The Oppressed Citizens within Tyrannical Countries Have the Right to Take their Rights by Their Hands: They Are Not Thieves Who Steal Their Rights from the Tyrants
Published in April 21, 2017
Translated by: Ahmed Fathy
Introduction:
We have received this email message, and we quote it below, followed by our reply: (... Dear Sir, ... I live in a Gulf monarchy, and like all Arab tyrannical countries, I see high-rank persons and rulers spend public money lavishly to live in luxury and smuggling ill-gotten money in foreign banks, and they confiscate all economy of my homeland, thus providing food and other items to the poor with soaring prices ... Within such conditions, is it OK that oppressed citizens would steal electric current or water supply illegally without permission from the government? Is this part of rights to be taken by force from tyrants ruling my homeland? Or is it stealing? What do you think? ... Thank you ...).
OUR REPLY:
Firstly: the oppressed citizens have the right to take their rights at the minimum and with justice, not exceeding the limits:
1- We mean they have the right to get their basic needs, with justice, from the tyrannical countries they live in; this is NOT stealing, as stealing is to take what is not yours. The oppressed citizens have lost rights within the tyrannical countries they live in. Tyrants and their cronies and henchmen confiscate and steal the wealth of a given nation which is owned by citizens who are deprived of their rights. Tyrants never willingly give rights to the citizens, and they punish any persons taking their rights without informing the unjust rulers, as per unjust laws issued to serve their purposes.
2- Those oppressed citizens taking their rights by their own hands are NOT disobeying God; this is in real Islam, provided that they adhere to justice as much as they can, not to exceed their limits and take more than what is rightfully their own. We mean rights within basic life needs that a State must provide: food, houses, clothes, education, health insurance, etc. within the minimum limit that preserve the right to live. Anyone getting more than their basic needs/rights by stealing are thieves and aggressors.
Secondly: tyrants and their cronies are the real thieves and enemies of justice and they must be faced so as not to allow despicable conditions aggravate and exacerbate until societies explode from within:
1- Tyrants are unfair despotic thieves who discard justice though it is commanded by God in the Quran: "God commands justice, and goodness, and generosity towards relatives. And He forbids immorality, and injustice, and oppression. He advises you, so that you may take heed." (16:90).
2- Justice is the law ordained by the Lord in all celestial messages and scriptures, and justice is the law/sharia of God to be applied by all citizens regardless of race, gender, age-group, religious affiliation, etc. within a given society: "We sent Our messengers with the clear proofs, and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance, that humanity may uphold justice. And We sent down iron, in which is violent force, and benefits for humanity. That God may know who supports Him and His messengers invisibly. God is Strong and Powerful." (57:25). This verse shows that all people must seek justice and resist unjust tyrants with all their might, even if they raise arms against tyrants (i.e., iron in 57:25 refers to this, in our view): justice is ordained by God in religion to stabilize societies, and likewise, iron is created by Him to stabilize the Earth as a planet.
3- When justice is lost in a given society, security, peace, and stability are lost, and the impecunious and the poor who barely survive must explode and revolt as they reach the verge of hunger and deprived of basic needs and rights because of the affluent corrupt ones (typical of Moses' Pharaoh and his retinue and people, as the most known Quranic example). Poor social classes are increasing exponentially because the middle-class is being ruined now worldwide. Typically, tyrants are isolated with the passage of time, and they have lost touch with citizens, and this leaves room for cronies and henchmen as well as other corrupt men to confiscate power, wealth, and authority, and their bank accounts have billions of $ while the poor classes get poorer and the middle-class strata (i.e., rich merchants, cultural elite, professional skilled workers, etc.) would vanish, and as the poorer and middle classes strata feel their money decrease and suffer inflation, the number of impecunious citizens increases beyond all expectations, until the needy will have to dig the garbage to scavenge for food! In contrast, the affluent filthily rich class would increase their luxury and extravagance, and their ruling a country means the ruin of society as per the Quranic verses 17:16 and 22:45.
4- If citizens never demand their rights (even by stealing) and revolt to seek justice from the State, the internal explosion is bound to occur.
Thirdly: money originally is God's and so are the Earth resources, and humankind is being tested during their lifetimes:
1- Money is made by making use of resources of Planet earth, and people must use them based on equal opportunity regardless of gender, race, financial status, etc., and God says in the Quran: " He placed stabilizers over it; and blessed it; and planned its provisions in four days, equally to the seekers." (41:10). Abilities, endeavors, and activities of human beings vary in this respect and so are their shares of earnings, wealth, losses, gains, etc. and this is a test among other tests in life for human beings; the rich are tested if they are going to be charitable or not, and the poor is tested if they are going to be patient or not, or in sum: will they be believers or not: "God has favored some of you over others in livelihood..." (16:71).
2- All assets, money, possessions, etc. on Earth are originally God's, and the human beings are deputized by God to share all this among themselves and the rich must donate to the poor: "...And give them of God's wealth which He has given you.." (24:33); "...and spend from what He made you inherit..." (57:7). Thus, the rich ones do not actually own God's money and creations; they are given such money as responsibility and a test. All of us will inevitably leave forever our possessions, money, etc. when we die or when we lose such money and assets. Let us all bear in mind that wealth is a test for the rich and the lack of money is a test for the poor and impecunious ones as well. The rich must charitably give the poor; this is the right of the poor ones, and this is how the rich ones pass the test of life, as failing it is when they are stingy. It is easily done that a rich one becomes poor and a poor one becomes rich. Rights of people must be given: "And give the relative his rights, and the poor, and the wayfarer..." (17:26); "So give the relative his rights, and the destitute, and the wayfarer. That is best for those who seek God's presence. Those are the prosperous." (30:38).
3- All assets, money, possessions, etc. on Earth are originally God's, and the State must preserve and invest them for the well-fare of citizens, and all resources in a given country are the property of all citizens and so is the money gained from them, even when controlled and invested by the State, and this right is bequeathed to children of dead citizens, when they come of age and their reasonableness is tested, because if they are far from being reasonable and act as responsible adults, their money is not given to them but to the benefit of all society, while giving the inheritors what is sufficient for their housing, clothes, food, etc. from the revenues and profits of such money invested by the State; we infer this from the following verse: "Do not give the immature your money which God has assigned to you for support. But provide for them from it, and clothe them, and speak to them with kind words." (4:5); the pronoun ''your'' here refers that all money is for the whole society if the inheritor is immature; otherwise, they can inherit their shares of money, and the test is inferred from this verse: " Test the orphans until they reach the age of marriage. If you find them to be mature enough, hand over their money to them. And do not consume it extravagantly or hastily before they grow up. The rich shall not charge any wage, but the poor may charge fairly. When you hand over their properties to them, have it witnessed for them. God suffices as a Reckoner." (4:6); this time, the pronoun ''their'' here refers to the fact that the money is for the inheritors who passed the test of maturity and can invest and use their money reasonably, for the benefit of all people, as the real owner of money is society, who can inherit the immature inheritors.
4- To differentiate between immature and responsible inheritors, we must see how inherited money is invested, consumed, and used; let us be reminded that there are rights of those who attend the distribution of inheritance shares without being inheritors themselves: "If the distribution is attended by the relatives, and the orphans, and the needy, give them something out of it, and speak to them kindly." (4:8). This means they are to be given from the original assets or money of the deceased, while the immature inheritors would be given earnings from profits of invested assets that play a role in serving society first, as this is the right of society.
5- Thus, the verse 4:5 asserts that money is originally for the benefit of all society that must invest it, and the verse 4:5 does NOT address rulers but communities; this is Quranic Shura or direct democracy of citizens' self-rule and how all citizens protect and share wealth of the State, even the wealth of immature are given back to the original owner: society at large.
6- The above Quranic teachings are ignored until now; the absolutist caliphs/successors/rulers would declare they own lands and assets as well as 'subjects' living on it, as if they were cattle not human beings, and rulers massacre anyone and confiscate everything along with the affluent class, and all of the assume they own people and have the 'divine' right to control, apply corvée, and massacre the subjects who are never free citizens: this is the history of caliphates of thieves and murderers: from Abou Bakr in the 7th century Arabia to Abou Bakr Al-Baghdadi of ISIS in Iraq, and from Omar Ibn Al-Khattab in the 7th century Arabia to Omar Al-Bashir of Sudan now!
7- Tyrants are unjust despots, thieves, and murderers, and the impecunious citizens whose dreams, rights, and money are confiscated by tyrants and their cronies have the right to steal or to get by force these rights, and if the poor citizens are penalized for it in prison, they are unjustly punished in lieu of punishing tyrants and their cronies. When so many poor ones are incarcerated in their attempts to retrieve their legitimate rights, all-out revolts are bound to occur!