Hujjat al-Islam Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (ra) on Politics: The affairs of the world cannot be regulated (and/or organised) without the involvement of human actions. The actions, crafts and industries are spread across three categories: 1) Fundamentals: these are those without which chaos would reign in the world. There are four: Agriculture, for the production of food; Weaving, for the manufacturing of clothes; Architecture, for the building of houses; and Politics, for administering human activities, human society and the promotion of co-operation in the regulation of human livelihood and subsistence. 2) Auxiliaries: these involve activities that support any of the above-mentioned fundamentals. Iron craft is an auxiliary to agriculture as well as other industries…etc 3) Supplementaries: these reference and support the previously mentioned fundamental (or principal) activities such as milling and bread-making with respect to agriculture….etc. The most important of these categories are the “Fundamentals”; and from among these fundamentals the most honoured and revered is politics, for it concerns the unifying of people and their reform. For this reason politics demands of those who pursue and engage it a degree of perfection far in excess of any of the other professions. Consequentially, the politician ought to avail and acquaint him/herself with all the other professions. Politics, which has as its objective both the reformation and guidance of people to the straight path – and also a guarantee of salvation both in this world and the next – is, in turn, categorised into four aspects: a) And this is the highest – the Polity of the Prophets (upon whom be peace). This aspect includes their jurisdiction over both the elite and the common folk – both the Outer and the Inner (in more specific terms: both the Exoteric and the Esoteric [my note]). b) The second is the Civil Polity of the Caliphs, the kings and the sultans. Their jurisdiction encompasses the actions but not the thoughts of both the elite and the common folk. c) The third is the Intellectual Polity of the learned people and the scholars who know Allah and His Will and who are the heirs of the Prophets. Their jurisdiction is over the thoughts of the elite (or the superlatively educated) for the reason that those who are less privileged may not be able to understand their ideas and concepts, and may not be able to emulate or actualise that which the profound nature of their ideas and concepts embody. In this latter case, the common folk are not subject to compulsion, prohibition or restraint. d) The fourth is the Polity of the Preachers. Their scope of jurisdiction incorporates only the thoughts of the common folk. Next to the Polity of the Prophets is the Intellectual Polity of the scholars. This is so for the reason that their role in disseminating knowledge incorporates the diverting of the souls of people from destructive and undesirable traits, and in guiding them to that which leads to happiness and that which is praiseworthy. All of these, in the final analysis, fall within the objectives and purposes of teaching. [From the Ihya ‘Ulum al-Din (Vol.1), Dar al-Kitab al-‘Arabi. Beirut: 2005 pp. 22-3] ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. It would do us well to remember - along with Sayyid Abdal Qadir al-Jaylani (ra) - that the legendary Salahuddin al-Ayyubi (the great liberator of Jerusalem – and revered by people of all faiths) was profoundly influenced by the thought of Imam al-Ghazali (ra). Little wonder that he and his kind have been blessed with success (tawfiq) in both the dunya (this world) and the akhirah (the hereafter). I am a minnow compared to these giants and many of my contemporaries. But I will defend the integrity and honour of these people with my life – especially against the scandal-mongers of our time who masquerade as revolutionaries. I have sat in jail fighting Apartheid. But I will I will gladly sit in a dungeon opposing these Fattani (fitna-mongering) fools. I will conclude this with a Hadith quoted by Imam al-Ghazali: Said the Prophet (saw): “Three things in life are destructive: ‘avarice, idiotic caprice and self-conceit’”. (al-Bazzar, al-Tabrani, Abu Nu’aym, and al-Bayhaqi), (Ihya, p. 25). And Allah knows best.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 18:13:50 +0000
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