Woke Muslims and Islamists have got it wrong; we should be anti-Statist

There are several reasons why the increasing number of “woke” Muslims is a disturbing trend. Many of these reasons are obvious, and have been articulated by plenty of knowledgeable people already. So let me address an aspect of this movement that has gotten less attention; namely, the political ramifications of the Social Justice ‘revolution’.

Regardless of the particular niche of the SJW creed we are talking about; whether racism, income inequality, gender identity and LGBT issues, or 3rd Wave Feminism; all end up in calls for greater government involvement in the lives of private citizens. All call for the government to regulate, essentially, the personal decision-making, beliefs, and behaviour of individuals. Speech should be both censored and compelled, the state should establish and enforce a particular kind of morality as defined by the ‘thought leaders’ of the movement. There is no way to avoid the fact that the SJWs are pursuing bigger and more intrusive government; they are advocating a paternalistic state.

For some of us, this sounds a lot like Khilafah — an authoritarian religious government enforcing the morals of Islam through laws and other types of coercive force; except, of course, the belief system they want enforced is not Islam, and the morals are not Islamic morals.

I would argue that we should oppose, not only the SJW movement, but the movement for Khilafah as well, because we know — if we know hadith — that we are not living in the phase of history in which we can expect genuinely moral government; Islamic or otherwise. We should oppose any effort to increase the power of the state, because the state in this era will inevitably be oppressive. This is so, whether that state calls itself an Islamic Khilafah or ‘Woke”. If we believe our Prophet and his description of Mulk Jabryy, and if we wish to live as much as possible according to the morals and principles of Islam, we should be, if anything, anti-statist, and firm advocates of personal freedom.

I do not know how political Islamists can be so committed to avoiding the single most political hadith we have on the subject of government; the hadith which explains the phases of rule under which the Muslims will live until the advent of the Mahdi; but their commitment is rigid. There will be no Khilafah ala Minhaj Nabuwwa until Muhammad ibn Abdullah emerges to fill the earth with justice, and this will occur at a point when the earth is overwhelmed with injustice. It requires embarrassing mental gymnastics to deny this fact. The implications are clear: greater state power equals greater injustice and oppression. Anyone — whether Islamist or SJW — who seeks a more just society by means of an expansion of state control over individuals, is either deluded or devious, and in either case, they are dangerous.