Recently, we have seen increasingly massive reports about corruption crimes in the mass media. The public responded with anger and anger, because there is still so much corrupt behavior in our country. However, unfortunately, we do not find the same attitude when society responds to sin shirk. This is indeed Satan's success in creating deception among the Muslims. Through this article, we intend to explain and position this corruption problem in accordance with its portions, so that we act with the right attitude and do not exaggerate.
The level of the Sin of Corruption is Lower than the Sin of Shirk
As we have known, the sin of polytheism (great) is the greatest sin in the sight of Allah Ta'ala. The Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, said,
“Shall I not inform you of the greatest of sins?” Three times. They said: Yes, O Messenger of God. He said: “Associating partners with God and being disobedient to parents.”
“Shall I tell you about the greatest mortal sin?” He said this question three times. The companions answered, "Of course, O Messenger of Allah." The Prophet said, "Shirk towards Allah and disobedience to parents..." [1]
Polytheism (shirik akbar) is also one of the nullifiers of Islam (nawaqidhul Islam). Allah Ta'ala says,
Indeed, whoever associates anything with God, God has forbidden to him Paradise, and his abode is Hell, and the wrongdoers will have no helpers.
"Indeed, whoever associates (something with) Allah, then Allah will surely forbid him heaven, and his abode will be hell. There is no helper for the oppressors." (QS. Al-Maidah [5]: 72)
In another verse, Allah Ta'ala affirms that He will not forgive the sin of polytheism if the perpetrator does not repent before dying. Allah Ta'ala says,
Indeed, God does not forgive anyone associating anything with Him, but He forgives anything other than that to whomever He wills. And whoever associates anything with God has certainly invented a great sin.
"Indeed, Allah will not forgive the sin of shirk, and He forgives all sins below that (shirk), for whom He wills. Whoever associates partners with Allah, he has indeed committed a great sin." (QS. An-Nisa' [4]: 48)
Realizing this, the main goal of Satan to tempt and mislead humans is so that humans fall into polytheism because what Satan is looking for is an eternal "friend" in the afterlife, namely in hell. This is impossible to achieve unless it plunges them into polytheism and disbelief which expels the perpetrators from the Islamic religion. [2]
As for other major sins, such as adultery, stealing, and including corruption, their level is still below the sin of shirk, and there is still the possibility that Allah Ta'ala will forgive them in the afterlife, even though the perpetrator has not repented when he dies. So it is really strange when we find a massive campaign against corruption, and make it the main law enforcement program, but we forget (or pretend to forget) about the sin of shirk. To the extent that the sin of corruption is positioned as if it were of a greater level than the sin of shirk. Idolatry is allowed and tolerated, and only corruption is eradicated.
The very sad reality among Muslims, we see how angry they are when they see the sin of corruption being reported. However, whose heart is angry and angry when they see that Allah Ta'ala's rights are violated by shirk? Are we angry when we see the graves of saints being worshipped, when tumpeng rice is used as a fight for its blessings, and paranormals are free to act on television? Unfortunately, instead of being angry, we ourselves are engrossed in watching these programs on television without the slightest feeling of anger. Thus, our anger and hatred when we see shirk may still be far less than our anger when we see news about corruption.
Don't forget, there is something more important than fighting corruption
As terrible as the sin of polytheism is, we find our example, Rasulullah sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam, made the preaching of monotheism and fighting polytheism his top priority in preaching before calling on the other commandments of the Sharia. Rasulullah sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam called to his people,
O people, say there is no god but Allah and you will succeed.
"Oh man, say 'laa ilaaha illallah', surely you will be lucky." [3]
Similarly, in a hadith narrated from 'Amr bin 'Abasah As-Sulami, may God bless him and grant him peace, he said, "When I was in the age of ignorance, I thought that people were in error. They do not own anything, they worship idols. I also heard that there was a man in Mecca who delivered news. So I went there and came to him. At that time, the Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, was hiding from the evil of his people. I walked slowly until I could meet him in Mecca. Then I asked him, 'Who are you?' He said, 'I am a Prophet'. I asked, 'What is the Prophet?' He replied, 'I was sent by God'. I asked again, 'With what were you sent?' So he answered,
He sent me to unite ties of kinship and destroy idols, and to unite God, not associating anything with Him.
"I was sent to connect the bonds of brotherhood, destroy idols, and to unite God and not associate Him with anything." [4]
So it is clear that the preaching of monotheism became his first and foremost priority, may God bless him and grant him peace, in preaching. His heart and mind will not feel calm and peaceful, until only Allah Ta'ala is worshiped on this earth and all polytheism has been successfully eliminated. At the time of Islam's success, news once reached the Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, that there was an idol (Dzul Khalashah) that still existed and was worshiped in the Khats'am region of Yemen and was nicknamed the "Yamanese Kaaba". Hearing the news, the Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and grant him peace, said to Jarir bin Abdillah Al-Bajalyradhiyallahu 'anhu,
Won't you relieve me of this solitude?
"Didn't You relieve me from (the idol) Dzul Khalashah?"
Jarir bin Abdillah Al-Bajaly then went to Yemen with 150 horsemen from the Ahmas clan and succeeded in destroying the idol by burning it. [5]
When commenting on the Prophet's words, "Don't you relieve me...", Ibnu Hajar Al-'Asqalani, may God have mercy on him, said,
What is meant by comfort is comfort of the heart, and nothing was more tiring to the heart of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, than the continuation of what he associated with other than God Almighty.
“What is meant by relief here is relief of the heart. And there is nothing more burdensome on the heart of the Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam than the continued existence of a deity who is worshiped other than Allah Ta'ala." [6]
So how is it possible that we are actually preoccupied with the discourse of war on corruption, while our hearts are not moved or called in the slightest to declare war to eradicate the polytheism that is still rampant in this country? And also not moved to save Muslims from the sin of shirk? So we are really far from the example of the Prophet sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam. And indeed Satan has succeeded in deceiving us.
We do not mean by this description that the sin of corruption is unnecessary or unimportant to eradicate. However, we should place everything according to its respective portion. When we pay great attention to corruption and make every effort to campaign for “anti-corruption” behavior, we must also show much greater attention and effort to combat the sin of shirk. Don't let us be fooled by Satan's schemes and tricks, so that we pay more attention to things that are less urgent, but forget about problems that are more urgent and more urgent to be resolved. When Satan makes shirk the main goal of his "preaching", then we must fight this by making monotheism and eradicating shirk the main goal of our da'wah.
Responding to Corruptors, Between Love and Hate
The next misconception is how we respond to perpetrators of corruption. We find that some of our brothers also respond disproportionately to perpetrators of corruption. When he saw his Muslim brother committing a criminal act of corruption, he hated him so much, with hatred as high as the sky, that it seemed as if there was no goodness at all in his Muslim brother, even though he was still a believer (still Muslim). The feeling of love for his brother seemed to have disappeared and nothing remained. And instead of praying for his brother with guidance and goodness, he instead makes fun of him and humiliates him, for example by making "memes" on social media, and so on.
On the other hand, when there is a non-Muslim leader or official who is (imaged) as clean from corruption, he is praised and praised to the heavens, to the point of being willing to give him love and loyalty (wala'). He gave love and loyalty to these non-Muslims, just because they were (considered) free from corruption. To the extent that the slogan emerged that non-Muslim leaders who are free from corruption are better than Muslim leaders who are corrupt (??).
In fact, no matter how noble non-Muslims are with their morals and behavior in the world, Allah Ta'ala has confirmed that they are the ugliest creatures on this earth. Have we forgotten (??) the words of Allah Ta'ala,
Indeed, those who disbelieve from the People of the Book and the polytheists will be in the fire of Hell to abide therein. These are the worst of creation.
"Indeed, the disbelievers, namely the people of the book and the polytheists, (will enter) hell. They remain in it. They are the worst of creatures." (QS. Al-Bayyinah [98]: 6)
They are the worst creatures because they have no morals at all towards Allah Ta'ala, even though they appear to have noble morals before humans. And in the afterlife, it will not be able to save him from the torment of hell.
Non-Muslims, whether infidels or polytheists, cannot be loved at all and must be hated. We cannot give loyalty (wala') to them. Allah Ta'ala says,
You will see many of them as allies of those who disbelieve. Indeed, wretched is what their souls have presented to them. Indeed, God is displeased with them, and in torment they will abide forever.
"You see most of them helping each other with the disbelievers (polytheists). It is very bad what they have prepared for themselves, which is God's wrath against them, and they will be eternally tormented." (QS. Al-Maidah [5]: 80)
Allah also forbids us to make non-Muslims leaders, without providing any exceptions, for example "unless they are free from corruption". Allah Ta'ala makes no exceptions at all. Allah Ta'ala says,
O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and Christians as allies of one another. And whoever of you takes friends with them is of them. Indeed, God does not guide the force. The wrongdoers
"O you who believe, do not take Jews and Christians as (your) leaders. Some of them are leaders for others. Whoever among you takes them as leaders, then indeed that person is among them. Indeed, Allah does not guide the wrongdoers." (QS. Al-Maidah [5]: 51)
As for Muslim people (officials) who commit immoralities and major sins that are below the level of polytheism, such as the sin of corruption, then we must not hate them absolutely or hate them 100%. The truth is, we love them because of their faith, but we hate them for the immoral acts (corruption) they commit. So that a feeling of love and hatred for them accumulates within us. We must not just hate them, and not love them at all, even detach ourselves from them. This kind of attitude is excessive and disproportionate. [7]
That is the discussion about how we respond to the sin of corruption and its perpetrators appropriately and proportionally. Hopefully it is useful for Muslims.
***
Finished arranging Sunday afternoon before sunset, Masjid Nasuha Rotterdam NL, 10 Jumadil Ula 1436
Who always needs the mercy and forgiveness of his Lord,
Author: M. Saifudin Hakim
Footnote:
[1] HR. Bukhari no. 2654 and Muslim no. 269.
[2] Please read our article again about "The Main Goal of Satan's Da'wah" at:
[3] HR. Ahmad no. 16066. Shaykh Syu'aib Arnauth in his ta'liq against Imam Ahmad's Musnad (3/492) states that the status of this hadith is sahih li ghairihi.
[4] H.R. Muslim no. 1967, the hadith above is a fragment of a long hadith.
[5] HR. Bukhari no. 3076 and Muslim no. 6521.
[6] Fathul Baari, 12/165 (Syamilah School).
[7] Please read our previous article about al-wala' wal bara' at:
Article Muslim.Or.Id