Question

I would like to ask you what Muslims all over the world should do if War is declared on Afghanistan without any proper proof by the USA?

Answer

Muslims all over the world should abide by the decisions of the representatives of their respective collectivities.

It is, indeed, the responsibility of the Muslim rulers to take the particular course of action, which is just, irrespective of whether it goes against the desires and interests of the Americans or that of any Muslim state. Muslims, by the express directives of the Qur’an, are directed to say and do what is ‘right’, irrespective of the apparent potential consequences of such adherence to ‘right’ and irrespective of the fact that adhering to justice may result in fighting another Muslim country. The Qur’an says:

Believers, stand firm for of God, bearing witness of justice. Do not let the hatred of a people incite you to waver from justice. Do justice, for that is indeed closer to true piety. Fear God, for God is, indeed, aware of whatever you do.

It is quite clear from this directive of the Qur’an that the Muslim rulers must take their decisions purely on the grounds of what they perceive to be the requirements of justice.

There can, however, be circumstances where Muslims are not in a position to either enforce justice or even to take a stand against injustice. A Muslim state may, for instance, be faced with a situation where even though it realizes that justice requires it to take a particular stand, yet, due to any given circumstances, is not in a position to take that stand. Under such circumstances, a Muslim state may not be in a position to take a stand based on the principle of justice alone and may have to settle for less than its perception of justice, due to its limited or non-existent options¹ Such an incident occurred during the life of the Prophet (pbuh), when he accepted and honored the agreement of Hudaybiyyah. Anyone can see that the clauses of the referred agreement did not reflect justice, but even then the Prophet (pbuh) never allowed any of his followers to deviate from these clauses, till the time that the other tribes went against these clauses. Even after that, the Qur’an ordered a public declaration of the redundancy of the referred agreement, before taking any actions, which were contrary to the clauses of the agreement.

Muslims states must realize their responsibility of correcting the state of affairs in which they are neither in a position to enforce what they believe to be justice nor in one where they can, at least, freely take sides with what they perceive to be justice. The rulers of these states must take long term corrective actions whereby they would not have to succumb to powers, even for unjust causes.

All the nations of the world agree that they should all combine their hands to fight against ‘terrorism’. I am sure that they would also agree that if any particular group is proven to be the perpetrator in the recent tragedy in New York, then none of them would hold back from joining any coalition formed to bring the perpetrator to justice. Now the point remains that if the United States or a group of countries decide to wage a war against all such groups, which are involved in training terrorists and promoting the idea of ‘terrorism’, then what should the Muslims do. In my opinion, once again the decision should be taken after a thorough analysis of the problem and in the light of the principle of justice mentioned earlier.

The rulers of the Muslim states must remember that if they intentionally take an unjust decision and are driven by any other factor, besides justice in taking their decision, while they were in a position to take a just and equitable decision, then they shall have to face the severe consequences of their decision on the Day, when the absolute Justice of the Almighty shall rule supreme.

Nevertheless, whatever the decision taken by the Muslim rulers, the Muslim populations are directed by the Shari`ah to abide by and respect their decisions even if, they consider such a decision to be against their respective likes or even against their perception of justice. Every individual has a right to convince others regarding his point of view, yet he must practically abide by the decision of the representatives of his respective collectivity. If every individual were allowed to take a course of action in such cases and to enforce the opinion, which he considers to be correct upon the whole of the collectivity, this would only result in the promotion of further anarchy in the Muslim lands, which ultimately would further weaken the already weakened body of the Muslim collectivities.

It, however, deserves to be added that the representatives of the Muslim collectivities should try their best in educating the west of the root causes of ‘terrorism’ and should try to convince the ‘civilized’ world that if the roots of terrorism are not completely removed, any blood shed of existing terrorists, without the removal of these roots, would only serve as a strong fertilizer for a stronger and a more committed crop of terrorists. The war of the world should be against ‘terrorism’; if the world succeeds, then, as a consequence, ‘terrorists’ would die a natural death. The United States and all the other nations of the world must not ignore the fact that we are creating tomorrow’s history today. We must thoroughly consider the potential repercussion of our actions. For soon, we would only be in a position to reap its fruits, but no longer in a position to change the nature of that fruit.

Regards,

Moiz Amjad
September 17, 2001

1. There can be many causes for such a position of the Muslim state. It could be the result of its inability to withstand international pressure because of its less than desirable ‘power’ status or could merely be the result of its seeking the best possible means of safeguarding the welfare of its citizens. [↩]