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Jahed Ahmed
[Note to the readers: Following article was prepared as a part of final speech (3rd in a row) in �oral communication and speech� section for a college senior friend of mine under the proposition �Islam is not compatible with modern democracy�. However, with instructor�s remarks that it is not any controversial statement and rather obvious, topic was later changed. The article is presented here almost in intact form including the original format. The author doesn�t claim- the theme of the article to be completely original. In fact, in some cases, several pre-existing articles were adapted, particularly from www.secularislam.org (SKM, Ibn Warraq�s articles). In other cases- several other articles and Bernard Lewis� book �The crisis in Islam� have been referred. As for quotes from the Koranic verses, readers are free to verify the meanings by comparing all existing translations of Koran. �J.A.] "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience & religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, & freedom, either alone or in community with others & in public & private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship & observance". -UN human rights declaration, Article-18
�Whoever changes his religion, kill him�. --- al-Bukhaari, al-Fath, # 3017
Introduction: I begin here with some excerpt from executive summary of Arab UNO Human Development Report 2003 (available online) exclusively prepared by Arab scholars: �Development challenges represented by the three deficits in knowledge, freedom and women�s empowerment remain serious��Constitutions, laws and administrative procedures need to be refined to remove all restrictions on essential freedoms��Arab culture has no choice but to engage again in a new global experiment.� 1 The above statement clearly reflects the backwarded and closed system of Arab world in contrast with any modern democracy. What about the rest of the Muslim countries? According to Freedom House, the Washington-based group that tracks the global state of civil liberties, found in its 2003 survey that just nine of the globe�s 47 Muslim-majority countries�19 percent�are genuine electoral democracies. Among the 145 non-Muslim states in the survey, 112, or 77 percent, met that definition.2 Apparently, the viable democracy among Arab or majority Muslim countries is a rare phenomenon. Question, however, is: has Islam as a religion (not as a culture) anything got to do with such deficient status of democracy among Muslims? My answer would a straight �yes�. Indeed, a state completely ruled and guided by Islam as a religion ( in another words, Sharia law) is never compatible with true democratic value such as individual rights for freedom of expressions, equal treatment of man and woman, minority protection, and likes. Today we are eye witnessing the demand by liberal Muslims for democratic reformation in a sharia law based country such as Iran and Pakistan. Why? Because we�ve already seen in Afghanistan- what happens when sharia law is strictly applied in every aspect of modern life. However, I am going to provide solid evidences on my own from Islamic scriptures in defense of my proposition. Proposition/central idea: Islam is NOT compatible with modern democracy Keywords: 1. Islam �the literal meaning of the Arabic word Islam means �submission�; and of course, here, submission means submission to Allah along with complete faith (Iman) in his last messenger and Prophet Muhammad. Therefore, In Islamic sense, the two words �God� and �Allah� are not equivalent. 2. Democracy- whether we consider any dictionary definition, or the classic definition put forward by Abraham Lincoln, which is, by the people, of the people and for the people; it is obvious- democracy is centered on and around people�s sovereignty viz. a system where people choose their own leaders, where people and press are free to express their opinions without any obstacle from the state and where every citizen is entitled to receive equal treatments from the state irrespective of his/her ethnic/religious/gender/cultural identity. Given the massive loss of millions of innocent civilian lives in so called Holy Wars, it is also generally accepted that separation of religion and politics is a vital prerequisite in any modern democracy in order for it to be fully viable. 3. Caliph: The word caliph comes from the Arabic khalifa, which is somewhat similar to combined meanings of the two English words �successor� and �deputy�. Originally, the head of Muslim community was the �the khalifa of the Prophet of Allah� viz. Muhammad himself. Then it came into short form called �The Khalifa of Allah�. Such direct claim to divine authority became somewhat a controversial and debated issue among Muslims themselves in the absence of the Prophet. Instead, a similar but less spiritual title meaning �the Shadow of God on earth� was widely used by Muslim rulers. For most part of Islamic history, the head of the Islamic empire (caliphate) was known as Amir al-Mu�minin, meaning, �Commander of the Faithful�. Here, the word �faithful� is associated in Islamic sense. Historical Background in a nutshell3: Prophet Muhammad (570 C.E. -632 C.E.) was not only a founder of a new religion called Islam, unlike Christ, Moses, or Buddha, same time he was a statesman. It was very much during Prophet�s life time that Muslims became simultaneously a political and a religious community, with the Prophet as a head of state (Khalifa of Allah). Of course, almost all Muslims considered and obeyed Prophet as a statesman who was directly blessed with divine authority, or Allah�s guidance. By the time Prophet Muhammad died (632 C.E.), his main spiritual mission, which was- to bring Allah�s message to mankind was completed. What remained was spreading the message to the rest of the mankind until they accepted it! For the subsequent leadership, therefore, a successor of Prophet was needed since Prophet himself didn�t declare his immediate successor. Abu Bakr, Prophet�s father-in-law and cousin; being the oldest among Prophet�s all surviving companies was selected Prophet�s first successor, or khalifa. This began the foundation of great historic institute of the caliphate (empire). Under the caliphs (there were total four caliphs namely: Abu Bakr, Umar, Osman and Ali; three out of these four were assassinated), barely within a century, Islam emerged as a world religion. The great caliphate, however, was divided into several factions after the assassination of Ali, the last of four main Khalifa. Nevertheless, within a remarkably short time Muslim armies succeeded in overthrowing the ancient empire of Persia and all it�s territory came under rule of caliphate. This helped the way to the invasion of Central Asia and India. To the West, the Byzantine Empire lost a large part of empire to Muslim warriors though Byzantine was not defeated yet. The then Christian provinces of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa were conquered and Islamized and Arabized which served as the basis of further invasion of Europe and the conquest of Spain, Portugal and much of southern Italy. By the early eighth century, the conquering Arab armies were into France. The Islamic empire lasted several centuries though under different caliphate and different rulers. In 1918- the Ottoman sultanate, the last great Muslim empires, finally lost to British and French empire. Developments (Contentions vs. arguments):
Contention: #1: Sovereignty of People vs. Sovereignty of God (Allah) Argument: Article-1 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights says-�All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brother hood.� In contrast, Islam�s Prophet believed, since human being are infallible, only way to liberate mankind is establishing Islamic caliphate. Muslims consider Koran is a complete code of life blessed by divine authority which must include politics. Ayatollah Khomeini said once: �Islam is politics or it is nothing.�4 Another Islamic scholar Maududi (much revered by many Muslims) comments:�In reality, Islam is a revolutionary ideology and program which seeks to alter the social order of the whole world and rebuild it in conformity with its own tenets and ideals.�5 Let� now examine what Koran, Muslim�s Holy Scripture says about Islam as an ideology: a) �Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God�s religion reign supreme�. (8:39) b)�It is He who has sent His apostle with guidance and the Faith of Truth, so that He may exalt it above all religions, much as the pagans may dislike it�. (61:9) It is obvious from above verses that Koran encourages every pious Muslim to establish Allah and His Prophet�s divine rule on earth and not any man-made ideology such as democracy. It�s, therefore, no wonder that King Fahd of Saudi Arabia is reported to have once said: �The Democratic system that is predominant in the world is not a suitable system for the peoples of our region��.The system of free election is NOT suitable to our country.� 6 Let�s also not forget- the Prophet of Islam, a statesman himself unlike Moses/Christ/Buddha, divided the world simply into two zones: Dar-el-Islam (Land of Muslims) and Dar-el-Harb (Land of War- non Muslims). Therefore, it�s a must-to-do duty for every pious Muslim to spread the Allah and Prophet�s �divine� message through out the globe at any cost.
If we consider all these reasons and recall Islamic history then it�s not difficult to understand why in Islam, separation of state and church (mosque) is difficult thought may not be impossible. In West, such achievements (e.g. British (1688) and American Bills of Rights- proposed 1789 and ratified 1791) was possible, at least partly, because Jesus himself said: �Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar�s and unto God the things which are God�s�. (Matt. 22.17) Another analogy before I move to contention-2. Article-18 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it says: �Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes the freedom to change his religion or belief��� If we find Islam�s stance on same issue, you�ll be horrified to hear that. What is it actually? According to al-Bukhaari (viewed most authentic source of Prophet�s sayings by majority Muslims) al-Fath, no. 3017: �Whoever changes his religion, kill him.�
Contention-2: Woman�s inferior status in Islam
Arguments: Again, whether we consider it a true democratic value or a declaration of Universal Human Rights of 1948, before the eyes of law in a democracy all citizens are equal irrespective of their gender identity. Sadly, Islam grants man much higher status than woman. Following verses from Holy Koran would suffice to justify above claim.
a) �Men are in charge of woman, because Allah has made the one of them to excel the other�.� (4:34) b) �A male shall inherit twice as much as a female� (4:11) c) �Women are your fields: go, then, into your fields from whichever side you please�. (2:223)
Let�s now again turn to Muslim scholar and philosopher al-Ghazali (1058-1111), Professor Montgomery Watt describes as �the greatest Muslim after Muhammad." Following is his views about woman (Ref."The Revival of the Religious Sciences"): �She should stay at home and get on with her spinning, she should not go out often, she must not be well-informed, nor must she be communicative with her neighbors and only visit them when absolutely necessary��� If a friend of her husband calls when the latter is absent she must not open the door nor reply to him in order to safeguard her and her husband's honor. She should accept what her husband gives her as sufficient sexual needs at any moment. ... ��.She should be clean and ready to satisfy her husband's sexual needs at any moment.�
Three more contentions vs. arguments are �
Arguments: Non-Muslims living in Muslim countries have inferior status under Islamic law, they may not testify against a Muslim. In Saudi Arabia, following a tradition of Muhammed who said " Two religions cannot exist in the country of Arabia ", non _ Muslims are forbidden to practice their religion, build churches, possess Bibles etc. b. Contentions: Recognition of slavery Arguments: Slavery is recognised in the Koran. Muslims are allowed to cohabit with any of their female slaves (Sura iv.3); they are allowed to take possession of married women if they are slaves (Sura iv.28). c. Contentions : Racial prejudices in Islam
Arguments :
Quran clearly commands Muslims not to accept any
Christian/Jew as a true friend. Following Koranic verses justifies my
claim :
"NOT
to make friendship with Jews and Christians�
(Q.
5:51) The historical fact that for five continuous centuries (9th to 13th century) Islam was the leading and most enriched civilization in the whole world may seem to contradict the Islam�s orthodox basic tenets. However, we must remember, Islam achieved its glory only when it was more guided by rationale , the Greek philosophy influnced Muslim thinkers called � mutazilla � than by any divine authority. For example- Al Razi, Al Maa�ri, Omar Khayam et al Muslim thinkers were not Muslims in strict sense. Infact, many of them were skeptics. No wonder- today�s Saudi-led orthodox Wahabi Ulamas don�t consider thinkers of Middle Age Islam as true Muslims. � Human cultures can be vastly different. Yet the human heart desires the same good things, everyehere on earth �- so said US President Mr. Bush Jr. in a speech delivered less than a month before the war in Iraq began (9). Few people including Muslims would probably disagree with Bush�s sentence. However, doubt arises- when on one hand, America keeps remaining the biggest ally of most Middle Eastern and beyond, autocratic Muslim regimes such as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the sole sponsor of spreading orthodox Islamic doctrines called wahabism world wide, which in many ways is directly responsible for the rise of militant Islam in various parts of world including such countries as Pakistan, India and Bangladesh and on the other hand, American President makes sugar-coated speech such as above. Unfortunately, it�s the Muslims who are in crisis today ; and they have to find a rationale, secular and democratic way out themselves. Adopting terrorism has been and only will be worsening the situataion further. I end here with an excerpt from an article written by internationally recognized Pakistani nuclear-physicist Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy which appeared in Washington Post (also appeared in Free Inquiry, Spring 2002 issue) sometime after 9/11. � Muslims must recognize that their societies are far larger, more diverse and complex than the small homogeneos tribal culture that existed in Arabia 1,400 years ago. It is therefore time to renounce the idea that Islam can survive and prosper only in an Islamic state run according to Islamic sharia law. Muslims need a secular and democratic state that respects religious freedom and human dignity, founded on the principle that power belongs to the people. This means confronting and rejecting claims by Islamic scholars that in an Islamic state sovereignity does not belong to the people but, instead, to the vice-regents of Allah (Khilafat-al-Arz) or Islamic jurits (Vilayate-e-Faqih). � ___
New
York
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