| Answer: Islam does not give any guidance on the strategy of
establishing an Islamic state. It has left this matter to common sense and
experience. The reason for this is that Muslims have a natural urge in them to
live as a collectivity and adopt the collective directives of Islam. So, Islam
has left this matter to this urge.
Also, circumstances are different in different communities.
So no pattern has been set.
You have asked for a detailed answer, but I am afraid that
there are no details. However, I would like to clarify one thing: Some religious
scholars present the example of the Prophet Muhammad (sws); they say that he had
adopted a particular method of setting up an Islamic state, and we Muslims
should follow this example. I am afraid that neither did the Prophet (sws) ever
undertake the task of establishing an Islamic state nor was he ever directed by
the Almighty to do so.
The scholars who uphold this idea say that it is the
religious obligation of every Muslim to strive for the supremacy of Islam in his
country by all the means he can. They term it as an ‘Islamic Revolution’ and
present the following verse in support of this view:
It is He Who has sent his Apostle with Guidance and the
Religion of Truth, that he may proclaim it over all religions, even though the
Idolaters may detest [this]. (61:9)
On the basis of the phrase ‘all religions’, it is
understood that the followers of Islam must struggle for its dominance in their
respective countries and territories.
An analysis of the context of this verse shows that it
belongs to the class of directives that relate to the established practice of
the Almighty regarding His Rusul according to which a Rasūl always triumphs over
his nation.
Those who show hostility to Allah and His Rasūl are
bound to be humiliated. The Almighty has ordained: ‘ I and my Rusūl shall be
dominant’. (58:20)
Muhammad (sws) was also informed that he would triumph over
his nation. He and his companions were told that they would have to fight the
idolaters of Arabia until the supremacy of Islam was achieved there and that
these idolaters should be informed that if they did not desist from their evil
ways they too would meet a fate no different from those of the other nations of
Rusul:
Say to the disbelievers that if now they desist [from
Unbelief], their past would be forgiven them; but if they persist, the
punishment of those before them is already [a warning for them]. And fight them
on until there is no more persecution and there prevails the religion of God
everywhere. (8:38-40)
Consequently, it is to be noted that al-Mushrikīn (the
idolaters) is used in 61:9 quoted above. The Qur’ān uses this word specifically
for the idolaters of Arabia of the Prophet’s times. As a result, ‘all the
religions’ in the conjugate clause can only mean all the religions of Arabia at
that time. Therefore, the verse has no bearing on Muslims after the times of the
Prophet (sws).
Therefore, striving to achieve the political supremacy of
Islam is no religious obligation upon a Muslim. The verses from which this
obligation has been construed specifically relate to the Rusul of the Almighty.
This inference does not mean that Muslims should not strive for this cause. It
only indicates that this is not their religious responsibility. |