The Bad Impact of Money Politic

A Message to Political Candidate and General Public, and A Solution

All praise be to Allaah, Lord of the Universe, peace and prayer of Allaah be upon Muhammad, His messenger, his companions, and his followers.

It was already written in the article titled “Money Politic: How the Candidate Spend, Success Team Facilitate, Voters Enjoy, and Curse Awaits” that money politics is unlawful and therefore, such a practice is a sin, because it is considered as a form of bribing (risywah) in order to acquire a position. Allaah and His messenger curses everyone who are involved in such practice, including the bribing candidate, the success team who facilitate the bribe, and the voter who ask for/receive the bribe.

The Messenger of Allaah -peace and prayer of Allaah be upon him- said,

لَعَنَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم الرَّاشِىَ وَالْمُرْتَشِىَ.

“The Messenger of Allaah -peace and prayer of Allaah be upon him- curses the briber, and the bribed.” (Narrated by Abu Daud no. 3582, At Tirmidhi no. 1386, Ahmad no. 6689, from the authority of Abdullah Ibn ‘Amr -may Allaah be pleased with them both. At Tirmidhi classified this hadith as hasan shahih)

In another narration:

لَعَنَ اللهُ الرَّاشِي وَ الْمُرْتَشِي وَ الرَّائِشَ الَّذِيْ يَمْشِيْ بَيْنَهُمَا

“Allaah curses the briber, bribed, and one that facilitate between the two.” (Narrated by Ahmad 2/279, Al-Hakim no. 7068, Al-Bazzar no. 1353, Ath-Thabraniy in Al-Kabir no. 1415, from the authority of Tsauban -may Allaah be pleased with him-. Al-Haitsamiy commented in his book Al-Majma’ (4/198) that in this redaction there was a man named Abu Al-Khaththab and he was not recognized among the experts. The narrational chain of this hadith is classified as good/hasan by Al-Munawi in At-Taisir bi Syarh Ash-Shaghir (2/292) amd Al-‘Ajluniy in Kasyf Al-Khafa’ 2/186 (2048))

Aside from curses from Allaah and His messenger, bribing such as in money politics also has some other bad impacts. Among which are:

The growing of evil morality and mentality among those who are involved in it, as well as the following generation, such as being ambitious to covet for power, and justifying all means to achieve their wish even though the means are unlawful.
An authority or ruler rises no thanks to his or her quality or competence,rather, because of the money he or she spent. As a result, government is filled by people who are unqualified to work, but are power hungry and crazy.
The ubiquity of corruption, because the briber will want to regain the money they’ve spent to bribe others during the general election.
The spreading of indecency, the lost of good morality, oppression towards the weak, and some people persecute others.
The worst impact is that the immediate arrival of Allaah’s punishment and His wrath. The Messenger of Allaah -peace and prayer of Allaah be upon him- said,

مَا مِنْ ذَنْبٍ أَجْدَرُ أَنْ يُعَجِّلَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى لِصَاحِبِهِ الْعُقُوبَةَ فِى الدُّنْيَا مَعَ مَا يَدَّخِرُ لَهُ فِى الآخِرَةِ مِثْلُ الْبَغْىِ وَقَطِيعَةِ الرَّحِمِ

“There is no sin that its sinner is most deserving of immediate punishment from Allaah the Exalted in this world, as an addition to what Allaah has prepared for him in the Hereafter, than the sin of ‘al-baghyu’ (excesses/trespass the limit) and cutting the ties of kinship.” (Narrated by Abu Daud no. 4904, At-Tirmidhi no. 2700, Ibn Maja no. 4351 and Ahmad no. 20911 from Abu Bakrah -may Allaah be pleased with him-)

And bribing is included in ‘al-baghyu’ (excesses/trespass the limit)

Message for the Candidates

There are several things that we’d like to warn the candidates in the general election of, namely:

Remember the warning above, regarding the sin and the curses of Allaah and His messenger to the briber.
General public has learned much from the previous elections. They’ve understood that any candidate who bribe shouldn’t be chosen since they are the seeds of dangerous corruptors once they’ve achieved power. Thus, the candidates should ponder that their money shouldn’t be spent in money politics anymore, because it is ineffective to attract people’s sympathy, aside from its prohibited state.
If, for example, there are voters who are willing to accept bribes, there is no guarantee that they will truly choose the briber. There are many of them who betray their briber instead.
Religious teaching and education has been well developed in Indonesia today. General public mostly understand bribers are sinners. That negative stereotype will adhere to the bribing candidate, whether he loses, wins, ascends to power, even to the end of his authority and during his retirement.
Many of the candidates in general election spend their money on mistargeted purpose. It is not rare that their money falls into their political opponent’s hand. As the result, they lost their money in vain. For example, the infamous “serangan fajar/attack of the dawn”, in which the briber money falls into the hand of a voter, who has determined to vote for another candidate.
If the money politic is discovered, and the briber is elected in a general election, such discovery will be a weapon for the loosing candidate to appeal for an annulment of the election result. It is written in the Government Rule No. 151 that the elected head of region should face a public testing period for 3 days. During the period, the elected candidate can be nullified if there is evidence of money politics against him during the general election period.
There are many candidates who lost, and eventually spend the rest of their lives in the psychiatrist ward or hospital.
People who are power hungry to the extent that he or she justifies all means to achieve it, including bribing, will lament their misdeed, on the day when their lament is no longer useful.

The Messenger of Allaah -peace and prayer of Allaah be upon him- said,

إِنَّكُمْ سَتَحْرِصُونَ عَلَى الإِمَارَةِ ، وَسَتَكُونُ نَدَامَةً يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ

“Indeed, you will chase the power, and lament it on Doomsday.” (Narrated by Bukhari no. 7184, from Abu Huraira -may Allaah be pleased with him-)

He -peace and prayer of Allaah be upon him- also said,

وَإِنَّهَا أَمَانَةٌ وَإِنَّهَا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ خِزْىٌ وَنَدَامَةٌ إِلاَّ مَنْ أَخَذَهَا بِحَقِّهَا وَأَدَّى الَّذِى عَلَيْهِ فِيهَا

“Indeed, power/authority is a mandate, and in the Doomsday it will be humility and remorse, except for those who gain power through rightful way and fulfill his obligations during his time of power.” (Narrated by Muslim no. 4832, from Abu Dzar -may Allaah be pleased with him-.)

Message for General Public

Through this writing, I’d also like to warn the public in general of several important points below:
Please remember the sin and the curses from Allaah and His messenger for the bribed one, and those who facilitate it.
Candidates who practice money politics essentially are unqualified and low in mentality aspiring authorities.
Anyone who wins the general election by practicing money politics,upon ascending to power, usually will attempt to issue policies that benefit himself, even with the cost of people’s money (i.e., corruption). It is to regain the “money” that they’ve spent in election.

When such candidate suffers from loss, often, they will ask for the things and money that they’ve bribed the society with to be returned to them. I’ve encountered a case in which a lost candidate -spurred by his resentment- asked for the carpet and the sound system that he has donated to the local mosque to be returned to him.

A Perfect Solution for Money Politic

There are many solutions offered by various elements that are involved in politics and law fields to erase the practice of money politics.

For example:

Increasing the surveillance role that has been conducted by the Panwaslu (Surveillance Committee for the General Election)
Issuing punishment for crime for anyone involved in such practice.
Creating satire slogans, such as ‘democrazy’ as a replacement for democracy.
Producing TV and radio programs, as well as section article in printed media to carry out anti-bribing campaign.

Unfortunately, some proposed solutions, such as the increase in surveillance role and crime punishment can only be offered in discourse as they are very hard to apply, since most of the briber during General election (political candidate, political party, politician, success team, and general public) and the law enforcer essentially have a mutual symbiotic (a mutually benefiting relationship) in this bribing practice. Therefore, I’d like to propose another solution that can be an effective tool to combat such practice from religious perspective. Among which are:

Printing and distributing articles that warn people against the danger of bribing, such as the one you’re reading, before every general election.
Inviting the preachers and Friday preachers to increase the number of their sermon and lecture regarding bribing, particularly before general election.

These two solutions are a form of enjoining good and forbidding evil in general election (politics), which serves as the main tool to form authority. There must be people who warn against the evil that happens during general election, such as this money politics, since calamity will always befall this nation if people let the evil runs rampant.

The Prophet -peace and prayer of Allaah be upon him- said,

إِنَّ النَّاسَ إِذَا رَأَوُا الْمُنْكَرَ لاَ يُغَيِّرُونَهُ أَوْشَكَ أَنْ يَعُمَّهُمُ اللَّهُ بِعِقَابِه

“If mankind has witnessed evil but they do not deny it, then the time is close when Allaah will spread His punishment on them evenly.” (Narrated by Abu Daud no. 4340, At-Tirmidhi no. 2321, Ibn Maja no. 4140, Ahmad, from dAbu Bakar As-Shidiq -may Allaah be pleased with him-)

May Allaah have mercy upon this nation by making them realize the danger of bribing in general election, and grant them a pious ruler in the future.

Author: Ustadz Muflih Safitra