In his recent\nlocal television interview, prominent American Muslim scholar, Shaykh Hamza\nYusuf, spoke favourably about the virtues and stability of constitutional\nmonarchy-led governments such as Malaysia, against the backdrop of political\nturmoil, violent anarchy, and failed states which almost always resulted from\nthe breakup of consensus in the government structure of democratic republics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the\nCaliphate\u2019s abolishment in 1924, for 95 years kings and sultans have shouldered\nthe onerous temporal as well as<\/em> religious responsibilities of governing\nthe interests of Islam and the affairs of Muslims, who now make up 1.8 billion\nor 24% of the world population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Loss of\nleadership is a calamity. For this reason, discerning Sunni scholars such as luminary\nImam al-Juwayni (d. 1085) and his brilliant prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Imam al-Ghazali (d. 1111) cautioned\nagainst the preoccupation of reviling rulers, preferring instead to guide the\ncommunity towards God in the hope that perhaps their conduct may improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kingship\n(mulk<\/em>) is natural to human beings. Scholar and litterateur of 14th\ncentury Mamluk Sultanate, Shihab al-Din al-Nuwayri, recounted how, in his Nihayat\nal-Arab fi Funun al-Adab<\/em> (The Ultimate Purpose in the Arts of Erudition), the\nangels crowned Prophet Adam with \u201ca golden crown encrusted with pearls and\njewels\u201d after God taught him the names of everything (Surah al-Baqarah<\/em>, verse 31).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a\nmassively encyclopaedic work on world history and Sunni cosmology, the Nihayat<\/em>\nhighlights the recurring themes in the worldview of Islam which include the knowledge\nof Man\u2019s unique nature and position as earthly vicegerent (khalifah<\/em>) in\nthe cosmic order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Man is originally\nspirit (ruh<\/em>) breathed from God (Surah\nSad<\/em>, verse 72). As a soul (nafs<\/em>), it has appetitive power (nuzu\u2018iyyah<\/em>)\nfor taking possession (tamalluk<\/em>) which is a manifestation of God\u2019s Name,\nal-Malik<\/em> (The King). <\/p>\n\n\n\n However,\nas Imam al-Ghazali explains in his work al-Maqsad al-Asna<\/em> (Exposition on\nthe 99 Beautiful Names of God), Man\u2019s share of the Divine Name is only\nanalogous; all of creation needs God, while God as the Absolute King \u201cis independent\nof everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nprofound thinker of our time, Professor Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas,\nelucidates that Man has dual nature whose spirit composes of: 1) the animal aspect\nby which his soul directs the acquisition of means for his physical sustenance,\nand 2) the rational aspect from wherein, like a king, his spiritual heart (qalb<\/em>)\nrules the animal aspect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore,\nit is knowledge and discernment of the intellect (\u2018aql<\/em>) that enables Man\nto recognize his own true reality and restrain (tamaluk<\/em>) his desires\nfrom transgressing the limits (hudud<\/em>) ordained by God. Herein lies the\nsecret to successful rulership: he who governs the kingdom of his own self grasps\nthe governance of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe\nhearts of kings are sensitive to public affairs and the events of time,\u201d writes\nIbn al-Dawadari, 14th century Egyptian author of world history compendium Kanz\nal-Durar<\/em> (Treasure of Pearls). Arguing that the power to understand\npeople\u2019s needs is God\u2019s bestowal upon kings, he adds: \u201cthis is why God has\nplaced them in charge of men\u2019s lives. For they see the events of their age from\nbehind a thinly transparent veil and gain God\u2019s approval by following rightly\nguided policies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 6th\ncentury Persian Shahanshah<\/em> (King of Kings), Anushirwan, once bade his\nvizier, Buzurgmihr, an advice for the sake of preserving his sovereign state\nand perpetuating his kingdom. Explaining the king\u2019s relative position in the\ncosmic order, he formulated: <\/p>\n\n\n\n The world is a garden, its enclosure is the state; the state is a dominion whose legislation is the king; the king is a shepherd whom the army supports; the army is a relief which wealth maintains; wealth is sustenance\nwhich the subjects gather; subjects are servants whom justice subdues;\nand justice is a subsistence by which the world stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a very well-known hadith<\/em>, Prophet\nMuhammad was reported to have said: \u201cEvery one of you is a shepherd and every\nshepherd is responsible for his flock.\u201d Similarly, the heart is a shepherd and\nthe limbs are its flock; the sultan is a shepherd and God\u2019s servants are his\nflock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 10th century Andalusian poet and author\nof al-\u2018Iqd al-Farid<\/em> (The Unique Necklace) Ibn \u2018Abd Rabbih said: \u201cThe\nruler is the reins of power, the regulator of rights and claims, the mainstay\nof God\u2019s Law, and the axis around which all religious and worldly affairs turn.\nHe is God\u2019s protection in his lands, and God\u2019s shade that extends over his\nsubjects, through which he forbids the impermissible, aids the oppressed,\nrestrains the wicked, and protects the meek.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Surely,\nthe jewels of age-old wisdom are worth thoughtful appraisal while we engage the\njoyous mood of today\u2019s celebratory occasion in conjunction with the installation\nof Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri\u2019ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah as the 16th Yang\ndi-Pertuan Agong, our King. Daulat Tuanku! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his recent local television interview, prominent American Muslim scholar, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, spoke favourably about the virtues and stability of constitutional monarchy-led governments such as Malaysia, against the backdrop of political turmoil, violent anarchy, and failed states which almost always resulted from the breakup of consensus in the government structure of democratic republics. Since…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"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":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26181","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\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}