Preface

In the Muslim world today, the term ‘politics’ is always understood as Western politics. This is because in giving its definition, they seek reference to the West.

They no longer refer this vital matter to Islam itself, i.e. the Quran and the Prophet’s sunnah (traditions). And this ignorance prevails among the Muslim scholars, theologians and Islamic fighters alike. To them, the only politics they understand is Western politics and its democratic electoral system.

When we ask Muslim political activists, “why do you get involved in the dirty Western politics?” They will usually answer, “we don’t have any choice”. They indirectly allege that Islam does not have its own politics! That Islam does not have its own system. Though they acknowledge that the teachings of Islam are complete and all compassing, their acts nevertheless prove otherwise. They act as if Islam does not have its own way of doing politics. Verily, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (pbuh) himself had shown us the way. He was born at the time when the world was controlled by a barbaric political system of the age of ignorance. But he did not get involved in it. Without excuses, he strove to implement Islamic politics, and in doing so, destroyed the established nonsensical ignorant political system.

Today Muslims generally practise politics that is totally unIslamic. But to them, that is the only politics they know. They use unIslamic politics to uphold and struggle for an Islamic nation. To them, the end justifies the means. And they accuse other Islamic movements or organisations that avoid and do not participate in Western politics as being anti-politics. In fact, they deem the latter to be indifferent to the Islamic struggle. They taunt and sneer at organisations that are in actual fact very active in true Islamic politics which is in no way similar to Western politics. Hence these misinformed Islamic fighters struggle vigorously to uphold Islam on a totally unIslamic platform, i.e. The Western political system. They pursue their struggle through political elections by registering themselves or their organisations as political parties. To elect leaders to be the so called ‘people’s representatives’, they hold periodic elections within their parties. When the time comes for general elections, people at all levels, are required to vote. The party that gets the highest vote will become the ruling party. The party whose candidates win the biggest number of parliamentary seats has the right to set up the central government. This is regardless of whether illicit and unlawful methods are used to win the elections, whether the elections are rigged, whether the candidates are capable of leading or not or whether they are good or bad. They never even bother to ascertain the possibility of the candidates being enemies in disguise.

The government thus established appoints its cabinet ministers, senators, chairman of important government institutions and bodies, and also ambassadors to foreign countries.

The constitution and laws of the country which is the basis of governance are usually drafted by the ruling party. Terms reference of, if any, come from the West, the originator of secular politics. They do not seek guidance from Allah and His Prophet, by referring to the Quran and Sunnah (traditions of the Prophet).

To prove the truth and viability of the bills that they draft, they present them to Parliament. These bills are debated and then put to vote. When they get the majority vote which is always the case, since they are the majority in Parliament, these bills are passed as law. If there are disagreements from members of the opposition parties, they will simply be ruled
out because they have no majority support.

Such is the political system adored and internalised by Muslims today including its theologians, scholars and fighters.
They justify the means to achieve the end which is power and influence. They are very much aware that this system goes against the Islamic shariah and is abhorred and prohibited in Islam. They buy votes, blackmail, hire crooks to threaten people who do not vote for their party, they accuse and slander opposing candidates, hide ballot boxes, miscount and destroy voting papers, lie, insult, deceive and other ill practices. All these are despised by Allah SWT (the Most Pure and the Most High), but they are willing to sanction such practice under the pretext that “there is no other way”. They say all these malpractices will be prohibited once they come to power.

That is how they belittle the rules of Allah and commit transgressions in order to fulfil their indulgence for power. They accept a portion of Allah’s ordainments and reject the others. They forget Allah’s warning in the Quran:


Meaning: “Then do you believe in a part of the scripture and reject the rest? Then what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of this world and on the Day of Resurrection, they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.” (Al Baqarah: 85)

Muslims who partake in Western politics have made a very grave mistake by throwing themselves into a dirty and fraudulent system. Under the pretext of striving to achieve good ends, dirty politics is used in the struggle to build a true Islamic nation, i.e. a nation which is supposed to be peaceful, prosperous and that is blessed by the oft-forgiving Allah SWT.

Can this ever be possible? Whereas we all know that goodness can only be achieved by righteous methods and virtuous ways. If water at the upstream of a river is turbid, so will it be at the downstream if not more turbid. Meaning, anything that starts dirty will end dirty. But they still firmly believe that without Western politics, there is no other way to set up the Islamic nation. They purposely refuse to learn from the history of The Prophet and his Caliphs who successfully undertook to build the first Islamic Nation by the purely Islamic system i.e through dakwah and education.

So with such a perverted attitude and way of thinking, they confront other Islamic organisations that defy and boycott dirty Western politics. They accuse the latter of overlooking and disregarding an important aspect in the Islamic teachings, i.e. politics. They are ignorant to the fact that politics in Islam have very different interpretations and meanings from what they understand. In fact, from the Islamic viewpoint, they are the ones who have disregarded politics because they have gone astray and have deviated from true politics as required by Islam.

For a deed to be accepted by Allah SWT (the Most Pure and Most High), it must fulfil five conditions. Failure to observe any one of the five will nullify a good deed. Politics that follow the will of Satan and ideas of the enemies, unbelievers and infidels are totally unacceptable to Allah SWT. This means, such struggle is rejected by Allah. In the end, they will be questioned by people and mocked by foes.

Politics in Islam, be it literal or virtual, visible or esoteric, specific or otherwise, are all within the tenets of Islam as contained in the Quran and Hadith. For one to take part in Islamic politics, one does not need to refer to any other religion or ideology. Every single thing is spelt out and portrayed in the history of Islam. Although Islamic politics in the past have been erased and destroyed by Western politics due to the mistakes and weaknesses of Muslims themselves, but by Allah’s will, it shall rise once again. Islamic politics will again control and shape the world, together with the current wave of Islamic resurgence.

I have for a long time kept my conviction that in Islam, there exist a truly different definition and methods of doing politics from that of Western secular politics that is based on democracy and elections. But, only now do I want to disclose such conviction in this book. That is after I myself have carried it out in reality. The 26 years of experience in initiating and leading an Islamic group (jamaah) known as Darul Arqam, followed by Rufaqa Corporation Pte Ltd, provides me enough standing and confidence to declare and present my conviction and understanding of Islamic politics to the whole world. Hopefully this can benefit and help speed up the process of Islamic revival in this last era.

O Allah, please accept this little effort as my good deed. Forgive me for all my mistakes and wrongdoings. If there are any due rewards, allow me to present it to Thy beloved Prophet, to my Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdullah As Suhaimi, to all my teachers, to both my parents and to all those who have served and done good to me. May this book benefit all Muslims throughout the world, either the living or those who have passed away. Ameen O Allah.

Your weak and humble servant,



HAJI ASHAARI MUHAMMAD