Living by Allah’s Rule Within One’s Ability

Every Muslim has a duty to apply Allah’s rule throughout life according to personal ability. The measure of responsibility is what a person is actually able to do, for Allah does not burden a soul with more than it can bear.

This principle keeps a Muslim from treating the absence of an Islamic state as a reason to postpone what can already be established. Correct Tawheed and worship are not dependent upon first establishing an Islamic state in countries that do not rule by what Allah has revealed. They are duties that a Muslim can begin fulfilling personally.

Indeed, the first matter to which ruling by what Allah has revealed applies is the establishment of Islamic Tawheed. A Muslim must therefore begin with the obedience that lies within his or her own capacity. The ability to correct one’s monotheism and worship is distinct from the ability to establish a state.

Establishing a state requires a kind of capacity that an individual may not possess. That lack of power does not remove the duties that remain possible. Each Muslim is responsible for acting within the ability Allah has given, beginning with correct Tawheed and worship rather than making their practice conditional upon a political change beyond personal capacity.

Every Muslim must act according to what he is able to do. Allah does not burden a soul with more than it can bear. This principle remains relevant when a believer lives among people whose conduct may harm him or whom he may harm in return.

Withdrawal can sometimes protect both sides. A Muslim may isolate himself in a valley, worship his Lord, and prevent the people’s evil from reaching him and his own evil from reaching them. The discussion notes that this matter appears in many hadiths and presents isolation as better than mixing in such circumstances.

Alongside this, however, it gives as a foundation the hadith of Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him:

“The believer that mixes with the people and is patient with their harm, is better than the believer who does not mix with the people or bear their harm.”

The preferred believer in this hadith does not wait for society to become free of harm before living faithfully. He mixes with people and patiently bears what comes from them. His circumstances are imperfect, but he continues to fulfil what he is able to fulfil.

These two situations direct attention to ability and the prevention or patient endurance of harm. A person may withdraw and worship his Lord where isolation protects him and others from evil. Yet the believer who can remain among people and patiently endure their harm is described as better than the one who neither mixes with them nor bears that harm. Faithful action therefore begins with what a Muslim can actually do in the circumstances in which he lives.

An Islamic state is not the final aim in itself. It is a means for establishing the rule of Allah on earth. This distinction changes where effort should begin: the means must not be treated as though merely achieving it were the whole objective.

Some Islamic callers concentrate their interest and work on establishing such a state even though they are not realistically able to achieve it. They exert themselves and call others toward something that is not even an obligation upon them. Their attention is therefore directed toward a task beyond their actual capacity.

A Muslim caller gave his followers a more immediate order of priorities:

“Establish the Islamic state in yourselves, then it will be established in your lands.”

The counsel begins with the individual. Islam is first to be established within Muslims themselves; only then should they expect it to become established across their lands. Rather than making the state the independent goal of their call, they should begin with what can be established in their own selves.

Yet many followers opposed this advice in practice. Most of their call became focused on the oneness of Allah in rulership, expressed in the well-known phrase “the rule of Allah.” The problem is not that Allah’s rule is unimportant: establishing it on earth is precisely the purpose for which the Islamic state is a means. The problem is reversing the advised order—concentrating on establishing it throughout the land while failing to begin by establishing Islam within oneself.

The rule belongs to Allah alone, without any partner. Yet affirming this principle politically while neglecting it personally creates a serious inconsistency. Some callers devote most of their preaching to Allah’s oneness in rulership, commonly expressed as Haakimiyyah, but do not submit their own religious practice to what Allah has revealed.

One example is blind adherence to a school of jurisprudence. Some advocates of Haakimiyyah follow one of the four schools so rigidly that, when a clear and authentic Sunnah reaches them, they answer, “This differs from my madhhab!” Their demand that Allah’s revealed rule should govern others is therefore not matched by a willingness to follow the Sunnah of Muhammad when it conflicts with their school allegiance.

Another example concerns worship. Some who call people to Allah’s rule worship according to a Sufi path. The criticism is direct: where is submission to what Allah has revealed concerning Islamic monotheism? A person cannot consistently demand the rule of Allah from society while failing to demand it from himself in worship.

The problem is not the affirmation that rule belongs to Allah; that principle is beyond doubt. The problem is calling others to accept it while making exceptions for oneself. The demand for submission must begin with the caller’s own beliefs and religious practice. Following inherited school allegiance against an authentic Sunnah, or worshipping in a manner opposed to Tawheed, exposes the gap between a public slogan and personal obedience.

Those who call for Allah’s rule should therefore first apply that rule to themselves. Before directing their efforts toward what they cannot realistically achieve, they must submit their own practice to the authentic Sunnah and to Islamic monotheism. Otherwise, they demand from people what they do not demand from themselves.

Applying what Allaah has revealed begins with duties that are already within a Muslim’s reach. A person can apply it in creed, worship, behaviour, the home, the education of children, and business transactions. These are not matters that must wait for political power. They are areas in which each Muslim can begin acting according to personal ability.

By contrast, forcing or removing a ruler who judges in most of his laws by other than what Allaah has revealed is extremely difficult. It is therefore mistaken to abandon what is easy and attainable in order to concentrate on something far more difficult and beyond one’s actual capacity.

This reversal points to a serious problem. It may arise from mis-education or misguidance, or from a wrong creed that directs people toward what they cannot achieve while turning them away from the responsibilities they can fulfill. Political concern does not excuse neglecting one’s own creed, worship, conduct, family life, children’s education, or transactions.

The positive course is total concern and activity with Tasfiyah and Tarbiyah. This means calling people to correct creed and worship according to one’s ability. A Muslim should not neglect accessible duties while pursuing a task that lies beyond that ability. The work begins where obedience can actually be practiced: within oneself, one’s worship, one’s conduct, one’s household, and one’s dealings with others.