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Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Dear brothers, in the previous episode, we discussed the psychology of deviation and the style of commitment and conformity used by Chinese investigators to lure American prisoners into changing their principles and cooperating with them. Today, we will examine the style of commitment and conformity in the context of movements claiming to work for Islamic political action.
We saw in the psychology of deviation that the prisoner was initially asked to make a statement that seemed insignificant, without consequences, slightly diminishing his country's system or slightly softening towards the enemy state's system. The prisoner began with statements like "America is not perfect" or "There is no unemployment in communism," and was gradually led to the point where he would betray his fellow soldiers if they tried to escape from their captors.
Compare this with the initial statements made by Islamic political movements, such as: "Democracy is a false principle that contradicts Islam, but it is the only available means to reach Islamic rule, so we will use it as a means, not a goal." Therefore, the matter began with the denial of democracy, but with the consideration that dealing with it is necessary.
Then, matters evolved, and we began to hear acknowledgments of democracy. If they were asked to clarify, they would say: "We are not talking about the legislative aspect of democracy, but about its mechanisms and tools." Therefore, the word "democracy" became for them a mere facade, acceptable to acknowledge with the correct face that does not contradict Islam.
Then, matters evolved further, and we began to hear statements like: "We must refer to ballot boxes; the will of the people is the decisive factor in principles and ideas." These statements are the essence of legislative democracy, the essence of democracy as a way of life.
Then, the matter reached the point of voting "Yes" for the democratic constitution, with some justifying it with restricted phrases hidden from the public eye, while others admit that it is an idolatrous constitution but see its approval as a temporary goal to prevent the tyranny of secularists and remnants. This is regarding the softening towards the non-Islamic system, just as the prisoner softened towards the enemy system little by little.
As for diminishing the prisoner's own system little by little, it is similar in our reality to the successive statements in which the value of Sharia is diminished or it is circumvented in one way or another. Initially, the demand was for the complete Sharia to be the sole requirement that would not be compromised in the event of reaching power.
Then, when some Islamic political movements participate in power, they commit to the positive law, which aroused those demanding the application of Sharia. The political movements found themselves in a battle of response and ridicule, forced to defend themselves and what they had adopted from democracy and diminutions and what they called for in terms of applying Sharia. Here lies the danger: the victory of the self and its deviant methodology was at the expense of Sharia, leading to its diminishment in one way or another.
Sometimes, the concept of Sharia is blurred with statements like: "Who said that the aforementioned movement does not apply Sharia? Rather, it applies Sharia; Sharia means justice, means equality, and these exist under the aforementioned government." Sometimes, it is stated that the punishments are jurisprudential rulings and not principles of Sharia, and what is required is adherence to the principles of Sharia.
Sometimes, the proponents of these methodologies make it difficult for themselves by saying that people do not want Sharia and cannot bear it, which is a diminishment, and that its application "will ignite the country" with a dangerous negative psychological implication widespread among peoples who hear and see this intellectual conflict and what is happening within it. Frightening people about Sharia and portraying it as a cause of sedition is a diminishment of all that and a belittlement of its concept.
However, note that even at that stage, it was acknowledged that it must be applied, but with conditions and determinants. Then, we hear slogans like: "Freedom before Sharia," "Stability before Sharia," in contexts that sometimes declare that these values, such as freedom, equality, and stability, are prior to Sharia, whether they lead to its application or not.
Until the matter reached, amidst a battle of argumentation, that we hear from Islamists mocking Sharia and statements that do not differ in meaning from the statements of secularists, as if they ended where the secularists began. We heard from a mufti of a movement defending what his movement did to a group calling for the application of Sharia, and we heard him say: "These people cry over the Sharia that is suspended in their view, and they will not be satisfied until they see heads flying and hands being cut off and backs being flogged." This contains a clear mockery of the legal punishments and a disgust and aversion to them, unfortunately.
And we heard during the constitution fitna from notable figures statements like: "There is no place now to establish the caliphate, go and establish your state and apply Sharia in the desert." These are statements that do not differ from the statements of secularists, and Allah is our helper. It even reached the point where the justifier justified that this Islamic party or that did not come originally to apply Islamic Sharia and will not apply Islam! Glory be to Allah.
Therefore, brothers, the matter began with simple statements, a word here or a sentence there, which some consider valueless, but their speakers committed to them and were forced to defend them, then the caravan deviated completely. The transition from one concession to another was sometimes smooth and unconscious.
Several factors aided this transition and the success of the commitment and conformity style in diverting political movements, including:
Every deviant and dangerous statement was met with an army of justifiers dominated by emotion, who consider good assumptions beneficial in any case, not knowing that by placing good assumptions in the wrong place, they help people drift into the abyss and execute the enemies' plans, while they create confusion and their voices drown out the warnings of the reformers.
These justifiers initially excuse themselves by saying that these statements are political and intended to deceive the enemy and ward off harm. Therefore, they are null statements by their own admission, but they have something that justifies them. However, they ended up justifying the nullity itself in the end.
The second factor is the factor of public commitment, as the concessions were documented visually, audibly, and in writing. Therefore, systems and constitution drafters insisted on binding the deputy and the president to the oath to respect the constitution that makes legislation for other than Allah the Exalted. This is one of the biggest traps of commitment and conformity.
Nevertheless, you find someone saying that this oath is a corruption overcome by the intended reforms. This is a matter of naivety, intellectual shallowness, and deep ignorance of the psychological dimensions of such an oath, not to mention its prohibition by Sharia.
Then, with every concession, the enemies of Islam did not rest until they gathered these concession-makers into a corner and held them accountable for the consequences of their statements and their practical applications. Thus, the concession-maker publicly acknowledged them. They said to them, "Will you accept the results of the box, whatever they may be?" They replied, "Yes, whatever they may be." These statements and positions created new concessions that opened a new front for them with those who judge their positions according to the Sharia of Allah the Almighty.
Thus, the concession-makers found themselves in a triangle: from one corner, the enemies of Islam who are at ease, towards whom the concession-maker feels an inferiority complex, and their souls are still imprisoned in their prisons even if their bodies have been released by revolutions. These enemies will not remain silent if the concession-makers retract their statements or try to interpret them in accordance with the Sharia.
From a second corner, their intellectual opponents who call for the prohibition of concessions, but some of them do not know how to balance between clarifying the corruption of the methodology on the one hand and showing mercy to the opponents and wishing them good on the other hand. This makes pride in sin take hold of these concession-makers, and the victory of the self prevails over them.
From a third corner, the common people whom the concession-makers teach in the mosques that vacillation and evasion are not the characteristics of the believers. The common people who love courage and boldness, and the concession-makers strive to please their popular base and convince them of the soundness of their methodology and the invalidity of the methodology of their opponents. Thus, it was necessary for them to appear consistent with their statements and positions, because as we explained in the previous episode, the person who acts in contradictory ways appears to people as fickle, unconfident, scattered in thought, and unworthy of trust. All these characteristics are detested by society and by the person himself.
Thus, these concession-makers wanted to appear consistent in their actions and avoid what could be considered a conflict in their positions before their people. Amid these three poles: pleasing the enemies, stubbornness with intellectual opponents, and winning the trust of people who love a consistent personality, the concession-makers rose to defend their positions and statements that contradict the Sharia, clinging at night to any legal or rational evidence that testifies to them, in the manner of "I believe, then I find evidence," a method that never brings its carrier to the truth, especially if he loses objectivity and his bias drives him to victory for himself.
And to convince the people, it was necessary for them to convince themselves first, for one who lacks something cannot give it. And they deceived themselves, unfortunately, until they convinced themselves, so a real change occurred in the psyches that became their statements and positions part of their being, especially with the presence of documentation and public written, visible, and audible commitment. Their positions became part of their being, so they found themselves defending their positions as they defend their being.
Thus, commitment led to agreement. They committed to the consequences of their concessions, then agreed with their psyches with these consequences. This agreement, this change in psyches, facilitated the presentation of greater concessions. And every time a door of the constants was broken, they dared to go further, and the owners of the first statement brought a second one that is one of its consequences and implications, and an army of justifiers stood ready to defend this new concession as well. And every time the dust of the battle clears, an issue is turned from a categorical one to a speculative one. Thus, the demolition of the constants came one after another.
And it is surprising that these concession-makers often justify their new concessions with phrases that mean nothing but that they have fallen into the trap, which is their saying: "Let us be frank, he who accepts democracy and its conditions must accept its implications, it is not permissible for us to speak of justice, equality, and freedom, then put the preventing conditions" - meaning the Sharia conditions that prevent the deviant applications of democracy. They mention this parrot-like phrase that means nothing and is not based on any evidence, and it is nothing but a frank expression that they have set a trap for themselves, which their enemies helped them with, then they fell into it and deepened it instead of returning to the truth.
This is what concerns the factors of documentation and public commitment. And next time, with the permission of Allah, we will talk about the factors of exerting extra effort and self-motivation.
But we say in conclusion, my brothers: For all of this and for a wisdom that Allah knows, the Almighty warned against the minor deviation and intensified its punishment. He, the Exalted, knows these dire consequences, and we, as humans, are weaker than our enemies who scheme and employ psychological, social, political, and military sciences to divert us from our religion and turn us away from it. Weaker than them unless we hold fast to the rope of Allah and bite on the Sunnah of our Prophet with the molars and adhere to the clear proof that no one deviates from except a doomed one.
Look at His saying, may He be glorified: {And had it not been for [the fact that] We had established you, you would have almost inclined to them a little} [Al-Isra: 74]. This little thing would not certainly be a disbelieving act, for the disbelieving act is not a little thing. And yet, if it had happened to him, peace be upon him: {Then We would surely have made you taste double of life and double of death; then you would not find for yourself against Us any helper} [Al-Isra: 75]. Allah would have made him taste double punishment in this world and in the Hereafter.
Look at His saying, may He be glorified: {And beware of them [O Muhammad], lest they tempt you away from some of what Allah has revealed to you} [Al-Ma'idah: 49]. From some of what Allah has revealed to you! And look at His saying, may He be glorified: {And do not incline to those who do wrong, lest the Fire touch you, and you have no protectors other than Allah; then you will not be helped} [Hud: 113]. And by Allah, the concession-makers did not prevail in this world, and their concessions will not avail them from the punishment of Allah in the Hereafter, unless His mercy catches up with them and returns them to the truth in a beautiful return.
Will they not ponder the Quran? Will they not ponder these verses? Will they not ponder the Quran, or are there locks on their hearts? {Indeed, those who turn back on their heels after the guidance has become clear to them - Satan has enticed them and lured them} [Muhammad: 25-26]. In some of the matter! So how about one who obeyed in democracy as a way of life?
He who turns a blind eye to all these divine calls has lost his immunity, and his harm is the plot of his enemies, so he has no one to blame but himself.
We ask Allah to guide the misguided and rectify the affairs of the Muslims. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
And next time, with the permission of Allah, we will talk about the factors of exerting extra effort and self-motivation.
But we say in conclusion, my brothers: For all of this and for a wisdom that only Allah knows, the Almighty has warned against minor deviation and made its punishment severe. He, exalted be He, knows these dire consequences, and we, as humans, are weaker than our enemies who scheme and employ psychological, social, political, and military sciences to divert us from our religion and turn us away from it. We are weaker than them unless we hold firmly to the rope of Allah, cling to the Sunnah of our Prophet with determination, and adhere to the clear path that only the doomed deviate from.
Look at His saying, may He be exalted: {And had it not been for [Your] settlement [in guidance], you would have nearly slipped into them a little} [Al-Isra: 74]. This little thing would not be an act of disbelief certainly, for the act of disbelief is not something little. Yet if it had happened to him, peace be upon him: {Then We would have made you taste double of life and double of death; then you would not find for yourself against Us a helper} [Al-Isra: 75]. Allah would have made him taste double punishment in this world and in the Hereafter.
Look at His saying, may He be exalted: {And beware of them lest they seduce you concerning some of what Allah has sent down to you} [Al-Ma'idah: 49]. Concerning some of what Allah has sent down to you! And look at His saying, may He be exalted: {And do not yield to those who do wrong, lest the Fire touch you, and you have no protectors from Allah other than Himself, then you will not be helped} [Hud: 113]. By Allah, those who yield do not triumph in this world, nor will their yielding protect them from Allah's punishment in the Hereafter, unless His mercy reaches them and brings them back to the truth in a beautiful manner.
Will they not ponder the Quran? Will they not ponder these verses? Will they not ponder the Quran, or are there locks on their hearts? {Indeed, those who have turned back on their heels after the guidance has become clear to them - Satan has enticed them and prolonged [their] hope. That is because they said to those who hate what Allah has sent down, "We will obey you in part of [the] matter"} [Muhammad: 25-26]. In part of the matter! So how about those who obey in democracy as a way of life?
He who turns a blind eye to all these divine calls has lost his immunity, and the harm of his enemies' schemes will befall him, so he has no one to blame but himself.
We ask Allah to guide the misguided and rectify the affairs of the Muslims. Peace be upon you all, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.