NON-VOTING: A TOOL OF EMPOWERMENT

Stop! You are not a Manchurian Candidate! If you are a Muslim, listen! If you are a Black man or woman, pay heed! Whoever you are, if you live in America, you may benefit from these words! "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ear." Before you repeat the same old mantras that have been programmed into your subconscious like - "if you don't vote you don't count", and "our ancestors died for the right to vote", and "you have to participate in the system to change the system" or "it's irresponsible to tell people to not vote" - before you say it, please consider the following:

1) If you are a Muslim then you know that all man made political systems are "taghoot" (false gods that rule by other than Allah's command). Regarding Taghoot Allah says that Muslims have been ordered to shun Taghoot :
HAVE YOU NOT SEEN THOSE (HYPOCRITES!) WHO CLAIM TO BELIEVE IN WHAT WAS REVEALED TO YOU (MUHAMMAD) AND WHAT WAS REVEALED BEFORE YOU (PREVIOUS SCRIPTURES) - YET THEY WISH TO REFER LEGISLATION TO TAGHOOT WHILE THEY WERE COMMANDED TO REJECT IT, AND SATAN WISHES TO LEAD THEM FAR AWAY Qur'an 4:60

Also:
HE WHO REJECTS TAGHOOT AND BELIEVES IN ALLAH HAS GRASPED THE MOST TRUSTWORTHY HANDLE WHICH NEVER BREAKS... Qur'an 2:256

Also:

WE HAVE SENT TO EVERY NATION A MESSENGER PROCLAIMING 'SERVE ALLAH AND SHUN TAGHOOT" Qur'an 16:36

2. Moral power is superior to political power. Moral power changes behavior and challenges political power. Political power does not change behavior. Also, laws do not have to be repealed in order to be rendered ineffective. There are countless laws on the books that are virtually dead because the public would not tolerate its enforcement.

3. It is not possible to "clean up the system from within." The system itself is corrupt. You cannot clean up a brothel and leave the business intact.

4. Our ancestors did NOT "die for the right to vote." Our ancestors thought voting was a tactic that would make a difference. Voting does not and has not changed the economic, educational, medical or social standing of our people. If our ancestors had known this, they would have adopted another tactic.

5. It is argued that non-voting is a type of apathy. Actually, voting is apathy! By voting you are throwing in the towel and going along with the flow. Voting means you refuse to challenge the system. Voting means you do not have the courage or fortitude or endurance to implement the Qur'an. The non-voter shows far more courage than the voter because he refuses to go along with patriotic slogans and illogical rhetoric.

6. The time, enthusiasm and money that many of our youth spend on "political organizing" could be spent on "nonpolitical" alternatives. It is the duty of Muslims and all people who desire freedom to develop private alternatives to government services to weaken the public's dependence on taghoot.

7. Democracy is a religion that teaches that the majority can even overrule Allah Himself! Democracy has a scripture: the Constitution. Democracy has "prophets": the "founding fathers". Democracy has rituals: voting.

8. Voting reinforces the legitimacy of the Taghoot.

9. Asians and Indians have made remarkable strides in America with little electoral empowerment.

10. Elections silence any revolutionary fervor. Potential "malcontents" are sucked into the safe activity of "participating in the system." For instance, Black radicals of the 1960's were "cooled out" by giving them "a piece of the action."

11. Most of the "political organizers" of today are pimps who organize our vote to sell to the highest bidder for their own personal gain.

12. Most Americans have abandoned the ballot box because they recognize it as an exercise in futility. So you, as a Muslim come to the people an offer your solution to their problems. And that solution is: vote. Why should they embrace Islam as a way of life when the Muslims all calling people to adopt the same system that has failed our people???

13. Non- voting is a declaration of independence from the taghoot and it may free us of blame before our Lord.

Someone said recently, "we've tried non voting and it didn't work." I must disagree. What we have tried is apathy and that has not worked. Non voting does not mean sitting on the sidelines. Non voting means that you have decided as Black men and women, as Muslims to make your own way and to empower yourselves. Non voting means that you are going to prove that your Book is a living Book. Non voting means that you are going to show the world that the modern Arabs have messed up their practice of Islam and you are going to show the world the greatness of Islam that was displayed by the Moors, and the Songhai Empire. Non voting means you going to show the world that you can rise above a European system of oppression that has robbed Africa and Asia and has made the whole world tremble before its aggression.
Sources
1. The Qur'an
2. Dissenting Electorate: Those Who Refuse To Vote and the Legitimacy of Their Opposition by Carl Watner