Leadership in Democracy Contradicts the Nature of Leadership - Part 1

The following is a translation from Arabic of an article entitled 'Leadership in Democracy Contradicts the Nature of Leadership In Humanity and in Islam':

By Sheikh Yousuf Baadarani

Man was created from clay; he didn't exist before Allah made him of clay and breathed into the clay the spirit of the body. The reality of birth is that it comes from death and not from life. Life in him is imposed and from the start; he wasn't given a choice regarding it. His lifespan is also imposed on him, confined to a limited time that he cannot affect nor can he remain behind when the time comes for it to end in him and to exit from him. He exits death according to a precise order, and forcibly; and in total absence of his will, life is born in him. And according to this same precise order, forcibly, and in total absence of his will, he exits life when it exits him. This person thinks of death from which he came before his life, and of life that fills his body and in which he entered without any will on his part. And he thinks of death in which he enters after life's aim in him and from him has been realized. He may conclude the reason why Allah created him and be guided to Islam, God's religion before life came to him, that it is God's religion for life that occurred to his existence, and that of death in which he will enter. So he declares his obedience to Allah in his life and knows that life's reason is the proof of living in obedience of God or in disobedience of Him. Or this person may choose to be convinced that life is an interval between the death from which he came and the death to which he will return because of a disorder in the system of death from which the dead have escaped and, with that escape, they entered life. So it is a coincidence that took place in existence and not a result of a system that necessitates it, and that life, death or the individual cannot evade. Thus life's reason in him would be his belief that it is a chance for amusement, for fulfilling desires by any means, and for relishing the process of fulfilling desires, those of possessing, prestige and others, in any ways, methods or manners. So this is the denier who detaches himself from the aim of life in him and the reason for which God created him. He is the person who rejects the reason for which God created him, who is unmindful of the reason why life exists in him. He is the one who leads people in aberrance and lets himself be an example to them in God's disobedience and in battling against the purpose for which Allah created this human being. Or he is the person who follows others in the path of aberrance and of preventing the realization of God's purpose in creating man. Whether one is a followed leader or a follower led in aberration, both are alike and each will receive from God a double punishment as He promises in the Holy Qur'an.

Leadership means being in command, and a people's leader is the one who leads them. For among people, there is a leader, and the majority of the rest are led. Leadership in democracy is a task of fancy and ambition; while in Islam, it is an act of obedience to Allah and of help to God's religion; while ambition is energy for obedience, utilized for calling up the resolve to win victory. For the condition of leadership and command in Islam, as is that of ambition, is to be used to achieve a legal purpose or to execute a legal rule. And leadership or command in Islam originally belongs to God and His Messenger; and an individual bears its burdens in what is necessary to establish Allah's rule and to achieve the purpose of His rule. In Islam, the fancy of the leader's self or his ambition are not an aim but a good reason to make him a forerunner in leading people in God's obedience, establishing Islamic legal rule and realizing legal outcomes. In Islam, people obey the leader or the ruler in instituting a legal rule or achieving a legal aim. For in Islam, life's path for every Muslim is to strive to establish a legal rule to achieve a legal aim[1], and leadership in Islam is to rally Muslims efforts to successfully execute a legal rule and to achieve a legal aim. And as leadership demands the love of those led, Almighty God confined the love of being led to the love of Him alone; and He made the condition to accept His love and the expression of His Muslim servant's love of Him is for the Muslim to follow the legal rule and the Messenger (peace be upon him) who brought the legal rule, or the one who acts on the Prophet's behalf in establishing legal rule to achieve a legal aim. Allah (glory be to Him) made the Muslim's love of Him a condition of faith, and made his submission to legal rule alone a condition for the soundness and acceptance of the claim of this love of God. He made disobedience of the legal rule by obeying other than the legal rule, such as by obeying a person, a party, fancy, or an illegal aim that violates the condition of God's love, a declaration of not loving God. The one who renounces his love of Allah by obeying other than His rule and exchanging it for the leadership of a person, a party, or persons that lead them according to other than God's law and legal rule that He had revealed in the Holy Qur'an and in the SunnahQur'an: ﴾"Say: "If you do love God, follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your sins; for Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful ❁ "Say: "Obey Allah and the Messenger'; but if they turn away, God does not love the disbelievers." ﴿ (Holy Qur'an 3:31-32).

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[1] 'Establishing Islamic legal rule' comes about by adhering to the Islamic rule regarding the manner of conducting an action. Islamic legal tenets regulate relationships, solve the problems ensuing from them, and indicate the way to carry out life's burdens and tasks and Islamic injunctions. There doesn't exist a relationship between people that doesn't have a rule concerning it, as to its being allowed or forbidden; and there doesn't exist an action the manner of which is not made clear. That's why all the actions of a Muslim in life involve establishing an Islamic legal rule. 'Achieving Islamic legal aim' is realized by adhering to the Islamic legal manner when carrying out a task or performing an obligation. The Islamic legal aim differs from the individual's aim from the task and from the task's aim. It is realized by merely adhering to the Islamic legal rule; because adherence to it involves the individual's life and that of others. For example, adherence to truthfulness is an Islamic legal rule, yet its consequences involve an aim for the truthful person and another for God's tenets regarding the preservation of society from the spread of unlawfulness in it or the spreading of trust, happiness and virtue among people. The consequences linked to the aim of the Islamic legal rule differ from those linked to the individual's aim, even if it is the individual who brings them about by adhering to this rule. In every act carried out by a Muslim individual, there is an Islamic legal aim that gets realized, whether the individual knows it or not.