Egypt and The Dar Al-‘Adl

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“Irhal!” so the text said, printed on the banner which stood out among the crowd of thousands of human beings who packed the Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. The meaning is “Go!” or “Depart!”. Yes, Mubarak is just one of the rulers who is unlucky because of having to end his regime in a not-so-good way, but through the insistence of hatred. In a hadith of Rasul, it was said that the worst leader is he who hates you and you also hate him.

The incidents of the past two weeks, dubbed by the media as the “Egypt Revolution”, put a question mark on our minds: How should the people and the rulers who are in dispute be positioned in the perspective of Islam? Should any unjust ruler be protested by the masses in their millions to urge him to resign? Is there a bridge between the people who are oppressed and the rulers who are tyrannical?

In the past, Egypt was actually a historical artefact which can answer it. Long after the era of Fir’aun, there was the popular story about a Sahabah of Rasul SAW, ‘Amr bin Ash who was appointed to serve as a waliyul amr (governor) in the country of Misr (the original name of Egypt, unlike the title now, which is rooted from the word Qibty, the name of a Christian sect in Misr). A Jew then complained to Khalifah Umar bin Khathab in the capital i.e. Madinah, about the unthoughtfulness of the wali when his cabin house was going to be flattened.

The Khalifah immediately responded to the complaint by sending bin Ash a bone which was streaked with the blade of a sword. A warning! Whereas, bin Ash is a great Sahabah, beside being a companion in arms of Umar. But that is justice. In a hadith which is the riwaayah of Abu Dawud, Rasulullah SAW said, “two parties that are in dispute must be seated before the judge.” Meaning, equality before the law.

Be it the rulers or the people, they must be seated together before the law without any favouritism on any one of them. Like what happened in the hearing of Ali bin Abi Thalib against a Jew who took his armor. The judge who was a Muslim rather pronounced the Jew a winner as Ali did not have any strong evidence that the battle outfit was his. Whereas, Ali at that time was a Khalifah, and everyone knew him as one of the closest Sahabahs of Rasulullah SAW.

Therefore, a disputes between the common people and the ruler, when the ruler is violating the people's rights, requires a judge or the judicature which lowers the position of the ruler down to the level of the common people. In the Islamic system of governance, the judicial institution that handles the disputes between the people and the rulers is called Mahkamah Madzalim. The judge is called Qadhi Madzalim.

The court is charged with the investigation if there is any violation of the Shari'ah law, violation of the rights of the people or tyranny against the people, committed by the rulers. It is entitled to prosecute the ruler, even to the extent of deposing the ruler. So there is no need to mobilize the masses in cornucopia to the streets, let alone turning to bloodshed among Muslims. The Mahkamah Madzalim is a bridge between the people who are oppressed and the rulers who are oppressive.

At the time of the sultans in Egypt, the Mahkamah Madzalim is named as Dar Al-‘Adl, which literally means “The House of Justice.” In it, sat the representatives of the sultan, as well as the qadhis (judges) and fuqahas (legal experts). Al-Muqrizi in the book “As-Suluk ila Ma’rifah Duwal Al-Muluk” mentioned that Sultan Malik as-Salih Ayyub appointed some representatives in the Dar Al-‘Adl to eradicate tyranny.

Today, the people have no place to complain of injustices. The Representative Institutions that should represent the people instead becomes a part of the injustices. There is no place for the unemployed to complain, and the children whose rights for education are neglected, the poor of the outskirts whose rights are retained and flowed into the coffers of the handful of aristocrats and “the likes of Gayus”. There is no House of Justice for them, a place where they can stand as tall as their rulers.

Therefore, the street is the only one that will listen to their complaints. Will the streets provide them justice? []

Balikpapan, 6 February 2011

Original author:

Reza Ageung S. (Student of STIS Hidayatullah, Balikpapan)

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