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Islamic quietism takes root in post prophetic civil wars where the khawarij issue of takfir caused fitna. There was bloodshed and divisions that shook the early scholars. They decided that it was better that they endure chaos of 'sixty years' than to risk communal disunity for even 'a night'. This was their silence as a virtue rooted in the fear of Allah.
This fear was later institutionalized in the 17th onwards to the 20th century by colonial powers such as British in India and the French in North Africa to propagate apolitical scholars whose quietist stance served their agenda. Despite it being a warfare of Muslim vs non - Muslim power where the Islamic scholars did not have to fear the disintegration among the ummah, the confusions of the ummah and interpretations of Quran were misconstrued and used as weapons against resistance through the scholars.
And today when we have the genocide in Gaza, fragmentation of the Ummah and authoritarian regimes all over the globe as the crises we face, the quietist positions can no longer serve the same cause. For this chaos that has ensued, cannot be avoided by virtuous silence. The silencing of dissent justifies and makes complicit in oppression. Take the state aligned scholars who discouraged protests and resistance or the scholars who did not issue fatwas for fighting in Gaza yet they issued one for fighting India. What was the difference? The interests of state over the interests of the ummah.
On the other hand, Quran says to stand firmly for justice without discriminating on borders. The hadith quoted, '"the best jihad is a word of truth before a tyrant ruler" demands activism.
So the question arises of weighing the harms and the benefits. Maslahah vs Mafsadah. The earlier scholars found that chaos and disunity were heavier to bear than tyranny. Today, when Gaza bleeds, the systemic oppression outweighs the harm that the disobedience of rulers would cause. Silence is no longer virtuous instead it is complicity in the tyranny of today's rule. It is active participation in injustice.
The obligation of dissent, of resistance is heavier today with the virtue of silence at stake. Injustice reigns unchecked, so, the ummah can no longer sit silent behind the fear of fitna for the fitna has already ensued.
Silence today would no longer be virtue but betrayal. Obedience to Allah demands activism.
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