By Professor Dr Sufi Atif Amin Al Hussaini
This theory applies to the comprehensive theoretical framework of Professor Dr Sufi Atif Amin Al Hussaini, the “The Sufi doctrine of political healing: Achieving gravitational power equilibrium and reversing collateral damage in the modern world” to analyse systemic destabilisation in democratic states, exemplified by the tenure of the former President of Guinea-Bissau.
A treatise on gravitational power and collateral damage in democratic societies
Executive summary
This theory postulates that in a true democracy, “The Sufi Doctrine of Political Healing: Achieving Gravitational Power Equilibrium and Reversing Collateral Damage in the Modern World” does not emanate from the ruler, but from the Human Being (The Citizen). Just as physical gravity holds celestial bodies in orbit, the collective will, rights, and economic well-being of the populace hold a government in a stable orbit. When a leader fails to respect this center of gravity, the system becomes unbalanced, resulting in “Collateral Damage” the destruction of institutions, economy, and social fabric.
This paper argues that the only method to restore this balance is through quantitative transparency, comprehensive accountability, and a governance model rooted in the immutable principles of Islamic justice and Sufi administration.
1. Defining gravitational power and equilibrium
The gravitational power in democracy
In political physics, Gravitational Power is the central, enduring force of legitimacy and stability. It is not the Head of State, but the composite strength of the empowered citizenry and their protected institutions.
Dr Amin defines the true Gravitational Power as the Sovereign will of the people when anchored by five interdependent pillars:
Fundamental human rights: The protection and promotion of all civil and political liberties.
Socio-economic empowerment: Especially of historically marginalised groups (youth and women).
Independent law enforcement and judiciary: Agencies that enforce the rule of law, not the will of the executive.
Strong, independent national accountability: This extends beyond mere financial audit to encompass accountability of policies, accountability of power, and accountability of national interest.
Strong, independent electoral process: Complete autonomy in operations, from voter registration to result delivery, characterised by both quantitative and qualitative transparency.
Transparency: Quantitative vs qualitative
| Type of Transparency | Definition | Quantitative Measure |
| Quantitative | Measurable data showing how a process occurred. | The publication of detailed, verifiable data (e.g., ballot counts, turnout statistics by polling station, budget execution reports). Quantitative measures are more effective as they provide hard evidence, allowing for independent auditing and reducing the potential for subjective interpretation. |
| Qualitative | Descriptive context showing why a process occurred. | Public explanations of policy decisions, ethical justifications, and clarity on discretionary choices. |
The Role of Media (Islamic Principles Based)
The media acts as the sensor of this gravity. Under Islamic principles, media reporting must be based on Haq (Truth) and Tahqiq (Verification). It rejects sensationalism (Fitna) and focuses on the quantitative impact of policies on the common man.
2. Maintaining Accurate Gravitational Balance
The Executive (the “satellite”) must maintain a stable Equilibrium by strictly orbiting the Gravitational Power (the People and Institutions).
Accurate Balance is achieved when:
Public Interest is consistently defined and pursued within the framework of law through proper, mandated democratic processes.
The Executive is perpetually subject to the Strong Independent National Accountability pillar, ensuring policy failure, abuse of power, or compromise of national interest immediately triggers a corrective institutional response.
The electoral process delivers results that are mathematically verifiable (Quantitative Transparency) and universally accepted (Qualitative Transparency).
3. Gravitational Imbalance and Collateral Damage
Steps that Directly Unbalance Gravitational Power
A leader causes Gravitational Imbalance when they use their office to displace the center of power. This includes:
Institutional Vandalism: Systematically weakening the independent judiciary, accountability bodies, or the electoral commission.
Legislative Bypass: Attempting to govern without the National Assembly (the people’s direct gravitational pull).
Suppression of accountability: Blocking investigations into policy failure or abuse of power.
Defining Collateral Damage in Democracy
Collateral damage is the long-term, systemic, and often irreversible degradation of civilian capacity and potential resulting from political failure.
Specifically, the ultimate act of democratic collateral damage is handing over power to politically untrained military officers. The military is structurally incapable of governing a modern civil society, leading to immediate institutional chaos and loss of human rights.
The forms of collateral damage:
Loss of human capital: The failure to prioritise education for all and youth economic empowerment.
Institutional Decay: The military replacing civilian rule, destroying decades of administrative capacity.
Economic Isolation: Loss of foreign direct investment (FDI) due to political risk.
Manifestations of democratic collateral damage:
• Institutional Erosion: The breakdown of the National Assembly and local bodies.
• Socio-Economic Despair: Lack of youth and women’s economic empowerment leads to a “brain drain” and internal unrest.
• The military vacuum:
• The unnatural handover: Handing over civilian administrative power to militarily trained officers is a critical failure. Military officers are trained for defense and combat (Hard Power), not for the nuances of democratic dialogue, economic policy, and social welfare (Soft Power).
• The consequence: This creates a governance mismatch. The rigorous command structure of the military cannot navigate the fluid needs of a democratic populace, leading to the suppression of rights and the eventual collapse of foreign policy.
4. Case study: The Gravitational Collapse of Guinea-Bissau
The tenure of the former President of Guinea-Bissau serves as a powerful demonstration of a leadership that actively fought to unbalance the state’s gravitational forces, prioritising self-preservation over national interest.
Systemic failures of gravitational equilibrium
The former President initiated a cycle of Constitutional Deviation and Institutional Paralysis:
Legislative Annihilation: The breakdown of the Assembly two times, and the resulting action of running the country without a National Assembly for five years, was a total displacement of the people’s gravitational power.
Electoral Disconnection: The failure to hold local bodies elections isolated the government from grassroots needs.
Erosion of Civil Space: The absence of political peace, harmony, and freedom of speech eliminated essential checks and balances.
Economic Neglect: The neglect of specific programs for youth economic empowerment and women economic empowerment systematically weakened the nation’s social ‘mass’.
The Final Blow (The Handover): The deliberate, non-peaceful transfer of power and the reliance on military control to maintain authority was the ultimate “Collateral Damage.”
The climax of collateral damage
The decision to engage in a deliberate not peaceful handing over power to the newly elected President was the final act of gravitational disruption. By allegedly gathering all sources of Collateral Damage by maneuvering to hand over country to military control, the Ex-President completed the institutional destruction.
Long-Term Impact on the Nation:
Economy: The political instability, cemented by the military’s involvement, resulted in severe long-term economic impact. Foreign aid is suspended, debt restructuring stalls, and FDI ceases, sentencing generations to poverty.
Foreign Policy: The country became a diplomatic pariah. The lack of a stable, legitimate government and the influence of the military meant the country forfeited its capacity to craft a coherent national foreign policy, becoming vulnerable to external pressures.
5. The Path to Equilibrium: Islamic Principles Based Policies
Dr Amin’s framework concludes that only a governance structure rooted in profound ethical and accountability principles can prevent this crisis. Islamic principles-based policies offer the necessary antidote to Gravitational Imbalance:
Shura (Consultation): This principle directly combats the breakdown of the assembly. Shura demands that leadership be contingent on consultation and consensus, reinforcing the supremacy of the legislature (Gravitational Power).
Adl (Absolute Justice): Adl mandates the absolute independence of the Judiciary and Accountability bodies, ensuring the leader is subject to the rule of law and ethical scrutiny, not personal will.
Maslahah (Public Interest): This principle elevates the national interest above personal power, ensuring that policies prioritize essential human rights, education, and economic empowerment, thus strengthening the nation’s gravitational core.
Amanah (Trust and Stewardship): This defines power as a sacred trust, demanding a peaceful, institutionally sound transition of power, eliminating the motivation for the final, devastating act of collateral damage.
The concept of supreme sovereignty
In Islam, the ultimate “Center of Gravity” is the Creator.
• Supremacy belongs only to Allah Almighty. When a leader understands they are merely a vicegerent (Khalifa), the ego dissipates.
• Accountability (Hisab): A leader is not just accountable to voters, but to the Divine for every grain of rice denied to a citizen.
The Sufi Approach to Administration
A Sufi administrator leads with the heart, balancing Jalal (Authority) with Jamal (Beauty/Mercy). This approach prioritizes:
1. Service as Worship: Public service is not a career; it is a spiritual path.
2. Conflict Resolution: Using wisdom to harmonize opposing political forces rather than crushing them.
3. Universal Welfare: Ensuring resources reach the most marginalized, thereby strengthening the true center of gravity.
6) The Islamic Mandate for Balanced Governance
The Centripetal Governance Theory finds a timeless moral and legal framework in Islamic principles, which demand the containment of power through absolute accountability.
Supremacy of Allah Almighty: The bedrock of Islamic governance is the concept that supremacy only belongs to Allah Almighty.
Political power is an Amanah (a divine trust), which must be exercised according to divine principles of justice, inherently placing limits on any temporal Gravitational Power.
Universal Accountability (Kullukum Rā’in): The principle of stewardship dictates that everyone is accountable for his actions. The Prophet Muhammad’s {صَلَّى ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ} said:
كُلُّكُمْ رَاعٍ وَكُلُّكُمْ مَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ
(English Translation: “Every one of you is a shepherd and is responsible for his flock.”) [Sahih al-Bukhari]
This Hadith imposes an inescapable moral duty upon the executive to protect and justly serve the people, the “flock.”
Rule of Law (Quranic Imperative for Adl): The Quran mandates justice above all personal considerations, forming the basis for an independent judiciary and accountability:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ لِلَّهِ شُهَدَاءَ بِالْقِسْطِ وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا ۚ اعْدِلُوا هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ
(English Translation: “O believers! Stand firm for Allah, bearing faithful witness in justice. Do not let the hatred of a people lead you to be unjust. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness.”) [Quran, 5:8]
7. Important Lessons for Young Leaders
Power is not Property: Always recognize that true Gravitational Power rests with the people and their independent institutions; your role is temporary stewardship (Amanah).
Protect the Pillars: Invest in Quantitative Transparency in all processes and never undermine the accountability bodies; they are the stabilizers of the state.
The Exit Defines the Legacy: A peaceful, constitutionally compliant transition is the greatest service a leader can render to the nation, ensuring future stability and avoiding collateral damage.
(8) Conclusion
The “The Sufi Doctrine of Political Healing: Achieving Gravitational Power Equilibrium and Reversing Collateral Damage in the Modern World “theory by Prof Dr Sufi Atif Amin serves as a warning and a guide. It teaches that when the weight of the people is ignored, the collapse is inevitable. The path forward lies in quantitative transparency, strict accountability of policy and power, and a return to the humble, justice-oriented leadership prescribed by Islamic tradition.
Poetic reflection
In the spirit of delivering human rights and warning against the misuse of power, we turn to the wisdom of Allama Muhammad Iqbal. His words remind leaders that their legitimacy lies in the upliftment of the common man, not in royal decree.
In Urdu:
سلطانیِ جمہور کا آتا ہے زمانہ
جو نقشِ کہن تم کو نظر آئے مٹا دو
جس کھیت سے دہقاں کو میسر نہ ہو روزی
اُس کھیت کے ہر خوشۂ گندم کو جلا دو
خدا کے بندے تو ہیں ہزاروں بنوں میں پھرتے ہیں مارے مارے
میں اُس کا بندہ بنوں گا جس کو خدا کے بندوں سے پیار ہو گا
English translation
The era of the Sovereignty of the People (Democracy) is approaching,
Whatever signs of the old (tyrannical) order you see, obliterate them.
The field which does not yield a livelihood to the peasant,
Burn every ear of wheat in that field (Revolution against economic injustice).
Allah Almighty creatures are wandering in thousands, aimless in the wilderness,
I shall be the servant of the one who loves God’s creatures.
References
Theoretical Framework: The Sufi Doctrine of Political Healing: Achieving Gravitational Power Equilibrium and Reversing Collateral Damage in the Modern World Theorized by Professor Dr. Sufi Atif Amin Al Hussaini
Governance Philosophy: Jurisprudence of Maslahah (Public Welfare) and Adl (Justice).
Empirical Context: Reports on Institutional Instability and Democratic Backsliding in Guinea-Bissau (2014–2019).
