by Salih Yucel
History testifies
that all great Muslim leaders and scholars had a simple lifestyle of the ordinary
citizen. Some lived a life of poverty. Almost all Muslims agree that Umar ibn Abdu’l Aziz
(682-720), Tariq ibn Ziyad (670-720), Nureddin Zangi (1118-1174), Saladin
Ayyubi (1133-1197), all Ottoman Sultans from Osman Ghazi (d.1324) to Yavuz
Sultan Salim (1470-1520) had a very
simple life. They did not leave almost any inheritance similar to Four Rightly
Guided Caliphs. Not just these leaders but also their top administrators
followed their footsteps as well. Umar ibn Abdul
Aziz after consulting with the great scholars of the time forbade trade and business for Muslim public servants including governors, military commanders, judges
and their children. Later, this became this became part of Islamic law.
Some may
argue Ottoman Sultans lived in Topkapi Palace. Yes, but compare with palaces in Europe at that period, Topkapi Palace
was much simpler in style from its establishment,
and most of the palace was built after Yavuz Sultan Salim. In contrary
to the Muslim leaders, while the European leaders were living
in palaces during the Darkages; there
were conflicts, civil wars, and poverty throughout
their countries.
When
Islamic leaders preferred a simple life, Muslims lived in peace and prosperity.
Islamic countries became a role model in all aspects of life for the rest
of the world. In contrary, when the leaders began living separately in luxurious palaces, then they neglected
the people that they were meant to serve, and as
a result, most of the population suffered for various reasons.
Today
almost all Muslim leaders live in a palace,
and none of the Muslim countries is developed.
In most of Muslim-majority dominant countries,
there is no peace and economic prosperity. Again, most of the contemporary Muslim
leaders or their children contrary to Islamic law, do business and
trade.
Is there
any correlation between peace, economic prosperity, development of a country
and leaders who live in palaces? According to Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) who is
considered father of sociology and history sciences by the Western scholars, there
is a relation. In the developed countries almost none of presidents or prime
ministers have a luxurious lifestyle, but
in undeveloped or developing countries,
most of the rulers live in palaces. It
looks that the leaders of developed countries follow Islam’s principle of the ruling, but Muslim leaders follow a non-Islamic
principle.
One of the great scholars of our time uses “mabda-muntaha” for above
mentioned great Muslim leaders. It means that the day when a human comes into
this world has nothing and dies without taking anything. In a similar way, the
day these leaders took position or office and the day left or died financially were same. By applying this, the leader becomes public servant as mentioned in
the saying of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) “the master of the
people is the one who serves them.” Under public servant leadreship, Islam
flurished, peace established and countries developed.
In the Islamic
history, the leaders who lived in palaces
are forgotten, but those who lived as an
ordinary citizen are remembered and honoured.
Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) states that “There are
two groups in my ummah: the scholars and the rulers. If they are upright, the
people will be upright; if they are corrupt, the people will be corrupt (Kenzu’l-ummal
).” It is a Turkish proverb. The fish always
stinks from the head downwards. For overcoming crises, Muslim countries are in need
of leaders like Umar ibn Abdul Aziz and Saladin
who lived simply and did not leave any inheritance but only a little money which
was sufficient for their funeral service.
