Jordan’s Ruling Crisis & National Dialogue
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Jordan’s Ruling Crisis & National Dialogue
Political parties and forces in Jordan have always resorted to calling for “national dialogue” to tackle public issues and settle their tussles with the ruling authorities, which often tend to fabricate crises and stifle the masses in their livelihood and legitimate freedoms to attract predetermined reactions and demands in the shape of partial and token solutions which absorb the resentment of the masses without touching on the essence of the problem. Soon after, crises and problems tend to proliferate while the opposition forces get caught in a vicious circle until the masses lose hope in generating change, get tamed and succumb to reality. This reality is intensely reflected in the “national” dialogue that took place in Algeria, Libya, and Yemen, which resulted in recycling the crises and the remnants of the collaborating regimes. It is also reflected in the call of the Jordanian Senate’s President, Faysal al-Fayez, for a national dialogue two weeks ago, which he then reduced, before it even started, to the need to amend the election law. Al-Fayez claimed it was a personal rather than an official initiative, which means the step he undertook was exploratory with the aim of paving the way for an official consumerist dialogue which would abort the grumbling of the masses and the “national” opposition forces, knowing that Faysal al-Fayez was once quoted as saying that the Jordanian people were no qualified to lead themselves.
During his meeting with representatives of political parties and forces, Faysal al-Fayez assumed the role of the opposition by criticising the performance of the regime in order to lure them into the trap of the forthcoming “national dialogue”, which is devoid of any substance, and to trick them into believing that the regime was serious about reform.
It is true that the call of al-Fayez was met with suspicion and misgivings by the political parties and forces, but the vision put forward by those forces did not deviate from the conventional frameworks contradicting society’s doctrine, despite their attempts to curtail the role of the king and snatch all his competencies, not to mention the fact that their mere acceptance of attending the dialogue has given the regime what it has wanted to bide time and feign reform amidst the societal tension, the fabricated issue of prince Hamza with his brother the king, and the exigencies of the political process pertinent to the “Palestinian issue”.
Against the backdrop of the regime’s juggling with society and its persistence to transgress, and the futile conventional vision of Jordanian political parties and forces, it is imperative to elucidate the following:
First: most of the masses in Jordan are Muslims; and a Muslim has no choice but to refer his life’s affairs to the Shari'ah of his Lord. Allah says: “Now whenever Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, it is not for a believing man or a believing woman to claim freedom of choice insofar as they themselves are concerned: for he who rebels against Allah and His Messenger has already, most obviously, gone astray.” [al-Ahzab-36]; He also says: “But no, by your Lord! They do not believe unless they make you a judge of all on which they disagree among themselves, and then find in their hearts no bar to an acceptance of your decision and give themselves up in utter self-surrender.” [an-Nisa-65]
Hence, if the activists and politicians built their political vision on other than the Aqeedah of the masses, such a vision would not be expressive of the masses’ volition. This would rather place the preachers of change in the category of ghoulish regimes oppressing the masses and fighting their doctrines. Those political forces need not bother burdening themselves with the dialogue since the upshots of a dialogue not based on the masses’ viewpoint towards life and towards the interests would be worthless, especially as the ruling crisis could only be defused and the rift could only be healed if the viewpoints of society and its political and material forces towards governance are unified; and the viewpoints of society and its political and material forces could only be unified in a productive and permanent manner if they emanated from the Aqeedah of the Ummah. Moreover, the “national” opposition forces’ call for constitutional reforms in the context of America’s endeavour to restructure the Jordanian regime to suit the requirements of liquidating the issue of Palestine, has added insult to injury and would never lead to the masses regaining the reins of power as the opposition imagines.
Second: Any vision devoid of sovereignty to Shari'ah and authority to the Ummah, as well as appointing one single ruler to govern people’s affairs and adopt the laws on the grounds of Shari'ah, regulating the comportment and decisions of the ruler through accountability and the awareness of society and the Mathalim Court, would only lead to consolidating reality, embedding Kufr and corruption, and consolidating the intellectual and political affiliation to the West, because the point at issue is the corruption of the system and not just the rulers, and because the change on the basis of other than Islam means reproducing the system, corruption, and failure.
It would be wrong to say that granting the ruler autonomous power is tyrannical, as may claim, because the ruler in Islam does not rule with his whims and desires, but rather with an opinion emanating from Shari'ah, which is devoid of any tyranny, and because granting the ruler autonomous disposal to adopt opinions and manage people’s affairs is the Shari'ah duty based on Shari'ah evidence, and it is forbidden to deal with such an issue through experiments and reactions, even if it were badly implemented. It would also be wrong to say this because leadership in reality and in practice, even in the democratic systems the opposition is preaching and of which we do not approve, is unilateral and not collective.
Third: what the forces of the dynamism, the parties, and the politicians have proposed is based on secularism and liberal democracy which have nothing to do with Islam, the religion of the majority in Jordan. In fact, their proposal was devoid of any mention of the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet, and was based on the legal and constitutional principles derived from Western systems, as if having the Qur’an and the Sunnah as a reference point were a political crime or an insult that needs to be averted or to distance oneself from.
What is heart-breaking and earthshattering is the fact that certain activists and political forces present themselves and their vision as being Islamic, or allegedly conformant to Islam. Hence, we remind them of what Allah says: “Is it a judgment of the time of (pagan) ignorance that they are seeking? Who is better than Allah for judgment to a people who have certainty (in their belief)?” [al-Maida-50]; “Not even a word can he utter but there is a watcher with him, ever-present.” [Qaf-18]. We also remind them of the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in which he said: "He who believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak good or remain silent". They ought to know that they are Muslim politicians and not secularist politicians, or so they should be, and they should not practise politics like the politicians who are separated from the Aqeedah of their masses; this is because the solution required should be exclusively the Shari'ah solution and not just any solution. They ought to know that he who turns away from remembering Allah “his shall be a life of narrow scope” [Taha-124], and that the masses will not rally around him since he does not express their volition nor their Aqeedah; and this is what the regime perceives perfectly and banks on.
Those who wish to offer advice, generate change, attract the masses, and work towards the Ummah’s revival, let them fear Allah who says: “and those who go against his order should beware lest a trial afflict them or they receive a painful punishment” [an-Nour-63]
As for the king and his cronies in the ruling institutions, let them take heed from their predecessors, and let them find an answer to the saying of Allah: “And whoever rules by other than what Allah has revealed, those are the disbelievers.” [al-Maida-44], and they should be wary of the colonialist capitalist West headed by America who does not take anything into account but her interests, and who offered her most loyal agents, Zein El-Abideen bin Ali, Hosni Mubarak, and Gaddafi, as sacrificial lambs for her Greater Middle East Initiative (GMEI). There is no doubt America and the entire West will not help the king, nor will his army, cronies, and security services, behind whom he bulwarks himself against the masses, be able to help him; America will sooner or later make him and his men a scapegoat to liquidate the Palestinian issue and restructure the regime to absorb all the constituents of society, vent its resentment and extinguish its anger. There is no refuge and escape from Allah or His enemies except to Him, and there is no way for the authority to settle unless it is based on the people and their Aqeedah.
We also remind the people of Jordan that the previous upshots of the charters and national dialogues that contradicted the requirements of religion and Iman, and which we strongly reject, are the cause of the wretched situation Jordan is experiencing today, and whose flames are burning the masses who are evoking the wrath of Allah by keeping silent over it. it is forbidden to accept what is dictated to them by the rulers and the opposition if it were not Shari'ah and religion; they have no choice and no salvation but by implementing the Shari'ah of Allah amongst, because it is the Shari'ah duty and the salvation in this life and the hereafter.
“O you who believe, respond to Allah and the Messenger whenever he calls you unto that which gives you life; and know that Allah intervenes between man and his heart, and that unto Him you shall be gathered.” [al-Anfal-24]
Hizb ut-Tahrir 18 Shawwal 1442h
Wilaya of Jordan 30 May 2021
hizbuttahrir.org