Egypt: If it's not Khilafah it's not Islamic

Sunday, 01 July 2012 23:29

The recent victory in the presidential race in Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi has led to an emotional tidal wave of optimism that many Muslims are pinning their hopes upon. This is hardly surprising as the decades long brutal oppression meted out by the previous regime was truly a horrific ordeal. Muslims were denied even some of the most basic rights demanded by Islam.

Today one witnesses speeches against the state of Israel and other rhetoric that appeals to the hearts of the Muslims by speakers from the brotherhood. These speeches of course inspire the Muslims in Egypt and beyond giving them hope that the Muslims will rise once again.

Whilst some may genuinely believe that the life of the Muslims of Egypt will take a turn for the better – they need to get their thoughts together and look at the situation in a dispassionate way. In this brief article we seek to examine some of the facts so that we can evaluate if the change being brought to Egyptian society is a genuine change based upon Islam or nothing more than slogans that will cover the implementation of other than Islam.

Who Controls the government?

The facts on the ground as they stand today are that whilst Mohammed Morsi is president elect of Egypt - the real power in the land lies in the hands of the military, SCAF (the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces). The constitution of the country is still to be fully defined and there are many remnants of the previous regime that enjoy power and influence. They will also undoubtedly be involved in ruling. The military is well funded by America and will serve to accommodate the US in order to keep their patronage.

Will Mohammed Morsi be in position to implement what the Shariah demands or will he have to make compromise upon compromise? Is it possible to implement Islam when government positions are occupied by a patchwork of individuals of differing ways of thinking – ranging from sincere but ill informed Muslims, secularists and downright self interested criminals?

What Islam Demands?

Are Muslims permitted to indulge in actions that are not permitted by Islam, clearly they are not. Islam demands that we restrict all our actions to the shariah rule and the evidences are clear. Equally to rule by other than Islam is not permitted and the arguments that are often cited like necessity (dhroora) etc. have been shown both from text and reality to be invalid.

Indeed Allah سبحانه وتعالى tells us in the Qur'an

إِنْ الْحُكْمُ إِلاَّ لِلَّهِ

"The ruling rests only with Allah." [Yusuf, 12:75]

وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الظَّالِمُونَ

"And whosoever does not judge by that Which Allah has revealed, such are the oppressors (Zalimun)." [Al-Maida, 5:45]

Islam demands that the ruling should be based upon Islam. This means that there is no room in government for other than Islam - secularism, nationalism, selfish interests or American designs for the nation. The government must be based upon Islam and Islam alone.

What Should Muslims expect after the Egyptian Elections?

When one considers the points that we have discussed – it becomes clear that this is not a path to implement Islam in its entirety. Rather the results of this election will allow further confusion to be sown into the minds of the Muslims of Egypt. As the euphoria of the electoral win of Mohammed Morsi dies down, it will dawn on the people that secret of success of the Muslim Ummah can only come from the adherence to the Islamic aqeeda in statecraft and politics. Compromise leads to more compromise until the original desire to implement Islam if forgotten.

In truth if the Khilafah system is not implemented completely, comprehensively and radically then very little has been accomplished for Islam. The possibility of this electoral win by an Islamic party serving as a distraction for Muslims to recognise the real path to revive the Muslims is high. The true revival can only come by establishing the Khilafah ruling system built upon and driven purely by the Islamic aqeeda and nothing else.