Ibn Taymiyyah and His Contribution to Islamic Political Thought - Report Example

Ibn Taymiyyah and His Contribution to Islamic Political Thought Grade Introduction Taqi al-Din also known as Ibn Taymiyyah was a logician, theologian and Islamic scholar born in 1263 in Harran, Mesopotamia who sought the return of the religion, especially the Islamic religion to its foundation: the Sunnah and the Quran, revealed prophetic tradition and writing.1 He was educated in Damascus as a refugee from the Mongol invasion in 1268, where he immersed himself in the Pietist School teachings.2 Even though he kept his faith throughout his life to the Pietist School, of which he had mastery of their teachings, he also picked up a broad knowledge of contemporary Islamic disciplines and sources: the Hadith, dogmatic theology, the Quran, philosophy, jurisprudence, and Sufi theology.3 His contemporary disciplines and sources had a powerful effect Abd al-Wahhab and Sunni Scholars of the later time4 as it assisted them in applying religious teachings of the Quran in real life in the community Certain observations can be drawn from Ibn Taymiyyah early life, the strength and scope of his arguments and effects. A Jew converted to Islam while he was a young person; he began giving out legal judgements at a tender age of 19 years5 and began teaching in Dar al-Hadith as-Sukriyyah when he was about 22 years.6 He had firm observance of time from a younger age that led his later life to be filled with actions, such as commanding the good, teaching, jihad, forbidding the evil, writing letters and books and disproving challengers.7 Most importantly, he is famously known for his fatwa delivered against the rulers of Mongol pronouncing jihad by Muslims on the grounds that they did not adhere to Sharia and because of this they were not Muslims, and their assertions that they had converted to Islam nonetheless.8 Ibn Taymiyyah life and his experiences as a philosopher and religious leader formed a specific perspective towards his thoughts on politics and what leaders in political position should do in relation to the Muslim religion. Let us examine his political thoughts in relation to religion. Ibn Taymiyyah Political Though Government and Its Significance Ibn Taymiyyah recognized the significance of the presence of government and authority that religion was compulsory to regulate people’s affairs and that religion could not be established in its truest form without the government and the obligation of commanding the good and forbidding the evil could not be totally discharged without authority and power.9 This he thought would assist those who were wronged by providing a form of judgement where people who had committed offences would be punished in accordance with the legal penalties. For instance, when bribery claims became prevalent and became an essential factor in holding office and even as far as abolishing capital punishment, an official ruling was sent by the Sultan to Damascus stating that no individual should be given office or post through bribery or money and that a person who kills should be punished in accordance with Sharia law.10 Government Form Caliphate at Ibn Taymiyyah time was a political religious state that consisted of land, people and the Muslim community under its power following the death of Prophet Muhammad.11 However, it is at this time that Abbasid caliphate had no resources to impose its central tributary system and leaders become militarily and economically independent, where some leaders maintained an insignificant relationship with the caliphate as their legitimacy in politics while others declared independences.12 Ibn Taymiyyah ignored the problem of caliphate in general, and refuted its need. He used the Quran to explain that it did not provide any specific way of forming a government, as well as not clearly explaining the succession question.13 He also explained that Quran did not place a number of rulers to rule a government.14 Hence, in the community of Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah accepts having multiple separate states because as explained, the states are not obliged under Quran to form a government in a specific way. Therefore, this implies that in every state, the rule is in charge of the application of legal matters, the performance of public services, the application of economic and social norms and most importantly the conduct of jihad and prayer.15 The Reasons That Unite Muslims Ibn Taymiyyah clearly differentiated political unity from religious unity. It was his belief that too much insistence on unity politically could harm the Islamic community. To him, what brought together Muslims was a religious togetherness, which came from the submission of people to the will of Allah as depicted in the Quran by Prophet Muhammad. Muslim community members were entailed to sustain and support one another spiritually, physically, and even socially. Thus, if an individual in the community had problems, it was the responsibility of other individuals in the community to help that individual.16 In addition, he explains that a community that stays together only through military or politics is not united. His idea is that Islam is what could maintain leadership of community unity. Criteria for Choosing a Suitable Leader Ibn Taymiyyah suggests that when choosing a leader, a consensus should be reached through the use of an electoral body to choose a leader by the people for the people.17 He continues to explain that the power of leadership rests on the public, and similar to other contracts, no persons should be held under compulsion.18 This way of thinking is essential in having a democratic nation. For example, the American election of President Barack Obama in 2008 saw the election of the first black president into the White House.19 It is this democratic way of voting for a president different individuals prefer that Ibn Taymiyyah puts its importance above all things. This simply implies that democratic election in a country ensures people put a leader in power who the majority prefer, rather than who they do not prefer. Eligible of a Leader The views of Ibn Taymiyyah on the question of eligibility of a leader who should be in office or given a political position do not insist on qualities that are deemed ideal.20 He emphasises that the religious tasks of all rulers, subjects and Muslims are similar and therefore, it is preferable for a ruler to be a good Muslim. However, his stance is not reasonable and he seems to have had a hard time with leaders who claimed to be Muslim. In his position against rulers, he is known to have shown them their misguided way of ruling. In one of his position against Qazan, who was the ruler of Tartars when Tartars commanded authority and awe, he pointed out their actions of infringement of holiness of Muslims and spread of corruption while the rules claimed to be Muslims.21 Similarly, his words of strong nature with Sultan an-Nasir persuaded the Sultan from following a course of action which was unacceptable.22 The pointing of the leaders actions that infringed the holiness of Muslims and their spread of corruption he thought not to be qualities of a good Muslim leader. He attributes the corruption of leaders to leaders not following the teachings of Quran of maintaining the Muslim non corrupt leadership and holiness. Hence, it is in this confrontation that he explains that a good Muslim leader will always follow the teachings of Quran, and this will ensure a perfect political system with good checks and balances from the Muslim religion. The Government and Its Political Role Ibn Taymiyyah provides a description of the hadith saying that creatures serve Allah, and Allah is represented by viceroys among his servants where: they oversee other servants; they have a position comparable to that of partners in relation; they take the functions of legal representative and functions of the viceroy.23 In the same hadith, he continues saying that a custodian representative delegates his power to another individual in a position where he could have delegated it to an experience in administration of buildings and lands and a purchase pays for a higher price than expected, then the custodian representative has cheated that purchaser and also the individual who gave him control of his affairs. It is obvious that according to Ibn Taymiyyah, the main role of the government is to implement the Sharia Law. For that reason, he classified functions of the government into five groups: (1) leading prayers; (2) management of public finance; (3) establishment of legal punishment and prevention of crimes; (4) organization of public services; and (5) waging of holy war (jihad). In order for these functions of the government to be implemented, he pleads that close cooperation between the community and the ruler to be strong to carry out these responsibilities. Therefore, the ruler should regularly resort to consultations called Shura. According to Ibn Taymiyyah, Shura is not only limited to religious scholars (Ulema), but also consists of authorized representative of individuals from different social backgrounds in the community.24 Moreover, in order for these functions to be carried out, it is crucial to select the right individuals for office. Loyalty and ability are two important qualities of a person in public office. However, Ibn Taymiyyah suggest that the ability that is needed to fill an office should come from bravery and courage, which is vital than loyalty and piety if no one can be found who has both qualities. In his opinion, if no individual has these qualities required for an office position, the appointment has to be for an individual who is gifted with the quality loyalty and ability despite their background.25 However, Ibn Taymiyyah continues to look at the issue of government role in politics in a religious way. He suggests that the duty of a ruler is to improve the spiritual and material conditions of individuals in a country in preparation for its future. To support this, he points out that Sharia Law entrusts wealth and power with the acknowledgment of Allah to a leader, and this guarantees that good of the world and region. Hence, the country is forced to command the good and forbid evil by ensuring the head of the country and the people working under the head of the country are always guided by the teachings of Sunnah and Quran. However, in case the government for one reason or another does not know the teaching and how to apply it to particular problems, the government must ask advice of religious scholars who are skilled in Sharia and its interpretation.26 Ibn Taymiyyah additionally explains that those in authority when they act in an unacceptable manner, individuals in that country should obey their orders which are in agreement with Allah’s commandments and should not protest for the purpose of disposing the head of state. He supports this by saying that people living under tyranny for sixty years are better that people who live a night of anarchy.27 Reflection on Ibn Taymiyyah Political Thoughts Ibn Taymiyyah is a scholar who believes that religion and political authority are mutually dependent on each other. To him, a fair society is formed on the foundation of adherence of religion, where religion is fully realised through the backing of political authority. In the discussion, we see that when bribery claims become prevalent and became an essential factor in holding office an official ruling was sent by the Sultan to Damascus stating that no individual should be given office or post through bribery or money and that a person who kills should be punished in accordance with Sharia law. This use of governmental authority and Sharia Law ensures that people get justice when they are wronged in accordance with the legal penalties that are supported by the Muslim laws. Although Ibn Taymiyyah claims that religion and political authority are dependent on each other, in the formation of a government he suggests that the Quran does not provide any specific way of forming a government as well as not clearly explaining the succession question. In addition, he explains that Quran did not place a number of rulers to rule a government. This reasoning contradicts Ibn Taymiyyah that religion and politics depend on each other. For instance, if leaders in government are supposed to use the Quran to come up with rules and policies on how to govern a country, and they do not have a clear way of explaining the succession question, then the Quran according to Ibn Taymiyyah should not be used to create, run and maintain a government. In the Middle East, the Saudi Arabia succession was expected to have problems28, because the Quran does not provide a clear way of ruling and succession, however there were no succession problems. The reasons that unite Muslims as seen in the discussion are reasonable and logic especially where Ibn Taymiyyah talks about Muslims helping one another when experiencing challenges. He suggests that a community under political rule that stays together only through military or politics is not united. A good example is the problem taking place in the Syria conflict in the Middle East,29 where families experiencing the civil war have not come together to help themselves as a Syrian community. In this case, Syrian community can end the war by observing the teaching of Quran where individuals can help each other survive in a difficult and challenging civil war country by helping each other with food, shelter, and clothing. Conclusion Ibn Taymiyyah views of an Islamic state or country, is essentially based on the idea of trust from the public, and is founded on the collaboration and is run by consultation from institutions. The institutions that are consulted are religion and the government, where Ibn Taymiyyah illustrates that religion and government are dependent on each other. Therefore, using the Quran to come up with rules and policies to support the government in running a country is welcomed because the leader will be using religious teachings to run a country. However, in the discussion, we saw that even the Islamic religion does not provide a clear way on how to go about the succession question or how many leaders to have in a government. Therefore, even though Quran of the Muslim religion can produce a good leader based on religious practices, it does not address the question of how to form a government and run it. In the end, religion should not be allowed to be used to form a government for a number of reasons like which religion to be used to run the government, which rules to be used or which ruler from which religion to rule a country. 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