{"id":21846,"date":"2009-12-08T04:07:34","date_gmt":"2009-12-08T04:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/new-wp\/?p=21846"},"modified":"2009-12-08T04:07:34","modified_gmt":"2009-12-08T04:07:34","slug":"emulating-allah-in-governance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/emulating-allah-in-governance\/","title":{"rendered":"Emulating Allah in Governance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Qur’an in its four verses is explicit about Allah being the one who governs the entire universe(s). (See\u00a0IKIM Views\u00a0<\/em>of May 5, 2009)<\/p>\n

Al-Mudabbir<\/em>\u00a0(The Governor), as such, is a Divine Name and Attribute.<\/p>\n

In fact, a number of renowned scholars of Islam were unequivocal about it, such as Imam al-Bayhaqi (d. 458 A.H.) in his\u00a0Al-Asma’ wa al-Sifat\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Kitab al-I\u2018tiqad wa al-Hidayah ila Sabil al-Rashad<\/em>, as well as Imam al-Ghazali (d. 505 A.H.) in his\u00a0Al-Maqsad al-Asna fi Sharh Ma\u2018ani Asma’ Allah al-Husna<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Allah’s governance of the entire cosmos is indeed His Pattern of Recurrent Acts, the one referred to as the all-inclusive\u00a0Sunnatu’Ll\u00c4\u0081h<\/em>\u00a0which, apart from appearing in the various forms of the Cause-Effect correlation, is especially manifested in history as the rise and decline of nations and civilizations.<\/p>\n

Such pattern also\u00a0not only holds sway over both the physical domain and the ethico-spiritual realm but also regulates the socio-political life as well as the individual and family lives.<\/p>\n

It has also been an established moral teaching in Islam, grounded in a number of Quranic verses and numerous sayings of the Prophet and\u00a0aptly summarized in the well-known adage “takhallaqu bi akhlaq Allah<\/em>,” that man has to emulate such Divine Names and Attributes as befit man according to his real ability.<\/p>\n

For in truth, the Names and Attributes of Allah constitute the standard of manners and praiseworthy deeds for Muslims.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0Muslim, hence, must try his level best to be a governor or administrator in its comprehensive sense, covering as many spectrums and layers of existence as possible.<\/em><\/p>\n

The religious, intellectual and scientific tradition of Islam in fact does not lack writings that reflect such an all-embracing understanding of governance.<\/p>\n

For instance, a mere glance at the use of the term\u00a0tadbir\u00a0<\/em>in the titles of various books, each of them dealing with a different field of discussion, already shows to what extent the term applies.<\/p>\n

Such books, to mention but a few, are:Ibn al-Jazzar al-Qayrawani’s\u00a0Kitab Siyasat al-Sibyan wa Tadbiruhum<\/em>\u00a0and Ahmad al-Baldi’s\u00a0Kitab Tadbir al-Habala wa al-Atfal wa al-<\/em>S<\/em>ibyan<\/em>, both having to do with child management; Jabir ibn Hayyan’s\u00a0Tadbir al-Iksir al-A\u2018zam\u00a0<\/em>regarding chemistry; Ibn Bajjah’s\u00a0Tadbir al-Mutawahhid\u00a0<\/em>(the Conduct of the Solitary),on philosophical issues and individual ethics; Ibn \u2018Arabi’s\u00a0al-Tadbirat al-Ilahiyyah fi Islah al-Mamlakah al-Insaniyyah<\/em>\u00a0pertaining to ontologico-cosmological topics,and Ibn Abi al-Rabi\u2018’s\u00a0Suluk al-Malik fi Tadbir al-Mamalik<\/em>\u00a0on political and governmental issues.<\/p>\n

In ethics, for example, there is a division called\u00a0Tadbir al-Manzil\u00a0<\/em>(the governance of household).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Since Allah is the Real Governor and man is merely His servant and vicegerent, the latter is governor only in the derivative and relative sense.<\/p>\n

As such, he has to govern and manage according to the laws set by the Real Governor, which are no other than Allah’s customary way of acting—the\u00a0Sunnatu’Llah<\/em>—within which is subsumed the Divine Pattern of Recurrent Acts in governing the affairs of His entire creation.<\/p>\n

Only those bestowed with the knowledge of His customary way of acting are in a much better position to manage their affairs properly such that real ends and good results shall be obtained.<\/p>\n

Such knowledge basically involves one’s understanding of Allah’s Legislative Commands (al-amr al-taklifi<\/em>), which act as one’s primary guidance, as well as one’s knowing the Divine Pattern of executing His Creative Command (al-amr al-takwini<\/em>).<\/p>\n

And to know both the Legislative Commands of God and the Divine Pattern of executing His Creative Command, not only must one sincerely and seriously attend to His Revelation—the Holy Qur’an and its embodiment in the Personality and Life of the Prophet Muhammad—but one also has to continuously observe and contemplate His signs and symbols\u00a0(a<\/em>yat Allah<\/em>) in the Cosmos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Qur’an in its four verses is explicit about Allah being the one who governs the entire universe(s). (See\u00a0IKIM Views\u00a0of May 5, 2009) Al-Mudabbir\u00a0(The Governor), as such, is a Divine Name and Attribute. In fact, a number of renowned scholars of Islam were unequivocal about it, such as Imam al-Bayhaqi (d. 458 A.H.) in his\u00a0Al-Asma’…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-star","category-220","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}