Elections 2010

Political Participation & Securing The Interests of The Muslim Community


Introduction

The Hukm Sharia has set down limits on the actions which Muslims undertake, as such the actions of voting to elect officials who rule by kufr is strictly forbidden by the sharia. From a historical perspective colonialism resulted in the Muslim lands being dominated by systems which were alien to our creed. In response to this some Islamic movements advocated entryism for the sole purpose of changing these alien systems into Islamic ones. The permissibility of political participation and voting was conditioned upon this principle, ultimately though this method (gradualism) contravened the sharia even though the intentions and goals of these movements were sincere; to revive and restore the Islamic systems of governance.

At its genesis this erroneous approach (gradualism) was a means to an end but over time it took on a life of its own and has now become a primer for Muslim engagement in the secular political process. The advocates of such a philosophy no longer see secular political participation as a means but rather it has become an end in itself. The Islamic legal principles have been manipulated and haphazardly applied to justify these actions. This philosophy has been transported to the Muslim minority communities in the west and as a result voting in democratic kufr elections is seen as a fard (obligation) in some circles. The aim of this article is not to debunk this erroneous historical approach nor is to expose the way in which Islamic legal principles have been abused to justify such an approach.

It is often argued that voting in democratic elections is a precursor and essential to securing the rights and interests of the Muslim community. This line of argument is fallacious and employed as a means to emotionally blackmail Muslims into voting. This article aims to show that this assumption is flawed; it will highlight how Muslims have secured their rights and interests without having to participate in secular politics and it will show how Muslims can carry on fulfilling their duties whilst remaining within the limits set by the sharia.

Although not robust, the following list of issues more or less covers the matters which the Muslim community have primary concerns about and seek to secure.

Islamic Institutions

Masajid

The first wave of Muslim immigrants began arriving to the UK around 300 years ago, they were mainly from South East Asia and some did also come from the Middle East. The first Muslim communities began forming around port cities as many of the immigrants were sailors in fact employment records show the presence of Syhleti’s in London as far back as 1873.

According to records the first masjid was established in 1860 in the city of Cardiff (on 2 Glynn Rhondda Street) by Muslims hailing from the Yemen. This was followed by a masjid being opened up by Abdullah Quilliam – a convert – in the city of Liverpool in 1889. This tradition has continued as it was only a natural that our communities sought a place to congregate and perform their ritual worships (ibadat).

Our forefathers and earlier generations were able to pool together their resources establishing working groups and funds which allowed for the hiring and purchasing of property for use as prayer facilities. As the community grew so did our skills and talents along with our financial resources. Businessman and community leaders came together utilising their abilities for fundraising, planning and project management leading to the establishment of purpose built masajid all over the country and now some estimates indicate that there at least 1,500 masajid in the UK. The reliance on our own economic and fiscal resources has made this a reality and our community continues to show this attribute for example last February in seven hours Muslims made a commitment to contribute over £750,000 for planned extensions to East London Mosque.

These achievements were possible without any need to participate in secular politics and voting, rather they were realised by our communities uniting and relying upon their own talents, resources as well as submitting successful planning permissions. If anything government and political intervention (MINAB) poses a risk to the independence and identity of our masjids, there is a clear agenda to sterilise our masajid and our community need to resist such approaches.

Islamic Schools

Choosing not to vote in the elections doesn’t endanger the educational opportunities available to our children nor does one have to vote to play a pivotal role in their child’s education. Schooling/education is compulsory for those between the ages of 4-16 and in origin there is nothing wrong with sending our children to state schools.

In cases where parents/guardians feel that state schooling is not adequate there are practical actions which they can undertake. For example there is nothing wrong with Muslim parents becoming school governors, by doing so they can play an active role in maintaining the standards of education, managing the school’s finances as well as insuring there is a fair and balanced curriculum on offer to their child and all students. Parents can also provide home schooling in cases where they object to the teaching of certain aspects contained within the syllabus and curriculum.

In other circumstances some from our community have felt that state schooling is inadequate in providing our youth with the space to develop an Islamic identity – and this perception does hold some weight – in such instances it has been possible to establish Islamic schools. This desire is not unique to Muslims considering that there are over 4,000 Church of England schools, over 2,000 Roman Catholic Schools and when considering that over half of Jewish children attend Jewish Schools.

Setting up Independent Islamic Schools is similar to setting up a Masjid, in that our community needs to utilise its resources, raise funds, finding a suitable site and ultimately submitting a successful application to the Department for Skills and Education. The application must meet the criteria set out by the Education Regulations Standards 2003 (for Independent Schools) which relates to the development, health, safety and welfare of pupils although independent schools are not required to follow the national curriculum. Currently there are 119 Independent Islamic Schools registered in the UK.

Alternatively an Islamic School can be set up by applying for help in funding from the local education authority in which case similar regulations have to be satisfied and pupils have to follow the national curriculum. Currently there are 11 LEA funded Islamic schools in the UK.

Overall evidence shows that Islamic faith based schools provide a more than satisfactory level of education for pupils, statistics from 2009 showed that 61 percent of pupils from Muslim based schools attained 5 or more A*-C grades (incl. Maths & English) which is 11 percent higher than the national average.

The Muslim community can also form associations or pressure groups to preserve educational interests and an example at hand is ‘SREIslamic’. This is a campaign group set up by Muslim parents in response to the ‘Sex and Relationship Education’ initiative that was to be introduced to schools nationwide and meant that children from the age of 5 would be exposed to sex education. The campaign bore fruit and the government scrapped its SRE initiative at the beginning of this year.

Islamic Charities

Helping the needy and alleviating the suffering of the poor is one of the fundamental pillars of the Islamic belief. Coupled with this is the Muslim community’s attachment to the global ummah, whilst living in distant lands it warms the heart to see that our community has not lost touch with our fellow Muslims around the world who face hardships and abject poverty on a daily basis as well the trials which come with natural disasters.

Although we accept that in most cases their plight is caused by the underlying political landscapes that exist nevertheless the strength of our bonds has ensured that our unwavering financial support to them does not cease. People from our community have come together to establish a vast network of independent charities such as Muslim Aid, Islamic Relief, Muslim Hands, Islamic Aid and Ummah Welfare Trust which are just a few of the many charity organisations started up by the Muslims residing in the UK. These organisations also provide relief efforts to the non-Islamic world such as Haiti which suffered an unfortunate catastrophe recently.

The irony here is that we are expected to integrate into the political establishment which in some cases is the cause of hardships faced by the Muslim world. The same biased political establishment which sees no problem with supplying arms to Israel but then freezes the assets of Interpal (Palestinian aid organisation) due to false allegations that it was funding ‘terrorists’.

Sharia Courts

The emergence of disputes is common in the sphere of human relationships whether they be related to marriage, divorce or financial transactions. In a bid to preserve our Islamic values arbitrary courts and tribunals have been successfully established to resolve these disputes in line with our sacred law and again their origins and existence had no relation to Muslims voting. In fact the Islamic Sharia Council was set up independently after a group of Muslim clerics met in 1982 at Birmingham Central Mosque. The existence of these councils show that Muslim’s - whilst not seeking to establish an Islamic state in the UK – still have a desire to refer back to the Islamic laws when conducting their daily affairs.

Even though the term sharia has been denigrated, ridiculed and misrepresented (in many cases by the main political parties) evidence shows that increasing numbers of non-Muslims are turning to Sharia courts to resolve their commercial disputes and other civil matters.

Settling disputes through the legal courts is also allowed as long as the rights which are being sought have an Islamic basis. For example if a sister was not allowed to wear the jilbab in school then she can fight this injustice and seek her rights through the courts which some sisters in this country have already had to do (Shabina Begum).

Muslim Cemeteries

The Muslim Diaspora which arrived from a multitude of backgrounds to the UK has settled into a visible and permanent community. From this arose a need for Muslims to have their own cemeteries where they could bury their dead in accordance with Islamic traditions. Again our community did not fail in this regard as we came together pooling our finances and establishing burial sites across the country. The Gardens of Peace Cemetery – situated in Hainault, London – is a successful example. In 1998 Muslims came together to establish The Gardens of Peace Trust and with the support of the main masjids and communities in London were able to raise enough finance to acquire 21.5 acres of land. This burial site is now the largest Muslim cemetery in Europe, and the trust continues to grow as it purchased a further 30 acres of land in 2007.

Halal Produce & Services

The Halal food industry has grown vastly in the west and more specifically in the UK. Today we find numerous Halal shops and Cash & Carry’s in the hub of our communities. This was achieved by people engaging in commerce and enterprise which resulted in Muslims having Halal produce at their disposal.

Halal meat and poultry became available as early generations of Muslims got together and approached the mainstream slaughter houses to request that some animals be slaughtered in accordance with the sharia guidelines. Slaughter houses were more than happy to facilitate this when considering the demand from Muslims. There has been recent talk of a purpose built Halal Industrial Park for the growing demand of Halal food in the UK, if this were to go through then this industrial Park would be the first of its kind in Europe. The high demand for Halal meat has resulted in a market potentially worth billions and it is no surprise that corporations are now quickly moving to secure lucrative profits.

Many supermarket chains and fast food joints now offer Halal products. In the face of profiteering the financial sector has followed suit as many banks and financial institutions now offer sharia compliant products (HSBC Amanah Finance and Lloyds TSB). It is important to note here that it was the Muslim community’s insistence on sticking to the sharia which led to such avenues being opened up and not through some misguided notions of political participation, specifically voting.

Welfare & Jobs

It is unfortunate but true that some Muslims fear they will not be eligible for state benefits related to housing and income if they did not vote. This fear has been exploited by insincere local politicians and activists to scaremonger insecure elements of our community into voting.

The fact is state benefits along with many other public services are guaranteed to those who are eligible, a status that is unaffected regardless of an individual’s electoral activity. National statistics from 2004 show that there was a higher level of unemployment amongst Muslim men and women (13% and 18% respectively) compared to any other ethnic or religious group.

This leads us onto a more profound point; it is imperative that we tackle such mindsets which might lead to elements of our community becoming stagnant and failing to make a positive contribution to society. This would do much to tackle perceptions that Muslims are fifth column citizens and simply ‘leech’ off the system moreover our religious teachings discourage such behaviour.

As such we should do our utmost to insure that people from our community – particularly our youth – take up roles which make a positive contribution to the wider society. The shar’a does not prohibit Muslims from taking up positions across a wide range of professions whether it is that of teachers, doctors, lawyers, civil servants, community workers or any other role which the shar’a does not prohibit. In fact many of the important institutions and services which the Islamic community relies upon were realised by Muslims engaging in commerce and entrepreneurship. Seeking such positions does not require one to vote in democratic elections rather these aspirations are realised by insuring that our youth are well educated and acquire the skills and intelligence to go out into the real world. It may surprise some to know that an employer is more concerned about the skills of an employee instead of his/her voting record.

This is more conducive for engagement and the fulfilment of civic duties as opposed to the token gestures of joining secular parties and putting a cross on a ballot paper every five years.

Activism (Dawah) & Citizenship

Activism underpinned by the Islamic teachings (dawah) – devoid of political participation and secular ideologies – has multiple benefits; it will not only preserve our identity but also help project Islam and bring new followers to the deen; it gives us a platform to speak out against injustices; it presents Muslims with the opportunity to unite and speak out with one voice (protests, marches, demonstrations etc.); myths and misconceptions regarding Islam can be tackled; and most importantly we have the opportunity to aid the global Islamic movement to bring about change in the Muslim lands.

Surveying our communities in this country shows the healthy presence of many Islamic Jamaats most of which were started independently and some which can trace their roots back to the Muslim world. In both cases their presence came about not because of the political system in this country but because of initiative showed by sincere and learned Muslims. The dawah has been a success with Islam being the fastest growing religion in Europe complimenting the growth of our institutions; the ummah continues to grow as more people embrace Islam after realising the presence of a moral and spiritual vacuum in society.

Since the inception of Islam it has been a trait of the Muslims that wherever they are - and whether they be in the minority or not – they have openly practiced their religion, addressed injustices, propagated Islam, enjoined the good and forbidden the evil. It is regrettable that some Muslims now argue that we should be thankful to the liberal establishment which allows us to do this and they go further by saying it is a civic duty for us to partake in elections to repay this favour. Maybe such people need to be reminded that Muslims practice their deen, engage in dawah, enjoin the good and forbid the evil as it is something which has been ordained by Allah (swt) and is a duty regardless of what part of the world Muslims are in. Muslims certainly don’t engage in such actions on the say-so of Gordon Brown or after receiving a ‘thumbs-up’ from Tony Blair.

This is not to say that Muslims are not grateful for the opportunities which they have been afforded, it is not to say that Muslims cannot be law abiding citizens, it is not to say that we have any callousness, ill feeling or distrust towards non-Muslims, it is not to say that we do not consider these shores to be our home nor does it mean that we don’t have any emotional attachments to the land in which we were brought up in. We realise that we have a moral duty of care towards our neighbours and wider community and we want to foster positive relations with those around us as well as making contributions that will affect people’s lives in a good way.

At the same time we have the right to address injustices, we have the right to speak out against erroneous notions and ideas, we have a right to express responsible criticisms and abstain from what we believe is a detriment to our Islamic identity. This is our idea of citizenship and being a model citizen. Surely this is more of a principled stance in contrast to bowing down and assimilating in the face of political pressures, being subjugated to politically inspired diktats, acquiescing to erroneous values and accepting injustices perpetrated by our countries so that we can show our worth and prove our allegiance to the ‘flag’.

Certain individuals argue that political participation in a secular system is a form of Islamic activism. They argue that the secular system is sufficient in taking care and solving all the problems that the Muslims face. We have seen the consequences amongst those who promoted such views and it is a tragedy to see that their understanding of Islam became more dilute as they assimilated more into the political and secular system. At first they said voting was a necessary evil then all of a sudden voting became wajib (an Islamic obligation) and some now say voting for MP’s is a ‘political jihad’. Their prodigies espouse a new form of Islam; a ‘democratic’, ‘liberal’ and ‘secular’ Islam. An Islam which may prescribe some rigid ritual worship but is otherwise flimsy on all other issues, an Islam devoid of a political system, an Islam that contains a few generic moral injunctions with the room to adopt whatever one likes in accordance with the norms of the era.

The misguidance of these individuals has transcended the sphere of political participation; they see no problem in accepting all and sundry from liberal and secular values. In their warped view there is no contradiction between homosexuality and the Islamic belief and there is no problem in joining the British Army even if it meant engaging in illegal and unjust wars such as the one in Iraq where millions of civilians have perished. (We ask Allah to save us from this fitnah)

The mindset of those who see activism within the prism of a secular framework is discernable from those who understand true Islamic activism. For example when it comes to speaking out against the injustices of foreign policy such as the Iraq War or the Gaza Conflict; the individual who understands true Islamic activism will openly condemn these aggressions, support the right of the oppressed to resist and will realise that the source of the problem are the governments in the Muslim world that provide the airspace and logistical support for the imperialists to dishonour the Islamic lands. Whereas the one who has ceded his allegiance to and endorsed the secular system will reserve his condemnations to what the political pressures dictate and will see lobbying the parliament as a way of solving these problems (the same parliament that voted to invade Iraq and the same parliament which was instrumental in recognising and establishing Israel).

It is demonstrably clear that whatever intention one may have had before entering the political system once inside the individual becomes more disparaged from the deen as they progress through the system.

In conclusion the achievements of our community in securing our rights has always been realised through grass roots activity from the time our forefathers came to this country. Whether we realise it or not these successes occurred without the need to get involved in secular party politics. Importantly the community in this country can continue to secure its interests by holding onto the Islamic values, by being united, self reliant and economically independent. In addition we must make our brothers and sisters realise that participating in the secular political framework is forbidden and ultimately endangers our Islamic identities.

The Bigger Picture

The Muslims living in the western lands have done well to secure the viability of their communities but at the same time it has dawned on us that we suffer certain problems and hardships whilst living in the west. These schisms affect us as individuals and as a whole community.

There are elements in these societies which are positive and harmonious with our beliefs, but the secular liberal values – such as freedom and individualism - which pervade and permeate the society poses a problem to us. We have witnessed with our own eyes how these values have undone the social fabric; promiscuity; family breakdowns; anti-social behaviour; the crime and drug epidemic; are just some of the rampant problems of society. This culture has at times affected our community and borne some of the aforementioned results.

Simultaneously the powers that be want us to adopt these values in the stead of our Islamic ones, when we resist these approaches the establishment responds by trying to dilute Islam – even though we believe we can still offer a great deal to the wider society by holding onto our sacred values – so as to surreptitiously incorporate these decadent values into our beliefs.

We are faced with a conundrum; we either bow down and accept the supremacy of western values or by holding onto our beliefs we face demonisation, ridicule or even jail under draconian terror laws. We are expected to forego our allegiance to the Islamic ummah and accept injustices and atrocities in the name of being a loyal citizen.

While for some it has become easy to sell out for most of us these are testing times, these difficulties we face are natural symptoms of an underlying problem. As long as we live in a society which is built on a philosophy that is not congruent to our creed then it is inevitable that we will face these problems whether they are related to us struggling to secure our rights or struggling to preserve our Islamic identities. This has been the unfortunate reality for many of us – much worse for many other Muslims – in the aftermath of our lands being conquered, divided and the loss of our political heritage.

At a time like this we need to radically change and redirect our focus instead of accepting the situation and devising our long term future as an ummah in accordance with the status quo which many of our leaders seem more concerned with. It is time that Muslims rediscover their own political and intellectual philosophies and aid the work which will see their return and subsequent unification of our lands. For this was the established order for over 1300 years of Islamic history, it was the natural state for Muslims and it is only natural that we seek a return to such a state.


Article By Mahfuz Rahman & Luthfur Rahman