By: Alkhaulan A. Hashim
How do you explain governance in Islam to an ordinary Filipino?
In this article, I will try to expound the concept of “Rabubiyyat” in a way easily understood by a novice. The concept of life and governance in Islam are intertwined. As a student of Islam myself, I have come to appreciate the style of the Holy Quran in explaining knowledge and wisdom by way of manifest proofs in nature around us. To some the style may not sound appealing at first, but it is only through the knowledge of the laws of nature around us that we come to appreciate the beauty and relevance of complete submission to the laws of God. This is why the definition of the “Ulema” (knowledgeable) in the Holy Quran are those who have deeper understanding of the laws of nature.
For a novice, it would be important to know what Islam is as seen and experienced in life. Islam is what you see all around you. All laws that operate and govern everything you can touch, smell, feel and see is Islam. This is why God says in the Holy Quran that the creation of the heavens and the earth are signs for men of understanding.
The heavenly bodies all rotate around an orbit. They all follow fixed orbits. A change in the distance between the Sun and the Earth from its prescribed distance by God can result in complete chaos and destruction. But there is complete peace and harmony because all these heavenly bodies follow fixed laws. This is Islam. Complete and unconditional Submission to God that results in harmony and peace.
Islam is the Law of God which stands for complete submission. A person who submits (Aslama) to the Law of God is a Muslim. By virtue of this submission, peace or “Salama”is attained. This is the Law of God for all creations including humans.
Islam is for God Alone. Nobody owns Islam and nobody can. It is only the Creator Almighty Who owns everything. It is not for humans to govern Islam but for Islam to govern humans.
This brings us to the main topic about “Rabubiyyat”. Let us take the example of two persons named Jose and Pedro. They both have a baby boy but have a totally different situation. This is their respective backgrounds. Jose married his wife when he came back from work abroad for five years. While Pedro married his wife while still in college. Jose and his wife invested in a small business before planning to have a baby, while Pedro’s wife gave birth to their baby boy five months after their wedding.
Thirty years later, Jose still has his own business but it is managed by someone else because he spends most of his time helping the needy people in his neighbourhood. His son is already a doctor who earns a living and at the same time helps people in need of medical attention. As of Pedro, he and his son work in the restaurant owned by Jose. Pedro dropped out of college the same year he got married to his wife.
What Jose did is what we call “Rabubiyyat”. The whole programme he underwent from careful planning to desired positive outcomes is “Rabubiyyat”. Pedro on the other hand, failed in the programme. The Programme of “Rabubiyyat” is perfect planning, perfect implementation and perfect outcome.
In Islam God is the provider of everything. The evidence is all around us from the microcosm to the macrocosm. The one that provides is the Rabb (Lord). God is the Only Rabb (Lord). So, where do humans fit into the picture?
This is where the concept of “Tauheed” becomes relevant. In reality real existence is that of God Alone. He Owns everything. He Makes the Laws. He has none to share in His Authority and Governance over His creations. There is none who can be like God. This is Tauheed. Opposite of which is Shirk.
Jesus Christ says in the Bible :
Matthew 7:21-23
“None of those who call me "Lord" will enter the kingdom of God but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. When that day comes, many will plead with me, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not exorcised demons by its power? Did we not do many miracles in your name?" Then I will declare to them solemnly, "I never knew you. Out of my sight, you evildoers!"
Therefore God is the only Rabb (Lord). Whatever you see all around you is the consequence of the “Rabubiyyat” of God Alone. Now, God offered the Programme of “Rabubiyyat” to all creations. But all of the creations did not want to handle the Programme and were afraid of failure. Because, the Programme of “Rabubiyyat”, entails a great amount of responsibility and accountability. It involves a deliberate implementation of God’s Law in a way uninhibited by any external force. Fortunately or unfortunately, humans accepted to undergo the Programme. By accepting the Programme, humans are now called as “Khalifa” or the representatives of God on Earth. Humans as representatives of God must now undergo the Programme of “Rabubiyyat” by way of complete submission to the Law of the Only Rabb (Lord), so that in essence it is still God’s Law/Will that is being implemented and humans will not be charged with the crime of acting as “Rabb” which is called as “shirk” in Islam. The only unforgivable sin, in the sight of God.
All humans are now part of the Programme of God. There is no way out. To reap a positive and perfect outcome will only be possible if we follow the Laws of the Only Rabb, who has proven the perfectness of the Programme under His Laws and Him as the Implementer. Fortunately or unfortunately, we humans have been bestowed with the freedom of choice as we accepted the Programme of “Rabubiyyat”. The Rabb will test us how we make use of this free-Will. Those humans who willingly surrender this free-will to the Will of the Rabb will be the successful ones. And those who do not surrender this free-will to the Will of the Rabb will face a negative outcome in the end.
Human misery all around is a proof of failure to submit the free-will to the Will of the Rabb. Had humans completely submitted this free-will to the Will of the Rabb, we wouldn’t see huge disparity of rich and poor, people who have nothing to eat, people who do not have shelter to sleep at night and people who kill one another in order to have something which in essence cannot be truly owned by them.
Humans that produce negative outcomes in the society will all be charged with the crime of “shirk” in the hereafter. Because as representatives of the only Rabb on Earth, we are not to follow any other law but the Law of God-the only Rabb. Following of any other law beside the Law of God is tantamount to “acting as Rabb”. Because by doing so we impose other laws over the law of the Only Rabb. The context of “Rabubiyyat” for the Khalifa on earth is to implement and live by the Laws of the Only Rabb.
Quran 5:44
" Those who do not decide their affairs according to the laws given by Allah (now lying inside the Quran) are non-believers."
Thus, believers are those who follow the Quran and non-believers (kafirs) are those who reject the Quran as the Law of God to be implemented on Earth.
Many people claim that they are implementing the Law of God on Earth. They have NAMES (Positions/Descriptions/Prefixes before actual name/Power). But God says we should never worship/follow NAMES. NAMES can deceive us. What we must worship/follow is The Only Rabb. And we can easily identify these laws by closely examining the outcome of actions of people around us. God’s laws will always result in positive outcomes in the society. This way the pretenders can be easily identified, so that we are aware who the rightly guided ones are. This is the simplest logic for humans in order not to be deceived.
Here are some Laws that I find quite relevant to the situation in Mindanao:
Problem: People believe in the Existence of God but do not trust God
I say this because people in the Philippines are very religious. There are countless churches and mosques all over the country. Despite this fact, we see poverty, sickness, unemployment and conflict all around. This is a proof that we are not implementing the Law of God. We can defend to death our claim that we are implementing the Law of God but we lack evidence to prove our claim. On the contrary, the only evidence we can provide is theft, robbery, kidnapping, arrogance, impunity, murder, massacre, rape, sickness, unemployment, disparity of rich and poor, poor health and sanitary conditions etc. If we truly believed and put our trust in God this wouldn’t be the case in the Philippines.
Solution: Have complete trust in God
Quran 65:3
And He will provide him from (sources) he never could imagine. And whoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him. Verily, Allah will accomplish his purpose. Indeed Allah has set a measure for all things.
Problem: Pretentious Arrogant but Generous leaders
With due respect to some, most of the leaders in the country are arrogantly generous. The proof of this comes in different colors and hues. The evidence is in every barangay, every municipality, every province and every region regardless of tribal and religious affiliations.
These pretentious arrogantly generous leaders have provided livelihood and infra-projects to their constituents. There is no question about that. But isn’t the provision of such supposed to be their duty and responsibility? On the contrary they do not miss a chance to display their names and photos at every project site and every livelihood program they provide the rightful owners of such. Come election time, every nook and corner, every radio station is filled with their photos and grand accomplishments that is made known to the public. What these leaders do for us are not our utang na loob for them. God says about such leaders:
Holy Quran 44:49
“Taste you (this punishment)! Verily, you were (pretending to be) the mighty, the generous!”
Solution: Chose your leaders with wide open eyes and minds. Vote for non-prententious, non-arrogant but generous leaders.
Quran 76:9
“(saying): “We feed you seeking Allah’s Countenance only. We wish for no reward, nor thanks from you”
We need leaders who work and serve for the sake of pleasing God Alone who ask for no reward or thanks from us. The type of leaders we have are arrogant beggars come election time. They stoop low by arrogating all sorts of propaganda only to ask for a reward. I call them arrogant beggars because before they beg for a reward they usually offer something (money, promises) so that it doesn’t look so obvious. The reward they ask for is our vote for them. The sad thing to note is that we provide them the reward and thank them by hailing all sorts of praises for them when all praises are due to God Alone. Alhamdulillah/Haleluyah. They are just fooling themselves and fooling us on the other hand. This is how important and valuable our vote is.
Problem: Very scandalous country
No need to elaborate this further. There are scandals everywhere. The media have a crucial role in this problem.
Solution: Quran 24:19
" Those who love to spread scandal and shameful deeds amongst the believers will
have a grievous penalty in this life and in the hereafter
A beliver avoids vain talk. Quran
Problem: Leaders who bray like asses
We have our representatives in the Congress. I am sure all of us have seen them in action on television. Have you seen them deliver their speeches?
Solution: Quran 31:19
"Keep your voice low, for the harshest of sounds, without doubt, is the braying of an ass."
We all know a dog barks loud in order to catch someone’s attention. KSP they call it.
Problem: Mind of a parrot
All if not majority of those who claim to be Muslims greet one another with the greeting “Assalamo Alaykum” meaning May God’s peace and security be upon you. The other replies with a greeting, “Waalaykumu assalam”, meaning God’s peace and security be upon you too. They keep doing this all throughout their lives. But they will backbite the same person, hurt the same person, degrade the same person, have ill feelings for the same person, steal from the same person and have envy for the same person. We are very good at parroting.
Solution: Value your salutation. Never say something to someone you do not really intend. You are only increasing you lies.
Quran 4:86
"When a (courteous) greeting is offered to you, meet it with a greeting still more
courteous, or (at least) of equal courtesy."
Quran 24:61
"But when you enter houses, salute each other -- a greeting of blessing and
sweatness from Allah."
There are countless other problems in our midst today. And we will never taste the smell of peace unless we start solving these in accordance with the Law of God.
Attention!
Muslims, Christians, Jews, Sabians, Scientologists, Buddhists, Hindus and Atheists.
If you cannot create a fly, then you are still a human. One of the many creations of God Almighty. The perfect balance and harmony in the universe is a consequence of a perfect system being implemented by a Supreme Concience, Awareness, Being that most people call God. The system being implemented is the system of Al-Islam. It’s operational description is “Rabubiyyah”. We all are charged with the responsibility of implementing this system/programme or deen in Arabic.
Quran 42:13
“He (Allah) has ordained for you the SAME Deen (system of life/Programme) which He ordained for Nuh (Noah), and that which We have revealed to you (O Muhammad SAW), and that which We ordained for Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus) saying YOU SHOULD ESTABLISH THE DEEN (SYSTEM OF LIFE/PROGRAMME OF LIFE) and make no divisions in it. Allah chooses for Himself whom He Wills, and guides unto Himself who turns to Him in repentance and in obedience.”
This SYSTEM OF LIFE, AD-DEEN, PROGRAMME OF LIFE is the RABUBIYYAT. To make it simple, Islamic Governance.
Under RABUBIYYAT every Filipino, every Moro, every Highlander must be honoured and respected. All of them have the right to life and existence just like millions of species of animals, and plants harmoniously co-exist on earth for the existence of humans.
Remember that everyone is a shepherd. You will be questioned aboutthose under your care. If a non-Muslim were wronged in our State, I wouldpersonally plead on his or her behalf. Avoid extremes in religion. Peace, OMankind! Peace.
(Prophet Muhammad SAW)
The Law of God is inclusive.
