Al-Tahawi Quotes
We do not support rebellion against our rulers even if they are unjust. We do not make supplications against them and do not set any revolution against them.
Imam Al-Tahawi, 871-953 Abu Jafar Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Azdi, Moslem Theologian whose works for the center of the Sunni Moslems, Quoted in Sheikh Muhammad al-Qannâs, Unlawfulness of rebellion against Muslim ruler
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This is the ultimate extreme of conservatism which literally means to conserve what is. Salisbury argues that even if you truly believe that the status quo is bad, you should keep it as the risk of change and unexpected consequence is so great that it is not worth the risk. Interestingly, this is the same mode of thinking which created the command in the Koran for Muslims to live with a terrible Caliph or ruler (unless he is a blasphemer or heretic) rather than risk the instability of regime change. See {590195} and {593076} as examples.
Rebellion and revolution has always been unallowed in the Muslim religion.
He was in many ways centuries ahead of his time with constructive ideas for any people and age. However, this was one of the exceptions. Unfortunately it became the norm for most Islamic countries even to modern times. Essentially, a bad ruler in this Islamic doctrine can be removed only if he does not follow Islam. For just being unjust or incompetent, revolution is not allowed and prayer is the only recourse. That is one of the major reasons that there have been so few Arab uprisings and revolutions although there have been many assassinations for alleged religious apostasy or insufficiency.
He was trying to justify the arrest, torture and mistreatment of 15 trade union activists in Zimbabwe, and in the process showed himself for the brutal dictator that he had become.
The veiled threat of violence and disruption was a tactic that did not work.
This quotation is used by the moderate Egyptians and other moderate Arab leaders as well as Israelis and other experts in combating Islamic Fundamentalism to illustrate the thinking process of the Muslim fundamentalist terrorist leader. They are more than willing to sacrifice those they lead (though rarely themselves) if they think that something is to be gained. But if there is nothing to be gained, their “moral” responsibility requires not “wasting” their followers’ lives. Therefore, the way these experts believe they should deal with the radicals is to face them with overwhelming force (a variant of the Powell Doctrine) and never concede anything or let them gain anything from violence. A single concession makes the terrorism, sacrifice and violence worthwhile, but if there is no gain, the leader has wasted the lives of his followers and is less likely to initiate another attack.
Honore Gabriel Victor Requiti
Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī (romanized: Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī) (853 – 5 November 933), commonly known as at-Tahawi (romanized: aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī), was an Egyptian Arab Hanafi jurist and Traditionalist theologian. He studied with his uncle al-Muzani and was a Shafi'i jurist, before then changing to the Hanafi school. He is known for his work al-'Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah, a summary of Sunni Islamic creed which influenced Hanafis in Egypt.
