What does Islam say about being
part of an organization that is working for the betterment of Islam?
Firstly what is a Jama’a?
To briefly define jama’a would mean to term it as an organised society that has
a clear-cut structure allowing the collective survival of deen as no concept or
belief can truly survive and develop under chaos and disunity. The Quran
declares:
“Hold onto the rope of Allah collectively”
Jama’a
For some individuals religion is very much a private matter to be practised in
the confinement of ones home or to be channelled at an individual level. Some
even go as far as calling only Fridays the ‘day of religion’. They feel they are
not in need of being part of any Islamic organisation or to be led under any
leadership because religious focus should be on the relationship of man with his
Lord.
This is not refuted, ultimately when man meets his creator on the day of
judgement he will be judged according to his deeds and no one shall bear the
burden of another. Yet Islam is for collectivity not individuality, we do not
have to go far to explain this. Allah states in the first surah of the Quran, Al
Fatiha, Verse 4:
“You alone we worship and you alone we ask for help”
The topic of this verse is Ibadah (worship) in the unity of Allah (swt). This
act of worshipping is a private one to one link between master and servant, yet
even at this very intimate and crucial stage Allah (swt) has instructed us to
work on collective bases. How has He done this? The Quran declares “you alone we
worship”, the word ‘we’ is very significant, as it has abolished individualism.
The sentence could have read ‘I’ but Almighty Allah (swt) is instructing the
Mu’meen to get rid of ‘I’ and replace it with ‘we’ hence showing one what the
need of Jama’a actually is.
The philosophy of working together in a jama’a is that it helps overcome the
imperfection in human nature. One man on his own can never achieve perfection
whereas a group of different characters have differing qualities thus one makes
up for the mistakes of another meaning that their movement is more perfect then
the one who stands on his own. If you are weak in some areas then someone else
can compensate for your shortcomings.
It is reported in a hadith in one of the books of Sahih Sitta that Ali (ra) was
praying in which he stated “O Lord bless me with your mercy” The prophet (saw)
walked passed and upon hearing this dua He (saw) stopped Ali and said to him.
“Why to you limit the unlimited mercy of Almighty Allah (swt), you should say
bless us with your mercy”
The above hadith indicates that the idea of togetherness gets rid of the
prevailing societal evils such as selfishness and greed as Islam promotes a
Muslim to think of his Muslim brother too.
There are many other examples that highlight the importance and great reward of
being part of a jama’a as opposed to remaining on ones own. Reading salah in
Jammat possess 27 times the reward and this reward is increased when one prays
in a larger masjid. There is a hadith that outlines that when a group of people
are doing dhikr and the angels inform Allah of this Allah (swt) replies by
saying that they are all forgiven.
In One Hadith Prophet Muhammad (saw) states that “if there are three of you
appoint one of you as the head” Showing that even the smallest group has to have
a leader.
Sect and Jama’a
One must be careful when discussing matters on Jama’a, as this does not refer to
the idea of different sects that are segregating the Muslim ummah today. There
is a significant difference between a sect and Jama’a they are two different
things, which must not be confused. A sect is something that works against
another sect sowing the seeds of division and sectarianism whereas jama’a is its
antonym as it promotes collection and unity. There is a hadith that reads:
“Avoid from joining sects because they will take you to hell and only one jama’a
will take you into heaven”.
When emphasis is placed on division, i.e. joining sects the word ‘feerqa’ is
used but when it comes to mention unity the word ‘jama’a’ is used. The hadith
could have read that ‘only one sect will take you into heaven’ but it does not
for a purpose a sect is not the same as jama’a.
Why is leadership needed?
A Hadith of the Beloved Prophet reads,
“There is no Islam without Jama’a and there is no existence of Jama’a without
leadership and there is not leader ship without submission”
This is a very important hadith that highlights the whole issue of becoming a
member of an organisation and its necessity. When it refers to the concept of
‘no Islam’ it means that there can be no influential Islam that can affect
society and its people towards the truth. The Quran categorically gives three
levels of obedience when it states that a believer must:
‘Obey Allah, His messenger and those of you in Authority’
So obedience must be rendered to Allah and His Rasool without a doubt alongside
this the Quran declares obedience to those in authority. If we combine the
Hadith and Quranic verse it is clear that if one wishes to truly implement Islam
and help in the struggle for its dominance then joining an organisation and
submitting to the leader takes priority. Leadership is needed for the guidance
of masses, as we are all not Scholars of Quran, hadith or fiqh, just like Rasul
(saw) was the leader in Medina and later conquered Makkah; he (saw) was the
first and perfect leader of Islam. In the modern world we need pious individuals
who mould their lives according to the Sunnah of Rasul(saw) and follow the
commandments of Allah perfectly. If we obey the leader we are in effect obeying
Allah and His Rasul and that is why Prophet Muhammad (saw) declared that, “there
is no Islam without jama’a, no Jama’a without leadership and no leadership
without submission.” This is not shirk because Allah (swt) Himself in the Quran
declares that obedience is not His exclusive right as Allah has ordained man to
obey his parents as well as obeying those in authority it only becomes shirk
when Allah’s obedience is violated by another obedience as long as obeying
another does not infringe Allah’s obedience it is within the confinements of
tauheed (the belief in the oneness of Allah).
By Sister: Tanzeem (ICIS student)
Institute of Classical Islamic Sciences