It is time to move the debate of voting to the more serious issues affecting our own community, and the wider community. We should value those who have kept their heads down and worked hard for the community. They are the ones who have built numerous Mosques, community centres, help the poor and needy Muslims abroad, and built good relations with the non-Muslims to the extent that they were able to contribute towards the 2 million to march against the war. Yes, I know it did not stop the war, but none of the HT marches or demos did not achieve anything either! There is no instant solution anywhere.
(Yusuf) Achieving something is dependent on the objective sought, don’t you think? Therefore blanket statements like these can be perceived to be an ad hominem attack rather than an argument to be discussed.
(Yamin) My statement and reasoning are valid – thus you are not able to address the above points.
(Yusuf) Your claim that all our activities such as the demos are useless or they don’t achieve anything, I was saying the success or failure of an activity is based upon the objective sought. If you are aware of that you can make a judgement if you’re not, you can’t possibly make such a blanket statement.
If you say the choice is between participation and standing on the sidelines I do not agree.
Even if you do believe voting is an acceptable action according to the hukm shar’I, voting as a means to make an effective change, in terms of the protection of the interests of the Muslims, is overrated. There are a lot more actions that Muslims can and should do that have a greater impact, a few examples of this are:
- Becoming a school governor and having a direct say in immoral initiatives in our state schools.
- Writing letters to national newspapers to inform public opinion.
- Making complaints to Ofcom/ASA based upon media/advertising output.
- Interaction with non-Muslims to counteract the portrayal of Muslims.
- Da’wah initiatives to prepare Muslims to engage with non-Muslims.
- Awarness raising projects to get Muslims to think about how to practically protect our identity.
- Getting involved in our masaajid to secure and develop their effectiveness.
- Demonstrations to raise awareness about issues.
This is not an exhaustive list, but some of the actions I have been involved in and seen done by other individuals/groups. Voting is the easy option, but many others require a lot more time and are more longer term ventures which have much more of an impact.
You said if you do not vote you are still contributing to the election result – If someone believes its is haram, this does not matter. If I believe that sitting at a table where alcohol is being served is not allowed, I will not do it even if it leads to problems at work. You are pronouncing a judgment on the results of non-participation rather than the hukm Shar’I, this is my problem with this entire discourse.
(Yamin) Most of what you state involves demonstrating, writing, discussion – but they are of no use unless this materializes in protecting us against unfavorable legislation and introduce laws to protect our rights and interests here. This is what it ultimately comes down to. Remember you will be going to the non-Islamic courts in the UK to protect your rights so you need to ensure they are not being eroded.
As for the last point about contributing to the election made me laugh, not just you fail to understand the point but your irrelevant and silly analogy of alcohol. I was making the point to your members that if they do not vote it is still a form of voting as it contributes to the result. So maybe you mean pro-active voting is haram but not passive voting! Maybe you can clarify this.