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Are Monarchies from Islam?

29 August, 2016
Q Assalamu Aliakum, My question regards something that many scholars shy away from, for some understandable reasons, such as their own safety- the Saudi Monarchy. Remember Allah says "O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, be he rich or poor, Allah is a Better Protector to both (than you). So follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you may avoid justice, and if you distort your witness or refuse to give it, verily, Allah is Ever Well Acquainted with what you do [4:135]. Dear brother my question is that is the Saudi Monarchy halal?. In my opinion I believe they aren't because of their hereditary power, the extravagant lives they live, and their oppression of other sects of Islam. What is the Islamic view of the monarchy and how are Muslims meant to deal with this. Thank you.

Answer

Salam Dear Brother,

Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.

Initially, monarchies are not from Islam because one of the most qualified men must lead a country. However, monarchies have been in place in the Muslim world since more than 1400 years because the khilafah only lasted 30 years.

Even at the time of Umar ibn Abdel-Aziz, who was one of the most righteous leaders after khilafah, he got his reign because his family, the Ummayyad dynasty, was the ruling elite.

So there were several righteous Muslim leaders after khilafah but were in reign by monarchy. There are still good Muslim rulers nowadays but are unspoken of.

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In our time and age, most Muslim countries are unfortunately ruled by unqualified leaders, whether it is a monarchy or not. So don’t go too far and look in your own country to eliminate corruption in the most sensible way possible. Violence should not be part of the equation because this will shed blood, which goes against Islamic teachings.

We must remember that Muslim countries are quite unstable at the moment and we must not add more instability. We need to improve things in a productive way. It is not that easy but it is not that hard either. It could simply mean that we follow a mainstream way of life, away from fanaticism. We could also call people to be moderate in religion.

The most important aspect of it all is that we should not be divided because union brings strength and stability to the Muslim ummah.

We are told in the authentic hadith, Huzaifa ibn Al-Yaman narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him said:

“Prophethood will be among you a time decreed by Allah, then there will be khilafah following the footsteps of Prophethood, until Allah raises it, then there will be monarchy a time decreed by Allah, then there will be khilafah following the footsteps of prophethood then he (peace be upon him) was quiet” (Al-Haythamy & Al-I’raqi)

Another hadith is telling us that the four caliphs that came after the Prophet (peace be upon him) were the rightly-guided caliphs following the footsteps of prophethood. Sa’eed bin Jumhan narrated:

“Safinah narrated to me, he said: ‘The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: “Khilafah will be in my Ummah for thirty years, then there will be monarchy after that.”‘ Then Safinah said to me: ‘Count the Khilafah of Abu Bakr,’ then he said: ‘Count the Khilafah of ‘Umar and the Khilafah of ‘Uthman.’

Then he said to me: ‘Count the Khilafah of ‘Ali.”‘ He said: “So we found that they add up to thirty years.” Sa’eed said: “I said to him: ‘Banu Umaiyyah claim that the Khilafah is among them.’ He said: ‘Banu Az-Zarqa’ lie, rather they are a monarchy, among the worst of monarchies.”‘ (At-Thirmidhi who classified it as Hasan)

I hope this helps answer your question.

Salam and please keep in touch.

About Maen Khalifa
Maen has many years of experience in dawah work. He formerly worked as the Ask About Islam Editor and a consultant.