Earl Abdulmalik Mohammed Speaks

QUESTION: As-Salaam Alaikum, Imam Mohammed. I have heard you say, on numerous occasions that Islam does not support idea or concept of revolution. I was speaking recently with a group of Muslims who asserted exactly the opposite. Can you clarify, in more specific detail, the Holy Quran teaching that the concept of revolution is not in accordance with?

IMAM EARL ABDULMALIK MOHAMMED: This is a serious and complex question. There are many related concerns that weigh on and are implied by this question. The subject matter is controversial, in that it invites controversy and misunderstanding. The terminology itself invites sensationalism. Our religion is one that promotes clarity of understanding and clarity of communication, and therefore we are inclined by our faith to avoid confusion and controversy. For these reasons, I am obligated by faith to be precise in this answer I give, and knowing that there are so many angles from which this question can be approached it is not an easy matter.

As leader, I have to be concerned with how this answer may be interpreted. It is in addressing these matters where responsible leaders must understand their Tradition of knowledge and strictly adhere to it. It is more than a question of loyalty to a particular Tradition. It is a question of understanding. Our Tradition is expression for our convictions of faith and our objectives of faith. The heart is the seat of understanding and loyalty. It must be healthy and clean. Sentiments of the heart call for, demand, the activity of the intellect, the support of the intellect, to protect their correctness or legitimacy and rise to the level of convictions.

So, loyalty is from the sentimental nature -a sentimental property in the heart. But the heart must be strengthened and supported by the demand of the intellect to be correct. Likewise, the conclusions of the intellect must obey the informed sentiment of the heart. Our hearts may be strongly in favor of something, however that does not legitimize the concern. The combination of the sentiments in accord with the rational demand must be satisfied.

We understand the heart to be our nature in this explanation, and the intellect is fed by Divine Guidance. Therefore, it is not possible to answer this concern without Guidance. Guidance is the tradition of Muhammed the Prophet. It is the best path, the best guidance. And what is that path, that guidance? It is the Holy Qur'an path. It is the path and logic that the Holy Qur'an presents, and it is Muhammed's way of acting upon it and explaining it.

The Book of Allah revealed to Muhammed, by use of which he demonstrated the healthy nature obeying the healthy intellect, and the healthy intellect complementing the healthy nature, from which is formed the convictions -the strong Traditions. The strong Traditions do not deviate from the Holy Qur'an and Prophet Muhammed's teaching. They safeguard the Sacred Sources of Faith and Knowledge. It is necessary for me to say that the People of W. Deen Mohammed are from the strong and guarded Traditions of Islam in faith and knowledge.

We seek Allah's Protection from the evil of bad intentions and the evil of mischief-makers. There are many strides that Man has made in the course of human history that political commentators have analyzed and usurped for political interests. Those strides are interpreted in political contexts, and principles and ideas have been derived from them and have been usurped to justify behaviors and attitudes of entire societies.

There have been Rebellions that are characterized as Revolutions. There have been Reformations that have been characterized as Revolutions. There are Liberation Movements that have been characterized as Revolutions. Revolutions have been described within a broad range of seemingly disparate categories: economic, social, cultural, political, spiritual, moral, legal, socialist, democratic, peaceful, and violent, etc. So, the question must be what are we speaking of when we say "revolution?"

Honestly, it is too much of a problem to be clear because of all the human drama associated with the question and the terminology. It is too powerful an emotion that stirs when we think on the nature of this human history, and as a consequence it clouds the rational approach to what Islam says on the matter. The rational concern is not given its just role in the question.

Therefore, in order to comprehend the essential matter we have to make the proper space for the role of the rational intellect. So, our late leaders avoided the term 'revolution' altogether. The word 'revolution' and all it came to represent as political movements was not ever a point of emphasis for Imam W. Deen Mohammed or his father.

Whenever reference to the term was unavoidable entirely, Imam W. Deen Mohammed substituted the term 'determination' for 'revolution.' Why? In order that those he was speaking to would be able to pinpoint the most salient matter which Allah wants human beings to address in society, and so that they would know what he was committed to as leader of our community and spokesman for our interests. It was his job to help us define these terms in the context of what Islam accepts or casts out.

In this instance, he wanted us to focus the 'determination' of human life. The 'destiny' of human life as 'determined' by the Lord and Creator of that life. It is Allah that has made for us Purpose. It is Allah that brings us to that Purpose by those forces which He has 'designated.' They are natural forces, and it is Allah that has formed their natures.

Man, in his political language, has referred to them as 'revolutionary' and he has cited the various movements toward Divine Purpose with the 'revolution' label. There are those called 'mufsidun' in the Holy Qur'an, or mischief-makers. I do not like transliteration of Qur'an language and terms. It makes for difficulty. Allowing for that difficulty, however, I mention this term because it is the opposite of the term that means 'peace-makers' or 'muslihun' -those that are sound in intent, in speech, and in acts.

The sacred objectives of Islam are Faith, and then the just order of society. Faith is the origin or the starting point, and the just community under Faith is the conclusion. Love for G'd and obedience is the process through which one arrives at the reward of the Hereafter. We can see this in the Islamic principles that govern social well-being, freedom, human dignity, and human fraternity.

Likewise, the objectives of the Divine Law or Shareeah, is first Faith, and then respect for human life, intellect, family ties, and ownership and maintenance of material property. The logic is always the same, from Faith to the just order. The mischief-makers disrupt this process by confusing its starting point, and corrupting its conclusions. Their logic rejects the integrity of the natural processes established and 'determined' by G'd. Their logic is not sound.

For example, the Communist Revolutionary thinkers don't acknowledge G'd, but they say they recognize the dignity of man in acknowledging the value of human labor. They suggest and provoke inevitable 'revolution' because of the so-called natural tension (material dialectics) between the workers and the owners. G'd is Al-Maalik. He is the Owner. So then, are the devotees, His devoted, obedient servants, to realize their dignity by rebelling against Him? Do you not see here the logic of the Shaytan, the arrogant rebel against G'd's Authority?

Another example is the American Revolutionary thinkers. They identified the authority of G'd, and the sanctity of human dignity, but their logic lost its soundness through the justification of slavery. The reasoning and principles in their 'revolution' did not prohibit them from designating the group of humans they had enslaved as being less than human, and therefore not on the level that would earn the benefits of the outcome of the revolution that they said declared "all men equal."

Allah says that "He has made your forms and made them all excellent," meaning that all forms are designated and determined by G'd for the same quality of excellence and therefore the same quality of human respect in society. This problem in America is what troubles it. It values freedom above justice, and therefore its revolution promises but has proven incapable of delivering the truly just society.

Our tradition of knowledge does not accept the objectives of what is commonly referred to as 'revolution.' Our tradition of knowledge in Islam points to the Qadr -the Determination. It points to the reality that G'd's Purpose prevails over everything, and that Man reconciling himself in his sentiments and his intellect with G'd's Purpose for him will lead to that which will satisfy man.

The revolutionaries are not satisfied with society, that is why they want it to spin, and why they want it to be agitated. This is what they mean by revolution. They want it to give up its impurities and its imbalance. The Muslim faithful make circuits too. We agitate too. We make circuits around the Sacred House, the symbol of the common human nature in its attentive and active devotion to G'd's Purpose, and that commitment inspires us to change the harm that threatens society by way of our hands, our tongues, and our hearts.