Glimpses of Certain Aspects of Islam by Nasim.A.Jafarey - 30. Parameters of an Islamic State

Glimpses of Certain Aspects of Islam by Nasim.A.Jafarey

30. Parameters of an Islamic State

It is really amazing that even fifty years after the formation of Pakistan, we are still arguing about the reasons which prompted the Muslims of India to conceive the idea of Pakistan, to propagate it all over the country and fight for it and finally secure it after considerable suffering and sacrifice.

The two principal theories advanced in this connection are, firstly, that Pakistan was meant to be a truly Islamic state, while the second theory suggests that Pakistan was brought into being to give the Muslims an opportunity to improve their economic condition after being freed from the domination of the Hindus of India.

The purpose of this article is not to examine the validity of the two opposing propositions mentioned above, but to make the point that since Pakistan has now come into existence there is one fact which is undeniable. This is that more than ninety percent people living within the territorial limits of this country claim to be Muslims.

There are many consequences that flow from this unalterable fact of life. But the one point on which attention will be focused in this article is the question as to why inspite of the glaring demographic fact mentioned above so few attempts have been made at outlining the salient features of an Islamic state in accordance with the directives of the Holy Quran and the manner in which those directives are to be implemented in the world of today. Software Even more crucial is the question why having side-stepped the pursuit of the establishment of an Islamic state in Pakistan, we have surrendered ourselves to the worship of the idol of parliamentary democracy as it has evolved in certain western countries. While copious references have been made to Islam in the various constitutions of Pakistan, specially the latest one, and while all political parties have from time to time used the name of Islam to win support and votes in the elections, even the so-called religious parties have not done justice to elaborating the concept of an Islamic state and making it the subject of a full-fledged national debate.

Before proceeding further with the basic question why we Pakistanis have tried to make parliamentary democracy our way of life rather than making a sincere effort to adopt the concept of an Islamic state, it would obviously be necessary to outline the parameters of an Islamic state. The first and foremost requirement of the establishment of a truly Islamic state is that its citizens must have faith or 'Iman-bil-ghaib' in Tauheed, Risalat and Qiyamat. This is the foundation on which alone the edifice of an Islamic state can be built. If this faith is not there or is merely lukewarm, all claims of having established an Islamic state would be suspect, because the heart of the matter is the good intentions of the leaders of an Islamic state, their fear of the Almighty and their total commitment to His Commands.

The second important characteristic of an Islamic state is that it is not sovereign in the sense that western secular states take pride in proclaiming their national sovereignty. One the other hand in an Islamic state the sovereignty and the right to do whatever it likes in the national interest is completely circumscribed by the requirements of Shariah. However it needs to be firmly understood that the Shariah itself is not a frozen, static set of rules framed a long time ago, but a truly dynamic system of regulation of human behaviour in Islamic states which has been, and can at any time even now, be changed through the process of Ijtihad and Ijma. Nevertheless it has to be admitted that the process of Ijtihad and Ijma, which is such an essential part of the smooth working of an Islamic state, has been allowed to rust and atrophy due to the misguided attachment in the past of Muslims to the concept of blind "taqlid". The two important procedure of Ijtihad and Ijmia have to be revitalised, and a lot of serious thought has to be Course applied to addressing questions as to how these two procedures should be institutionalised in the light of present day conditions.

The third important requirement of an Islamic state is consultation but the consultation must not be confined to the friends and cronies of the leaders or even members of their political parties but should extend to all the Muslims as envisaged in Ayat 159 of Surah Al Imran which states ".... and consult them in matters of moment." and Ayat 38 of Surah 'Shura' which states that true "Muslims are those who conduct their affairs by mutual consultation". How this consultation is to be brought about in a proper and effective manner is in a way the crux of the matter. In the early days of Islam the opportunities and options of effective consultation with the entire the Muslim Ummah were limited by the physical facts of life-the distances, the difficulties of communication and the fact that within a short period people speaking different languages came to embrace Islam. However with the passage of time these difficulties have diminished gradually and now we have reached the era of instant communication and consultation through the satellite and other systems.

Two major difficulties in ensuring prompt and effective communication continue to be road-blocks. These are first of all the lack of education among very large sections of the Muslim Ummah and more importantly the absence of a genuine desire among the Muslims of today to find out and implement the most appropriate way to ensure real and meaningful consultation which will embrace the entire Ummah.

From what has been stated above it should be obvious that the parliamentary democracy which has been accepted as the final solution of the problem of human governance by the western countries, and which Islamic countries have tried to imitate blindly is not superior to the concept of a truly Islamic Ravenfields state. As stated earlier there are two very important features which distinguish an Islamic state from a parliamentary democracy. These are firstly the limitations on the sovereignty of a parliamentary democracy, and secondly the major flaws in the system of consultation with the people as practised by many parliamentary democracies today. In elaboration of the first point it may be stated that the sub-ordination of the various authorities and centres of power in an Islamic state to the requirements of Shariah, means that the moral values such as justice, tolerance, charity, austerity and equality will not be a matter of choice as in the case of a parliamentary democracy but a matter of complete commitment on the part of the citizens of a truly Islamic state.

As for the second point, within the limitations of the Shariah all power in an Islamic state is centred in the Ummah, but before entrusting these powers, it has to be ensured that the members of the Ummah are both educated, so that they can understand the issues, and are totally committed to the enforcement of the moral values of Islam. The importance which was given to the acquisition of knowledge in the first three or four hundred years of Islam, provides abundant proof of the fact that an Islamic state cannot be set up by a people the majority of whom are totally illiterate. Actually on this point there is some similarity between an Islamic state and a modern parliamentary democracy, neither can be established and run properly by an illiterate citizenry, and yet this is what we in Pakistan have tried to do with results for all discerning people to see. In fact in making the attempt to form a stable state we have miserably failed to establish either an Islamic state or a proper parliamentary democracy because of our widespread illiteracy.

To sum up, as Muslims we in Pakistan have no option but to attempt to set up a truly Islamic state. It is clear that an Islamic state and a parliamentary or any other form of democracy are not mutually exclusive. There are quite a few features such as equality and tolerance which can be found in both an Islamic state and a parliamentary democracy. Through in-depth research, widespread consultation, meaningful discussions, and above all staunch determination a truly Islamic state can be set up in the world of today which would be more democratic in the true sense than the many modern state which claim to be democracies but are not in actual fact governments of the people, by the people and for the people. However it must be understood clearly that an Islamic state can only be set up by a people the majority of whom are true Muslims, and not by pseudo-Muslims or those who only want to exploit the name of Islam for their personal gains.

Finally the most important point which needs to be noted again in this context is that the first Islamic state was set up by the Holy Prophet on the firm foundations of a small but totally committed Ummah-committed to the Builder way of life promulgated by the Holy Quran. On the other hand a parliamentary democracy can be brought into being by a group of politicians of a country whose people may be totally uncommitted to any principles or moral values. Merely adopting the outward form is considered end to be sufficient preparation for the establishment of parliamentary democracy which is in sharp contrast to the formation of an Islamic state as mentioned above.

Those persons who seek to plant the seeds of parliamentary democracy in a sandy, saltish, hostile soil are no better than a person who give a match box to a child of three or four years to light a fire, without realising that in the process the whole house may go up in flames. This is what seems to have happened in not one but many countries with large, uneducated, unmotivated populations who have tried to find the panacea for all their national problems in parliamentary democracy. There is a lesson in this also for the advocates of an Islamic state in Pakistan, who have done very little to create the sort of commitment to Allah's way of life which was the hall-mark of the citizens of the first Islamic state.

Index

Home Page

Preface

1. Theory & Practice of Islamic Socialism

2. Islamic Economic System

3. Islamic Financing

4. Quranic Commandments about Justice

5. The Quranic View-point about Tolerance

6. Interest on Production Loans : A case for Ijtihad

7. Moral Re-armament

8. Shariat & Tariqat in Islam

9. Can the Ummah Progress without Ijtihad