Re:Democracy
- From: "Altway" <altway@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2006 19:16:27 -0500
"A.C" wrote:-
Question:-
Some time ago you posted an article on SRI arguing that Islam, if
implemented, would provides a much more correct form of Democracy than
exists anywhere today. That which regard themselves as Democracies are not
really Democracies at all.
However, Islam requires obedience to Allah, and that generally means
obedience to a clergy that acts on behalf of God. That creates a Theocracy.
How can this be called Democracy?
Answer:-
(1) Firstly, it has to be understood that no Democracy or any other system
can work without (i) a philosophy that justifies it, (ii) a consensus of
what the term means, and (iii) without a Law that upholds it. These must be
objective principles that require the recognition that they are not
arbitrary man made prejudices. If they are then anyone's opinion is as good
as any one else's and only the self-interest of those who have the power can
be enforced on the community.
This is, of course, a very primitive state of affairs, the law of the
Jungle, a pre-human stage characterised by conflict and the struggle for
power. The events, organisation and conditions that come about are then a
matter of impulse and accident and not of intelligence and deliberate
conscious control, things that characterise human beings.
A second stage that arose among primitive human beings is tribalism. The
tribe was an extended family and shared all things and it was led by its
elders, people who were respected and obeyed because they had acquired
greater wisdom owing to experience, facilitated the welfare of the tribe,
settled disputes and kept order in the community. This system broke down
leading to a third stage, owing to intensifying inter-tribal warfare as
populations increased, and greater self-consciousness, individualism and
self-centredness. Some tribes dominated and enslaved others. A distinction
arose between the rulers and the ruled, masters and servants, controllers
and controlled. As armed conflict led to much destruction and bloodshed
which contradicted the inbuilt self-preservative urge in man, intelligence
dictated that disputes should be settled by means of negotiations, treaties
and common accepted rules. These are obeyed because it is to the mutual
interest to all to obey them. But they also need enforcement lest it should
become to someone's advantage to flout them. This constitutes the fourth
stage.
There is, however, a fifth higher stage which recognises the existence of
objective factors that transcend human beings. These are the natural truths,
the forces, laws and processes by which all things in the world, including
human beings are formed, regulated and sustained. There are two higher
stages, a sixth and seventh which could be regarded as higher degrees of
this fifth stage. The sixth recognises the greater Universe beyond this
world and the seventh recognises the Transcendental Fundamental Reality, we
call Allah. Islam is interested in establishing these stages. Human beings
have certain inbuilt faculties, needs and capabilities and they seek their
own welfare which depends on these. Democracy could then be defined as the
social system designed to facilitate the welfare of all human beings.
(2) Secondly, and connected with the above, is how we see and define man.
According to the Islamic concept of man he has been created with the
materials of the earth wherein has been placed a spark of the divine (Quran
15:29, 32:9, 38:73). Indeed, man ought to behave according to his own
nature, but does not and that is what causes his problems. The purpose of
life for man on earth is to learn and develop, to grow spiritually.
"Then set your purpose for religion as a man upright by nature - the nature
made by Allah in which He has made men; there is no altering (the laws of)
Allah's creation; that is the right religion, but most people do not know -
turning to Him only, and be careful of your duty to Him and keep up prayer
and be not of those who ascribe partners to Him (polytheists), of those who
split their religion and became schismatic, every sect rejoicing in its own
tenets." 30:30-32
"Surely, We have created man in the best of moulds. Then We reduced him to
the lowest of the low; save those who believe and act right; for theirs is a
reward unfailing." 95:4-6
"Verily, We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the
mountains, but they refused to undertake it, being afraid of it; but man
undertook it. Lo! He has proved a tyrant and a fool." 33:72
"And the soul and Who fashioned it, and enlightened it with what is wrong
and right for it! He indeed is successful who causes it to grow (or
purifies it)! And he indeed is a failure who corrupts it!" 91:7-10
A Muslim is defined as one who surrenders to Allah. This in effect means
that he surrenders to (i) objective Reality, as Allah is the Fundamental
Reality, the source of all other things, but also (ii) to the Spirit within
himself, his real self, and it also means that he surrenders to (iii) Truth,
Compassion and Justice, among other things which are the attributes of
Allah. This means that primary loyalty is given to Allah and that these
attributes constitute the highest Ideals and goals. It also means that
Muslims must cultivate these attributes and that those who have them to the
greatest degree are respected and honoured the most.
(3) Islam does not have a Priesthood and organised church. In Islam
Theocracy cannot mean the rule of Priests. Each Muslim is responsible for
his own salvation by his own efforts (Quran 5:105, 6:70, 10:109, 17:15, 19).
Each must seek and abide by truth, virtue and justice. But human beings vary
in abilities and experience, and we are all born with little knowledge,
awareness and abilities and must learn and grow. We learn not only from the
events in the environment but also from each other and from the accumulation
of knowledge, techniques, organisation, and expertise over the centuries.
Educational systems have been constructed for the deliberate concentration
and acceleration of the learning and development process and these require
and create experts in various fields. But no one can be an expert in all
fields and we must rely on experts in other fields to guide us. Religion
itself, which is a comprehensive way of life requires experts and we need
them to guide us. Islam recognises three levels of Authority:-
"O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger and those in
authority amongst you; and if you dispute (quarrel or argue) about anything,
refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you (in truth) believe in Allah and
the Last Day; that is better and fairer in the end." 4:59
The first and fundamental authority is Allah, the Fundamental Origin and
Creator of all things. The second is the Prophet who interpreted and applied
the Word of God. The third authority must consist of the Ulema, the Learned,
those who have become experts but not in the mere academic or intellectual
sense, but those who have undergone the discipline and acquired (i) the
knowledge, understanding and awareness as well as (ii) the virtues and (iii)
the inner and outer abilities, self-control and skills.
Unfortunately, Muslims have not kept up learning and with increase in
knowledge and education and most of their leaders, with some exceptions,
have been relatively ignorant and rather naïve and stupid and not
particularly virtuous or able, as, indeed, predicted by the Prophet. This
condition was aggravated by the fact that Muslims, owing partly to the
degenerate state of the leaders, were dominated by foreign powers which
created secular educational institutions to train them to serve the ruler's
interests. They were Westernised with little knowledge of Islam and little
in common with the native Muslim population. The leaders, the Mullahs, were
left behind to their own devices, which the more enlightened and educated
Muslims are progressively abandoning. This leaves them leaderless but
vulnerable to many self-appointed spokesmen with inadequate, but
self-opinionated and prejudiced knowledge of Islam, creating conflict and
confusion.
This must necessarily change in future and is gradually changing. They must
They must be better educated and have adequate acquaintance with the
accumulated knowledge in all fields. This should mean that they go through a
basic education in schools and colleges that is wide and comprehensive
before undertaking specialisation as other experts do. Indeed, all citizens
will need to have a broad based basic education in all fields which are
incorporated in a self-consistent unified manner into the religious Islamic
framework. This is one where the aim is a balanced human development rather
than mere information or skill, where Knowledge, Virtue and Ability are
co-ordinated and where the economic, political, cultural, physical, social,
psychological and spiritual aspect of life are attended to in a consistent
manner. Specialisation will then arise gradually out of this and each person
should then be able to see their own position within the whole, be more
adaptable and inwardly and outwardly integrated without conditioning,
regimentation and imposed conformity.
The relationship between these Ulema and the People is not a mutually
exclusive one. There is a kind of hierarchy such that the Ulema at one level
see it as their duty to teach and guide others at a second lower level and
by doing so learn themselves. Those at the lower level see as their duty to
learn from those at the higher level and teach and guide those at the third
level and learn from doing so. There is also mutual consultation and
interaction at each level. The individual is both student and teacher and
the terms teacher and student have meaning only relative to each other. -
i.e. there can be no teacher if there is no one learning from him and vice
versa, there is no teacher from whom no one learns. There is no
differentiation between teacher, leader and authority. People choose those
whom they take as leaders and whom they lead. There is an upward flow of
development.
Hamid S. Aziz
.
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