Can We Protest?

It’s no surprise that the topic of protesting is a major issue in our times. Muslims everywhere are eager to make a difference and help correct the wrongs of our geopolitical world with their voices since they cannot do so with their hands. As you can imagine, emotions often run high when the topic is raised.

In the West, protesting has a storied history and has been a tool of anti-establishment groups since the beginning. Islamically speaking, however, the concept of protesting has some nuance to it.

Let’s unpack this, first, before getting into the commentary.

The Asl

This section and it’s subsections are excerpted and adjusted from a sermon by Shaykh Zubair Marjalvi titled, Protesting—Islamic Manners Related To It, which was translated and summarized by Tahir Munir, student in the Faculty of Hadith in the Islamic University of Lahore.

The asl (default / reality) of protesting, as a concept, is that it’s permissible in Islam, but is subject to strict terms and conditions.

Shaykh Zubair Marjalvi said: Protesting (إحتجاج) is to display one’s disapproval or objection to something, as is found in the narration of Zayd bin Thabit (radhiAllah anhu):

The people would protest (i.e. express their objection) regarding the defects they found  in their purchases. Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said to them as an advice, "Do not sell the fruits before their benefit is evident."

—Sahih al-Bukhari 2193

The Proofs

Some proofs regarding the permissibility of protesting from the religion include:

"Allah does not like the public mention of evil except by one who has been wronged. And ever is Allah Hearing and Knowing."

—Qur’an (an-Nisa) 4:148

Of this ayah, Ustadh Tahir Munir said that it "is an absolute proof for protesting against any form of oppression."

Abu Hurairah (radhiAllah anhu) said, "A man came to the Prophet ﷺ complaining against his neighbor. He ﷺ said, ‘Go and have patience.’ He again came to him twice or thrice. He ﷺ then said, ‘Go and throw your property in the way.’

So [the man] threw his property in the way and the people began to ask him and he would tell them about [his neighbor]. The people then began to curse him; may Allah do with him so and so! Then his neighbor came to him and said, ‘Return, you will not see from me anything which you dislike.’"

—Sunan Abu Dawud 5153

Ustadh Munir’s comments on this hadith note:

The Prophet himself commanded this Sahabi to protest so that his neighbor stops depriving him of his right. If protesting was haram, the Prophet wouldn’t have commanded him to throw his property in a public place to demand his right and make people attentive to it, and the Sahabah who witnessed this would’ve objected to it, and the neighbor who deprived the oppressed from his right would’ve also objected—but none of them objected!

This refutes those who say that protesting is a practice introduced in Islam by the Jews and the West.

The Conditions

As mentioned before, however, there are strict terms and conditions attached to protesting, and if any one of them are broken (except in exceptional circumstances involving necessities), then protesting will become impermissible. This applies in both individual or group settings, as we have been prohibited from engaging in that which is impermissible.

The conditions of Islamic protesting are, in summary:

1. No violence should occur; the protest should be peaceful.¹

2. No ill-speech should be uttered; only good words must be spoken by those protesting.²

3. No corruption or haram behavior should take place (such as music, free-mixing, dancing, etc). The protestors must adhere to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger in all situations.³

4. No misinterpretation or subjection of Islam and the Muslims to defamation must happen. The protests must portray an accurate representation of Islam and the Muslims.⁴

5. No roads must be blocked or disrupted; protestors must allow traffic to flow. They must allow business and shopowners to carry out their business. They must not, in any way, shape or form, cause harm to any innocent person.^{5, 6}

6. No camps, stations or halting means and places [such as containers] should be set or placed on the roads or paths. The protestors must leave the roads as they were before the protest.⁷

7. No rebelling, revolt, aggression, revolution or riot must happen during or after the protest. The protestors need to be taught to behave like Muslims whom Allah is pleased with, and to not imitate the Khawarij and misguided sects.⁸

8. No panic, violence, chaos, confusion, turmoil, anarchy, torture, vandalism and terrorism should be spread. The protestors should demand their rights, not deprive others of it!^{9, 10, 11, 12}

9. No weapons should be raised and pointed and openly paraded; any weapons must be concealed.^{13, 14, 15}

10. No person, whether a protestor or non-protestor, must have his honor and respect violated. Every Muslim must be honored.^{16, 17}

11. No one’s property must be illegally occupied. The protestors must mind their own business.¹⁸

12. No one should be killed unjustly. Every means to stop fighting and killing must be taken and implemented.^{19, 20, 21}

The Reality on the Ground

Western culture, from its core and fundamentals, cannot adhere to such conditions, including:

• no gender mixing
  • this would seperate between the genders, which violates the modern belief of equality between the genders
  • separating between genders also means that the two are not the same, something the modern world has done its best to force people to believe is a figment of their imagination
• hijab of both sexes enforced (especially as the weather warms up)
  • most, if not all, the men at these protests do NOT cover their awrah properly, and do NOT wear their pants above their ankles
  • though most women are not even wearing a headscarf (which is not the meaning of hijab to begin with), of those who are, the vast majority (if not all) do not wear full, proper hijab
  • to enforce any hijab on any individual (male or female) would violate the modern belief of independence and the idea that each individual has a right to wear whatever they like, as long as the barely-there obscenity laws are not violated
• no music
  • most / all protests will include music, whether recorded or live; this includes impromptu "drum circles," concerts, DJ situations, and participants or organizers blasting music through devices and speakers
  • music is often used as a "motivator" to pump up the crowd and keep people from being bored
  • modern society has been carefully inculcated into an addiction of music; many people cannot fathom going without it for even a handful of hours and collective attention spans also suffer as a result

And this doesn’t even scratch the surface, I was just spitballing off the top of my head. We could sit here for quite some time if we started to list every impermissible thing that commonly takes place at modern protests.

Safety

Also important to consider is the fact that no one can deny that safety is a huge issue in these environments. Assault, looting, and the inevitable appearance of "anti-protestor groups" makes violence almost inevitable.

Not only that, but subhanallah, if it isn’t the participants, it’s the Peacekeepers^TM themselves!

In immediately viral videos of the police crackdowns at Emory University, police can be seen violently throwing peaceful protestors to the ground, forcefully shoving their heads and faces into the ground while the victims are not in any way resisting, squeezing necks, grappling at throats, and even tasing them! Atlanta’s Finest at work!

In clips from other university campuses, police can be seen in full riot gear making their presence "known" to, again, completely peaceful protestors who had every right to be in the space their tuition dollars were paying for. Harrassing them, detaining them, arresting many and holding them in jail cells with their hands zip-tied behind their backs for 6 hours (as reported by The Grayzone), and other than that.

Allahul musta’an.

It’s impossible for anyone to argue that this is a unique case, either, because…

Don’t Forget Your Friendly Neighborhood Feds!

Of course.

Protests and incidents of civil unrest are basically a convention center for Federal agents. Consider the below transcript of the January 11, 2022 Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, in which Senator Ted Cruz questions Jill Sanborn, the Executive Assistant Director of the National Security Branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI):

Ted Cruz (TC): How many FBI agents, or Confidential Informants, actively participated in the events of January 6^th?

Jill Sanborn (JS): Sir, I’m sure you can appreciate that I can’t go into the specifics of sources and methods, uh—

TC: Did any FBI agents, or Confidential Informants, actively participate in the events of January 6^th, yes or no?

JS: Sir, I can’t—I can’t answer that.

TC: Did any FBI agents, or Confidential Informants, commit crimes of violence on January 6^th?

JS: I can’t answer that, sir.

TC: Did any FBI agents, or FBI Informants, actively encourage and incite crimes of violence on January 6^th?

JS: Sir, I can’t answer that.

TC: Ms. Sandborn, who is Ray Epps?

JS: I’m aware of the individual, sir, uh, I don’t have the specific background to him.

TC: Well, there are a lot of people who are understandably concerned about Mr. Epps. [here, Senator Cruz starts to cycle through video stills of Mr. Epps with captions] On the night of January 5^th 2021, Epps wandered around the crowd that had gathered, and there’s video out there of him chanting, ‘tomorrow, we need to get into the Capitol, into the Capitol!’ This was strange behavior—so strange, that the crowd began chanting, ‘FED! FED! FED! FED! FED! FED!’ Ms. Sandborn, was Ray Epps a Fed?

JS: Sir, I cannot answer that question.

TC: The next day—the next day, on January 6^th, Mr. Epps is seen whispering to a person and 5 seconds later—5 seconds after he’s whispering to a person, that same person begins to forcibly tear down the barricades. Did Mr. Epps urge them to tear down the barricades?

JS: Sir, similar to the other answers, I cannot answer that.

The exchange goes on for about another minute and half, and by the end of it, Sandborn has still refused to answer the question. It is an incredibly revealing bit of questioning and should give every single person pause. The entire thing is less than 4 minutes long, I do encourage everyone to watch it.

Make no mistake:

• if you are Muslim, the Feds have a file on you
• if you are a dissident of any kind, the Feds have a file on you
• if you disagree with the status quo, no matter how peacfully or unobtrusively, the Feds have a file on you

These people are extremely nefarious, without a moral compass, and would much rather manufacture crimes and criminals than catch real ones. Don’t be a useful idiot.

Conclusion

The Answer

So what does all this mean?

Protesting, as it’s understood today, is NOT permissible in Islam!

The asl of protesting as we know it, completely violates the abovementioned restrictions and wholly operates outside of an Islamically acceptable paradigm.

My Challenges

I challenge any reader to show me a single protest in which the Islamic boundaries are upheld.

We had several sisters in our subreddit ask about (and share their experiences with) attending protests while pregnant. Subhanallah. I challenge any husband who fears Allah to admit they are fine with their womenfolk being surrounded by so much fitnah and fassad. I challenge them to admit they’re fine with their wives being pushed up against and surrounded by men in skinny jeans or less than that, rubbing shoulders with nonMahrems. Let them admit they are fine with their wives being manhandled and tossed to the ground by cops in riot gear, having their necks crushed and their faces shoved into the dirt.

My Sympathies

The situation of the world is dire, I sympathize with it greatly. The images are horrendous and the videos are heartbreaking. But the solution is not to do that which is displeasing and disobedient to Allah. Rather, we should turn to Him and increase in piety, sincere worship, tawbah and istighfar, praying qiyam ul-layl and qunoot. Victory comes from Allah alone.

"So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be superior (in victory) if you are indeed (true) believers.

If a wound (and killing) has touched you, be sure a similar wound (and killing) has touched the others. And so are the days (good and not so good), We give to men by turns, that Allah may test those who believe, and that He may take martyrs from among you. And Allah likes not the Zaalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers).

And that Allâh may test (or purify) the believers (from sins) and destroy the disbelievers.

Do you think that you will enter Paradise before Allah tests those of you who fought (in His Cause) and (also) tests those who are As-Sabirun (the patient)?

You did indeed wish for death (ash-Shahadah—martyrdom) before you met it. Now you have seen it openly with your own eyes.

—Qur’an (Ali ‘Imran) 3: 139-143

May Allah accept the believers who have died under oppression all over the world as martyrs and raise them in rank. May He grant the families and the Ummah patience in that trial. Ameen.

Solutions

So then, what can we do?

The most effective strategies, and what really works, are two-fold.

Speak Out

Destroying the narrative is a key element that has the elites panicking (they’ve said this quiet part out loud a few times already).²²

So use whatever platform is available to you, whether that is talking amongst your family and friends, at work, or on social media. Do not be intimidated into silence, no matter how many "community strikes" you get or how often your commenting ability is turned off (unless your actual safety is at risk; each of us knows our situation best, after Allah).

Economic Consequences

It’s always the economic hurt that works in the end, however, because modern society (and these psychopath elites who are bereft of a moral compass) worship nothing more than money and power.

Some practical implementations of economic consequences include:

• avoid companies that support genocidal regimes, and encourage your family and friends to do the same
• call for domestic organizations and institutions (including companies and universities) to divest completely from genocidal regimes
• write to your congressperson and government officials at all levels, let it be known that we, the people, do not accept genocidal regimes as bedfellows
• physically relocate yourself and your family to a country that doesn’t use your tax money to support genocidal regimes

A lot of people talk about the University protests and how much good they’re doing, but are they, actually? There have been few (if any) results so far, mostly just placating and paltry gestures. But imagine how much more impact might be had bi’idhnillah, if, for example, all current and prospective students were to…

• rescind their admissions
• refuse to attend
• refused to pay tuition fees
• wrote in to the board, making it clear why these actions were taken

Let’s go a step further: imagine if all employers with a conscience:

• gave preference to candidates with morals
• refused to hire students who graduated from universities that haven’t divested from genocidal regimes
• refused to partner for internships and new-job placements with morally bankrupt universities
• refused to donate a penny to any institute which didn’t divest from genocidal regimes

In Closing

I urge the Muslims to keep their eyes on the prize (Jannah) and not get wrapped up in emotional arguments or become (even inadvertently) useful tools for those who don’t want good for them.

May Allah forgive me for any mistake I made in this article, may He correct me and guide me and you (dear Reader) to the Haqq. Ameen.

Footnotes & References