Mirza Yawar Baig – Go vote
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Peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of
all the worlds.
And peace and blessings be upon the most
honoured of Prophets and Messengers, Muhammad, the Messenger
of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him
and his family and companions.
Peace and blessings be upon you.
My brothers and sisters, I want to mention
to you, think about the Holy Qur'an
is a guide for us in every aspect
of our lives, irrespective of time and place.
Take the story of Yusuf A.S. Usually,
the story of Yusuf A.S., when we
talk about the tafsir and lectures and so
on, people talk about the story from the
angle of the rivalry between the brothers, Yaqub
A.S.'s love for his son Yusuf.
We talk about the difficulties of Yusuf A
.S.'s life.
We talk about the tests that Yusuf A
.S. had to undergo.
We talk about the issues of fidelity and
chastity and so on.
But we usually do not talk about the
political angle to that story, because the story
also has a very important political angle.
Now, the political angle is that when Yusuf
A.S. finally was released from prison, and
as a condition of his being freed, he
said that my name should be cleared of
this false allegation which was made, and this
was done, it happened.
Ask a question, why didn't Yusuf A.S.
go back to his land?
Because by then, he knew where he was
from, so he was not lost.
Even if he knew he was from Sham,
he would have gone back to...
He was almost 40 years old by that
time, so he would have gone back to
Sham.
Because Egypt at that time was the classic
pharaonic empire, which was polytheistic, idol worshipping, and
it had all kinds of evils in it,
social evils.
So why didn't Yusuf A.S. say, I
want to be freed from all this fitna,
I don't want to live in this kafir
land, and let me go back to the
land where I came from, and he knows
where he is.
Why didn't he do that?
On the other hand, he offered to the
pharaoh of Egypt, and the name of that
pharaoh was Sesostris I.
He offered his services to him, and he
said, I can help you, and this is
the way I can help you to take
care of the years of drought.
We know the whole story of the dream
that the pharaoh saw and all that.
Now, there is a book that has come
out by David Downe and John Ashton called
Unwrapping the Pharaohs.
In that book, they say that Sesostris is
known to have had a vizier, or prime
minister, by the name of Mentu Otep, who
wielded extraordinary power, and some scholars have identified
this vizier with the biblical Joseph.
So, the name that he was given, this
was novel procedure, people gave them different names,
so the name that he was given was
Mentu Otep.
Now, interestingly, the pharaoh, when he wrote the
appointment letter, he said, you shall be over
my house, and all my people shall be
ruled according to your word.
Only in regard to the throne will I
be greater than you.
Imagine, the pharaoh is giving him complete charge
of the whole land.
He's as good as the king.
The king is saying, only on the throne
I will sit.
Now, the point I'm saying is that, why
did he do that?
Think about that.
Why did he choose to stay in the
land, and why didn't he show that he
could be critically useful to the pharaoh and
to Egypt?
And then he became the prime minister of
the country, and then he brought his parents
and his brothers and so on, and then
that's how the Bani Israel came to Egypt.
So, in one way of speaking, Yusuf al
-Islam was an immigrant, and he did what
immigrants do, which is bring their whole family
to the land, and all their people, so
he did the same thing.
But he did it from a position of
power, think about that.
He did that from the position of power.
Now, why did he do that?
Because power comes with territory, and contribution defines
territory.
So, if you want power, you must contribute.
And as much as you contribute, so you
will become powerful.
The reason I'm saying this is because as
of the last data available, Muslim representation in
the US, and we are coming to the
elections, Muslim representation in the US is less
than 2%.
Now, this means that currently, at least, and
in the foreseeable future, the Muslim voting bloc
is unlikely to have any significant influence on
policy matters.
No matter what we like to believe, if
you have only less than 2% vote,
that's how much power you have.
Some Muslims seem to think that they can
call the shots.
Good luck to you, see if you can
do that.
However, despite this, and believe me, I am
looking at it from the perspective of having
lived in several countries and knowing the system
in several countries, so I can really appreciate
what happens here.
Despite this small percentage, the fairness of the
system ensures that Muslims, like any other community,
who are much more in terms of percentage,
Muslims can become part of the governing structure,
from schools and towns to state and federal
levels.
There's nothing to stop Muslims from reaching the
highest positions of power, even though they are
a minute piece of the action.
Now, the most effective way to amplify the
Muslim voice and viewpoint in the broader public
space is to serve in public offices.
Now, if the goal of the Muslim community
is to make its perspective heard, then the
primary aim should be to elect more Muslims
at all levels of governance.
So, more Muslims must stand for election, more
Muslims must get into public positions.
A lot of those positions are not necessarily
paid.
Some are not paid, some are voluntary, some
are paid very little, but that is not
the reason why you are getting into that
position.
You're getting into the position to be able
to serve the community and to be able
to make a name, so that then you
have a voice, and this voice you can
then exercise on behalf and for the benefit
of the community.
And that's why I think it's very important
for us general people to go out of
our way to support those Muslims who want
to stand for elections, those Muslims who want
to go and serve in these public positions
to support them morally and even more importantly
in a material way.
Now, many times people say, but the government
is not Islamic.
So, let me explain to you what is
the meaning of Islamic government.
Let me explain to you that when we
say Islamic, I won't say there is no
such thing as an Islamic government.
What I want to show you is that
in the word Islamic government refers to the
way of governing, not the structure of government.
So, please differentiate between the two things.
It does not refer to the structure of
the government.
It refers to the way in which the
government is done.
So, no matter what the structure is, as
long as the government is governing according to
the laws of Allah, then this is an
Islamic government irrespective of the structure, right?
On the other hand, if the government is
a structure, for example, supposing you say, well,
let me give you the Dalail.
Now, what was the first form of government
in Islam?
It was the government by the head of
state who was the Nabi.
So, that is gone forever.
That is not going to come back.
There is no Nabi coming after Abu Salam.
So, after him, what was the form of
government?
It was the government of Abu Bakr as
-Siddiq, who was called Khalifatu Rasulillah.
How did he come to power?
He was elected by a small group of
people in Madinah.
Did anybody in Makkah take part in that
election?
No.
Did anybody anywhere in the Hijaz, anywhere in
the Muslim world, did they even know that
this was happening?
They didn't know.
Because it happened immediately after Abu Salam passed
away.
Within three days.
So, he was elected by a small group
of people.
Now, this small group of people, was it
also somebody who was chosen and picked?
No.
Because one of the people who was not
part of that first small group was Sayyidina
Ali bin Abi Talib.
Abdullah.
Because he was busy with the preparation of
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam for burial.
He was not there.
Next day, he accepted it.
So, then he became part of that.
So, the first election was an election of
the ruler, or the chief, or whatever you
want to call it, it was the Khalifa,
by a small group of people.
Then when Sayyidina Abu Bakr Siddiq was close
to death, he called the rest of them,
he was one of them, so the other
nine, the ten people who had been promised
Jannah by Allah.
He called the other nine.
And he asked them who should be the
Khalifa, and he himself said, I want to
appoint Sayyidina Umar ibn al-Khattab, what is
your opinion?
So, all of them agreed, and they said
Umar ibn al-Khattab is the best person,
except one who was Zubayr bin Awam.
And Zubayr bin Awam was the son-in
-law of Abu Bakr Siddiq.
He was the husband of Aswan.
So, when Zubayr bin Awam said to Abu
Bakr Siddiq, what will you say to Allah
if you appoint Umar?
Because Umar is a very tough man, and
if you appoint him, what will you answer
Allah?
Sayyidina Abu Bakr Siddiq was lying down, he
was so ill, he sat up in the
bed and he said, I will say to
Allah that I appointed the ones that I
consider to be the best.
So, there was one dissenting voice, the other
eight, they agreed that Umar ibn al-Khattab
was the best person, and he was appointed.
Now, so this is a different form of
election or whatever, it was actually a nomination
of a person after taking the opinion of
others.
First one was an election, meaning other people,
whoever was there, it was not the entire
community, but whoever was there, they agreed that
this is the best person.
Second time, it was the ruler himself who
appointed based on his own assessment.
I think so-and-so is the best,
I'm appointing him, what do you think, what
do you think, what do you think, and
he was appointed.
Third one, when Umar ibn al-Khattab r
.a. was dying, after he had been stabbed
in the masjid, in Salat ul-Fajr, he
called the rest of the Ash'arah, who
were now, two were gone, so eight were
there.
He called the eight of them and he
said, pick one among you.
So, two of them opted out, Abdur Rahman
ibn Auf r.a. and one more, they
said, no, we are not interested.
So, the two who were left were Sayyidina
Ali and Sayyidina Uthman.
Others were left, others said, we are not
interested.
So, Abdur Rahman ibn Auf r.a. was
appointed as what today we would call the
election officer, for example.
Somebody who will conduct this thing.
He went to the Sahaba of Badr, the
Badriyun.
With the Sahaba, this was the informal or
formal hierarchy.
There were the two people who were the
closest to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. was
Abu Bakr and Umar r.a. After them,
it was the Ash'arah Mubasherah, the ten
people who had been promised Jannah, which included
those two.
Then it was the Badriyun, the Sahaba who
took part in the Battle of Badr.
This was the hierarchy of the Sahaba.
So, he went to the people of Badr
and he asked them, between the two, Sayyidina
Uthman and Sayyidina Ali, who do you choose?
And from that consultation, he picked Uthman bin
Affan r.a. He came to the house
of Al-Hafsa bint Umar ibn Al-Khattab
r.a, our mother and the wife of
Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. and he borrowed
the amama of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
He wore the amama of the Prophet Muhammad
s.a.w. and he stood on the
minbar of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
and he announced and said that Uthman bin
Affan r.a has been chosen.
Again, who took part in this?
Only the Badriyun.
Not everybody in Madinah.
Certainly not anybody in Makkah or anybody else
in the Hijaz and so on.
Although there were now people all over the
place who were Muslim.
It was not an election in any way.
This was the way it was done.
But the opinion of the people was taken.
So, if you say election in that way,
did you give an opinion?
Yes, they gave an opinion.
Somebody gave a pro-opinion, somebody gave a…
We don't have the exact details of who
exactly said what, but the final assessment was
this.
So, from this we know…
And then when Sayyidina Ali bin Abi Talib
r.a, he became Khalifa, this was like
the people who did the whole rebellion against
Sayyidina Uthman bin Affan r.a and so
on.
They came and they literally forced him to
become the Khalifa.
They said if you don't accept it, then
there will be complete…
Already there had been a massacre in Madinah.
They said that will continue and it will
be worse.
So, you are forced to…
He said, I don't want to be Khalifa,
he refused.
But they forced him anyway, so he became
Khalifa.
The point I want to make is, even
though these four Khulafa Rashidah, we call them
Khulafa Rashidah, the rightly guided Khalifas, even though
four of them were elected or for want
of another word, elected in four different ways,
their government, all of them were good.
From the Islamic perspective, all of them operated
according to the Kitab of Allah and the
Sunnah of Rasulullah s.a.w. So, their
way of governing was all Islamic.
So, all four governments were Islamic governments, even
though the formation, the form of the government
was different.
After Sayyidina Ali r.a was Muawiyah bin
Abi Sufyan and when he died, he made
Yazid bin Muawiyah the herit now.
So, that was the beginning of the hereditary
dynastic rule where kings became the Khulafa, they
were still called Khalifa, but they were actually
kings because the son became the ruler and
this dynastic rule started, Banu Ubayyad and Banu
Abbas and so on and so on.
This dynastic rule continued throughout the Middle East,
then in the Osmani Khilafa, again it was
called the Khilafa, but the Ottomans themselves called
them Sultans, they never used the word Khalifa,
the other people called them Khalifa, they always
said Sultan, also in India the Mughals and
they were all Salateen and this was the
rule which became the norm.
Now, the important thing to understand is, no
matter what any opinion anybody has about Yazid
and following Yazid and other people, the fact
is that they were rulers and their rule
was accepted by the Sahaba, Ridwanullah Ali Ibn
Ubaid and the very senior Sahaba who were
all there and alive and well and if
they wanted to go against them, they would
have gone against them.
The one who went against them was Sayyidina
Hussain Ibn Ali R.A. and tragically the
whole incident of the Shahada of Sayyidina Hussain
R.A. happened and so on and so
forth, but other than that all the others
they accepted.
The point I want to make is that
therefore, the conclusion we draw is that the
form of the government is not important, whichever
form it is, as long as it is
following the Islamic principles of the Shariah.
This becomes an Islamic government.
Now, today tragically as we can see, there
is practically no government which fulfills this because
all the governments which are there are, whether
it is hereditary or whether it is elected
or what not, of the Muslim countries which
are called Islamic, they all do not follow
the Shariah as the law of the land.
In some countries, some parts of the Shariah
are there.
For example, the criminal law part of the
Shariah is applied, but civil law is not
applied, commercial law is not applied, financial law
is not applied.
The same countries which are chopping hands and
cutting heads for murder, they have commercial banks
in the same country running, which is much
worse than stealing and so on as far
as Islam is concerned.
So, where is the question of being Islamic?
It is not Islamic.
So, the point I'm making is here on
the other hand, we are living in a
country where there are many aspects of Islamic
principles in practice.
I mean, I'm certainly not saying that America
is an Islamic country or is running under
Islamic law, it is not.
But certainly, definitely certain principles of Islamic law,
which is the principle of equality, equity, justice
between people and so on and so forth,
all of these kinds of things are in
effect.
Now, when we are in this country as
a minority, it's very important for us to
ensure that whatever we can do to participate
in the entire process, to take it forward
and participate in the process in a good
way where we as Muslims will benefit, this
is important for us to do.
So, my submission to you is please don't
just sit at home, register to vote.
If you are a citizen, register to vote,
go and vote.
I won't tell you who to vote for,
that's up to you.
But do go and vote, make sure you
make your voice heard.
This is the only option that you have,
only time that you can do that.
So, make use of that.
And then, of course, as I keep saying
all the time, throughout the year now, go
and stand for election, get onto school boards
and to all kinds of bodies where you
will have a voice.
That's very, very important to that.
And final point before we...
is for us to ensure that by our
behaviour, we only give a positive response and
not a negative response.
We give a positive impression and not a
negative impression.
This is very, very important because especially if
you are a minority, people are looking at
you and if you do something which reflects
badly, then we have problems for ourselves.
So, please, may Allah have mercy on us,
may Allah protect us, may Allah give us
the tawfeeq and the sense to do what
is beneficial and which gives a good name
to Islam and the Muslims and become, inshallah,
contributing influential people of this country and community.
And peace and blessings of Allah be upon
the Prophet and his family.