بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Note: You will find more options there on the top right corner, inshaAllaah.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Democracy - Our lifesaver?

Alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alameen wal 'aqibatulil muttaqeen was salaatu was salaamu 'ala rasoolinal balaaghul mobeen

This topic is of the utmost importance considering the fact this is a point which may even lead to kufr. The ruling regarding this will be given at the end, inshallah. Let us start from the basics.

What is democracy in the eyes of a common man? To him, it is the system of government which allows him to make laws for himself and his fellow men, in short a system which allows him to interact with the constitution. Though this definition may not be followed in all the countries who claim to be democratic but more or less, most of the people there also want this definition to be applied there.
Let us see now whether such a system would be fruitful or not. Suppose there was a scientific hypothesis which was presented and the proofs of it were given. Some proofs included were such that if the common man looks at it, he is amazed at how perfectly it fits in with the scientist's explanation. On the other hand, when another scientist, who is highly qualified in this field, investigates into them, he does not find it difficult to declare those proofs bogus.
Now, if we were to go with the concept of democracy, we would have to show it to the public and ask them to vote on whether this should be declared as a scientific law but that's not how it is done. Why? Because the common man has no idea about the complexities of the situation. However, when it comes to politics, there is a double standard. Does every adult get a PhD in political sciences on getting his national ID card? Or maybe just as the genitals develop when a person reaches puberty, a political instinct also develops in the person on reaching the age of 18? That would be a better explanation as it would account for the different age for voting in different countries.
OF COURSE, ALL THIS IS RUBBISH!
No matter how much I try, you won't be convinced by it. Yes, it's true that your experience makes you mature but you don't become an expert.
What do the people say in response then? We aren't making the laws, we're just electing the experts who will make laws for us but do we also elect the scientists and other PhDs on whether they are capable enough or not? Of course not!
Note that I'm not touching the topic of how a class of people oppressed other classes when they were in power and vice versa. You can go back to the history books for that.

Having said that, there must be a solution. We can't just live without a law, that's for sure. Well, let's carry on with our example of the scientists.
Suppose the scientists comes up with an appliance and he sells it to a few people. Will he ask the customer to write the user documentation so that the other users may benefit from it. Of course not! He will write it himself mentioning how it should be used, what to do when a problem occurs and so on and so forth.
Similarly, Allaah Azzawajal created us (for those who disagree with this fact, go to the contact page and email me. I might be of some help and if I'm not, we'll find someone else, inshallah) and he gave us a few appliances, our soul, our body, the land we live on and the list goes on.
Now that we've got those stuff, we won't start making a user documentation, or in general terms a constitution, for us. We should logically follow the constitution provided to us by our Creator which is the Qur'an. Furthermore, we're not supposed to extract rulings from it ourselves as was mentioned before and as is also mentioned in the Quran:
Ask those who know (i.e. the experts) if you do not know (16:43)
That is where the Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings be on him), the Sahaabah and the righteous 'ulamaa come in.
The conclusion to all this is that the only acceptable law, at least to the Muslims, should be the law of Allaah. With regards to the claim that Islam is oppressive, anyone who investigates into this matter will know that it's a mere fallacy.
Just a side note: when the Islamic constitution is mentioned, Saudi Arabia comes in the eyes of many people. However, Saudi Arabia is not an Islamic state. Its true that they have implemented part of Islam but Islam is a full package, either you accept all or you reject all. If you accept only part of it, then that all of it will be rejected:
So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. (The Quran: 2:85)

With regards to the ruling, I think it would be sufficient for now to mention that there is no difference among the 'ulamaa regarding the fact that if a person rules by a law other than the law of Allaah Azzawajal thinking that the law that he is applying is better than the law of Allaah Azzawajal then he has left the folds of Islam.

Wa sallallahu 'ala sayyidina Muhammad wa 'ala aalihee wa sahbihi wa sallam tasleeman katheera!

Get my updates delivered into your inbox :

Click here to Subscribe news feed from "IslamicB", so that you do not miss out anything that can be valuable to you !!

4 comments:

Catsarecute said...

This is such rubbish. Allah didn't make up traffic laws and stuff. Who's gonna decide those if there's no democratic election? It's not 'immoral' to not stop at a stop sign. What about % tax? Healthcare? Politics isn't just punishments for things like murder, which is assigned by God.

imaduddinsaqib said...

Subhanallaah. It seems like you've got some really big misconceptions. By the way, I'm assuming that this is a non-Muslim because almost every Muslim knows about the Islamic tax.
With regards to traffic laws, that will of course be decided by the ruler who is going to rule by the law of Allaah, the expert of Islamic law. Islam doesn't only consist of punishments, its got rules for all aspects of life.
One thing which I missed out which I was just reminded of is that in case an issue arises which the ruler and his consultants, experts of Islamic law, are not experts of, such as science or take any such field, they go to the experts of that field and consult them.
A clear example of that is the prohibition of smoking. Once it was confirmed that smoking causes cancer and the other harms etc., it was prohibited as things which caused similar effects were prohibited in the Shari'ah.
Don't get me started on healthcare. Of course experts will also be consulted but, as an example, look at the sleeping habits that the experts are recommending and then look at the sleeping habits according to the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (S). This is only one minor example though.

Tony Berkman said...

Bigger rubbish has never been spoken.  It's extreme views like this that lead to hate.  You expect all people of the world to go by the law of Allah.  What makes that law supreme to the law of any other religious text?

imaduddinsaqib said...

Well, basically, the last part was actually for the Muslims because even if a non-Muslim community exists under an Islamic state, it has the right to it's own courts, laws and stuff.
Hope that clears the misconception, inshallah.

Post a Comment

Categories