The Political Framework of Islam

What ALL Muslims are supposed to believe. They stop being Muslims and move
towards apostacy when they reject this teaching. So it is naive for
Westerners to ask Muslims to accept that Sharia is subservient to
constitutional law.

Why can't one ask the valid question as to whether Islam is compatible with
democracy?
"Theo-democracy" is just an alternative term for theocracy.

Can anyone really expect the Shiites in Iraq to reject Sharia?
.........................................................................
The Political Framework of Islam
By IOL Team

The political system of Islam is based on the three principles of
Tawheed (Oneness of Allah), risalah (prophethood) and khilafah
(humans' moral responsibility).

Tawheed means that Allah (God) alone is the One and Only Creator,
Sustainer and Master of the universe. He alone has the right to command
or forbid. Worship and obedience are due to Him alone.

Hence, it is not for us to set the ethical and moral codes or invent
our frames of reference, though every nation, group or individual is
entitled to contextualize Allah's commandments and guidance that were
revealed in succeeding religious messages within their own time and
space; hence religious devotion is a dynamic and not a static
condition. This principle of the Oneness of Allah does not contradict
the concept of the legal and political sovereignty of the political
community; hence the different models of Islamic democratic governance
through Islamic history.

The risalah is the message of the prophets. Islam is the last revealed
religion and the Qur'an is the last testament. Muslims believe in the
previous messengers and their messages and their original and authentic
Holy Books. The Qur'an lays down the broad principles on which human
life should be based universally, as it is the last revealed message
from Allah, and Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah, established a model
system of Islamic life in accordance with these principles. The
combination of these two elements - Tawheed and risalah - is called
the Shari 'ah (Law).

Khilafah means representation. Humans - both men and women -
according to Islam, are the representatives of Allah on earth, His
vicegerents.

To illustrate what the previous notions mean, let us take the example
of an estate of yours which someone else has been appointed to
administer. There are four conditions in this relation: First, the real
ownership of the estate remains vested in you and not in the
administrator; second, he administers your property directly in
accordance with your instructions; third, he exercises his authority
within the limits prescribed by you; and fourth, in the administration
of the trust he executes your will and fulfills your intentions and not
his own. Any representative who does not fulfill these four conditions
will be abusing his authority and breaking the covenant which was
implied in the concept of delegation.

This is exactly what Islam means when it affirms that man is the
representative (khalifah) of Allah on earth. Hence, these four
conditions are also involved in the concept of khalifah. The state that
is established in accordance with this political theory will, in fact,
be a caliphate under the sovereignty of Allah. It should rule with the
power of the people in accordance with the principles of justice and
welfare. Such a society carries the responsibility of the khilafah as a
whole, and each one of its individuals shares in it.

Hence the form of Islamic government might be called theo-democracy, a
combination fully different from the Western historical experience of
the relation between church and state.

http://islamonline.net/english/introducingislam/topic08.shtml


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