DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN ISLAM Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakaatuh. All praise is due to Allah, Whom we praise and seek help, guidance and forgiveness from. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils within ourselves and from the burden of our evil deeds. He, whom Allah guides, will never be misled; and he whom He allows to stray no one can guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah without partners and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. O servants of Allah! “Surely Allah demands that you fulfill trust obligations towards those entitled to them and that when you judge between people; judge with with fairness” (Q4:58). So, the issues a Muslim must border about are: 1. Fulfillment of obligations by those in authority to their subjects. The poor masses who thronged out under the sun and rain to vote for the leaders- have they been given their rights? Or have the little at their disposals taken by their leaders and given to the rich? 2. Fairness in the judicial system. Is justice within the rich and the poor? Or is justice available to the highest bidder? The two twin issues of Amanah (trust) and Adl (justice) are two key issues which all public office seekers and holders need to be aware of and ensure that they comply before they can be at peace with Allah. On these issues, Sayyidina Anas bin Malik said: “The Prophet (SAW) never deliver a Khutbah in which he did not say the following words: ‘One who has no Amanah has no iman (faith) and one who breaks promises has no religion’” Allah confirms the saying of His Prophet (SAW) when He proclaims that: “Yes, whoever fulfils his pledge and fears Allah much; verily then Allah loves those who are pious”(Q3:76). With this it should be clear that whoever does not fulfill his promises or pledges lack faith and will not be loved by Allah. More importantly, these qualities become more important when a person is occupying a position from where he can affect other people’s lives. Thus, the Ulamas explain that Q4:58 specifies that all positions of authority are a trust to be given to those who are qualified for them and whenever a Muslim is a position to adjudicate a case between any two parties, he must do so with justice and fairness. According to one hadith, if a person who has been charged with some responsibilities relating to the general body of Muslims gives an office to someone simply on the basis of friendship or connection of some sort without regard to the capability or merit of that person, the curse of Allah falls on him. None of his acts of worship are accepted, whether mandatory or voluntary. O servants of Allah! Regardless of the style of government, the major requirement is for the recognition by all those charged with authority over the people that they are a trustee and shall account for the trust before Allah. In the discharge of the trust, they need to put the welfare of the followers at the front burner by ensuring that their rights are protected. Islam gives its citizens the right to absolute and complete equality in the eyes of the law. As far as the Muslims are concerned, there are clear instructions in the Holy Qur’an and hadith that in their rights and obligations they are all equal: 1. The believers are brothers (to each other) (49:10). 2. If they (disbelievers) repent and keep up prayer and pay the Ipoor-due, they are your brothers in faith (9:11). The Prophet has said that: 1. The life and blood of Muslims are equally precious (Abu Dawud; Ibn Majjah). 2. The protection given by all Muslims is equal. Even an ordinary man of them can grant protection to any man (al-Bukhari; Muslim; Abu Dawud). Upon this foundation of equality of all human beings is the foundation of an acceptable Islamic government laid. In this system, whatever name it is called, the rights and obligations of any person are neither greater nor lesser in any way than the rights and obligations of other people. In this wise, injustice and oppression on the basis of class does not arise. Discrimination of people into different classes was one of the greatest crimes that Pharaoh used to indulge in: He had divided his people into different classes, ... And he suppressed one group of them (at the cost of others) (28:4). O servants of Allah! The kind of government that can and should truly be celebrated is one in which the rule of law prevails. How can we jubilate where abuse of office is celebrated or where an official of State will go to court to stop a probe of his/her misdeeds? Islam clearly insists and demands that all officials of the State, whether he be the head or an ordinary employee, are equal in the eyes of the law. None of them is above the law or can claim immunity. Even an ordinary citizen in Islam has the right to put forward a claim or file a legal complaint against the highest executive of the country. The Caliph Umar (RA) said, I have myself seen the Prophet, SAW, taking revenge against himself (penalizing himself for some shortcoming or failing). On the occasion of the Battle of Badr, when the Prophet was straightening the rows of the Muslim army he hit the belly of a soldier in an attempt to push him back in line. The soldier complained O Prophet, you have hurt me with your stick. The Prophet immediately bared his belly and said: I am very sorry, you can revenge by doing the same to me. The soldier came forward and kissed the abdomen of the Prophet and said that this was all that he wanted. (Allahu Akbar!) O servants of Allah! A society that engages in injustice cannot escape the wrath of Allah. In this wise the Prophet (SAW) admonished: The nations that lived before you were destroyed by Allah because they punished the common men for their offences and let their dignitaries go unpunished for their crimes; I swear by Him (Allah) who holds my life in His hand that even if Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, has committed this crime then I would have amputated her hand. During the caliphate of Umar (RA), Muhammad the son of Amr ibn al-As the Governor of Egypt, whipped an Egyptian. The Egyptian went to Madina and lodged his complaint with the Righteous Caliph, who immediately summoned the Governor and his son to Madina. When they appeared before him in Medina, the Caliph handed a whip to the Egyptian complainant and asked him to whip the son of the Governor in his presence. After taking his revenge when the Egyptian was about to hand over the whip to Umar, he said to the Egyptian: Give one stroke of the whip to the Honourable Governor as well. His son would certainly have not beaten you were it not for the false pride that he had in his fathers high office. The plaintiff submitted: The person who had beaten me, I have already avenged myself on him. Umar said: By Allah, if you had beaten him (the Governor) I would not have checked you from doing so. You have spared him of your own free will. Then he (Umar) angrily turned to Amr ibn al-As and said: O Amr, when did you start to enslave the people, though they were born free of their mothers? O servants of Allah! Such as described above is the democracy that is acceptable to Allah. It is only such that can and should truly be celebrated. It is the freedom which such government guarantees to enable the common people to be able to lodge complaints against their leaders in the event of their rights been denied and for the courts to be impartial in adjudicating the case that can create fun and happiness PART 2 All Praises are due to Allah who created death and life to test you as to who will excel in doing of good deeds. Indeed, He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving. I tender praise and gratitude to Him for all the favours He has bestowed upon us by making us among those who accept Islam. May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon His Confidant, Muhammad (SAW), his family, companions and those who follow their path until the day of Judgment. O servants of Allah! Islam has laid down some universal fundamental rights for humanity as a whole, which are to be observed and respected under all circumstances whether such a person is resident within the territory of the Islamic state or outside it, whether he is at peace or at war, whether the government is democratic or not. Allah declares: O believers, be you securers of justice, witness for God. Let not detestation for a people move you not to be equitable; be equitable - that is nearer to God-fearing. (5:8) Oh servants of Allah We may be curious to ask what is human rights ?. Clearly they come in different shades but will be discussed thus: The Security Of Life And Property: In the address which the Prophet (SAW) delivered on the occasion of the Farewell Hajj, he said: Your lives and properties are forbidden to one another till you meet your Lord on the Day of Resurrection. The Prophet (SAW) has also said about the dhimmis (the non-Muslim citizens of the Muslim state): One who kills a man under covenant (i.e., dhimmi) will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise. The Protection Of Honor. The Holy Quran lays down: You who believe, do not let one (set of) people make fun of another set. Do not defame one another. Do not insult by using nicknames. Do not backbite or speak ill of one another.) (Q49:11-12) Sanctity And Security Of Private Life. The Quran has laid down the injunction: Do not spy on one another. (Q49:12) Do not enter any house unless you are sure of their occupants consent. (Q24:27) The Security Of Personal Freedom. Islam has laid down the principle that no citizen can be imprisoned unless his guilt has been proven in an open court. To arrest a man only on the basis of suspicion and to throw him into a prison without proper court proceedings and without providing him a reasonable opportunity to produce his defense is not permissible in Islam. The Right To Protest Against Tyranny. Among the rights that Islam has conferred on human beings is the right to protest against governments tyranny. Referring to it the Quran says: God does not love evil talk in public unless it is by someone who has been injured thereby. (Q4:148). In Islam, as has been argued earlier, all power and authority belong to Allah, and with man there is only delegated power which becomes a trust; everyone who becomes a recipient of such a power has to stand in awful reverence before his people toward whom and for whose sake he will be called upon to use these powers. This was acknowledged by Abu Bakr (RA) who said in his very first address: Cooperate with me when I am right but correct me when I commit error; obey me so long as I follow the commandments of Allah and His Prophet; but turn away from me when I deviate. Freedom Of Expression. Islam gives the right of freedom of thought and expression to all citizens of the Islamic state on the condition that it should be used for the propagation of virtue and truth and not for spreading evil and wickedness. The Islamic concept of freedom of expression is much superior to the concept prevalent in the West. Under no circumstances would Islam allow evil and wickedness to be propagated. What we see today in the print and news media under the guise of freedom of expression clearly is evil as the propagation of falsehood and wickedness is dominant. It also does not give anybody the right to use abusive or offensive language in the name of criticism. It was the practice of the Muslims to enquire from the Holy Prophet whether on a certain matter a divine injunction had been revealed to him. If he said that he had received no divine injunction, the Muslims freely expressed their opinion on the matter. Freedom Of Association. Islam has also given people the right to freedom of association and formation of parties or organizations. This right is also subject to certain general rules. A Muslim is not allowed to associate with a group that will cause corruption of his faith and thereby disobey his creator. Freedom Of Conscience And Conviction. Islam has laid down the injunction: There should be no coercion in the matter of faith. (2:256) On the contrary, totalitarian societies totally deprive the individuals of their freedom. Indeed, this undue exaltation of the state authority curiously enough postulates a sort of servitude, of slavishness on the part of man. At one time slavery meant total control of man over man - now that type of slavery has been legally abolished but in its place totalitarian societies impose a similar sort of control over individuals. Protection Of Religious Sentiments. Along with the freedom of conviction and freedom of conscience, Islam has given the right to the individual that his religious sentiments will be given due respect and nothing will be said or done which may encroach upon his right. Protection From Arbitrary Imprisonment. Islam also recognizes the right of the individual not to be arrested or imprisoned for the offenses of others. The Holy Quran has laid down this principle clearly: No bearer of burdens shall be made to bear the burden of another. (35:18) The Right To Basic Necessities of Life. Islam has recognized the right of the needy people for help and assistance to be provided to them: And in their wealth there is acknowledged right for the needy and the destitute. (51:19) Equality Before Law. Islam gives its citizens the right to absolute and complete equality in the eyes of the law. Rulers Not Above The Law. A woman belonging to a high and noble family was arrested in connection with theft. The case was brought to the Prophet, and it was recommended that she might be spared the punishment of theft. The Prophet replied: The nations that lived before you were destroyed by God because they punished the common man for their offenses and let their dignitaries go unpunished for their crimes; I swear by Him Who holds my life in His hand that even if Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, had committed this crime, I would have amputated her hand. The Right To Participate In The Affairs Of State. And their business is (conducted) through consultation among themselves. (42:38) The Shura or the legislative assembly has no other meaning except that the executive head of the government and the members of the assembly should be elected by free and independent choice of the people. O servants of Allah! The month of Sha’ban which precedes Ramadan has just commenced. Shaban is a month to which people do not pay attention because it comes between two important months, the Sacred Month of Rajab and Ramadan, the month of fasting. People are preoccupied with those two months and they do not pay attention to Shaban. Many people think that fasting in Rajab is better than fasting in Shaban, because Rajab is one of the Sacred Months, but this is not the case. Ibn Rajab (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Fasting in Shaban is better than fasting in the Sacred Months, and the best of voluntary fasts are those that are (observed in the months) closest to Ramadan, before or after. The status of these fasts is like that of al-Sunan al-Rawatib which are done before and after fard (obligatory) prayers and which make up for any shortfall in the number of obligatory prayers. The same applies to fasts observed before and after Ramadan. Just as al-Sunan al-Rawatib are better than other kinds of voluntary prayers, so fasts observed (in the months) before and after Ramadan are better than fasts at other times.” On this note, I urge you all to strive to keep some fasts in the days of this month preparatory to Ramadan. O servants of Allah! For a meaningful stocktaking and celebration, we advise that government and governance should provide the people justice, righteousness and respect for their human-granted rights. Allah should be the goal of all: the leaders and the led. And remember that “Verily, Allah enjoins al-Adl (i.e. justice ) and al-Ihsan (doing good for the sake of Allah) and giving help to kith and kin and forbids al-Fahsha (all evil deeds) and al-Munkar (all that is prohibited by Islamic law) and al-Bagh-y (all forms of oppression). He admonishes you, that you may take heed. And fulfill the Covenant of Allah when you have covenanted, and break not the oaths after you have confirmed them-as you have indeed appointed Allah your surety. Allah knows what you do” (Q16:90-91). May the guidance of Allah abide with us always to enable us maintain justice at all times and be far remove from any shade of injustice. Aaameen. Aquulu qawliy hadha wastagfirullah liy walakum innahu huwal ghafurun Raheem. Wassalamu alal mursaleen walhamdulillahi rabbil aalameen.
Posted on: Sat, 31 May 2014 10:38:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015