Islam, Nonviolence, and Social Transformation

Mamoon-al-Rasheed

In times such as ours when conflict is the order of the day and the potential of technology offers more to fear than to hope for, social and political theory faces its gravest challenge. Theoretical political systems have grown increasingly suspect and intellectual formulations tend less to challenge than to repel. But there is a rapidly developing demand hitherto neglected by social and political theory. This demand is not for theoretical systems which point to an end structure which eliminates conflict, but rather for nonviolent ways of conducting conflict when it arises. Such a demand must be met by a theory of process and means rather than by a theory centered on an end or a particular goal. Basic to such a theory is a philosophy of action.  -Joan V. Bondurant1

In this chapter I try to formulate an approach to social and political action guided by the tenets of Islam. I have not presumed to write on Islam. Nor have I written strictly on Islamic political philosophy. I have tried to abstract from Islam in discussing contemporary problems—an approach inadequately explored thus far by political theorists. This is not to claim that what I present here is Islam’s philosophy of action. I hope my formulation is suggestive rather than definitive. Here I intend to envision a society that draws on the nonviolent principles inherent in Islamic teachings. Nonviolent protests and actions can be temporary and sporadic events. In contrast to this is a nonviolent worldview which is infused into the lifeblood of society. The latter is my focus. Such an ideology calls for a radical transformation of existing socioeconomic structures. Nonviolence should thrive as the form of collective behavior of the members of society. Nonviolence should be integrated into the social system itself so that it becomes the behavioral pattern of the members of society.

CAUSES OF VIOLENCE

In the modern world the causes of violence are complex and run the gamut of ideological, economic, religious, racial and strategic issues. But what actually lies beneath the sociology of violence? What facet of the human constitution impels people to resort to violence when certain circumstances converge? The
simple answer is that the basis of all violence is fundamentally a sense of separateness—separateness between individuals, sects, communities, and nations. The very simplicity of this answer belies the depth and pervasiveness with which separateness has found root in the human psyche. Today it even seems natural for individuals to think of themselves as lonely and separate from every other individual. The culmination of this phase of human development is
given expression in the philosophy of existentialism, which views existence as always particular and individual. Of course separatism means not only the glorification of the individual but also that of the separate unit, section, culture, and nation. The individual now identifies with a larger unit, such as nation, sect, or race, but it is still identification with a part rather than a whole. The ability of the individual to identify with the larger unit has been an important step
in human development, but still there is the conditioning influence of separatism. This has led to the expression of entrenched nationalism, sectarianism, and racism.

Materialism and Selfishness

Like separatism, violence has a deep root in materialism and selfishness. Like the selfish man whose desire and greed control his behavior, similarly nations covet territory, spheres of influence, and resources. Nations of great wealth live side by side with nations that can barely feed their people. Scarce resources are consumed by the wealthy at a gluttonous rate, with a resultant strain on the world economic structure. The wealthy live in comfort and convenience,
while in many parts of the world people live on the streets without even the basic needs of food and shelter—unwanted, uncared for, and without hope. In such an unbalanced environment nonviolence can never become a reality.

The link between poverty, deprivation, and violence has been firmly established. Unjust disparities exist not only between nations but also within nations and among individuals. This deformed relationship leads to a violent social order.

If the world were a global village of one hundred people, six of them would be Americans. These six would have over a third of the village’s income, and the other ninety-four would subsist on the other two thirds. How would the wealthy six live ‘in peace’ with their neighbors? Surely they would be driven to arm themselves against the other ninety-four—perhaps even to spend, as Americans do, about twice as much per person on military defence as the total income of two-thirds of the villagers.2

To discuss nonviolence in Islam with no mention of justice is like staging Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. Injustice is the spawning ground of violence. And injustice stems from economic disparities and social inequities. Once injustice is eliminated through social transformation, especially in the rural areas, there will be no occasion for violence. There will be no injustice to prompt violence.

Militarization

Another frequent cause of violence is the militarization of a country. In developing countries backed by predatory powers, the military holds a puissant position, often relying on repression to guarantee control. In the ultimate mockery of defence, a military wedded to political control turns inward to terrorize the people it is intended to protect. Militarization is a process “whereby military values, ideology and patterns of behavior achieve a dominating influence on political, social, economic, educational and external affairs of the state.”3 During times of crisis the military establishments assume the role of messiah. The former imperial masters often help them seize this role. The military rule usually depends economically and technologically on its foreign tutelar, and
its main task is to repress the local population. Militarization also moves resources from the poor to the rich countries. Third World peasants subsidize both their own repressers and the major arms dealers, who share a common interest in and responsibility for the repression.

Violence is also transferred in the form of defence training from the superpowers to the Third World. “Training” the armed forces of the developing countries involves much more than technical assistance. The training of officers of these countries increases abruptly just before or immediately after a military coup.
There is a very important correlation between per capita defence training and the frequent coups and attempted coups against civilian governments.4 Furthermore assistance to the military while a civilian government is in office destabilizes the latter. The giving of military aid to a military government tends to make it more stable. With the rise of neomilitary elitism, military assistance thus helps to undermine the civil population and increases violence.

A close corollary to militarism is counterinsurgency. It acts as a vicious prelude to the universalization of violence in the guise of intelligence service. It not only terrorizes a society but also lets loose an international banditry. This system has engulfed the world with a state of cold violence. Only a spark is needed to make it ignite.

Cultural Terrorism

Another phenomenon brooding in many Third World countries, especially in many poor Muslim countries, is Western value-laden cultural terrorism in the name of development and volunteerism. These racketeers supply the social and cultural legitimation needed for the state violence of militarism. Cultural
terrorism thrives best in countries where militarization is already thriving. It disintegrates and dismembers the prevailing sociocultural system, precisely the Islamic value system. In Muslim societies and among Muslim youths, these voluntary organizations backed by the Church and supported by their governments are indulging in secularizing societies in the name of development. These Church-backed volunteers are embarked on a process of de-Islamization in the name of welfare, peace, and human rights. They play a knavish dual role. One, they work among the educated but Islam, unemployed, the half-educated, or young drop-outs. These youth are well paid in comparison to their employed friends, are injected with secular ideology, and are made to believe their own religion is backward. This process gradually replaces their own culture and lifestyle with that of the West. Two, they create dissension amongst the minority community by taking advantage of the worthlessness and suppressive nature of the governments and they accuse the dominant religion of all injustice.

Technology

Technology presents another disturbing phenomenon; it disrupts the whole rural ecology and directly breeds violence. It has damaged the system of redistribution. The imposition of technology, in conjunction with the types of development aid which have been injected into developing societies, increases the disparities between the rich and the poor. This has encouraged the export of cash crops to earn foreign exchange and has led to the subjugation of the rural labour force to the needs of agribusiness.

The culture that we have been forced to inherit today, the one within which political and social forces emerge and act, is a violent culture. Violence is always present in one way or another—not necessarily in the form of overt direct violence (war); but always in the shape of a world of violence (structural and cultural), in the form of the military, paramilitary, police, defence preparation and expenditure, constitutional obligations, diplomacy; and so on. Put briefly it has become a basic aspect of everyone’s life. Violence is always potentially and often actually present. The world of states, as well as the entire world of politics and diplomacy, is based on violence—cultural and structural, with a high potential for direct violence. Violence is a reality which guides supreme decisions effecting the fate of nations and of humanity itself, and it has maintained this dominant and legitimated position even to the present.

THE TRADITION OF NONVIOLENCE
A study of the tradition of nonviolence shows three main streams in its development: religious, metaphysical, and ethical. To the religious stream belongs the nonviolence of the Hindu, Christian, and Muslim scriptures as well as that of Gandhi. To the metaphysical stream belongs the nonviolence of Jainism. And to the ethical stream belongs the nonviolence of individual thinkers like Henry David Thoreau and John Ruskin.

Gandhi’s Nonviolence

The Gandhian concept of nonviolence implies a system of values and meaning with a commitment to a creed. Gandhi emphasized that Satyagraha was a creed as well as a technique of action intended to replace methods of violence. His doctrine of nonviolence was an adaptation of Tolstoy’s and Thoreau’s ideas, which had been inspired by Christianity. Gandhi accentuated the nonviolent aspects of the Hindu religion in presenting his Satyagraha to the Indian people. This was due to his genius rather than to explicit roots of nonviolence in Hinduism. Gandhi himself confirmed that nonviolence has no importance in Hinduism, even though it conforms with it. He wrote, “The finest hymn composed by Tulsidas in praise of Rama gives the first place to his ability to strike down the enemy. . . . The code of Manu prescribes no such renunciation that you impute to the race. Buddhism conceived as a doctrine of universal forbearance signally failed. . . . Shankaracharya did not hesitate to use unspeakable cruelty in banishing Buddhism out of India.”5 Gandhi only “adopted symbols but had no Hindu ideals worth the name.”6 Despite all this Gandhi tried to show that nonviolence was in conformity with Hinduism, while also not being Hindu-bound. However, despite his ingenuity, not many of the political followers of Gandhi in the Indian National Movement accepted nonviolence as a creed.

Very late in his life Gandhi realized the widening gulf between him and the men around him, “the men he had developed as the leaders of the Congress Party.”7 It cost the Congress to keep Gandhi in an apparent show of poverty,8 and as a result after his death none of his close disciples were able to renew his program in its entirety.

The Christian Perspective

The Christian perspective on the role of the Church has also failed to deal with the problem of violence. It promoted the Crusades, which led to massacres in the name of God and Truth. Next it blessed violent colonial expansionism with the justification of an evangelical spiritual mission. Finally during the two world wars, it lacked the courage and method to stop such a human catastrophe or to encourage people power to rise against brutal force. Instead it blessed the soldiers on both fronts, every morning, barely hours before they started killing each other. Christian soldiers today are “heir to a Christianity that had for seventeen hundred years engaged in revenge, murder, torture, the pursuit of power and prerogative violence.”9

The impact of nonviolence is failing because of the failures of the prophets of nonviolence to answer the criticisms of the secularists and researchers of scientific truth, who label the religious foundation of nonviolence a set of prejudices or unverifiable hypotheses. Conflicts cannot be eliminated either from international society or from human nature. Violence, like conflict, is also a phenomenon of apparent reproach but with an inherent utility. It is universally recognized today that power is inherent in almost all social and political relationships and that its control is the basic problem in political theory and in political reality. A theory of nonviolence, therefore, has to accommodate violence to the extent to which its control can be brought about by an ideal pursuit of violence itself.

ISLAM AND NONVIOLENCE

It is in this context that Islam claims special relevance. I hope to elucidate five connections between Islam and nonviolence. First, nonviolence in Islam is grounded in the society at the grass-roots level through each individual. It is integrated into the personal activities of individuals and into the collective behavior of an Islamic society. Second, the Islamic concept of peace as the basis of nonviolence can provide a link in bringing all people together in the service of human development and peace. Not only will the Islamic influence give renewed meaning to nonviolence, but it can also facilitate a process of international integration which involves us all, directly or indirectly. Third, the Islamization of nonviolence can be acceptable to non-Muslims because it is relevant and effective in the context of the most dire need of all humankind today, human survival. Fourth, Islamized nonviolence based upon the recognition of this dire need would not include even a limited form of war. The Islamic practice of nonviolence will provide a criterion for redefining not only various theories of war but also the very nature or relationship between war and peace, violence and nonviolence. Fifth, an Islamic concept of nonviolence will set to rest the philosophies which overemphasize individual salvation to the neglect of the society. The question of survival is so important to the individual that each of us has to take it very seriously in the context of the wider question of the survival of the human race. The threat of nuclear war has made it imperative for everybody to view their survival as linked to the survival of humankind.

The twenty-first century is going to be an Islamic century, not in the sense of Muslim domination, but in the sense of Islamic influence, direct or indirect, upon the destiny of the world. Not only does Islam present a far stronger comradeship between people of different nationalities than the pale agnostic humanism of modern civilization, but it also presents an economic and social program that has no parallel in the capitalist or socialist systems. Furthermore Islam is a tested ideology in regard to its potential foundational role in nonviolent overcoming of unjust rule or law, aggression, deprivation or servitude.

Three Examples

Nonviolent Revolution in Iran. It is this nonviolent spirit of Islam that effected the most spectacular nonviolent revolution in Iran, which took all by surprise. A whole people was able to fight for many months against a dictatorship which had under its command the most sophisticated arms and a most ferocious machine, Savak. Western perception has still not absorbed this event. It is a striking demonstration of how people with religious zeal achieved liberation from all the bi- and tri-polarities sanctified by Yalta.

Egypt. Barely 150 years ago no more than forty members of Egypt’s National Society, under the leadership of Sayyed Jamal ad-Din Afghani, through a mere month of diligent practice of only seventeen of Islam’s most basic social codes,10 almost brought about a nonviolent revolution in Egypt. A month’s effort of the Society frightened Lord Cromer, the English economic adviser, who saw a drastic reduction in English influence and English trade falling by thirty-five percent. He sent a horrified cable to London: “I hereby notify the British Authorities of the danger posed by the National Society. If it continues its activities for one more year . . . not only will the trade and policy of England in Asia and Africa be completely destroyed, but also there is a fear that the influence of Europe will be gravely endangered throughout the world.” The head of the Bank of England in Egypt wrote a letter to a London businessman saying: “It is one of the wonders of life that today the police of Europe in Egypt (and tomorrow the whole world) will be trampled upon by the activity of just forty Muslims, whose only weapon is their religion and the implementation of its principles.”11 The British Prime Minister William Gladstone, in a violent rage in the House of Commons, lifted the Qur‘an above his head, tearing it to pieces, vowing to rip the Book out of the hearts of the Muslims in order to save the Empire.

India. A third experience with Islamic nonviolence comes from the Indian subcontinent. The Pathans of the Frontier province of Pakistan have long been reputed as masters in the arts and sciences of violence. The development among the Pathans of a movement committed to the use of nonviolence as the means for promoting social and political objectives demonstrates the potential appeal of the Islamic technique. In 1929 Ghaffar Khan, a Pathan of great physical and moral stature, organized the “Khudai Khidmatgar” to effect political, social, and economic reforms based on Islam.12 “Its adoption of nonviolence was more thorough than that of the Indian National Congress in as much as the Khudai Khidmatgar [KK] pledged themselves to nonviolence not only as a policy, but as a creed, as a way of life.”13 The ideal of the KK was to become true Servants of Allah, to serve Allah, and to realize the Pleasure of Allah through serving humanity.14 The KK was able to carry out a nonviolent program to the extent of establishing a parallel government for a short period in Peshawar. When Gandhi first visited the Frontier in 1938 he was amazed to see an organization already tried in the techniques of nonviolence. No less spectacular was the nonviolent movement for the “impossible dream” of Pakistan by the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent, who refused to crucify themselves “on a cross of Hindu nationalism.”

Injustice in the Muslim World

Either by chance or by choice, Islam is a religion of the Third World. Today Islam is the religion of individuals who have been expropriated from their homes or whose habitats have vanished from under their feet through the jugglery of diplomacy or foxy maneuvering of nationalism. Hardly a two-year period has passed in the last 150 years without some Muslim land in either Asia or Africa being taken by the West, or without Muslims fighting against the encroachment of Western nations. A Muslim trying to snatch out a slice of justice from the national and international jungles is branded, in the most modern rhetoric, a terrorist, fundamentalist, revivalist, or some other pejorative term. Violence used by the arrogant powers, the “cowboy actions” of the vulturine nations against the seekers of justice, have no nomenclature in Western rhetoric.

Thus Islam is the religion of those militants against whom severe wrongs have been committed and who in turn are committed to truth and justice. Islam today is the slogan of those who desire freedom and justice but are denied it, and an institution for those who struggle against local brute force and against all forms of international aggrandizement.

Above and beyond foreseeable changes that might take place in the West and the East, especially in the Muslim countries and societies, it is impossible to speculate regarding the progress and functioning of nonviolence without there being an adequate solution and settlement to the dilemmas already created by Western ways for Muslims. It is difficult to forget easily and quickly the consequences of the suffering that has been inflicted on Muslims in recent years and the injustice and violence on account of which they continue to bleed.

Gandhi’s concept of nonviolence can be described literally as holding fast to truth. Satyagraha can be translated as Truth-Force. Gandhi never claimed to know the truth in any absolute sense. He said, “I am but a seeker after Truth. I claim to have found the way to it. . . . But admit that I have not yet found it.”15

In Islam Truth refers to the Hidayat [guidance] revealed by Allah. It is a comprehensive term indicating that true, correct, and complete Hidayat is contained only in this Truth. It is the most important term in the Qur‘an. Over two hundred mentions bring out its different shades of meaning, relating it to Absolute Truth, the Divine Being, and man and human society. In the Islamic view Truth cannot be realized completely individually—it can be realized fully only in a social system and through a living community.16 Muslims are reminded that they have to accept the responsibility of creating a just, virtuous, and godly society. Therefore individual attainment of faith and piety is not sufficient. Each individual must also contribute to the social good, because humans can live rightly and happily only in a society and it is through living well in a society that the Way of Allah can be justified.

Power

Nonviolence is closely linked with the evolution of power forms. Violence occurs because the power to generate violence exists. Nonviolence can only be achieved when and if humankind succeeds in creating a nonviolent power form to prevent all individuals and states from generating violence, or through a power diffusion whereby each and every individual shares power.

Nonviolence is the basic tenet of political and economic decentralization. Gandhi believed that exploitation becomes a reality when power is concentrated in a single hand or in a single body like the state. He said, “The state represents violence in a concentrated and organized form.”17 Therefore he advocated diffusion of power in hopes of avoiding violence. He viewed the “increase in the power of the state with the greatest fear, because while apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind destroying individuality, which lies at the root of all progress.”18 Destruction or denial of individuality is tantamount to exploitation, which leads to violence. Therefore to ensure nonviolence, human welfare, peace, and security a society should strive for a maximum flowering of human personality and the decentralization of social, economic, civic, and political power. The theory behind the modern state does not accommodate such qualities.

Human Society as a Whole

Interstate and intrastate violence are the visible symptoms of a deeper malady. There is essentially a failure in the system to develop in people the sense of duty they owe to one another. All the civic attainments, all the political rights, all the efforts of neohumanism, and all the freedom enunciated by modern political theories have failed to reveal to citizens the interests of human society as a whole. Nor can these clearly reveal to the people of one nation how inseparable its own national interest is from those of human society as a whole. We cannot begin to realize our full potential until we have achieved a community which knows no limit but that of human society and renders all obedience to a Law common to all. It is with this in mind that Islam “does not aim to create a state but to create a society.”19 A Muslim has no country except that part of the earth where shari‘a is operative. He has no nationality except his iman, which makes him a member of the ummah.

This interdependence of all individuals in a society is brought out by Allah’s description of the violence that led to the killing of one son of Adam by the other.

On that account: We ordained
For the Children of Israel
That if anyone slew
A person—unless it be
For murder or for spreading
Mischief in the land—
It would be as if
He slew the whole people:
And if anyone saved a life,
It would be as if he saved
The life of the whole people.
Then although there came
To them Our Messengers
With Clear Signs, yet,
Even after that, many
Of them continued to commit
Excesses in the land. (5:32)

Elsewhere Allah says:

Nor slay such life as Allah
Has made sacred, except
For just cause, nor commit
Fornication;—and any that does
This (not only) meets punishment,
(But) the Penalty on the Day
Of Judgement will be doubled
To him. (25:68–69)

Nor take life—which Allah
Has made sacred—except
For just cause. And if
Anyone is slain wrongfully,
We have given his heir
Authority (to demand Qisas
Or to forgive): but let him
Not exceed bounds in the matter
Of taking life; for he
Is helped (by the Law). (17:33)

Take not life, which Allah
Hath made sacred, except
By way of justice and law (6:151).

VIOLENCE

The social turbulence and violence of Arabia during the time of the Prophet is well known. The social situations in the neighboring enlightened nations then were no better. Great philosophers and social scientists of Rome and Greece not only supported violence but gave it legitimacy. Greeks legalized the killing of wives by their husbands. In India until recent times widows were burnt alive in the funeral pyre of their husbands. Certain caste Hindus had no right to live—shedding of their blood was legal for Brahmins.

In our recent memory the violence committed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki created a hell so horrifying as to be beyond that which any religion has conceived. The dead were even deprived of their final sacred resting places. In Vietnam violence not only killed the living but also violated them and their ancestors by bombing temples, pagodas, churches, and sacred places where the dead lay—all in the name of the defence of Christian Civilization.20 On tiny Cambodia Americans dropped bombs comparable in tonnage to all those employed in Europe during World War II.

Islam’s Response To Violence

When such are the scenarios of violence, Islam’s Message is: “Slay not such life as Allah has made sacred, except for just cause.” One should give serious thought to the fact that Allah did not say simply, “Slay not such life as Allah has made sacred,” but added: “except for just cause.” Similarly it was not said, “Anyone slaying a person would be as if he slew the whole people,” but rather the following exception is added, “unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land.”

Human nature does not naturally succumb to mere injunctions and refrain from forbidden actions. Strict laws are necessary to guide and keep human nature in order and under control. Prescription of punishment is essential if dictates are transgressed and laws are violated. Therefore, it is not enough to say, “Slay not such life as Allah has made sacred,” or

Do no mischief on the earth
After it hath been set in order. (6:56)

Severe sanctions are needed to keep individuals and groups from failing to follow the dictates or from indulging in violence.

Islam allows a person leeway as long as one does not cross certain limits. A person is allowed to live and has a right to life as long as he does not indulge in any kind of violence. But if he exceeds that limit and causes chaos and oppression in the society or becomes a threat to the lives of his fellow beings, then he loses the right to live. In such cases appropriate punishments provide security and freedom for others. According to the Qur‘an,

Tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter. (2:191)

In Islam, therefore, a criminal is dealt a punishment equally severe to the crime committed.

The law of equality
Is prescribed to you
In cases of murder:
The free for the free,
The slave for the slave,
The woman for the woman.
But if any remission
Is made by the brother
Of the slain, then grant
Any reasonable demand,
And compensate him
With handsome gratitude.
This is a concession
And a Mercy
From your Lord.
After this whoever
Exceeds the limits
Shall be in grave penalty. (2:178)

Here, the Qisas comes into operation.21

War is sometimes a necessity. Gandhi said that if people “are to preach the mission of peace, they must first prove their ability in war.” This he felt to be a “terrible discovery,” yet he held that “a nation that is unfit to fight cannot from experience prove the virtue of not fighting.”22

Allah did not proscribe against armed conflict in self-defence or against others who cause tyranny. Permission to resort to violence is given, therefore, to those who have been wronged.

To Those against whom
War is made, permission
Is given (to fight), because
They are wronged. (22:39).

The wronged people are defined as

Those who have
Been expelled from their homes
In defiance of right
(For no cause) except
That they say, “Our Lord
Is Allah.” (22:40)

People who can resort to violence are further defined as

Those who,
If We establish them
In the land, establish
Regular prayer and give
Regular charity, enjoin
The right and forbid wrong. (22:41)

These people, however, do not fight for themselves, nor for territory, resources, or privilege. They fight for Right and for Allah. This permission for retaliation comes as Grace from Allah to those who are mustadafa‘yyun [oppressed] and to those whom Allah wants to be the inheritors of power, as an example to those who defy the Authority and Sovereignty of Allah.23

And We wished to be
Gracious to those who were
Being depressed in the land,
To make them leaders (in faith)
And make them heirs. (28:5)

Allah has promised, to those
Among you who believe
And work righteous deeds, that He
Will, of a surety, grant them
In the land, inheritance
(Of power). (24:55)

My servants,
The righteous, shall inherit
The earth. (21:105).

These tenets of Islam show that those who are authorized to take recourse to violence are persons committed to a life strictly defined by Allah.

Let those fight
In the cause of Allah
Who sell the life of this world
For the Hereafter. (4:74)

Allah holds Muslims responsible for humanity.24 This responsibility is not merely to convey the Message to humanity, but also to take positive measures to ameliorate the lot of the oppressed, even to the extent of waging wars for their sake.

And why should ye not
Fight in the cause of Allah
And of those, who, being weak,
Are ill-treated (and oppressed)?—
Men, women, and children,
Whose cry is: “Our Lord!
Rescue us from this town,
Whose people are oppressors;
And raise for us from Thee
One who will protect;
And raise for us from Thee
One who will help!” (4:75)

Allah not only commands Muslims to be concerned and active for the rest of humanity, but also urges them to seek cooperation from others for the progressive goals of Islam.

And let not the hatred
Of some people
In (once) shutting you out
Of the Sacred Mosque
Lead you to transgression
(And hostility on your part).
Help ye one another
In righteousness and piety,
But help ye not one another
In sin and rancour. (5:3)

Allah asks Muslims, within the framework of Islam to admitany merit or virtue in any hostile individual or group.

The Qur‘an stresses that force must be used only as a last resort against oppressors of basic human rights. These basic rights are defined as freedom of belief, freedom of expression, freedom of life, and freedom of survival. According to the Qur‘an the use of force is legitimate only when dialogue and reason have failed, and cannot be an essential principle or an inevitable necessity, as presented in revolutionary ideologies. When animal instincts and limitations prevail over the human intellect, then the use of force becomes an undesirable necessity for the well-being of humankind as a whole. It is conditional and requires Divine permission, since it is exceptional. If this permission were not given, sacred places would be dishonored, the enmity of nations would never end, and the earth would be a place full of mischief mongers.

To those against whom
War is made, permission
Is given (to fight) because
They are wronged;—and verily,
Allah is Most Powerful
For their aid;—
(They are) those who have
Been expelled from their homes
In defiance of right,—
(For no cause) except
That they say, “Our Lord
Is Allah.” Did not Allah
Check one set of people
By means of another,
There would surely have been
Pulled down monasteries, churches,
Synagogues, and mosques, in which
The name of Allah is commemorated
In abundant measure. Allah will
Certainly aid those who
Aid His (cause). (22:39–40)

Every time
They kindle fire of war,
Allah doth extinguish it,
But they (ever) strive
To do mischief on earth.
And Allah loveth not
Those who do mischief. (5:67)

It bears repeating that this Divine permission is only given in cases where human rights are violated (including the right to observe one’s faith) or in cases where the people’s security is threatened. This concession is never to be taken advantage of in order to preach the Faith. Men and women are to be called to the Faith by wisdom and counsel.

Invite (all) to the Way
Of thy Lord with wisdom
And beautiful preaching;
And argue with them
In ways that are best and most gracious. (16:125)

Coercion of any nature, such as allurement, whether it be through charity or material benefits, is not to be applied.

Let there be no compulsion in religion:
Truth stands out clear from Error. (2:256)

One is to argue with reverence and grace. If people are not convinced, then they are to be left alone.

O ye who believe!
Guard your own souls:
If ye follow (right) guidance,
No hurt can come to you
From those who stray.
The goal of you all
Is to Allah: it is He
That will show
The truth of all
That ye do. (5:105)

Let not those grieve thee
Who rush headlong
Into unbelief:
Not the least harm
Will they do to Allah. (3:176)

RURAL TRANSFORMATION AND AN ISLAMIC SOCIETY

It is only now that a real awakening to the relevance of the Islamic Message to both our social and individual problems is beginning to take place. If modern civilization had really fulfilled the dreams of its protagonists, if social justice and economic emancipation through various “isms” had not turned out to be a mirage, if better and improved technology were still seen as the panacea for all our problems, if modern medicine could really have taken care of all our diseases, if modern science had continued to inspire undiluted awe, if modern psychology had continued to offer hope for a better world, if the dangers present in ecological imbalance had not become so obvious, if economics had not failed so miserably to contain or even explain inflation and, most important, if the extinction of the human race through a nuclear catastrophe had not become such a distinct possibility—then perhaps interest in Islam would never have been revived. When the injustices and threats facing us seem to demand desperate measures, Islam’s Message is as urgent and essential as ever.

Rural transformation in Islam is the full manifestation of the Will of Allah and the realization of His Pleasure. Furthermore no transformation in a Muslim society, be it in rural or urban areas, can be explained simply by means of categories such as class, classconsciousness, class-struggle, or economics. “Islam does not confine itself merely to purifying the spiritual and moral life of man in the limited sense of the word. Its domain extends to the entire gamut of life.”25

When the Prophet arrived at Medina there was no legitimately constituted social authority. He set up an authority, with due sanction from the various constituents of the Medinese population. He drew up a written constitution, federal in nature, and with multiple clauses to accommodate various groups and their interests. The document was the “political genius of its author, it was in reality a revolution.” The center of power shifted from the tribe to the community,” which “included Jews and pagans as well as Moslems.”26 The Islamic society of Medina was almost a system of confederated local government in which non-Muslims controlled and directed external and security affairs.

An Islamic society by nature assimilates all indigenous elements within its religious and social framework. Local elements that do not conflict with the values and ideals of Islam are made part of the total process of Islamization, giving a new direction, shape, and character to the society. Conflicting elements in a society remain a source of violence and can never bring peace. Therefore, Islam rejects those which conflict with its values.

Principles of Transformation

Transformation in Islam is basically Islamization—a process of integrating Islam’s fundamental values into the life of society. “Islam is a system for practical human life in all its aspects. This is a system that entails the ideological ideal—the convincing concept which expounds the nature of the universe and determines the position of man in this universe as well as his ultimate objectives herein.”27 Islam is a complete code of life and the success of an Islamic society here and Hereafter lies in the total compliance with the entire scheme of life envisioned by the shari‘a.

Tawhid, ummah, al-‘adl, and ihsan are central concepts in Islam when considering the dynamic role they can play in transforming rural society and liberating humankind. These principles bring out the significance and the practical daily meaning of the Pleasure of Allah. The Pleasure of Allah calls for both a change of hearts and a change of societal structures. A change of heart without a concomitant change in structures would leave present oppression unchanged. A change of structures without a change of heart would lead to new oppression since the liberated oppressed, still driven by selfishness and greed, would become oppressors in their turn. Only the two together can bring a situation where people live together in fellowship and freedom. It is to such a society of free people living in a nonexploitive society that Islam summons us and to which it leads by its own inherent dynamism of iman. It is neither a blueprint nor a vision but a Divine reality that initiates the values of the New Order—tawhid, ummah, al-’adl, and ihsan. Muslims are committed to the never-ending task of providing the social structures within which these values can be realized and safeguarded.

In Islam tawhid is central to any kind of transformation. It is an absolute principle of spiritual truth. It gives shape to social life in all its manifestations and impacts everyday life. It links the metaphysical and the spiritual to the various aspects of a person’s daily life—work, production, trade, consumption, distribution, entrepreneurship, family relations, social behavior, as well as societal institutions, the law, and the arts—all of which make Islamic society a living whole. Tawhid is the core concept from which all aspects of rural social transformation are to be derived. It is the integrating factor of all life.

The concept of ummah is next in importance when considering Islamic transformation. It is an integral part of the concept of tawhid. Through this concept of community Islam aims at establishing a social order wherein individuals are united by a bond of fraternity. Individuals living in an Islamic society are like members of one single family created by Allah from one couple.

O mankind! We created
You from a single (pair)
Of a male and female,
And made you into
Nations and tribes, that
Ye may know each other
(Not that ye may despise
Each other). Verily
The most honoured of you
In the sight of Allah
Is (he who is) the most
Righteous of you. (49:13)

Ummah is not parochial but universal. It engenders an egalitarian and cooperative environment.

Closely linked to ummah and inseparable from it is al-‘adl, which denotes a balance of forces at the fundamental level. It puts all aspects of life in proper perspective and balance. It is fundamental to the Islamic concept of socioeconomic justice. Social justice must characterize people’s social behavior, which in turn influences economic behavior. Iman that has elements of injustice is unacceptable to Allah.28 Al-‘adl directs man to the sirat-al-Mustaqim,29 and helps individuals to avoid all extremes.

Ihsan is another factor which is important for all socioeconomic relations in Islam. It refers to the cordiality in social relations born of an individual’s willingness to forgive and forget, to sacrifice for others what is one’s due, to prefer others’ interest over one’s own, and to be generous.

Allah commands justice, the doing
Of good, and liberality to kith
And kin, and He forbids
All shameful deeds, and injustice
And rebellion. (16:90)

Ihsan should guide the myriad social ties of an individual. It is especially important in grass-roots relationships and between family members.

And that ye be kind
To parents. Whether one
Or both of them attain
Old age in thy life,
Say not to them a word
Of contempt, nor repel them,
But address them
In terms of honour. (17:23)

We have enjoined on man
(To be good) to his parents:
In travail upon travail
Did his mother bear him,
And in years twain
Was his weaning: (hear
The Command), “Show gratitude
To Me and to thy parents.” (31:14)

The spirit of nonviolence is seen to stem from the family. The Prophet says, “Best among you is one who is best for his family.” And Allah commands, “Accept my instructions to deal with women generously.”

And, (reverence) the wombs
That bore you: for Allah
Ever watches over you. (4:1)

Ye are forbidden to inherit
Women against their will.
Nor should ye treat them
With harshness. (4:19).

From the wider perspective of social relationships in general, Islam enjoins its followers to be kind to others. The Prophet said, “Be kind to those on earth, the One Who is in Heaven will be kind to you.” In the Qur‘an there are numerous verses that have prescribed the quantum of retribution that an individual may demand from others who have done an injustice.

The recompense for an injury
Is an injury equal thereto
(In degree): but if a person
Forgives and makes reconciliation,
His reward is due from Allah: for (Allah)
Loveth not those who do wrong. (42:40).

Though one is permitted an equal retribution, Allah loves those who are generous.

Who restrain anger,
And pardon (all) men:—
For Allah loves those
Who do good. (30:134).

But if ye show patience,
That is indeed the best (course). (16:126).

For Allah is with those
Who restrain themselves. (16:128).

Ihsan enables a society to vibrate with love and affection, fraternity, and friendship.

Allah describes a true believer as one who establishes Islam on earth, one who creates a peaceful world of plenty for all. When we conceive of a society in Islam we think of its three primary interdependent components: the Family, the Masjid, and the Neighborhood. To work towards social awareness, transformation, and Islamic nonviolence we must recognize, strengthen, and develop these basic social units.

Submission to Allah

To understand an Islamic society one needs to ask, “Who is a Muslim?” A Muslim is one who sets his face “firmly and truly, towards Allah,” believes only in Allah, and His Apostle and strives with all his or her effort for the Cause of Allah.

For me, I have set
My face, firmly and truly,
Towards Him Who created
The heavens and the earth,
And never shall I give
Partners to Allah. (6:79).

Only those are Believers
Who have believed in Allah
And His Messenger, and have
Never since doubted, but
Have striven with their
Belongings and their persons
In the Cause of Allah:
Such are the sincere ones. (49:15).

It is this Submission which is Islam, the realization of Iman in practical life. Those who of their own free will accept Allah as their Sovereign, surrender to His Will, and undertake to realize His Commands, are called Muslims.30 Interestingly this realization came to Gandhi as a “whisper,” of which he made mention on March 22 and again on July 30, 1946: “The still small voice within me whispers: Remember the teaching of first verse of Ishopanishad and surrender all you have to Me.”31 All those who surrender their whole selves to the Will of Allah are welded into a society. Such a society stems from the voluntary solidarity of its members and is not a preconstituted pact imposed at birth. This type of society is always formed through a bottom-up process. Islamic society is the “result of a deliberate choice and striving; it is the outcome of a contract between human beings as individuals and their Creator.”32 This is the marked conceptual difference between the formation of an Islamic society and a modern society.

Leadership in an Islamic Society

The leader of such an Islamic society must fulfill the following requirements: the leader (1) must be trustworthy, (2) must have thorough and perfect knowledge of shari‘a, (3) should have a sound ability to render justice, and (4) has to be a person of taqwa.

Allah doth command you
To render back your Trusts
To those to whom they are due;
And when ye judge
Between man and man,
That ye judge with justice. (4:58)

The sole objective of such a society is to establish salat, zakah, and virtue.

(They are) those who,
If We establish them
In the land, establish
Regular prayer and give
Regular charity, enjoin
The right and forbid wrong. (22:41)

O ye who believe!
Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger,
And those charged
With authority among you. (4:59)

This Islamic society functions by mutual consultations of the mutaqi and ‘alim.33

Each Islamic society is an independent and self-contained unit under the aegis of the ummat al-Islam, receiving its guidance and direction from the khalifat ul-Muslimin. These small social units are essential to the development of behavior and character; achievement of collective falah; spiritual attainment; and the civic, economic, and religious dimensions of the welfare, security, and justice of the Islamic society. These qualities can begin within the smaller units and then spread to the ummat-al-Islam and then to
humanity at large.

Through the concept of ummah, Islam visualizes a stateless society. A nation-state, irrespective of the particular type, is an instrument of coercion which undermines the freedom of individuals. The Islamic stateless society, however, is not akin to the Marxist vision of a stateless society. Through a process of tazkiyah [character building] and tarbiyah [education], Islamic society emerges from a comprehensive transformation of the social, civic, and economic aspects as well as the spiritual and moral development of its individual members.

The Individual in Islamic Transformation

The pivotal element in Islamic rural transformation is the individual, who is seen as the basic component of society. The development and welfare of each individual is the primary goal of Islam. In the context of modern society the individual is not an entirely free agent capable of defining his or her existence. Rather it is the modern society, through its various institutions, which defines the role and existence of the individual.

Life in an Islamic society is a collective made up of individuals; each individual is responsible for his words and actions. An individual’s social posture is a product of his understanding of history and society and the use he chooses to make of this knowledge. Social position or material status do not determine one’s self-perception or one’s position in society.

O mankind! do your duty
To your Lord, and fear
(The coming of) a Day
When no father can avail
Aught for his son, nor
A son avail aught
For his father.
Verily, the promise of Allah
Is true: let not then
This present life deceive you,
Nor let the Chief Deceiver
Deceive you about Allah. (31:33)

In an Islamic society individuals belong on an equal footing. In Islam, equality is a more dominant concept than freedom. The modern conception of freedom is franchise, whereas in Islam it is an invitation to Obey, to Submit. The individual is endowed with intelligence by Allah, and is called upon to do good, to form part of society, and to obey authority. But in so doing the individual is to act by free decision in accordance with perception. “By the Soul and the proportion and order given to it; and its enlightenment as to
its wrong and its right;—truly he succeeds that purifies it.” If he disobeys, the fault is his own, for he is free to select good or evil.

We showed him the Way:
Whether he be grateful
Or ungrateful (rests on his will). (76:3)

Thus in Islam individuals, inspired by tazkiyah and fortified by tarbiyah, become the prime instruments in the transformation of a contemporary society into a society of Islamic order. Islamic society once established should not be passive in the face of human exploitation, tyranny, or injustice. Citizens are expected to help the oppressed and the persecuted of their neighborhood or society. Islam exhorts individual believers continuously to strive to establish Allah’s Will on earth. All individuals of the society are obliged to struggle against every obstacle to this goal, whether individually or collectively. This ceaseless effort is the jihad.

Jihad

Jihad represents an effort to strive seriously and ceaselessly to fulfill the Will of Allah in human life. In the context of transformation of contemporary society jihad has four probable functions. They are: (1) the development of Islamic principles within the self to subdue the nafs al-ammarah [carnal desires] and to realize the Will of Allah, (2) the eradication of evil and the establishment of Right, (3) the extension of the word of Allah to all corners of the world, and (4) the development, through a spirit of total sacrifice, of security against injustice and aggression. It should be stressed that jihad is not synonymous with war. While war does have a place within the total spectrum of jihad, one must first try all peaceful avenues to change. The Prophet stressed the need for organization and authority and the Qur‘an unequivocally condemns disorder and anarchy. Jihad protects the former and stands guard against the latter.

The Will of Allah

Since the Islamic way of life is oriented around the goal of realizing Allah’s Will in the world, society must be organized and governed in accordance with the tenets of Islam. An Islamic society is a political unit, a firmly united dynamic body. This unity at the societal level is crucial for it is in the society where the spiritual and the temporal merge. Allah, the authority at the center, unifies this total vision of an Islamic society. n light of these considerations, we see that Islam not only has religious dimensions but also social and political dimensions. An Islamic society can be described as “theodemocratic”—as a Divine democratic society.34

Tolerance

In an Islamic society tolerance is the rule, and it should always be shown to non-Muslims. This is a fundamental principle of Islam laid down in the Qur‘an. A non-Muslim member of an Islamic society enjoys all the benefits, rights, and privileges of Muslims. Such a person is absolutely free in the internal matters of religion, rites and rituals, personal law, and behavior and is protected and defended in the performance of their law. But in the external affairs of the society, such as the general rules for conducting social affairs, external relations, and protection of the society from internal disorder and external threats, he or she is to come to the active help of the Muslims as long as it does not threaten personal law. Or the non-Muslim can remain passive and neutral by paying the cost for such actions. Security of life, property, and freedom of conscience are guaranteed to non-Muslims, who are known as dhimmis. The Prophet protected them and proclaimed: “I shall myself be the complainant against him greater than he can bear or deprive him of anything that belongs to him.” So concerned was the Prophet about the non-Muslims that a few moments before he breathed his last he was reported to have said: “Any Muslim who kills a dhimmi has not the slightest chance of catching even the faintest smell of Heaven. Protect them; they are my Dhimmi.”

Tawhid, The Sovereignty of Allah, and His Khalifah

In Islam, an individual and a society are radically transformed to strive in the cause of Allah, to develop a soil-soul relationship to realize the Pleasure of Allah, and to help relocate the sovereignty and power as per Kalima: “La Ilaha Illallahu Muhammadur Rasulahhah” [There is no god but God and Muhammad is His Messenger]. This is tawhid. It is not just a group of words; it has three distinct features as well as a Message. The three features are (1) La Ilaha, no gods: a rebellion against all existing order and superstitions that have bonded people to the orders and beliefs created by human beings; (2) Illallah, but Allah, submission to only One, a surrender to the only Authority; and (3) the only method of achieving these two objectives is by following the Messenger. The Message is the equality of human beings.

Tawhid is a challenge to local, national, and international authority trying to usurp the greatest attribute of Allah, which is Sovereignty. In Islam all attributes of Sovereignty of any conceivable nature reside in Allah alone, and no one else can share them to the slightest degree.

To Allah doth belong the dominion
Of the heavens and the earth,
And all that is therein,
And it is He who hath power
Over all things. (5:123)35

It is Allah who creates and governs, firmly holds the Authority, and regulates and governs everything.

Your Guardian-Lord
Is Allah, who created
The heavens and the earth
In six Days, then He established Himself
On the Throne (of authority). (7:54)

Allah made men His Khalifah on earth and placed them with (delegated) authority so that men would establish the Din of Allah.

Allah has promised, to those
Among you who believe
And work righteous deeds, that He
Will, of a surety grant them
In the land, inheritance
(Of power), as he granted it
To those before them; that
He will establish in authority
Their religion—the one
Which He has chosen for them. (24:55)

Allah placed some above others to test their ability and judgment in the execution of their role as Khalifah.

It is He Who hath made
You (His) agents, inheritors
Of the earth: He hath raised
You in ranks, some above
Others: that He may try you
In the gifts He hath given you. (6:165)

Tawhid operates only through a society’s affirmation of its commitment to the Way of Allah and for the establishment of the Din of Allah. When in operation tawhid endows a society with a unity of purpose, function, destiny, and identity. It preconditions the transfer of economic, social, civic, and political power to the oppressed and the establishment of al-’adl [justice].

Islamic transformation must demonstrate that the struggle for human dignity and social justice is based upon the acknowledgement of the Omnipotence and the Sovereignty of Allah. The success for such transformation demands a general disbanding of the “privilegentia” which presides over power structures.

In order to realize nonviolence, the crucial issue today is not the fair and balanced distribution of income and opportunity but rather of power and responsibility. The transformation process therefore should seek to rearrange privileges and power of the dominant class and transfer power to the poor. Religious, social, economic, civic, and political leadership should not be distributed among members, but should be delegated to a Rural Peoples Institute for the benefit and privilege of all in the society, and it should have Divine sanction. The prime objective of transformation of a society in Islam is the relocation of power through perpetuating the process of al-‘adl and establishing the Sovereignty of Allah.

The oppressed grow and develop when they are confronted by difficulties. This growth happens on account of their lack of possibilities, their continued efforts to free themselves from chains of oppression, their patience and perseverance, their trust in Allah, their lack of reliance upon material dependencies, and their spiritual competence. Because they resist torture they reach out towards liberation movements and achieve important victories. These people have received special attention from Allah. They have been referred to in the Qur‘an and in the Sunnah with profound affection and respect. The promise of their role as leaders and as heirs of the earth have been revealed.

And We wished to be
Gracious to those who were
Being depressed on the land,
To make them leaders (in faith)
And make them heirs,
To establish a firm place
For them in the land. (28:5-6)

These are the people who “ask help from Allah and are patient,” “guard themselves against wrong and evil,” and become powerful with the help of Allah.36

Tawhid transforms an individual’s entire ego into a dynamic force to restructure one’s sense of justice and sense of performance as a social being. Reflecting on the spirit of tawhid, Malcolm X commented that if white Americans could accept tawhid, then perhaps they too could demonstrate in reality the Oneness of Man and cease to measure and hinder and harm others in terms of their “differences” in color.37

The Islamic concept of nonviolence and rural transformation in this sense is human liberation. Transformation for nonviolence and liberation are political actions. Islam is supremely a political religion. The term “Islam” itself is a political term. It implies a unity of the ethical and the temporal which is beyond the concept of a secular notion of politics. Islam is political action. The taghut is in possession of political power, economic monopoly, social authority, and civic advantage. He does not favor transfer of power to the oppressed. On the other hand, the oppressed need to have power to operationalize and consolidate their imam. It is thus impossible to analyze social transformation of the rural areas towards nonviolence and liberation without analyzing the problem of power. Practicing Islam is a process of waking up. Islam increases awareness of one’s own existence and environment. It is the direct awareness of the significance of one’s actions—of what one is doing. Islam gives insight that allows one to gravitate towards the best people and it is the constant reminder of one’s real place in this universe, so that one does not become too self-indulgent.

Khalifah, Trusteeship, and Islamic Economics

In Islam the power to rule society is delegated to the whole community: it is not the privilege of any one person or group of persons. All believers living in such a society are repositories of the khalifah. The khalifah bestowed by Allah on Muslims is the popular vicegerency and “not a limited one.” Every believer is a khalifah of Allah in his own individual capacity. The Prophet said, “Everyone of you is a ruler and everyone is answerable for his subjects.” In an Islamic society, no one is inferior to another.38

Tawhid is a very radical concept which strikes directly at those who make humanity subservient, whether in religious attire as priests; in political vesture as kings, revolutionary leaders, and ruling juntas; in the economic garniture as bankers and monopolists; in the social trim as missionaries, philanthropists and voluntary workers; or in academic costume as intellectuals and scholars. Human authority should be accepted only as an instrument for collective work, social programs, and civic discipline—not as vehicles for power, authority, or superiority. Superiority in Islam rests solely on one’s taqwa. “The Holy Qur‘an allows privileges only for justice and piety. A pious has privileges; a person with a good spirit has privileges. These privileges, however, do not relate to material things, to property. Such privileges must be done away with. All people are equal, they are all given equal rights.”39

The spirit of tawhid presupposes that individuals have no natural rights over their material possessions.

Allah hath purchased of the Believers
Their persons and their goods;
For theirs (in return)
Is the Garden (of Paradise):
They fight in His Cause,
And slay and are slain. (9:111)

Let not those
Who covetously withhold
Of the gifts which Allah
Hath given them of His Grace
Think that it is good for them:
. . . soon shall the things
Which they covetously withheld
Be tied to their necks
Like a twisted collar,
On the day of Judgment. (3:180)

Man exercises his social and occupational authority according to khalifah theory.

Behold, thy Lord said to the angels:
“I will create a vicegerent on earth.” (2:30)

Under this theory man is charged with responsibility for faithfully sustaining himself and other creatures of the earth. Man accepted this responsibility as an amanah [trust] from Allah.

We did indeed offer
The Trust to the Heavens
And the Earth
And the Mountains;
But they refused
To undertake it,
Being afraid thereof:
But man undertook it. (33:72)

continued in part II

Originally published on The Center for Global Nonviolence site at http://www.globalnonviolence.org/islam.htm as Chapter 7 of the book Islam and Nonviolence containing essays from a 1986 conference in Bali co-sponsored by Nahdatul Ulama and the United Nations University with participants from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.  Reprinted in TAM with permission of Glenn D. Paige, President, Center for Global Nonviolence http://www.globalnonviolence.org/