Training the Co-Worker Family:
Clarifying Concepts – 1
Thoughts on Human Equality and Leadership
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
Clarity of Concept
If you are a Muslim, you must commit to Work for Allah. You can call that your Faith or Iman.
The bottomline is that was the purpose for which you were created.
Hear the Qur’an say it:
Wa Maa Khalaqtul Jinna Wal-Insa Illa Li-Ya’abudoon.
This can be broadly paraphrased as:
“The only reason I created human beings is to work for me.”
And if you do commit to Work for Allah, the very first thing you may need to do is to understand the core concepts of this new commitment of yours, that the Qur’an calls Islam, as clearly as you possibly can.
Without this, you will be confused all your life. And you will spread confusion and darkness, rather than clarity and light, wherever you go.
So, clearly understanding the core concepts of Islam is more or less your first duty as a new recruit to this new system of thought and action that you have chosen to embrace: the Deen of Islam.
Human Equality:
At the Heart of All Social Relations in Islam
At the Co-Worker Family, we are all equal. That is our fundamental and unshakable belief. That is why we have that expression: Co-Workers.
And at every turn, and to the extent possible, we work to nurture and strengthen that sense of equality – and consequent sharing of work and responsibility – among us.
We derive sustenance from the Hadith Sharif that says:
Kullukum Min Aadama wa Aadamu Min Turaab.
Paraphrase:
“You are all descendants of Adam and Adam was nothing but dust.”
As a result, we try to run our affairs based on the principle that no one human group is inherently superior to another. And in this, again, we are guided by that same Hadith Sharif which further states – in paraphrase:
Neither an Arab nor a non-Arab is superior to the other.
And neither are Blacks and Whites superior to each other.
Leadership: A Core Islamic Issue
Nations, societies, organizations and groups live and die by the kind and quality of Leadership they have – or do not have.
What Leadership we have at the Co-Worker Family, we elect. And we do so by our own free will and choice – and with all possible transparency and sincerity.
For, that is the only right way of having leaders – at any level: starting out with a group of three or more.
Democracy or Islam: Which Is It?
Or Is It Both At the Same Time?
People may call it the Democratic Way. But to us it is nothing more or less than the Islamic Way – plain and simple. If you wish, you can call it the Divine Way.
Some may consider it part of Western Political Culture. To us, it is part of True and Original Universal Islamic Cultural Ethos that is neither of the East nor of the West – Laa Sharqiyyatin wa Laa Gharbiyyah, as the Qur’an says.
But, rather, a gift from the master of all the innumerable Easts and Wests in all solar systems and galaxies – Rabbil Mashaariqi Wal-Maghaarib – to his human slaves that he created with the express purpose of running and managing the affairs of this earth in accordance with his laws, commands and instructions.
Universal Divine Mandate of Human Khilafah on Earth
God Almighty gave the most exalted name of Khilafah to this universal divine mandate that he gave his new slaves: the Humans – slaves that he designed and created specifically for that purpose.
Hear God Almighty say it in the Qur’an in his own words:
Innee Jaa’ilun Fil Ardi Khalifah!
This amazing new concept that the Master, God Almighty, outlined in the Qur’an, can be rendered in English language – a new and evolving Muslim and Islamic Language – as vicegerency or viceroyship, which in turn can be restated as Representativeship.
But it is a very tentative translation at best – and in fact, quite an inadequate one, which reflects the structural and lexical (vocabulary-based) limitations of the English language when it comes to accommodating the Divine concepts, ideas, words and expressions contained in the Qur’an.
Some Key Dimensions of Khilafah
At the most basic conceptual level, Khilafat is shouldering responsibility for all of God’s Earth by all of Humanity.
And that means power and management. And that means human beings, all together, sharing the duties of managing the affairs of this world on an equal footing.
And the key to this assumption of power on the part of any and all human beings over all or any part of this earth is fair, free and open Elections.
And Elections happen before power is given by all and assumed by some.
The other is Accountability.
And this happens soon after the elected leadership assumes power – and thereafter continues forever. And that means the elected leadership being continually answerable to the electorate for its omissions and commissions – for what it does or does not do in office.
Dictatorship, Kingship and Other “Sacred” and “Secular” Tyrannies:
Baatil Forms of Leadership
Leadership that may have foisted itself on people through other means is illegitimate and unlawful. In the language of the Qur’an, it is Baatil Leadership.
It is a dictatorship that has stolen or snatched or usurped authority and power from their true and legitimate owners and keepers: the People – the Electorate – the Citizenry.
In the language of the Qur’an it is Zaalim Leadership – rooted in and given to oppressing and ill-treating the People: the Electorate.
This kind of leadership is Pharaoh-nic in its nature and composition. Using the language of the Qur’an, it can be called Taghoot.
Leadership that is not elected by the People, of their own free will and choice, and does not represent the consent of those it governs, is, in one word, Un-Islamic.
It is Taghoot!
END
