Going Out Against the Ruler

Any government that has the authority is considered valid. It is prohibited to go out against the government: revolution is actually prohibited in Islam in the Sunni tradition, though not in the Shia tradition. They do have a difference, and that is an important distinction. The Shia tradition believes that they have a right to fight and oppose an unjust government, whereas the Sunni tradition says that the people should be patient and ask God to change the conditions, and rectify themselves, but that they should not actually physically bear arms, because that would lead to a greater tribulation than the actual injustice, which is bloodshed amongst people. So in the Sunni tradition, something like what is happening in Algeria, for instance, is prohibited by Islamic law. That is the classical Islamic view, and the group that goes out are called the Khawārij, which are the seceders. One can find them historically; there have always been groups that have said that. But the traditional Sunni position is that one cannot go against the ruler. The ideal, absolutely, is a government implementing the Qurʾān; but even if they are not implementing the Qurʾān, so long as they do not openly say that they do not believe in it, they are still considered the legitimate government.

That is the whole point of zakāt: it is to help the poor people. It is a right of the poor people. It is interesting, because the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: take the zakāt from your wealthy and return it to the poor people. So it is almost as if people get rich off poor people, because the vast majority of the world's population is poor. That is forgotten. We really do have a very high living standard, but the vast majority of the world's population are poor people; and the wealth — even America's wealth — is largely dependent on a lot of wealth from other countries.