Violence protest is an act condemned by the prophet SAW and he warns the Muslims against it, it bring about nothing but the destruction of life and property that can lead to loss of lives unjustly, which is highly forbidden in Islaam.
It is a dreadful act before Allaah SWT which should be avoided by Faithful believers.
An example is brought forth from the life of the prophet SAW. In the 8th year after Hijrah, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) distributed some wealth at Ji’raanah on his way back from the Hunayn expedition.
A man among the Muslims stood up and protested, saying, _“O Muhammad, be just!”
The Messenger (ﷺ) retorted, _“Woe to you! [Wayhak or Waylak (lit. Woe to you) are Arabic expressions used to caution a person groundlessly falling into error.] Who will be just if I am not just? You would have failed and lost if I would not be just.”
[Muslim (2456) from Jabir bin Abdillah al-Ansaaree (رضي الله عنهما).]
A year later, during a similar event, the man stood up again and said, _“Fear Allah Muhammad!”_
The Prophet (ﷺ) answered, _” Who will obey Allaah if I disobey Him?! Should I be entrusted over the people of the earth and you will not trust me?”
[Muslim (2451) from Aboo Sa’eed al-Khudree (رضي الله عنه)]
In both circumstances, the Prophet (ﷺ) after replying to Dhu Khuwaysirah, the protester, remarked: _“Some people will emerge from this man who will recite the Qur’an but it will not exceed their throats. They will go out of the religion as the arrow thrusts the target…”
Later on, during the caliphate of ‘Uthman bin Affan, the third caliph, Dhu Khuwaysirah was involved in the campaign against constituted authority based mainly on cooked-up and feeble allegations.
Led by Abdullah bin Saba, the insurgents mobilized those who fell prey to their deception to Madeenah, occupied the mosque; causing a commotion, disrupting sermons and preventing ‘Uthman’ (رضي الله عنه) from leading the prayers!
They besieged the caliph’s quarters and blocked food and water from getting to him for about forty days. They turned deaf ears to admonitions, persuasions and warnings for them to stop the protests and demonstrations against constituted authority.
[Umm Habeebah], one of the wives of the Prophet (ﷺ), was taking water to Uthman’s quarters but the protesters hit her donkey in the face! She asked to raise a matter with Uthman bin Affan but they refused her, abused her, and turned her back!
[Fadaail as-Sahaabah by Ahmad bin Hanbal (1/602) Graded Saheeh (authentic) by Shaykh Wasiyyullah ‘Abbass in his checking of the book.]
Subsequently, they requested that the caliph should step down or they would come in and kill him. ‘Uthman’ consulted the companions, and this was a discussion between him and Abdullah bin Umar (رضي الله عنهم).
Ibn Umar asked, “If you retire from it, will you live in the world forever?”
The caliph said, _“No.”
He then said, “If you don’t step down, can they do more than kill you?”
He answered, “No.”
Ibn Umar then asked,”Do they have a Paradise or Hell to put you?”
He said, “No.”
Ibn Umar then said, “I do not think you should start this practice in Islam that whenever a leader is thought to err, he is removed!…”
[Similar statement is reported from Usaamah bin Zayd (رضي الله عنهما). See Chapter on How to Advice the Leader.]
Do not also remove a garment Allaah the Mighty and Sublime has put on you.”
[Fadaail as-Sahaabah (1/473). Cited in Fitnat Maqtal ‘Uthman by Muhammad as-Sallaabee (pg. 75) and graded Hasan (Sound)].
At the end—although protesting against even an unjust leader is unlawful—the deviants killed ‘Uthman bin Affan’, about eighty years old caliph, to whom the Prophet, Muhammad (ﷺ), married two of his daughters at different times and regarding whom the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Should I not be shy of a man for whom the angels are shy?”
Many of the companions and scholars hold his killing as marking the beginning of disunity and gore in the Ummah.
[Fitnat Maqtal ‘Uthman bin Affan by Muhammad as-Sallaabee (pg. 78).]
May Allah be pleased with the bashful noble Caliph,’Uthmaan BN’Affaan, Aameen.
