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Islam is a unique system of life, and one of the qualities that makes it
such is the manner in which laws, rules, and legislation to address the life
affairs are extracted and derived. For one thing, Islam establishes that
sovereignty belongs exclusively to Allah, meaning that sovereignty belongs
to the Islamic text (Qur'an, Sunnah, Qiyas, and ijma-as
Sahabah). As a result, Islam establishes a
fixed reference from which all laws and legislation are extracted, and this
reference is unique in several aspects:
1). The reference itself is based on a conclusive belief. Therefore, the
people can be assured that whatever is extracted from this reference is from
the Creator.
2). The reference is comprehensive enough to address every issue that human
beings can face (by the fact that this reference is from All-Mighty Allah),
and it has been shown by historical example as well as from an objective
study of the system that the laws and systems of Islam can address human
problems in a very powerful and effective manner.
3). By establishing that sovereignty belongs exclusively to the Islamic
text, then Islam effectively renders the text immune from change and
alteration. As such, the society has a fixed reference whereby every policy
or decision enacted, every judgment that is pronounced, every opinion that
is issued, and every law and legislation that is derived can be referred
back to the text. Furthermore, any human being can be held accountable
before the reference, and all that is required is for somebody to acquire
the tools needed to understand the Islamic text. And these ''tools'' are
open and available for anybody to learn (such as knowledge of Arabic
language and grammar, knowledge of Usul ul-Fiqh, etc.).
The Islamic system is such that every law, concept, rule, and legislation is
derived from a specific source (the Islamic text), through a specific
process (ijtihad) that is governed by very specific rules and parameters
(Arabic language, Usul-ul Fiqh, and above all, the Islamic Aqeedah). For
some issues, the text will only allow for one meaning given a certain issue,
and all Muslims must submit to this unanimously. However, for many issues,
the text will accommodate more than one meaning, and this is where the
differences of opinion between the scholars and jurists emerged. As long as
these opinions were derived through a correct ijtihad and did not violate
the boundaries of Islam or the rules of Arabic language and grammar, then
all of these opinions are acceptable. And the nature of the Islamic text is
such that it has an answer to every issue that the human being can face.
By
contrast, in man-made systems, the sovereignty is given to human beings -
either to one human being (dictatorship), or a group of human beings
(democracy), or the people. In any case, when the human being is made as the
reference, then there will always be some people that are ''above the law,''
because the sovereign is the reference, and the reference itself cannot be
referenced to something. Furthermore, the sovereign cannot be held
accountable, which will lead to the sanctification and glorification of
human beings, and above all of this, the sovereign itself (the human mind)
is limited and subject to error, inconsistency, and contradiction.
And unlike Islam, where the process of understanding the legal sources and
deriving rules is well-defined, the process of deriving rules and
legislation in man-made systems is up in the air and ambiguous. For this
reason, one will find that in man-made systems, the derivation of rules,
legislation, and policies, depends upon volatile factors such as prevailing
interests, who is in charge, twisting arms, and lobbying, which are subject
to constant change and manipulation. And the inevitable consequence of such
a system is the enactment of laws, legislation, and systems that will tend
to favour a certain group of people at the expense of others. This fate will
befall every man-made system, in spite of the presence of many sincere
individuals and even sincere leaders.
Comments
1.One of the factors that perpetuate our declined status is the absence of
thinking amongst the masses. If the thinking process itself is absent,
fostering the Islamic thinking is a mission impossible and drains our
motivation to work for anything. Umar bint Khattab (r.a) said:
''The thing that I fear the most for Islam is a
generation that is raised in Islam, but does not know the life of Jahilyyah.''
We have to study the foundations of Islam from its authentic sources and we
have to study the society objectively, deeply, and without emotions. After
that, we look at this society with our Islamic glasses on. With an Islamic
perspective as a result, adopt what is good and reject all that is evil.
2.After the destruction of the khilafah in 1924,the colonialists and their
loyalists struggled hard to sustain the intellectual grip on the Muslims.
The net results of this weakened situation is that, Muslims no longer yearn
for the re-emergence of Islam and the complete absence of political
thinking. The colonialists devised many styles to disorient the mindset by
presenting kufr concepts sugar coated with Islam. For example the Muslim
countries are constantly presented with the choice of ''democracy'' and
''dictatorship''.The naive masses blindly rush towards ''democracy'' ,not
realising that ''dictatorships'' are also installed by West. If the
understanding of the Islamic concept of Shirk (polytheism) was
crystallised in the minds of Muslims. they would have rejected both
democracy and dictatorship. Also, it would have become conspicuously clear
that democracy and dictatorship are different sides of the same coin. The
reality is that both the Democratic and Dictatorial systems are man-made
systems in which the sovereignty belongs to the human being. The only
difference between the two systems is the relative concentration of power;
in a democracy, power is more dispersed among several branches that comprise
the elite ranks of society, whereas in a dictatorship, the power is
typically concentrated in the hands of one individual. However, the common
denominator between the two is that, regardless of the concentration of
power, the sovereignty still resides with human beings, whether one
individual as in a dictatorship or in a group of elite as in a democracy.
When Muslims are presented with choice of their ruling systems - democracy
and dictatorship - they should not have blindly preferred democracy using
the principle of ''choosing the lesser of the 2 evils''.The West have been
able to muddle our mindset because our thoughts are not linked to Islamic
Aqeedah. If we recharge our understanding of 2 vital concepts of Islam -
Shirk and Tawheed - we will be saved from the machinations of the kuffar.
Shirk (polytheism)
The Arabic term Shirk (polytheism), derived from the root Sh-r-k
which conveys the notion of ''sharing'' or ''partnerships.'' The word
Sharik (plural shurakaa) means ''partner'' or ''associate.'' Hence it is
forbidden for Muslims to ''share'' legislation with Allah or make
Allah a ''partner'' in legislation. That is to say, we are not allowed to
use a reference other than that is revealed by Allah.
Allah forgive not that partners should be set up
with Him; but He forgive anything else, to whom He please; to set up
partners with Allah is to devise a sin Most heinous indeed (4:49)
Tawheed (monotheism)
Linguistically, the word Tawheed comes from the word wah-hada, which
means to make something waahid (singular). Waahid is the
opposite of two, three, etc., the opposite of plurality. So Waahid is
something that will continue to be singular and never become a partner of
something else.
As for the Shari'ah definition, then Tawheed means to single out Allaah with
all forms of worship or legislation, so that we make all of our worship for
Allaah and all our legislation emanates from Allah alone. Allaah says :
''and the Deen will be entirely for Allaah''
(Al-Anfaal :39)
On one occasion, the Messenger of Allah (saw) was reciting Surah Taubah. He
recited the ayah where Allah (swt) equated the actions of the Jews and the
Christians towards their Rabbis and Monks to making them lords besides Allah
(swt).
''They took their rabbis and their monks to be
their lords besides Allah'' [ At-Taubah: 31]
When Adi bin Hatim (who was a Christian at the time) overheard this, he
said, ''O Messenger of Allah, they did not worship them.'' Upon this
the Messenger of Allah (saw) replied, ''Yes they
did. They (Rabbis and Monks) prohibited the allowed for them (Christians and
Jews) and allowed the prohibited, and they obeyed them. This is how they
worshipped them.'' After which Adi (ra) accepted Islam. [Ahmad,
Tirmidhi, At-Tabari].
Due to the fact we completely and principally denounce the human beings role
in legislation, we ultimately reject the dictatorship of the many by the
few or the few by the many. The decision of one person deciding a
law from his own mind that will affect the lives of thousands or millions is
no more superior than the hundreds sitting in Parliament or Congress
deciding upon the fate of millions. The disparity in legislation is affected
by the backgrounds and biases of the legislators the present reality, the
interest groups and lobbies, the public opinion and the media amongst
numerous other subtle factors. Therefore we reject totalitarianism as well
as democracy.
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