Addressing Peoples and Nations
https://www.al-waie.org/archives/article/19751
(Translated)
Aisha Az-Zaatari – Palestine
Al-Waie Magazine, Issue 465
Thirty Ninth Year
Shawwal 1446 AH corresponding to April 2025 CE

Peoples and nations are the primary domain of political entities, including states, parties, and others. People constitute the most important components of society, and its fundamental pillar. The other components, including thoughts, feelings, and systems, depend on them. The system is implemented on them, and they are the ones who carry the prevailing thoughts, and are emotionally influenced by them. Therefore, those in charge of politics must pay attention to addressing, and interacting with the people, to gain their leadership.

The state essentially enacts laws to care for the people’s affairs and ensure a decent standard of living for them. When the state adopts laws that preserve its system of government and its strengths, it must also preserve its popular platform of support, which is the most important factor of strength supporting its ruling regime. The state is an executive entity, whilst the people are the subject of this system’s implementation, directly or indirectly. They also constitute the medium within which the state’s political system, and the thoughts upon which it is based, interact.

All this is true for the state. As for political parties, their basic principle is to target the people through their cultures, political projects, and intellectual endeavors. Political parties are structures that embrace political projects based on specific thoughts. The people are the interactive arena for their projects and the thoughts they are based on. The people are the locus of the work and influence of political parties. Political parties need the people’s support for the culture, projects, and goals they embody. Even in their direct political engagement with rulers and regimes, they need the people to rally around them.

Accordingly, people have the right to participate in political life, as they are the essential, vital aspect of political life and the center of its interaction. Examples of their rights include the right to be governed by the system of their Lord (swt), to elect rulers and hold them accountable, to accept or reject the projects of political parties, to work with these parties, and to demand to live in a society that provides them with a decent life, among other rights. It is only natural for people to bring power to the systems of government, and rulers, they desire. This is a natural result of their support, and their intellectual and political obedience.

If this proves difficult, and power has to be taken by force, the masses must support this process of assuming power. They must rally around the new system of government, to be implemented, otherwise the foundations of this state will not be stable.

For all of this, it is imperative that those in power must pay mandatory attention to the people in order to gain their leadership, build a popular platform among their constituents, and strengthen it where it exists. This can only be achieved by addressing and interacting with them, in order to influence them and then gain their leadership. Otherwise, neglecting or ignoring the role of the people will lead to threats that hinder the achievement of their desired goals, and consequently, threaten their existence and continuity.

Therefore, addressing peoples and nations is done to gain their leadership, and to work with them to achieve specific goals. The basis of this approach is to appeal to their minds and thinking, along with their humanity and nature, with a culture that defines their identity and belonging, guarantees their dignity, and offers solutions that elevate them, and achieve the meanings of a dignified life in their society. If they accept all that, they will submit to it and rally around its political project.

Addressing people depends on what politicians in charge of the affairs of the people, and their interests, determine about the nature of their relationship with people, and the method they follow in interacting with them. This is as follows:

Firstly: If it is defined as an integrated relationship, in which people participate in political life, with specific roles, rights and obligations, then there is a need to address people using a language of interaction and convincing, to gain their leadership, motivate them to fulfill their role, and achieve their desired influence and impact on society.

Siyasah (politics) in Islam is the most prominent example of this approach for interacting with people. Islam recognizes the natural right of people to participate in political life, in addition to being a Shariah right of the Islamic Ummah. Islam assigns authority (sultan) to the Ummah, as it is charged with implementing Allah’s law and delegating authority to it. Sovereignty (hakimiyyah) belongs to the Shariah, whilst authority (sultan) belongs to the Ummah. These are two of the foundations of governance in Islam. On the other hand, Islam works to smelt people within its crucible, so that they are intellectually submitting to Islam, its aqeedah and Shariah law. In other words, they become an integral part of the Ummah and consequently, its relationship with the state.

Islam has a way of addressing people and smelting them within its crucible. This is imposed on the Islamic state that carries the Dawah to establish the Deen on earth, and on the political parties operating under the umbrella of the Islamic state, each to achieve specific goals defined by Islamic Shariah Law. This is evident through a set of Islamic Shariah rulings, specified by the seerah of our noble Prophet (saw) and his (saw) method of spreading the Dawah and establishing the Islamic state.

The method of the Messenger of Allah (saw) recognized the important role of those who had embraced the Deen of Allah when he (saw) gathered the noble Companions (ra) with him (saw) in the work of Deen to spread Islam and establish his state. Thus, the history of Islam shone with their heroism, in carrying the Dawah and building the state.

The method of the Messenger of Allah (saw) is based on working with the people, drawing them to the Dawah to Islam, and interacting with them to smelt them into its intellectual and emotional cauldron. It also creates a public opinion among them about the Dawah, thus naturally building a popular platform that supports the Dawah in its work and supports the state upon its establishment.

Thus, the masses of the Ummah, along with those working to establish the Deen on earth, are in a single trench. Then, the Dawah carriers, the masses, and the state are in a single trench, unified by the leader of the Muslims under the umbrella of Islamic authority. Thus, the Muslim community is formed.

The method of the Messenger of Allah (saw) emphasizes that in order to establish and sustain a strong and powerful government, one must work with and amongst the Ummah, to inspire it with the thoughts and concepts of Islam as an ideology. This interaction with the Ummah is a stage in the method of our noble Messenger (saw) in working to establish the Islamic state. The smelting process undertaken by the noble Companion Musab ibn Umair (ra) in Yathrib, to make a popular platform for the state that the Messenger of Allah (saw) established, is the best example of the method of the Messenger of Allah (saw) in working with the people to carry the Deen, and establish it on earth.

Hizb ut Tahrir, as a political party whose foundation is Islam, and follows the method of the Messenger of Allah (saw) in its work to establish the Khilafah (Caliphate). It works with and within the Ummah, and exerts efforts to address the Ummah with a truthful voice, becoming a guide who does not lie to his people. It strives, with the help of Allah the Almighty, to build a popular platform that supports the project of the Khilafah, and demands the implementation of the Shariah Law of Allah (swt).

Considering Islamic Shariah Law, it is filled with rulings and concepts that establish the importance of the ummah (nation) in establishing the state and in its functioning after its establishment. These include the concept of the Islamic community (jamaa’ah). These Shariah rulings also include the Bayah (pledge of allegiance) to a ruler, which is based on consent and choice, such that authority belongs to the Ummah and that usurping authority from the Ummah. They include the obligation of the Ummah to hold rulers accountable and the ruling of consultation (shura). They include that the Khaleefah is the representative of the Ummah and not a hired employee, and that there must be a Court of Unjust Acts as a ruling institution to address the grievances of the subjects against the rulers. They include the obligation to fight the ruler if he manifests blatant disbelief (kufr), and that the state must educate the people of the newly conquered lands, that have recently embraced Islam, about the rulings of the Deen and educate them about Islam until they become an integral part of the ummah. Other Shariah legal rulings affirm the complementary relationship, between the Islamic state and the ummah.

Secondly: If the relationship between the state and the people, is built on usurping power from the people, depriving them of their political rights, and nullifying their role, rights and obligation toward their state, the state will then resort to the language of subjugation, coercion, and tyranny.

Then, regimes will turn into dictatorships, and the relationship between the people and the regime will turn into one of hostility. This is because the ruler has, in reality, established himself as a tyrannical enemy of the people, usurping power, instead of a ruler who takes care of the affairs of his people. The ruler has severed all intellectual and emotional ties with his people.

This is the state of the tyrannical, agent regimes in the lands of Muslims, which have addressed their people only in the language of brutality, criminality, and deprivation of the most basic necessities of life, such as a loaf of bread, and fuel for the kitchen stove. This is a policy adopted to distract the people and keep them busy with providing a livelihood, away from engaging in siyasah (Shariah politics), thinking, and demanding their rights. This has led to vast lands being transformed into open prisons and detention centres for oppressed peoples.

This painful situation incites the uprising of people in some form of disobedience, and their explosion in the faces of the regimes. Indeed, injustice, whose nights are prolonged, will inevitably be overtaken by a dawn one day, awakening the people’s resolve to demand their rights and reject tyranny. Thus, the Muslim peoples of the Arab countries rose up against the regimes and demanded their downfall before.

The more the state oppresses its people, the weaker the state becomes in reality. This is because the natural relationship between the people and the state is for the people to rally around the regime, support it, and act as its natural protector, alongside the army, and the country’s powerful factions. This is both a right and a Shariah obligation of the people. If the state uses the language of oppression and tyranny to suppress the people, nullify their obligations, and deny their rights, it makes a state of turmoil among the people, and animosity between the people and the state, as well as amongst the people themselves. The people are the most important factor in the state’s strength. A tyrannical policy of oppressing the people eliminates this important factor, weakens it, and transforms it into a weakening factor. This weakens the state. Even if the rulers believe that their tyranny protects their thrones, they are in fact becoming fragile thrones, due to the loss of popular support. Indeed, they invite the enmity and resentment of the people.

These regimes in our Islamic countries were primarily installed by the enemies of the Ummah (nation), from Britain to France and then America. They were another colonialist face for their military presence in our countries, and subordinate colonialist tools through which the colonialists implemented their agendas and plans against our Ummah and country. The colonialists sought to hand over power to families and sects that did not represent the Muslim people, and lacked any popular support. They were, in fact, rejected by their people. Had the matter of authority been entrusted to those who have right within it, these families and sects would never have assumed power, let alone become prominent figures.

This was part of the plan of the kafir colonialists to increase the gulf and discord between the ruling regime and the people, to make a state of hostility between them, and to prevent the people from unifying with the state. Therefore, the kafir colonialist states have been constantly igniting sectarian strife and conflict within our countries, supporting security and intelligence agencies, working to undermine Islam amongst the people, and introducing corruption into our countries.

All of this and much more is done to distance the Islamic Ummah and its sincere from the domain of government, and to ensure the Islamic State does not return.

The Alawite Ba’athist regime in Syria is a clear example of this. The regime was the primary enemy of the Syrian people. It fell despite its use of every tool of oppression and repression. It fell despite its support and backing from America and its followers. It fell despite decades of forcing people’s subservience, silence, and fear. However, the people revolted and demanded their choice, their rights, and the implementation of the Shariah Law of Allah (swt). The people were met with more tyranny, until they were forced to sacrifice everything they held dear for the sake of their choice and demands, as well as their liberation from the Ba’athist tyranny that ruled them.

Thirdly: The language of public discourse may be one of misleading and deception

Rulers acknowledge the importance of the people and their supportive role in their rule, but they resort to hypocrisy. This is because their system of government, or approach, contradicts the people’s identity and culture. This is an approach followed by some regimes, movements, and groups to rally the masses around them, to support them, and to cheer for them. This is done through actions that appear to promote the interests of the people and fulfil their demands, such as economic achievements, for example, or confronting the Ummah’s enemies in one way or another, imposing some defeats on their ranks, or even issuing slogans hostile to America or the Jewish entity, which highlights the public’s satisfaction and acceptance. These deceived individuals usually end up glorifying and applauding individuals, even if their distortions are clearly and blatantly apparent.
An example of this approach of appeasing the people is the policy of Erdogan and his government in Turkey.

Despite his failure to implement Islamic Shariah Law, his subservient orbit around America, the enemy of Muslims, his pursuit of colonialist interests, and his repeated failure to address Muslim issues, despite his control over Turkey's vast military and economic capabilities, Erdogan has been able to create a large popular base in Turkey and the Islamic region, through the achievements and economic solutions his government has pursued, providing people with an acceptable standard of living, whilst portraying Turkey as a strong and advancing country. In addition to the military strength, people have been satisfied with Erdogan’s achievements, and his arousal of emotions by wearing a garb of Islam, so they have supported his policies. Erdogan has also carried out actions in which he deliberately disguises himself as an Islamic figure to gain the loyalty and support of the Muslim people.

Today, after decades of major events, Muslim peoples have been awakened to thought, and have grown in their awareness. We must be thankful to Allah (swt) for this. They have been compelled to address their vital issues, such as change, the demand for the implementation of Sharia Law, the liberation of the Blessed Land of Palestine, the restoration of the method of the Prophet (saw) for change, the overthrow of tyrannical regimes, and other issues. However, with every event they experience, their compass is tested, and they are often right, only to quickly deviate from the right direction.

This is due to the power and influence of our enemies and their agents in our lands. Our enemies plot and conspire, succeeding in numerous attempts to divert the Ummah’s scope and scatter its efforts. Therefore, the Ummah remains in need of an aware and sincere leadership that will lead the way, address them with a project that will unify them behind a Muslim ruler who will govern them according to the Shariah Law of their Lord, and address them with the solutions obligated by their Lord for their issues. Allah (swt) prepares soldiers for His Deen from amongst His sincere servants, and provides for the Ummah those who will lead it to change, victory, and empowerment by His Power and Might, glory be to Him Alone. And that is not difficult for Allah (swt).