Salafus-Saaliheen سلف صالحين

The vast majority of the groups present today in the field of da'wah try to win the sentiments and support of the people by focusing and pointing their fingers towards the rulers. They make them the scapegoats for all the calamities, evils and ills to befall the Ummah, and subsequently make their methodologies of reform based around coups, revolutions and bringing about the downfall and replacement of governments. All of this is based upon ignorance of the Sharee'ah and ignorance of Allaah's Divine wisdom, and is a mental outlook that is based upon a corrupt underlying aqidah.

The great scholar, Ibn al-Qayyim wrote, in explanation of the reality that the actions of the servants become manifest in those placed in authority over them, this being from the Divine wisdom:

And reflect in His, the Most High's wisdom in making the kings of the servants, their leaders and their rulers to be of the same species as the actions [of the servants]. Rather, it is as if their actions became manifest in the appearances of their rulers and kings.

* If they remain upright, then their kings will remain upright, and if they turn away (from uprightness), then they (the kings) too will turn away from uprightness.

* And if they (the servants) oppress [themselves and others], then their kings and rulers will oppress [them].

* And if their appears plotting and deception from them, their rulers will [be made to] behave likewise, and if they (the servants) prevent the rights of Allaah that are between themselves and become miserly with respect to them (i.e. withhold the rights of each other), then their kings and their rulers will withhold the right that they (the servants) have upon them and will become miserly with respect to them.

* And if they take from the one who is considered weak, what they do not deserve to take from him in their dealings (i.e. misappropriate from him), then the kings will take from them (the servants) what they do not deserve to take (from them) and will inflict them with taxes.

* And everything that they (the servants) take away from the weak person, the kings will take away from them with power, force.

So their actions (those of the servants) become manifest in their actions (those of the kings and rulers). And it is not from the Divine wisdom that the evil-doers and the sinners are made to be ruled over [by anyone] except by one who is of their like.

And when the very first band (of Islaam) was the best of the generations, and the most pious of them, then their rulers were likewise. And when they became tarnished (i.e. corrupted), the Rulers were made corrupted over them. Thus, the wisdom of Allaah refuses that the likes of Mu'aawiyah, and 'Umar bin 'Abdil-'Azeez are put in authority over us in the likes of these times [the 8th Century Hijrah], let alone the likes of Abu Bakr and 'Umar. Rather, our rulers are in accordance with our (nature) and the rulers of those before us were in accordance with their (nature).

Source: Miftaah Daar is-Sa'aadah, Daar Ibn 'Affaan Publishing, (2/177).

All of the jamaa'aat (groups) that have appeared in the 20th century, claiming to rectify the Ummah, have fallen into deviation in their methodologies of reform and they have not judged by what Allaah has revealed in their understandings, their methodologies and their calls. They wrongly believe by removing one ruler, or one government they can establish Allaah's law, or that they can do so through political parties that engineer coups and revolutions while turning a blind eye to or belittling the fact that the Muslims are far removed from that Islaam which gave honour and victory to the Companions, but upon an Islaam tainted with innovations, devations, foreign philosophies and ideologies in the fields of aqidah and ibaadah and manhaj and siyaasah. And thus, that tainted Islam they are following does not have the same effect in bringing about the aid and support of Allaah and the granting of success as that pure Islaam, with its purity in aqidah, and tawhid, that the Companions were upon.

The activities of these groups claiming to rectify the Ummah are based upon methodologies that are in opposition to the Book, the Sunnah and the way of the Righteous Salaf whose belief and methodology Allaah has made a criterion of truth in all affairs of the religion.

Ibn al-Qayyim: It is From the Divine Wisdom That Kings and Rulers Are Simply a Manifestation of the Actions of the Servants, Like for Like