Fiqh al-tamkin (the fiqh of the nation's empowerment)

Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy holds that empowerment of the nation has conditions, causes, obstacles and results, and that when the nation abandoned its causes it was replaced after having been empowered. He calls what the nation needs to recover it "the fiqh of empowerment". ^{1 2}

The Sheikh asks how the nation could be weakened and replaced, when God promised empowerment to those who believe and do good works. ³

The Sheikh holds that empowerment "has conditions, has causes, has obstacles, and has results". He holds that when the nation abandoned its causes it began to suffer humiliation. ¹ He holds that the nation lost the fiqh of empowerment when it reduced fiqh to worship and dealings, and that this fiqh is what returns the nation to its place. ² He counts among the causes of lost empowerment tolerating harm within the community, and gives the image of the passengers of a boat. ⁴

The Sheikh cites Dhu al-Qarnayn as one who was given the means and used them, to the point of building a barrier between a people who complained of corruption in the land and those who were corrupting it. ⁵ He describes Dhu al-Qarnayn as having knowledge, languages and wide learning, so that he travelled to the east and the west of the earth, and holds that this was empowerment from God. ⁶ He holds that the believer must take the means, and should not stop at saying "O Lord". ⁷

The Sheikh states a third principle: that no means should be left unused. He says the scholars agreed that if non-Muslims excel in some field of knowledge and Muslims do not excel in it, all Muslims are at fault (needs_source: the scholarly consensus he attributes is not sourced in the recording). ⁸ He holds that the nation must excel in every field and not leave the arts and sciences to others. ⁹

The Sheikh holds that the fiqh of empowerment is awakening the nation to its identity and its reality, and that the nation's height comes through the oneness of God. ¹⁰ He says that this fiqh is the recovery of the nation's past, and points to the time of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, when the collectors of zakat found no poor person to take it. ¹¹ He says that Africa holds mineral wealth beyond counting (needs_source: the estimate is not sourced in the recording), and that in that era the zakat collectors found no one in need there. ¹²

The Sheikh recounts the parable of a town that was secure and at ease, its provision coming to it abundantly, which then turned to ingratitude for God's blessings and was afflicted with hunger and fear. ¹³ He holds that a blessing changes when a nation does not treat it well, and that the pages of history resemble one another. ¹⁴

The programme asks whether scholars and preachers failed to convey the fiqh of empowerment; the Sheikh treats the question as open. ¹⁵

The Sheikh holds that one of the causes of empowerment is a clean society in which men and women, the old and the young all take part. ¹⁶ Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy's view (opinion): empowerment comes from giving to God, because God honours the generous believer. ¹⁷