it is complex, contradictory, and chaotic and nonsensical to the non Muslim. But, once the Five Fundamental Principles are understood, everything begins to fall into place; complexity becomes simplicity; chaos becomes order.
In its simplest form, Islam divides the world into two groups―believers, Muslims, and unbelievers, Kafirs (capitalization added editorially).
Political Islam has two different ways to treat Kafirs―dualistic ethics. Kafirs can be abused in the worst ways, or they can be treated like a good neighbor. To a degree, the treatment of Kafirs is dependent upon numbers, meaning if Muslims are a majority or a minority within a particular population; the principle of critical mass becomes a significant question.
It is important to realize that in a Muslim world, Kafirs must submit to Islam in all of political and public life. Every aspect of Kafir civilization must submit to political Islam.
The Five Fundamental Principles can be summarized in five words—Trilogy, politics, Kafirs, dualism, and submission. Understanding the functional meaning of these five words bring clarity and ease of understanding about political Islam and the Islamic worldview.
1. The Trilogy
The Trilogy contains three texts —
The Qur’an is what Mohammed said that the angel Gabriel said that Allah said. But the Koran does not contain enough guidance for one to be a Muslim. The Qur’an repeatedly says that all of the world should imitate Mohammed in every way. Mohammed’s words and deeds are called the Sunnah. The Sunnah is found in two different texts—the Sira and Hadith.
The first source of the Sunnah is the Sira which is Mohammed’s biography. The most authoritative version is by Ibn Ishaq.
The other source of the Sunnah is the Hadith, the Traditions of Mohammed. There are several versions of Hadith, but the most commonly used is by Bukhari. The Trilogy then is the Qur’an, Sira and Hadith.
2. Politics
The Politics of Islam or Political Islam is the doctrine that relates to the unbeliever, the Kafir. Islam’s relationship to the Kafir cannot be religious since a Muslim is strictly forbidden to have any religious interaction with them. The religion of Islam is what is required for a Muslim to avoid Hell and enter Paradise.
The Trilogy not only advocates a religious superiority over the Kafir—the Kafirs go to Hell whereas Muslims go to Paradise—but also its doctrine demands that Muslims dominate the Kafir in politics and culture. This domination is political, not religious.
The Qur’an has 61% of its text devoted to the Kafir. The Sira (Mohammed’s biography) has about 75% of its text devoted to the Kafir and jihad.
Islam’s success comes primarily from its politics. In the thirteen years as a spiritual leader, Mohammed converted 150 people to his religion. When he became a political leader and warrior, Islam exploded in growth, and Mohammed became king of Arabia in ten years.
Islam has a complete doctrine of how to treat the Kafir that is found in the Trilogy.
3. Kafirs
Kafirs or non-believers are so important that they have several names. Christians and Jews are called People of the Book or infidels. Other religious names for non-Muslims are atheist, polytheist, and pagan. But the Qur’an uses one word that includes all of the religious names. That name is Kafir, an Arabic word.
Kafir is usually translated as unbeliever, but that translation is incomplete. Unbeliever is a neutral word. The Qur’an is very clear about the Kafir. Indeed, the Qur’an defines the Kafir by how it speaks of them. Kafirs are the lowest and worst form of life. Kafirs can be robbed, murdered, tortured, enslaved, crucified and more. The key point here is that a Kafir is not only a non-Muslim, but also a person who falls under a different moral code from the Muslim.
The Qur’an is devoted to the division between those who believe Mohammed, Muslims, and those who do not, Kafirs. This grand division of the Qur’an means that there are two points of view of the Qur’an—the view of the Muslim and the view of the Kafir.
4. Dualism
The third principle is duality, and it is unique to Islam. As an example, here is a verse from the Qur’an:
109:2 I do not worship what you worship, and you do not worship what I worship. I will never worship what you worship, and you will never worship what I worship. You to your religion; me to my religion.
This sounds very tolerant, but this verse was written later:
9:5 When the sacred months are passed, kill the Kafirs wherever you find them. Take them as captives, besiege them, and lie in wait for them with every kind of ambush. If they submit to Islam, observe prayer, and pay the poor tax, then let them go their way. Allah is gracious and merciful.
Now we have absolute intolerance. This contradiction is normal for the Qur’an and is even addressed in the Qur’an. The solution to contradiction is called abrogation where the later verse is better than the earlier verse.
The logic here is very important. Since Allah is perfect and the Qur’an is the exact words of Allah, then both contradictory verses are true, but the later verse is better or stronger. This leads to dualistic logic where two contradictory facts can both be true.
5. Submission
Islam means submission, and Muslim means one who has submitted. It is clearly stated in the Trilogy that all Kafirs and their civilizations must be annihilated. Mohammed’s success depended on violence to persuade Kafirs that he was the prophet of Allah.
Submission is political, as well as religious. Islam demands that Kafirs submit in every aspect of public life. Every part of Kafir culture is an offense to Allah.
Reality I – The Concept of Jihad
One of the most controversial aspects of Islamic politics is the concept of jihad, or “holy war.” In an up-coming article, jihad will be explored in some detail. Since September 11, 2001, many Muslims have sought to soften jihad, relegating it to the realm of the personal struggle with sin. While the Qur’an does allow for this view of jihad that is not all the Qur’an has to say about it. Most passages in the Qur’an teach that jihad is warfare against peoples who oppose the Islamic faith.
A Muslim is one whose outlook on life is permeated with this consciousness [of the six pillars of Islam]. He is committed to the values of life given by the Qur’an and the Sunnah. He tries to live according to the guidance given by God and His Prophet and he strives to promote the message of Islam through his word and actions. This striving is known as Jihad which means a striving and a struggle in the path of God. It consists in exerting one’s self to the utmost in order to personally follow the teachings of Islam and to work for their establishment in society. Jihad has been described in the Qur’an and the Sunnah as the natural corollary of these pillars of faith. Commitment to God involves commitment to sacrifice one’s time, energy and wealth to promote the right cause. It may be necessary at times to give one’s life in order to preserve Truth. Jihad implies readiness to give whatever one has, including his life, for the sake of Allah.2
Reality II – Islamic Theocracy
An Islamic state is necessarily a theocracy. Islam is a worldview with the vision to encompass the entire world. Muslims hold to the call of global Islam, a goal accomplished if need be through the force of jihad. Global Islam means that all nations would be ruled under an Islamic theocracy. “Islam is international in its outlook and approach and does not admit barriers and distinctions based on color, clan, blood or territory,” explains Khurshid Admad. “It wants to unite the entire human race under one banner. To a world torn by national rivalries and feuds, it presents a message of life and hope and of a glorious future.”3
“Islam’s goal is to overthrow all competing governments and establish the Caliphate. The Islamic utopian blueprint calls for a Caliph (a glorified Mullah) to wield the Islamic sword of power in one seamless totalitarian worldwide state. This concept pre-dates and has survived all relatively more modern failed political experiments. Today, “extremists” easily extract the appropriate language (found throughout all Islamic sacred texts) to sell the concept that the Qur’an insists that all nations must be fought until they embrace Islam. Despite claims otherwise, the most violent passages have not been abrogated by more recent doctrine from Muhammad. The Qur’an is the immutable and unalterable word of God, so the movement has been permanently cast into the cement of an unalterable mandate, which is what has given it unusual durability. The doctrine of Jihad and Jizya essentially means building the Islamic Empire by denying infidels all rights except the right to serve their Muslim masters. The secret of Islam’s survival and longevity lies in both the deceptive cloak it wears in the form of a religion, and in the fact that economic weakness is always inherited by states based on its tenants. Up until the age of oil this has made Islamic countries appear relatively unthreatening compared to more modern industrialized countries with more powerful economies and the armies that can be built thereby.” 4
Zaki Badawi speaks to the reality that many Muslims exist with minority status in non-Muslim countries. While it is a struggle some Muslims have always faced, it is not a satisfactory situation in their eyes. He explains,
The history of Islam as a faith is also the history of a state and a community of believers living by Divine law. The Muslims, jurists and theologians, have always expounded Islam as both a Government and a faith. This reflects the historical fact that Muslims, from the start, lived under their own law. Muslim theologians naturally produced a theology with this in view—it is a theology of the majority. Being a minority was not seriously considered or even contemplated. The theologians were divided in their attitude to the question of minority status. Some declared that it should not take place; that is to say that a Muslim is forbidden to live for any lengthy period of time under non-Muslim rule. Others suggested that a Muslim living under non-Muslim rule is under no obligation to follow the law of Islam in matters of public law. Neither of these two extremes is satisfactory. Throughout the history of Islam some pockets of Muslims lived under the sway of non-Muslim rulers, often without an alternative. They nonetheless felt sufficiently committed to their faith to attempt to regulate their lives in accordance with its rules and regulations in so far as their circumstances permitted. In other words, the practice of the community rather than the theories of the theologians provided a solution. Nevertheless Muslim theology offers, up to the present, no systematic formulation of the status of being a minority. The question is being examined. It is hoped that the matter will be brought to focus and that Muslim theologians from all over the Muslim world will delve into this thorny subject and allay the conscience of the many Muslims living in the West and also to chart a course for Islamic survival, even revival, in a secular society.5
Muslim minorities in Western countries often place themselves in positions where they seek to govern themselves under Shari’ah law, while simultaneously maintaining citizenship in their respective countries. To this end, many Muslims seek advancement in politics, education, and law, all with the hope of being better able to make their case. Typically they seek to implement Shari’ah in regard to education and family law, seeing Islamic law—in additions to being an obligation for Muslims—as superior to other law systems. Additionally, these Muslims seek to squelch any and all public criticisms of their faith. In our current politically correct culture, Muslims sometimes join hands with the political Left in opposing traditional Western values. Both are critical of the Christian faith and the Christian history of their respective countries. But at other points, especially with regard to family values, Muslims and leftists find little common ground.
Currently this situation is a reality in Canada and Australia. The Muslim population in Canada has gained a significant voice regarding the implementation of Shari’ah within their communities. In Australia, Christian apologists are regularly hassled in courts, sometimes being forced into silence regarding their critique of Islam. Recent court decisions are very troubling in this regard. While Muslims may continue their critique of the Christian faith, standing alongside the political and anti-Christian leftist movements, Christians in turn are threatened with loss of income or home as Muslims sway the courts to rule in their favor.
Reality III – Global Islamic State
An Islamic state is necessarily totalitarian. The function of a truly Islamic government is not merely to maintain law and order but to enforce the law of sharI’ah. SharI’ah does not pertain merely to prayer, general morality, zakAt, and pilgrimage; rather, it enters intimately into every detail of the believer’s life: his modes and manners, food, dress, marriage, and so on. It includes all his beliefs and affairs. God has given a prototype for imitation in Muhammad. “We [Allah] put thee [Muhammad] in the right way concerning affairs” (Qur’an 14:17). The function of an Islamic state is to enforce this model as best it can. Has not Allah sent “His apostle with guidance and the religion of Truth, to make it prevail over every other religion”? (Qur’an 9:33).
An Islamic state is totalitarian in the philosophic sense. A closed politics or civics is a necessary corollary of a closed theology. In Islam, the concept of ummah dominates over the concept of man or mankind. So in a Muslim polity, only Muslims have full political rights in any sense of the term; non-Muslims, if they are allowed to exist at all as a result of various exigencies, are zimmIs, second-class citizens (See Kafirs above).
The vision of orthodox Muslims is that Islam will one day be global in extent and authority. Yet some people refuse to convert to Islam or to submit to Muslim conquest and rule. When this occurs, these individuals are deemed aggressors against Islam and are seen as legitimate targets for jihad if they seek to stop Islamic practice and growth.
When we understand this Muslim vision, especially in light of the fact that most Western nations have refused Islamic demands to establish Shari’ah (or even to permit Muslim ghettos to practice Shari’ah among their Muslim populations), then we cannot fail to see that Muslims view such refusals as aggressive toward Islam. These nations are deemed aggressors against Islam because they refuse to permit Muslims to live as they please—not only in regard to ruling their own subcultures, but also because of a refusal to adopt and propagate Islam (as Muslims believe they are commanded to do).
More fundamentally, though, because the world was created in submission to Allah and every human being is born a Muslim, to refuse Allah’s demands to seek to restore the world and its inhabitants to that state is to perpetuate rebellion against Allah. This sets such people or nations up in opposition to Islam itself and causes them to become a legitimate target for jihad. Jihad, while being called “defensive,” is nothing less than the offensive posture of Muslims intent on seeing the world Islamicized.
Thus when a modern Muslim claims that jihad is only a defensive action, the typical non-Muslim understands that in terms quite different than Islam teaches. What the typical non-Muslim understands as military aggression, especially as expressed in the early conquest history of Islam, is seen by Muslims as a defensive action against those who oppose Islam. But if this Islamic viewpoint of the world is not understood, then it is easy and natural for us to take modern Muslim statements (that Islam is a religion of peace or that jihad is only defensive) quite differently than how this has been understood throughout Islamic history.
Islamic Politics – Conclusion
Although there is some diversity among Muslims regarding Islamic politics, the historical patterns and precedent support the self-ascribed agenda of more traditional orthodox Muslims. Early Islam spread largely through force; the radical Muslims of the twenty-first century desire to return to that golden age of Caliphate. In this sense, current day Muslims that are characterized as radical are not radical at all, rather they are devout orthodox Muslims following faithfully in the footsteps of Muhammad. Reviewing Islam through the lens of the Five Fundamental Principles outlined one may better understand the realities of Islam and its impact upon the non-Muslim world. Finally, what is written here is only a “once-over-lightly” review of a more complicated clash of worldviews; a clash of worldviews that must be taken seriously and understood. Understand the differences between this and other worldviews and respect them. There is no place here for political correctness in the name of tolerance! Like it or not, it is a battle to be won or lost.