Democracy & Politics

 

Question:-

In Islam Allah is "sovereign". Does this not really mean that the 'Shariah' is sovereign? .Otherwise, in theory, what is wrong with government of the Muslims, for the Muslims, by the Muslims, under Allah? What is the difference between a Western and an Islamic Political System?

Comment:-

All Democracies depend on the supremacy of the Law even if the Law is made by men. When it is made by men it is subjective and generally serves the interests of some power group. In Islam the Law is objective in the sense that its fundamental principles are not legislated by any citizen, though the citizens agree to abide by it.

When the law is made by men, they do not do this in a vacuum but based on their inherent nature or experience or the principles they have accepted from religion or science. In the USA the Christian religion certainly influenced the construction of the Constitution and the Laws. The same can happen in Islam where the constitution is provided by the Quran. But the Quran provides more than that. It provides the framework within which Muslims lead their whole life in a unified self-consistent manner which does not separate it into separate compartments. There is no separation into politics, economics, science, art, ethics, civics, or between the secular and the religious. The purpose of the Islamic system is spiritual development and integration. The aim of Western systems is generally to control affairs to produce social order.

Though prejudices, fantasies, self-interest, expediency etc. enter into Law making, they also try to be objective in considering natural facts, circumstances and values. But it is their interpretations of these that take effect rather than the truths themselves. Nor is it the opinions of individuals that matters, but they are influenced by others, and by the general public. The result is a compromise or the outcome of a power struggle between various groups. This can be seen as the effect of Objective Reality on the system. The system is not independent of the natural laws made by Allah, which include the nature of the people and the resulting social conditions. A secular Democracy that regards man as supreme, though it honours and establishes human abilities and virtues also incorporates and fixes human limitations and vices.

As Islam is by definition Surrender to Allah, an Islamic system is one in which Allah is supreme but all affairs are settled by mutual consultation among the community of Muslims - that is, those who accept Allah as the supreme Authority.

We have three levels:-

(1) In Islam, to say that Allah is supreme implies or should imply that objective principles inform thought, motives and action. These are incorporated in the attributes of Allah such as Truth, Compassion, Goodness and Justice should be supreme.

(2) In effect this means that Allah and the Messenger He sends should be obeyed and this means that the Quran and Sunna should be followed.

(3) But it is human beings that interpret these and it is human beings that run the government and make the laws. This takes into consideration the nature of the people, their capacity for understanding and the circumstances and conditions to be dealt with. The set of Laws so created is called the Shariah. (We can ignore the ravings of those who have prejudices against the Shariah and would like to write their own based on their desires and whims.)

There is no difference at the surface level between Democracies and the Islamic Political system.

In an Ideal Islamic system the people who make the laws and govern would be those who are the closest to Allah. That is, the attributes of Allah would be manifest in them to the highest degree. They would be the most conscious, knowledgeable, virtuous and able. They would have acquired these qualities by having followed the Islamic discipline.

The people, having the same value systems would see their qualities and accept them as leaders and guides. And these leaders in their turn would guide the people and facilitate their development as well as their own. This would produce a crop of worthy leaders.

There would then be no question of compulsion, power struggles, manipulation, intrigue, deception etc. that characterise Western Political systems and negate Democracy. Such activities would be seen as criminal and dealt with accordingly. No, we cannot believe that there is real Democracy in the West at all. The Government is run by a set of people who have all the wealth and power and manipulate people, affairs and information, through secrecy, distortion, invention, propaganda, theatricals, and other modes of brainwashing. The impression one gets from observing political campaigns and debates is that they are a study in stupidity, criminal intrigues or a disgusting farce. Western Democracy, particularly the American version of it, is an abomination.

Islam has its own values, ideals and goals that concern psychological and spiritual development, social organisation and progress as means to that, and economic organisation and progress as a means to the social. There is responsibility to oneself, to others and society, and to the environment and all creatures in it. The values derive from the Attributes of Allah - Truth, Compassion, Justice, Benevolence, Ability, Responsibility etc. And these are objective, universal and timeless values that must continue the development of those who incorporate them.

The main mode of action would be education in its broadest sense (physically, emotionally, intellectually, morally, socially, psychologically and spiritually) which includes not just schools but the whole culture and way of life. There would then be a gradual "ascent" of the whole community. This in its turn would cause changes in the Shariah. From al-islam we go to al-iman and to al-ihsan. From Shariah to Tariqah to Haqiqah.

But let us begin by considering fundamentals:-

Human beings are motivated by three groups of drives:- the self-preservative, the socio-sexual and the self-extensive. They continue to exist because of reproduction and live in communities. The smallest viable unit is the family. This grows into tribes. This differentiates into the dependent children, the working adults and the experienced elders that run affairs. The tribe is held together by family ties. As the community expands further a distinction begins to arise between those who are familiar and strangers, between "us" and "them". The tribal system breaks down and individualism develops. Egos arise and the three drives become associated with it. People begin to seek wealth, power and prestige by exploiting others as a resource. Power groups arise. In order to control people they create hierarchical, pyramidal organisations that have several levels, the lower being controlled from the higher.. The higher up one goes the fewer the number of people and the greater the power, wealth and prestige. In this system promotion to the top is gained by the most ruthless by conformity and ingratiation to those over them. These three characteristics, therefore, tend to dominate this system. The more it increases the power, wealth and prestige of the few, the more, relatively, does it disempowers, impoverishes and reduces the prestige of the majority and this produces several psychological, social and environmental distortions and malfunctions.

This is offset by the fact that it is also an advantage to the Power Group that knowledge, expertise and innovation should develop in certain profitable directions, which stimulates training, education and research. The system allows the arising of new and better ideas and organisations that can replace less efficient, obsolete and failing ones. These developments tend to alter the power balance. Democracy tends to develop as an antidote to this power structure. The Power at the top is curbed by returning some power to the people by giving them the right to choose the Government and its policies. Movements or pressure groups arise among the people, but as they have to be organised, they produce the same power structure and are soon taken over by a Power Group. Political parties are set up that are not much different from each other. The policies are generally presented in packets such that the electorate has to take the good with the bad and decide which of the limited alternatives on balance is the better. Opinions are manipulated through the media of information owned by the Power Group. In general the political system is a struggle and the resulting changing balance between these three tendencies:- (1) Control from the top by the Power Group, (2) Resistance from the bottom by the people. (3) Developments in education and technology.

Western Political Systems are characterised to different degrees by three interdependent features:- (a) Power and pressure groups (b) The State and its Departments (c) Distracting and Conditioning devices.

Western political systems cannot justly be called Democracies as they are all governed by small groups of powerful, wealthy and influential people that control all affairs. They or their paid agents make and execute the plans, legislate the laws and appoint the Judges. They own the industries on which the livelihood of most people depends. The workers can be dismissed if they do not obey the policies created by the owners. They also run the political parties between which there is generally not much difference. But they make Politics into the continuing struggle for power, a war at a different level from the previous destructive armed conflicts. In this it is certainly an improvement on the past. But things can certainly be improved further. The system can be regarded as a halfway measure towards a system that would consist of consulting, discussion and agreements on objective factors, things that are really beneficial to mankind.

These political parties are organised in hierarchies in which the control rests with the leadership. They make the policies, take the decisions and select the candidates that the people are required to elect. When elected these people are required to obey and conform to the policies of the Party which they represent, not to their own conscience, not to truth or virtue or usefulness, nor to the interests or opinions of the electorate. Those who voted for the losing party, sometimes the majority, have no representation The people have no say in creating the policies or selecting their own representatives. That is why there are public protests, strikes, protests and demonstrations. But these tend to be ineffective and usually suppressed by government agents such as the police, the military, the secret services, or by laws, propaganda, bribes, threats and secret agreements. As the power is centralised all kinds of Pressure Groups of various interests, sizes and powers arise that strive to influence policies, laws and actions in their favour. The laws are seldom made on objective grounds of truth, justice or virtue, but tend to be based on speculation, group self-interest, prejudices, expediencies and the accident of the outcome of power struggles. Evidence, Court procedures and judgements are sometimes politically manipulated secretly.

Democracy requires that the people should have all the information on which they can base their decision. But government as well as industry is conducted in much secrecy. The power group also control all newspapers and the other media of communication that provide the information. This is manipulated through concealment, distortion, invention, trivialisation, exaggeration, repetition, selective reporting, embellishment, spinning, appeal to emotion, sentimentality, prejudice, fear and greed, gossip, whipping up hysterics, and propaganda that mentally condition the population.

The hierarchical organisation ensures that power, policy and decision is concentrated in the few so that the rest of the people can act as the limbs that carry out the will of the few. This increases power and effectiveness but narrows down variety and adaptability. It disempowers the majority and they either loose interest in the conduct of affairs or succumb to the illusion of Democracy by being given the right to vote and the freedom of speech. This freedom merely ensures that all opinions can be neutralised by their opposites, giving the rulers impunity to do as they like. Elections, that depend on the amount of money possessed and spent on propaganda, turn out to be excitement creating theatre which are manipulated by all kinds of deceitful dirty tricks.

Apart from this there is widespread apathy particularly as there is much encouragement through the media of mental distraction in sports, fashions, films usually of a violent and sexual kind, fiction and fantasy, gossip, popular music, cosmetics, consumerism, sensuality, alcohol, drugs and other trivialities and frivolities. These things tend to destroy all higher values, purposes and goals and lead to self-indulgence, widespread depravity, loss of self-discipline and waste of psychological energy as well as material resources. It does not create civilised people, but degeneration. The culture is marked by self-centredness, indifference, apathy, social disintegration, rampant violence, perversion, materialism, mutual exploitation, addictions, escapism and moral bankruptcy. This self-indulgence and lack of responsibility is called freedom. It creates a host of increasing psychological, social and environmental problems. These trends if not dealt with and reversed are likely to destroy them. Western civilisation is something like the dinosaurs that dominated and ruled the earth for some time and were then destroyed to be replaced by something that seemed weak and insignificant.

These distractions and conditioning devices become necessary in order that a ruling group can emerge by exploiting the docility, gullibility and passivity of the population and conduct its self-serving activity unnoticed and unopposed. However, as the majority of the people do not possess the initiative, motivation, intelligence and drive even to do what is advantageous to themselves or are rendered so by the culture produced by the political system, it is an advantage for them and the community as a whole that there should be a controlling group that even for its own advantage regiments them.

These two, the Ruling group and the Distracting Devices support and reinforce each other, leading to extremes. As the power of the few increases the methods of control also increase in power and efficiency. But those who have the power, themselves, become victims. The power of the Power Group obviously depends on the support of the citizens of the country, but the Power Group feels free to carry to pursue their own interest by the exploitation, plunder, murder, destruction, sabotage and throughout the rest of the world. This is done either secretly or justified in the eyes of their people by presenting it in an honourable moral or idealistic garb, by appeal to self-interest and greed, or by the invention of paranoid fantasies about the malevolent and aggressive intentions of foreign people and nations, even when they are obviously weak, poor and victims of the formers aggression and exploitation.

Western Politics also creates State controlled by Bureaucracies and their various Departments. These are rigid, unintelligent rule bound machines as is the hierarchical organisation that controls industry. The rules are made to reduce the freedom of action of those employed so that the policies and decisions of the power group is not flouted but enhanced. This makes the State oppressive as it enforces and protects its power by force of arms. Its employees tend to act like robots without awareness, conscience or will. A proportion of them are psychopaths that do not mind, and even enjoy, torturing and committing extreme acts of atrocity.

All this removes human initiative, responsibility and creativity, the very features that make us human and the enhancement of which is the aim of religion. In fact, it also corrupts religion which is enlisted by the Power Group to their own interest as is Science, Art and Technology. As the State and its Bureaucracy and Departments are machines, this, therefore requires the existence of those who control it. Each of these, the Controllers and the Machine make each other necessary and divide the community. Each tends towards opposite extremes and the Unity and Balance required by Islam is lost. The secular system replaced the religious system when the Christian Church had organised itself into a hierarchy that assumed political power and also abused it. This created a revolt by the secular powers, the landed Aristocracy and the newly emerging Capitalist Class and also the Scientists .

A truly Islamic political system would differ from both the Secular State and what can be called Traditional Theocracy. Islam does not have a Priesthood or organised Church and its political system is not the rule by Priests or organised Church. It is not Capitalism, Autocracy, or Oligarchy, nor is it Socialism, Communism or Theocracy. It is based on the Community and not on Territory or a dogmatic Ideology. In general, a traditionally based religious system also stifles human initiative, responsibility and creativity in that it tries to solve all problems by appealing to the gods and making sacrifices to them, ignoring human abilities and responsibilities. The religious hierarchy tries to control all thinking, motivation and action. This, in effect, is also what the secular power groups do. Unfortunately, the arising of a priest class has produced the same stagnation in Muslims communities. But it is certainly not Islamic. From the Islamic point of view the Spirit of Allah, the creator of all things, is in man and this gives him certain faculties of initiative and creativity and also responsibilities. This applies to all human beings to various degrees. This disallows the domination, control or manipulation of one person by another for the latter's sole advantage and the former's disadvantage.

An Islamic Political System, or one compatible with Islam, would have no political parties and would not be based on territory but on community. All members of any group, whether a village, district of a town, a society (such as those that concern themselves with the sciences, arts, economics, and ethics) or an interest group would have the right to attend an Assembly that discusses matters of mutual interest and reaches a consensus, creates and implements policies or appoints those who will carry these out. These Local Assemblies would select a leader according to agreed criteria with certain powers but responsible to the Assembly. They would send their representatives to a higher Central Assembly where mutual consultation between groups takes place about matters of common interest and they would report back to the Local assemblies.

 

The corrupt and worsening state of human affairs is being realised by an increasing number of people who are looking for alternative systems. Many American have noted the degeneration of the American nation and a movement has arisen designed to correct this decadence by giving them a new goal and an enemy to strive against. The goal is to stimulate American pride, and by the use of nationalism and the Christian religion, spread American ideals and values through out the world by military, commercial or propaganda means. The enemy was at first Communism and after its fall, it is now Islam. This effort, however is counter-productive and makes things worse because it is based on a false premise:- The fight between good and evil is conceived of in concrete terms as being between the USA, who represent the good and other peoples and nations who do not have American values as the evil ones. In fact, of course, good and evil are values and people are a mixture of good and evil in different proportions.

Many Muslims have also noted the spread of American domination and influence throughout the world, the degenerate nature of their culture and particularly the deep and widespread infection by it of the people of Muslim lands so that they have ceased to be Muslim, except in name. Here, too, a movement has arisen to cure this virulent disease by re-establishing Islam through the use of military means. Unfortunately, they too are making things worse because they base themselves on false premises. The militants are in the minority and can only rule over the majority by force and oppression that provokes opposition and Religion is spread by education not by compulsion.

These two Ideological Pressure Groups use different religion to promote their cause, provoke each other and between them create an atmosphere of terror. They require and, therefore, create a Fantasy Goal and a Fantasy Enemy. Whereas these tend to appeal to the minority owing to the decline in religions, the conflict between them is exploited by the Ruling Group to increase their control over the population. In fact, they use agents to commit various atrocities that they attribute to these movements in order to discredit them and enlist support for government policies to destroy them. These actions, of course, provokes them to further extremes.

This three sided conflict between these deluded movements is dominating the contemporary World Politics. However, it is likely, and the signs conform, that the worsening world conditions will cause an awakening and a revival of Islam as the only effective cure for global maladies.

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