To Vote or Not to Vote?

As we approach the federal elections here in Canada, this is a question that is seldom asked. It’s usually not a question of whether we should vote or not, but who we should be voting for. In fact, those who oppose Muslim participation in the elections are often shunned and labeled as extremists. But have we really given this issue deep thought? I find that most of us have not, and instead easily jump onto the bandwagon of calls to participate in the elections without looking at the issue from a realistic point of view. So I’d like to summarize some of my thoughts on this topic and hope that it opens the door for further contemplation.

Firstly, we need to be clear that the democratic system is a man-made system meant to give humans legislative rights in all spheres of life. It is a method of governance that is contrary to Islam as it gives us humans the ability to legislate laws that are contrary to the laws that Allah has legislated for us. Thus, those contemporary scholars who have considered participating in democratic elections as being impermissible and even tantamount to kufr have a strong reason to believe that, and as such their view should not be treated as insignificant.

But now what if participation in democratic elections is necessary to further or protect Islamic interests, especially when that is the only viable way of doing so for Muslims living in a democratically run country like Canada? This is where many contemporary scholars apply the Islamic concept of ‘Maṣāliḥ (benefits) vs. Mafāsid (harms)’ to allow Muslims to participate in such elections where they can further or protect Islamic interests by electing the right candidates, and as such they see this issue as an exception to the prohibition of participating in a democratic system.

However, the crucial caveat here is ‘Islamic interests’ that are real and not imagined, measurable and not vague. Where realistic and achievable Islamic interests have not been defined, there remains no justification for a Muslim to vote for a party whose ideology is fundamentally opposed to Islam, which is the case for pretty much all the main parties running in the current federal election. It is in absence of such real and quantifiable Islamic interests that calling the Muslim community to ‘get out and vote’ without any strategy or target is counter-productive and the reason why we as a community have never really had our Islamic interests advanced or protected.

At this point, some may interject and say, “But if we don’t engage politically, we will never attain our interests.” That’s fine. But the key point here is that we engage, and not integrate or assimilate. We can engage by lobbying, petitioning, and yes, even voting when there are real Islamic interests which are also achievable. But integrating into the 4 or 5 main political parties of this country, like all other types of integration, will only be counter-productive and not help us to achieve our real Islamic interests.

Finally, let us not forget that ‘Islamic interests’ are not limited to enabling us to practice Islam freely in this society, having our community members feeling safe and building our masājid and Islamic centers without hindrance, because these are rights that this country has already given to us. Rather, the Islamic interests that we need to advance and protect are much broader than that.

These interests include fighting against a concerted effort to make us wholeheartedly accept certain values that go contrary to Islam, like homosexuality. We need to realize that the candidates that we are told to elect to advance and protect our Islamic interests are the same ones who will force an ideology on our children to make the LGBTQ way of life acceptable and not problematic.

They also include the interests of the Ummah at large, taking into consideration the repercussions of electing certain candidates that may advance or protect the interests of our community here at home, but would do great damage to the interests of our brothers and sisters suffering in other parts of the world. It could be that the ballot you submit on election day ends up as the bullet that is fired to kill your brother or sister overseas.

Toronto, Canada
15th of Ṣafar 1441