Cooperation
on haram is haram, cooperation on makrouh is makrouh, cooperation in
something mandoub is mandoub, cooperation on fard is fard. The one who
wants to cooperate with you on something fard it becomes obliged upon
you to respond to him and if the action is recommended it will be
recommended for you to respond to him.
Working collectively on something which is obliged has evidence, to say that if it were an obligation you would be obliged to cooperate on that. So for example dawah, openly publicly commanding good and forbidding evil, jihad feesabilillah, if someone wants to pray or make wudu and you have some water and don’t give it you will be sinful. If someone asks you for something he is obliged to do and you don’t cooperate with him and you have the ability to then obviously you will be sinful.
So for example, if someone can’t bury someone and says to you “I need your help” you have to cooperate with him. Now for greater reason something which is the right of Allah or right of society it will take priority; if we are obliged to help each other on the basis of someone praying or burying a dead person or cooperating with each other to feed someone, what about to implement the shariah on a state level? What about to defend Muslims against the kuffar for greater reason by qiyas ala this is something which we need to cooperate on we cannot do this individually.
We do make a distinction between imaamatul uzmah (khilafah) and al imaamatul sughra which is less than that (imara khasa) so the imara ‘ama is known as jamaatal muslimeen that collective body of Muslims under one khalifah. Whereas imaratul sughrah or imara khasa is people together under an amir less than the imaamatul qubra so the lower imaraship (something less) people implementing shariah maybe in a locality or people working collectively to command good and forbid evil is a type of imara khasa and it could be many different types; it could be people working collectively to build a mosque or to feed the needy people. These types of things are also obliged on something which is obliged.
However, what the sheikh said is, “people who do not cooperate on the small issues will not cooperate on the bigger issues.”
So you need to get used to working collectively, you cannot work alone and the shaytan is nearer to the one than the two and he is nearer to the two than the three. So the people misunderstand this fact and this is why we need to talk about it. And unfortunately after the Islamic state was destroyed many strange ideas have entered the mindset of the Muslims, post 1924 people have all sorts of ideas of how we should revive, what we should do.
Some people say we should work on our own akhlaq and Imaan first and after that deal with other people, this is one of the diseases that have entered the hearts of the Muslims.
The bayah or pledge could be bayah tu ta’a (bayah of obedience) or bayah tu ikhar (bayah of contract). To work collectively Sheikh Omar said it could be:
a) A promise to work collectively
b) A contract to work collectively
c) Obedience to work collectively
Knowing that there are three anywhere on the earth alone together even in the middle of the desert to have among them an amir to obey. And if you disobey the amir it is not just breaking a commitment or promise rather Allah said in the Qur’an,
[4:59] “Obey Allah and obey the messenger and those in authority from among you and if you differ then refer back to Allah and His messenger.”
Meaning we do not obey anyone unless they obey Allah and His messenger.
Al Ulilamr are people of obedience (to Allah) and they are al ulema wal umara i.e. the scholars or those in a legitimate shariah authority over you. So this makes obedience to them if they obey Allah as someone in charge over you an obligation.
An amir isn’t someone that we obey all the time whoever that amir may be amongst them i.e. he is not there to order you in every aspect of your life rather it is for certain responsibilities and duties. He cannot say to you “Go make me a cup of tea.” So if you are working collectively on stalls or on a project he will say to you for example, “You need to go that stall, we need to work collectively in conferences, we all need to go to a certain area etc.”
To make a commitment and not to fulfil it is a sign of a munaafiq and the sheikh mentioned the famous hadith about the signs of the munaafiq.
Obviously there are talafies nowadays who say it is not allowed to have groups (hizb) when they are the biggest hizb going!
Working collectively is something we do occasionally and not permanently we do it when we are with each other, when we are by ourselves we are doing our own individual responsibilities. So when you are playing with your children this is not work of the jama’ah. Meaning merely pledging to work collectively is not enough, it is not a badge we are wearing you must engage in the collective obligations.
This commitment is to work collectively to command good and forbid evil, give da’wah, engage in rallies conferences etc.
In volume 8 page 156 in his Siyaar Imam Shafi said, “Verily Al Laith ibn Sa’d was more knowledgeable than Imam Malik but his people never worked collectively with him nor were they loyal to him.” So he said if they had worked collectively spreading his knowledge carrying da’wah people would have heard about Al Laith ibn Sa’d. He said he was better than Imam Malik but the students of Imam Malik would go out carry and da’wah, command good and forbid evil.
The collective work will spread the ilm, put more fear into the heart of the enemy and get the people to take you more seriously.
And indeed one of the first things the messenger Muhammad (pbuh) did when he received the revelation was to invite everyone to dar ul arqam to say lets study the tawheed together, to work together collectively.
So this collective effort in the atmosphere of the kufr law and order, the democracy and man-made law is the sunnah of the nabi Muhammad (pbuh).
The messenger Muhammad (pbuh) said, “A Muslim to another Muslim is like one body (and he joined his hands together).”
All of the hadith regarding the Muslims being one body one part feels pain the other responds all of those things if we make istikraan al adillah (take all the evidences together) we will see that the Muslims are always supposed to be with each other working collectively. And if they are - they will automatically require an amir.
The messenger Muhammad (pbuh) said “…if one part of the body feels pain the other will look after it.” Those who say we do not need groups do not have any evidence for that.
In the sharh of Muslim, Qadi Iyaad, volume 12 page 229 said, “It is a duty upon the Muslims to rise collectively and to appoint a new imam and if it cannot be done except for a group to arise it becomes an obligation to do so.”
In other words that which cannot be achieved except by a collective obligation it becomes itself an obligation. Nowadays we do not have an Imam, there is nobody implementing the shariah anywhere in the world, we do not have Imamatul qubra we may have some Imamatul sughra some imara khasa in Somalia or Iraq but they have not declared Imamatul qubra, that “We are the Khalifatul Muslimeen worldwide”.
If the jamaatul qubra becomes corrupt then the jamaatul sughra will arise and deal with it and correct it. In other words if the khalifah, or imama or Muslims become corrupt who will deal with that. It will not be one person.
Look to the example of Umar bin Al Khattab (ra) when he was appointed khalifah he said, “If I deviate (implement kufr) what will you do?” One man arose and said, “I will correct you with my sword.” And two people rose and said, “We are with him.” In other words they were a jama’ah.
Throughout the Islamic history we find that during the hard times groups have always arisen.
Nurudin Zinki when the khalifah was killed during his lifetime went door to door and asked for people to work collectively with him saying, “Let us work collectively for the sake of the Muslims.” And he quoted [5:2]. He managed to gather twelve and they appointed him amir rose against the crusaders and safeguarded the khalifah. He had Imaam atul sughra when there was no imaamatul qubra.
Salahudin Ayyubi was another individual who gathered together with people and went from place to place and said, “Who is willing to fight?” and he said to the khalifah, “If you cannot fight then give me a free hand.” And he took the leadership among the Muslims. In this situation it was not the Islamic State but rather the Islamic groups which arose collectively and they fought the crusades.
Usama bin Munkif is another example, he wrote a book, Kitaab al ittiba which was a book containing certain lessons from fighting the romans at that time. What happened here in bilad usham at his time was that there was a castle and the crusaders entered it and were killing all the Muslims. Usama bin munkif went from place to place asking families saying, “Allah is with the jama’ah (with the collective responsibility).” And he said all the households should gather together and he quoted [3:104]. Because the khalifah had become a coward and did not want to fight he said it was an obligation for the people to rise and do something. He was neither governor nor khalifah.
Oil was poured over Ammar bin Yasir (ra) for 14 days after his mother and father was killed.
There are many names for the general mandate of authority by an Islamic state:
1) Jama’at ul Muslimeen
2) Imaamat ul Uzma
3) Imaamat ul Qubra
4) Imaaratu ‘ama
5) Wilaayatul ‘ama
All of the above signify the same thing, in other words, Khalifah. The names you could have for an amir working collectively could be:
1) Jama’at ul Islamiyyah
2) Imaamat ul Sughra
3) Imaamat ul Khasa
4) Jama’atul Haq
5) Wilaayatul Khasa
All of the above are opposite to the other one, people use this terminology when they say they have established an Imara for example in Somalia or Sudan that does not mean Khalifah, it is a specific mandate of authority for people in a general area.
When you have been oppressed or under duress one of the solutions is to run away with a group of Muslims and establish your own mandate.
Ibn Taymiyyah (rh) said, “The division of the Ummah is not allowed except it will happen on two topics, on the foundations of the deen and on who is the khalifah.”
The hadith says, “The Ummah will divided into 73 sects, all in hell-fire except one…” And obviously we do know that the sahabah did differ on who should be khalifah.
The people of expertise will appoint someone (if it is a khalifah) and then other people will give the bayah or people in a region can appoint someone expert from each area and they will together appoint someone from among them or one person could nominate and if all of them accept they can give bayah. But what is not allowed to do is to give bayah before the previous one passes away.
Abdullah ibn Masoud (ra) said, “The Jama’ah is to work collectively even by yourself and two people with you.”
Qadi Iyad quoting on Imam Shafi’s statement regarding Al Laith Ibn Sa’d said, “The words of Imam Shafi show how great it is to work collectively on commanding good and forbidding evil on the continuity of the deen to spread and if it does not exist the deen will not exist.”
Qadi Iyad said in volume 12 page 229 quoting [3:104], “If any kufr occurs on the rulers or changing of the shariah or if any biddah occurs in the Islamic state he no longer has wilaya ‘ama (no longer be khalifah) and it is prohibited to obey him the Muslims are then obliged to rise against him and to remove him and appoint Imaamul ‘adil if they can otherwise it is a duty upon the groups of Muslims to rise and remove the kufr.” Qadi Iyad is a maliki scholar.
Ibn Qayyim said, “A khalifah in a cage between an assistant and a sabi whatever they say he does like a parrot.” This is referring to his situation regarding his khalifah who was under the influence of his wife and assistants and did not have assertiveness. In this situation who will correct him? It must be a collective duty for people to arise and correct him.
Opposite to the collective duty is the individualism which has been dispraised. There is a book by Ibn Taymiyyah talking about collective duties which cannot be done individually, it talks about the attributes of ahlus sunnah wal jama’ah.
Working collectively on something which is obliged has evidence, to say that if it were an obligation you would be obliged to cooperate on that. So for example dawah, openly publicly commanding good and forbidding evil, jihad feesabilillah, if someone wants to pray or make wudu and you have some water and don’t give it you will be sinful. If someone asks you for something he is obliged to do and you don’t cooperate with him and you have the ability to then obviously you will be sinful.
So for example, if someone can’t bury someone and says to you “I need your help” you have to cooperate with him. Now for greater reason something which is the right of Allah or right of society it will take priority; if we are obliged to help each other on the basis of someone praying or burying a dead person or cooperating with each other to feed someone, what about to implement the shariah on a state level? What about to defend Muslims against the kuffar for greater reason by qiyas ala this is something which we need to cooperate on we cannot do this individually.
We do make a distinction between imaamatul uzmah (khilafah) and al imaamatul sughra which is less than that (imara khasa) so the imara ‘ama is known as jamaatal muslimeen that collective body of Muslims under one khalifah. Whereas imaratul sughrah or imara khasa is people together under an amir less than the imaamatul qubra so the lower imaraship (something less) people implementing shariah maybe in a locality or people working collectively to command good and forbid evil is a type of imara khasa and it could be many different types; it could be people working collectively to build a mosque or to feed the needy people. These types of things are also obliged on something which is obliged.
However, what the sheikh said is, “people who do not cooperate on the small issues will not cooperate on the bigger issues.”
So you need to get used to working collectively, you cannot work alone and the shaytan is nearer to the one than the two and he is nearer to the two than the three. So the people misunderstand this fact and this is why we need to talk about it. And unfortunately after the Islamic state was destroyed many strange ideas have entered the mindset of the Muslims, post 1924 people have all sorts of ideas of how we should revive, what we should do.
Some people say we should work on our own akhlaq and Imaan first and after that deal with other people, this is one of the diseases that have entered the hearts of the Muslims.
The bayah or pledge could be bayah tu ta’a (bayah of obedience) or bayah tu ikhar (bayah of contract). To work collectively Sheikh Omar said it could be:
a) A promise to work collectively
b) A contract to work collectively
c) Obedience to work collectively
Knowing that there are three anywhere on the earth alone together even in the middle of the desert to have among them an amir to obey. And if you disobey the amir it is not just breaking a commitment or promise rather Allah said in the Qur’an,
[4:59] “Obey Allah and obey the messenger and those in authority from among you and if you differ then refer back to Allah and His messenger.”
Meaning we do not obey anyone unless they obey Allah and His messenger.
Al Ulilamr are people of obedience (to Allah) and they are al ulema wal umara i.e. the scholars or those in a legitimate shariah authority over you. So this makes obedience to them if they obey Allah as someone in charge over you an obligation.
An amir isn’t someone that we obey all the time whoever that amir may be amongst them i.e. he is not there to order you in every aspect of your life rather it is for certain responsibilities and duties. He cannot say to you “Go make me a cup of tea.” So if you are working collectively on stalls or on a project he will say to you for example, “You need to go that stall, we need to work collectively in conferences, we all need to go to a certain area etc.”
To make a commitment and not to fulfil it is a sign of a munaafiq and the sheikh mentioned the famous hadith about the signs of the munaafiq.
Obviously there are talafies nowadays who say it is not allowed to have groups (hizb) when they are the biggest hizb going!
Working collectively is something we do occasionally and not permanently we do it when we are with each other, when we are by ourselves we are doing our own individual responsibilities. So when you are playing with your children this is not work of the jama’ah. Meaning merely pledging to work collectively is not enough, it is not a badge we are wearing you must engage in the collective obligations.
This commitment is to work collectively to command good and forbid evil, give da’wah, engage in rallies conferences etc.
In volume 8 page 156 in his Siyaar Imam Shafi said, “Verily Al Laith ibn Sa’d was more knowledgeable than Imam Malik but his people never worked collectively with him nor were they loyal to him.” So he said if they had worked collectively spreading his knowledge carrying da’wah people would have heard about Al Laith ibn Sa’d. He said he was better than Imam Malik but the students of Imam Malik would go out carry and da’wah, command good and forbid evil.
The collective work will spread the ilm, put more fear into the heart of the enemy and get the people to take you more seriously.
And indeed one of the first things the messenger Muhammad (pbuh) did when he received the revelation was to invite everyone to dar ul arqam to say lets study the tawheed together, to work together collectively.
So this collective effort in the atmosphere of the kufr law and order, the democracy and man-made law is the sunnah of the nabi Muhammad (pbuh).
The messenger Muhammad (pbuh) said, “A Muslim to another Muslim is like one body (and he joined his hands together).”
All of the hadith regarding the Muslims being one body one part feels pain the other responds all of those things if we make istikraan al adillah (take all the evidences together) we will see that the Muslims are always supposed to be with each other working collectively. And if they are - they will automatically require an amir.
The messenger Muhammad (pbuh) said “…if one part of the body feels pain the other will look after it.” Those who say we do not need groups do not have any evidence for that.
In the sharh of Muslim, Qadi Iyaad, volume 12 page 229 said, “It is a duty upon the Muslims to rise collectively and to appoint a new imam and if it cannot be done except for a group to arise it becomes an obligation to do so.”
In other words that which cannot be achieved except by a collective obligation it becomes itself an obligation. Nowadays we do not have an Imam, there is nobody implementing the shariah anywhere in the world, we do not have Imamatul qubra we may have some Imamatul sughra some imara khasa in Somalia or Iraq but they have not declared Imamatul qubra, that “We are the Khalifatul Muslimeen worldwide”.
If the jamaatul qubra becomes corrupt then the jamaatul sughra will arise and deal with it and correct it. In other words if the khalifah, or imama or Muslims become corrupt who will deal with that. It will not be one person.
Look to the example of Umar bin Al Khattab (ra) when he was appointed khalifah he said, “If I deviate (implement kufr) what will you do?” One man arose and said, “I will correct you with my sword.” And two people rose and said, “We are with him.” In other words they were a jama’ah.
Throughout the Islamic history we find that during the hard times groups have always arisen.
Nurudin Zinki when the khalifah was killed during his lifetime went door to door and asked for people to work collectively with him saying, “Let us work collectively for the sake of the Muslims.” And he quoted [5:2]. He managed to gather twelve and they appointed him amir rose against the crusaders and safeguarded the khalifah. He had Imaam atul sughra when there was no imaamatul qubra.
Salahudin Ayyubi was another individual who gathered together with people and went from place to place and said, “Who is willing to fight?” and he said to the khalifah, “If you cannot fight then give me a free hand.” And he took the leadership among the Muslims. In this situation it was not the Islamic State but rather the Islamic groups which arose collectively and they fought the crusades.
Usama bin Munkif is another example, he wrote a book, Kitaab al ittiba which was a book containing certain lessons from fighting the romans at that time. What happened here in bilad usham at his time was that there was a castle and the crusaders entered it and were killing all the Muslims. Usama bin munkif went from place to place asking families saying, “Allah is with the jama’ah (with the collective responsibility).” And he said all the households should gather together and he quoted [3:104]. Because the khalifah had become a coward and did not want to fight he said it was an obligation for the people to rise and do something. He was neither governor nor khalifah.
Oil was poured over Ammar bin Yasir (ra) for 14 days after his mother and father was killed.
There are many names for the general mandate of authority by an Islamic state:
1) Jama’at ul Muslimeen
2) Imaamat ul Uzma
3) Imaamat ul Qubra
4) Imaaratu ‘ama
5) Wilaayatul ‘ama
All of the above signify the same thing, in other words, Khalifah. The names you could have for an amir working collectively could be:
1) Jama’at ul Islamiyyah
2) Imaamat ul Sughra
3) Imaamat ul Khasa
4) Jama’atul Haq
5) Wilaayatul Khasa
All of the above are opposite to the other one, people use this terminology when they say they have established an Imara for example in Somalia or Sudan that does not mean Khalifah, it is a specific mandate of authority for people in a general area.
When you have been oppressed or under duress one of the solutions is to run away with a group of Muslims and establish your own mandate.
Ibn Taymiyyah (rh) said, “The division of the Ummah is not allowed except it will happen on two topics, on the foundations of the deen and on who is the khalifah.”
The hadith says, “The Ummah will divided into 73 sects, all in hell-fire except one…” And obviously we do know that the sahabah did differ on who should be khalifah.
The people of expertise will appoint someone (if it is a khalifah) and then other people will give the bayah or people in a region can appoint someone expert from each area and they will together appoint someone from among them or one person could nominate and if all of them accept they can give bayah. But what is not allowed to do is to give bayah before the previous one passes away.
Abdullah ibn Masoud (ra) said, “The Jama’ah is to work collectively even by yourself and two people with you.”
Qadi Iyad quoting on Imam Shafi’s statement regarding Al Laith Ibn Sa’d said, “The words of Imam Shafi show how great it is to work collectively on commanding good and forbidding evil on the continuity of the deen to spread and if it does not exist the deen will not exist.”
Qadi Iyad said in volume 12 page 229 quoting [3:104], “If any kufr occurs on the rulers or changing of the shariah or if any biddah occurs in the Islamic state he no longer has wilaya ‘ama (no longer be khalifah) and it is prohibited to obey him the Muslims are then obliged to rise against him and to remove him and appoint Imaamul ‘adil if they can otherwise it is a duty upon the groups of Muslims to rise and remove the kufr.” Qadi Iyad is a maliki scholar.
Ibn Qayyim said, “A khalifah in a cage between an assistant and a sabi whatever they say he does like a parrot.” This is referring to his situation regarding his khalifah who was under the influence of his wife and assistants and did not have assertiveness. In this situation who will correct him? It must be a collective duty for people to arise and correct him.
Opposite to the collective duty is the individualism which has been dispraised. There is a book by Ibn Taymiyyah talking about collective duties which cannot be done individually, it talks about the attributes of ahlus sunnah wal jama’ah.
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