The Equation Is Reversed: When Shariah Law Becomes a Burden, and Evading It Becomes a Way of Life!
(Translated)

https://www.al-waie.org/archives/article/20088
Al Waie Magazine Issue No. 472
Thirty-Ninth Year, Jumada I 1447 AH corresponding to November 2025 CE
Ustadh Munzir Abdullah

In recent years, a striking phenomenon has emerged: a group whose sole concern is justifying deviation and seeking loopholes to excuse evading the noble Shariah rulings of Islamic Law. These individuals no longer see upholding and implementing Islam as a path to strength or a method for revival. Instead, they view upholding and implementing Islam as a heavy burden they seek to shed by any means possible. This directly contradicts the explicit teachings of the Quran, where Allah (swt) says, [وَلَوۡ أَنَّهُمۡ فَعَلُواْ مَا يُوعَظُونَ بِهِۦ لَكَانَ خَيۡرٗا لَّهُمۡ وَأَشَدَّ تَثۡبِيتٗا] “If they had done what they were advised to do, it would have been better for them and more strengthening.” [TMQ Surah An-Nisaa: 66].

And if you call them with the Dawah of the Prophet (saw) to implement Islam, they will say to you: Do you not see the state of the country and what it suffers from in terms of backwardness, problems, corruption and ruin? Let us fix things first and address the problems, then we will implement Shariah when the country’s conditions improve!

This is undoubtedly a flawed logic that imagines that problems can be properly addressed without Islam, as if they see Islam as a religious obligation that does not include solutions and remedies! This is despite the fact that Islam came with effective political, economic, social, security and military solutions, which are the only ones suitable for humans and their society, unlike the man-made systems that exacerbate people’s problems instead of addressing them.

In fact, the current system itself is what produced the calamity, corruption, and poor conditions that the country is experiencing.

The core problem in Muslim countries lies not in who sits on the throne of power alone, but in the ruling system of governance itself that is implemented. The capitalist system currently in place in Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, and other Muslim countries is inherently incapable of solving problems, because it was designed from the outset to make materialistic utilitarian gain the measure of all things to separate religion from life and to leave the economy to the laws of supply and demand and the greed of the market.

Therefore, even if it is implemented in a “model” manner, as in some Western countries, it does not produce real stability. Instead, it plunges the country into repeated cycles of recession, unemployment, inflation, sky-high prices, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, while the circle of poverty and debt widens at the level of individuals and the state together.

More than a century of political experiences in Muslim countries has clearly confirmed this. Heads, faces, and parties have changed, whether military or civilian, Islamic in name or explicitly secular. Yet, they have all maintained the same principle: the capitalist system, its laws, institutions, and international conditionalities.

The result was a grim reality that was reproduced time and again, with some “painkiller doses” of loans, subsidies, and temporary programs that alleviated the pain slightly but quickly returned the country to square one or worse.

We need only look at Turkey’s experience in recent decades. While it achieved some growth indicators for a period, it remained trapped by foreign debt, currency fluctuations, rampant inflation that eroded people’s incomes, and a chronic inability to break free from the grip of international financial institutions. All of this demonstrates that reproducing the same system in Muslim countries will not offer them a genuine solution. Instead, it will keep them trapped in the same vicious cycle that this system created in the first place.

Islamic Shariah legislation is humanly unmatchable in its strength, effectiveness, harmony, coherence, and integration, in its richness and breadth, and in its ability to unleash human potential, build personalities, and produce leaders, thinkers, heroes, and mujahideen, but the hypocrites do not know. The Prophet (saw) said, «الإسلامُ يَعْلُو ولا يُعْلى» “Islam surpasses, and is not surpassed.” [Fath al-Bari, Daraqatni]

This distortion of vision is not a mere detailing. It is a fundamental reversal of the equation. The Shariah, the very source of honor and dignity, becomes a burden in their eyes, while personal desires become the standard by which Shariah rulings are measured, and Shariah texts are reinterpreted to serve them. Instead of striving for adherence, one strives to evade. Instead of seeking the Shariah rulings of Allah (swt), one seeks what aligns with one’s desires, weaknesses, and the debilitating resignation to frailty that undermines one’s resolve.

The most dangerous aspect of this approach is that it does not merely commit sin, but seeks to clothe it in artificial legitimacy, thus emptying the Shariah of its content and turning it into a list of exceptions, rather than a way of life. Moreover, this dangerous approach tries to make deviation a school and a method, thereby corrupting the Deen of Muslims. Therefore, these misguided people must be confronted forcefully in order to preserve the Deen and prevent the devastating strife.

Here we recall the words of the Prophet (saw) in describing the strangers whom Allah loves and who embody the true path, where he said, «طوبى للغُرَباءِ» “Blessed are the strangers.” It was asked, “Who are they, O Messenger of Allah?” He (saw) said, «الَّذِينَ يُصْلِحُونَ إِذَا فَسَدَ النَّاسُ» “Those who reform when people become corrupt.” And in another narration, «يُصْلِحُونَ ما أفسَدَه النَّاسُ» “Those who reform what people have corrupted.”

The approach of these corrupt individuals makes the Shariah rukhsah (dispensation), which were legislated to facilitate matters upon a need alone, a permanent default, while neglecting the azaaim (general obligations, singular azeemah), which are the foundation of Shariah obligation. This is assuming their actions fall under the category of taking the dispensation, since in most cases it is not even based on a Shariah dispensation, but rather an evasion of Shariah rulings.

An Ummah that deals with its Shariah Law of the Lord (swt) in this spirit cannot revive; for a revival is not made by whims, nor is it achieved under the banner of lightening commitment, nor by seeking the easiest, nor by broken resolve, nor by appeasing the enemies of Allah (swt). Instead, an Ummah revives when the Shariah Law is restored to its natural place: a source of strength, a motive for action, and a compass that guides and is not replaced. Allah (swt) said,

[وَلَوۡ أَنَّ أَهۡلَ ٱلۡقُرَىٰٓ ءَامَنُواْ وَٱتَّقَوۡاْ لَفَتَحۡنَا عَلَيۡهِم بَرَكَٰتٖ مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَلَٰكِن كَذَّبُواْ فَأَخَذۡنَٰهُم بِمَا كَانُواْ يَكۡسِبُونَ]

“If only the people of the towns had believed and feared Allah, We would have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth; but they denied [the truth], so We seized them for what they used to earn.” [TMQ Surah Al-Aaraf:66].