The Muslims of Ontario can expect to be contacted or encouraged to vote in the upcoming weeks, as all parties are making rounds with promises of creating new jobs, along with lower taxes and greater accountability. As Muslims living in Ontario, we need to ask ourselves about the reality of these secular political parties, the Islamic stance on being involved with them and the way forward for our community.

The Reality of Secular Politics

One simply has to look deeper into each party’s political history and record to discover that each party only makes election promises in order to come to power so that they can serve the interests of the Capitalist elites and their own political interests; not the interests of their constituents.

Democracy: Politics of Lies and Deception

Although touted to be fair, just, and “accountable to the people,” the reality is that politicians work largely to serve the interests of the elites – even if it entails abusing their positions of trust and enriching themselves on the backs of tax payers.

Duff Conacher, Board member of Democracy Watch, wrote: “Overall, the federal government’s democracy and accountability enforcement system is the scandal because, among many other highly questionable activities, it is still effectively legal for a lobbyist… to fundraise for and make secret donations to nomination race and party leadership candidates, to lobby in secret, to make secret, fixed deals with Cabinet ministers, their staff, handpicked Cabinet patronage appointees and government employees, and for everyone involved to be dishonest about their secret, unethical relationships.”

However, this is not simply because some individuals “lack morals,” rather it is due to the secular-Capitalist Aqeedah which the democratic political system is built upon, shaped by political thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli, who wrote in his book, The Prince, “A wise lord cannot, nor ought he to, keep his promises when such observance would place him at a disadvantage, and when the reasons for which he gave his word no longer exist.”

A politician’s first priority is to win elections even if they must deceive, manipulate and make promises as a means to serve their own interests – which is to stay in power and get re-elected. It is a system where Allah (swt) has no role in determining the affairs of people. They do not believe that Allah (swt) will hold them to account on the Day of Judgement for their actions.

Their actions are rather based on self-interest or their party’s interest. Therefore, acts of misleading the public and misappropriating public funds while serving the bidding of the Capitalist elites is only relevant to them when they get caught, or when the ensuing scandal jeopardizes their party’s chances for re-election!

The Islamic Ruling on Participating in a Kufr System

In contrast, as Muslims, we believe that the systems that govern humanity should not be based on the whims and desires of 

people. Instead, these systems should be based solely on what Allah (swt) has revealed. Allah (swt) revealed:

“Rule between them by that which Allah has revealed to you, and do not follow their vain desires.” [TMQ 5:49]

However, electing candidates for participating within the democratic process is justified by some people today through a number of spurious arguments. Some of these common arguments are listed below with brief explanations:

1. Voting for certain candidates to prevent others from coming in, is the lesser of two evils: The principle “lesser of two evils” is a sub-principle of the principle, “Harm is to be lifted” and is only applicable when the Shari’ah, and not the mind, has defined the two evils, and defined which is the lesser of the two.

   This principle only applies to the Muslim who has no other option but to perform an action, which is haram in origin. An example for this is if a man had to save a woman from drowning while her ‘awrah became exposed. If a man finds her in such a situation, he is obligated to protect her life even if he has to look at her ‘awrah. In the case of voting for secular political parties, no coercion, compulsion or necessity exists. In fact, a third option does: To abstain from voting entirely and warn others from partaking in it.

2. The Prophet Yusuf (as) participated in a non-Islamic system, in a position of ruling: Even if such an assertion were true (and it is not; see next paragraph), according to the majority of Usuli scholars, the Shari`ah of those before the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) such as Yusuf (as), is not considered to be a Shari`ah for us to follow.

Secondly, Prophet Yusuf (as) was simply set in-charge of collecting and storing the harvest of Egypt, which included guarding over the store houses. This is an administrative post, not a ruling post. Ibn Katheer expresses this opinion in his tafseer of the ayah saying that the Prophet Yusuf (as) was “…responsible for the harvest storehouses, in which they would collect produce for the years of drought which he told them would come. He wanted to be the guard, so that he could dispense the harvest in the wisest, best and most beneficial way” (ibn Katheer v5, 179). This opinion does not suggest in any way that Yusuf (as) ruled by Kufr or even partook in any ruling. Rather, it means that he (as) simply participated in an administrative post.

3. Voting will secure the interests of the Muslim community and repel the harm based on the principle of Maslaha (benefit): However, the benefit (maslaha) is what is defined by the Shari’ah not the mind, and its achievement can only be through valid Islamic means. The idea that we can define our own maslaha and weigh them accordingly is nothing short of making our desires the basis of our actions, which is forbidden and is a blatant abuse of 

the principle. This is because the ‘mind (aql) is limited, so it cannot encompass the nature and reality of human beings. It is only the Creator of humanity who understands the reality of humanity. Thus, no one other than the Creator of humanity can decide what is maslahah (beneficial) and what is mafsadah (evil).

The Islamic Aqeedah Establishes Proper Governance

In sharp contrast to the political corruption that plagues the Secular-Democratic System, the Khulafah (Caliphs) understood that Islam defines Siyasah (politics) as looking after the affairs of the people internally and externally. Having a society in which the thoughts, emotions and systems are all based on the Islamic Aqeedah will provide rights and responsibilities to all citizens irrespective of whether they are rich or poor. The Khulafah (rh) understood this example and implemented it.

A man came to Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz (rh) in his study, and Umar (rh) asked him whether he came for a state-related matter or a personal matter. The man replied “a personal matter,” so before the man could speak, Umar blew out a candle that was lit and lit another candle nearby.

When the man asked Umar why he did this, Umar replied, “The first candle was paid for using state funds, whereas the second one was paid for using my own personal funds.” Also, any attempt to introduce a bias into the Islamic system that favors the rich will be met with extreme harshness as happened during the time of RasulAllah (saw). In the following hadith narrated by Aisha (ra), Usama Bin Zayd (ra) approached the Prophet (saw) in order to intercede on behalf of a woman (from the elite tribe of Bani Makhzoom) who had committed theft and ask him to spare her from the punishment. After Usama (ra) made his request to the Prophet (saw), the colour RasulAllah’s (saw) face changed and he said: “By Him in Whose Hand is my life, even if Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, was to commit theft, I would have cut off her hand.” [Muslim]

Elections: A Great Opportunity for Dawah

Some may ask: Since it is clear that it is haram to vote, what should we do instead to a make a difference? When Election Day comes, we should use the run-up to the elections as an opportunity to engage with non-Muslims about the corrupt nature of the Capitalist system which favors the rich and powerful at the expense of the rest of the Canadian people.

In fact, since about 1 out of 2 Canadians do not vote, many people in the wider society will be expressing dissatisfaction with the current system and seeking alternatives. As Muslims, we should see this as an opportunity to carry dawah and show them how the Islamic Aqeedah generates the correct policies and creates a mindset that is suitable to govern all of mankind with justice.

We can do this by raising the examples of Islamic governance discussed in the previous section and then discuss the rational proofs of the Islamic Aqeedah as it is the basis of the Islamic system of governance.

“And Allah has full power and control over His Affairs, but most of men know not.” [TMQ 12:21]