The Scholar Who Stood Before a Tyrant and Criticised Power

In the 8th century Hijri, it was no easy matter for a jurist living under a military regime like the Mamluk Sultanate to tell the rulers that the people’s wealth was not theirs, that the ruler was merely a representative of the community, not a master over the people, and that the duty of a scholar was to stand in the way of a ruler when he committed tyranny. Yet, Tajuddin Abdul Wahhab bin Ali as-Subki did all of that. He had to pay a heavy price for his stance with dismissal from office, imprisonment, and pursuit. Despite this, he left behind one of the most compelling intellectual legacies in Islamic scholarship regarding the critique of power and the ethics of governance. In one of his masterpieces, ‘Mui’d al-Ni’am wa Mubid as-Saqam’, As-Subki highlighted what he considered the ‘crimes’ committed by some sultans of his era and earlier periods, particularly concerning the management and squandering of wealth. He criticised the habit of giving vast amounts of wealth to poets and sycophants, while the majority of Muslims lived in poverty, deprivation, and hardship. He said, ‘History is filled with stories of people who gave thousands to poets, thousands to mamluks, and thousands for entertainment. All of that ultimately became a disaster for its perpetrators.’ As-Subki then compared such behaviour with the condition of the Baitul Mal during the time of Umar bin Khattab. He reminded that Umar died wearing only a garment for which he had no spare. Umar even once refused to give anything from the Baitul Mal to someone who recited poetry for him. After that, As-Subki criticised the sultans of his time in very direct language, without any allusion. ‘This is the way of life of the people of truth and religion. We do not demand that the people of our time reach that station, for they will not be able to achieve it. However, we remind them of it, in the hope that they may return to the right path or at least reduce what they have been doing.’