THE ISLAMIC POLITICAL SYSTEM AND
THE POLITICAL FUTURE OF NIGERIA - 2
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[ Uncomfortable Truth ]
[Islamic System] II. THE ISLAMIC POLITICAL SYSTEM. Now we turn to
the main concern of this paper, The Islamic Political System. This is such a
vast and extensive subject that not even a book can hope to cover adequately
much less a conference paper.Time
constraint has further made the task even more difficult. Much of what we may
able to do in the circumstance is to expound on the philosophy of the system then
proceed to state its fundamental goals, principles and some of its
institutions. To put the whole exercise in context we shall at the end attempt
to discuss the dynamics of its application in contemporary Nigeria. (1) The Philosophy. The Philosophy
of Islamic Political System is naturally an integral part of the Islamic
Philosophy of life. In Islam man is neither a result of accident nor an end
product of some aimless and random chain of reactions. Far from it, man is the
deliberate creation of Allah (the Most High) and for a specific purpose. His
Creator leaves him in no doubt about this. Informing the Angels His intention
to create man the Most High said: Behold, thy Lord said to the Angels, "I will create a Khalifa (vicegerent) on earth."… And He taught Adam ‑ the nature of all things; … (Q. 2:30 ‑ 1) Thus man was deliberately created by Allah for a definite purpose. That purpose is precisely to serve as Allah's Khalifa i.e. deputy on earth. In other words man is to represent Allah's will on earth – establish His (Allah's) Sovereignty and conduct himself according to the laws of his Creator and Sustainer. For this reason Allah bestowed man with the necessary mental capacity: “And He taught Adam the nature of all things...”(Q. 2:31). Furthermore He promised man guidance, with an assurance that so long as he (man) follows this guidance he will neither go astray nor will have any cause to grief. "And if, as is sure, there comes to you guidance from Me, whosoever follows My guidance, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve." (Q. 22:38). But if for any reason he should choose to reject it then he will live a miserable life in this world and in the hereafter end up in hell. "But those who reject faith and believe our Signs, they shall be the companions of the fire; they shall abide therein". (Quran 2: 39). Dramatizing this in another ayah the Most High says: "But whosoever turns away from My Message, Verily for him is a life narrowed down, And We shall raise him up blind on the day of judgment." (Q. 20:124) ‘He will say: “Oh my Lord Why hast thou raised me Up blind, while I had Sight (before)?” (Q. 20:125) ‘(God will say: “Thus Didst thou, when Our Signs Came unto thee, disregard them: so wilt thou, this day, be disregarded.” (Q. 20;126) ‘And thus do We recompense him who transgresses beyond bounds And believes not in the Signs of his Lord: and the penalty of the hereafter is far more grievous and more enduring.’ (Q. 20:127) This guidance is the message Allah has sent to mankind in different places at different times through His Prophets. The final and most complete of this message is the Qur’an sent through the Seal of His Prophets, Muhammad (SAW). To accomplish this great and sublime task of establishing Allah's Will (i.e. justice) on earth man has been bestowed not only with the guidance but also with the physical power necessary. Making this very clear the Most High said: “We sent aforetime Our apostles with clear signs and sent down with them the book and the Balance (of Right and Wrong), that men may stand forth in justice; And we sent down iron in which is (material for) mighty war, as well as many benefits for mankind, That Allah may test who it is that will help, Unseen Him and His apostles. For Allah is Full of Strength, Exalted in Might (And able to enforce His will)” (Q. 57:25) Having been created purposely to establish Allah's rule on earth, having been equipped with all he needs for this task, man will eventually return to his Lord to render account of his assignment on earth. It is his performance here on earth that will determine for him a place in his final destination, the hereafter. By accepting the message sent by his Lord Creator and Sustainer and dedicating himself to executing his assignment man becomes a Muslim. By acknowledging Allah as the only One worthy of worship, Whose Laws alone man is obliged to follow, the Muslim actually liberates himself from the servitude of all men and exalts himself to the service of the only One worthy of being worshipped. Not only does he frees himself from the servitude of his fellow men (whose laws he may have to follow if he does not follow that of Allah) but he also frees himself from the servitude of his own whims and caprices. Thus he becomes the master of his desires not its servant, the controller of his body not its slave, a confident and disciplined character not a timid and unbridled personality. By fearing none but Allah, the Muslim saves himself from the fear of his fellow men or such imaginary forces as torment gullible minds. For he knows only too well that there is nobody in the whole of this wide world no matter how powerful he may appear to be, that can inflict on him any harm or benefit him with anything except what his Lord and Sustainer, Allah the Most High wills.(1) This freedom which only Islam confers is highly essential for the execution of man's assignment on earth. For only then can he resist the temptation of corruption, only then can he face the persecution of the tyrants and possess the courage to stand firm on justice anywhere anytime. Commenting on the case of those (ashabal‑hudd) who having attained this freedom were able to withstand the scorch of fire in the hands of tyrants Shaheed Sayyid Qutb said in his tafsir: “We feel the elevation of the believers as they rid themselves of the handicaps of human desires and worldly temptation. The believers could have easily saved their lives by accepting the tyrant’s terms. But what a loss humanity as a whole world have incurred! How great the loss would have been had they killed that sublime concept of the worthlessness of life without faith, its ugliness without freedom and its baseness when the tyrants are left free to exercise their tyranny over the souls after they have exercised it over the bodies.”(2) Indeed this is
the real freedom; to be free from any other than Your Creator and Sustainer to
fear none other than your Lord to whom is your ultimate‑return; to obey
no law other than that of the Lord of the worlds. Humanity devoid of such
freedom will be no different from animals in the Jungle. For not only will men
be governed by their animal instinct whims and caprices but they will fail to
stand up against oppression and tyranny and incapable of establishing justice
among men. The Islamic Political System has been designed to secure all the ingredients
of justice and to instill the necessary checks and balance, on human behaviour
to guarantee the attainment of justice and harmony in all facets of human
endeavour. A recollection of the formation of the first Islamic State in Madina
may help elucidate this point. The Prophet and his companions lived in Makka
for some thirteen odd years bearing the brunt of a variety of torments, torture
and oppression. All these years they were instructed by the Most High not to
fight back but to persevere with patience, for clearly the harsh conditions
were designed to train the breed of men to lay the foundations of the Muslim
Ummah, foundations that are to last for as long as long as life itself.
Immediately they were commanded to migrate to Madina where they were to build
the first and model Islamic State, they were permitted to fight
and their victory was guaranteed. This guarantee was given on certain
conditions, in the words of the Most High Himself: “To those against whom war is made permission is given (to fight), because they are wronged; and verily, Allah is Most Powerful for their aid; … “(They are) those who, if we establish them in the land establish (Salat) regular prayer and (Zakat) give regular charity, enjoin the right and forbid wrong: With Allah rests the end (and decision) of (all) affairs.” (Q. 22:39‑41) Thus the conditions on which Allah promised victory are the establishment of Salat, Zakat and Amr bil ma’aruf wal ‑ Nahyi anil – Munkar (enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong). While Salat here goes beyond regular prayer to symbolise a system which is wholly based on the worship of Allah, Zakat symbolises the establishment of social ‑ justice in society and Amr bil ma’aruf subsumes the establishment of the Sharia and the upholding of a moral consciousness in society. These are the basic ingredients of justice in human society. By making them the very conditions for victory, Allah requires them to form the very foundations of the Islamic State. Anything less would have put into jeopardy the attainment of justice and thus rendering the whole venture futile. Thus the Islamic Political System is essentially a means to justice and should it for any reason fail to measure up to this expectation, not only does it forfeit the name Islamic but more important it automatically calls for change. That Madina was the seat of the first Islamic State and that the founders of this state had to leave their birth places to come over to Madina to found this state was neither a coincidence nor the mere making of historical circumstances. Rather it was the deliberate plan of Allah the Most High. The underlying reason being that the Islamic State is not bound to territory or ethnicity. It is fundamental that from its inception the Islamic State rejects and destroys these basis and brings to sharper focus its ideological foundations. The fact that people from different parts of Arabia, Africa, Persia, Rome (Europe) e.t.c. abandoned their various locations to converge in Medina for no other reason than their belief in Allah and His Prophet and their commitment to Islam, shatters to pieces the idol of Nationalism and raises mankind from the narrow confines of pieces of land and ethnicity to the lofty heights of ideals and principles. So that human beings will be judged neither by the piece of land in which they happened to be born nor by their tribe nor colour of their skin but by the ideals they cherish and the behaviour they display. Nationalism, a crude and
fanatical form of tribalism and at best a glorified racialism, operates under
the erroneous assumption that man has no responsibility beyond the piece of
land in which he finds himself. This parochial perception not only allows man
to escape from shouldering his wider responsibility to mankind but more seriously
lets loose his innate selfishness and greed and literally grants him license to
flout laws other than those of his own land to exploit and even enslave other
people who happen to be living in another piece of land Lacking any rational
basis, Nationalism resorts to false propaganda, self‑infatuation
fanaticism and naked chauvinism for its survival. Indeed, human civilization is
yet to have a menace more ominous than Nationalism. In lslam land does not belong to man but to Allah who created it and assigns man to run it on his behalf: Say: ‘To whom belong: The earth and all beings therein ? (Say) if ye know ! ‘They. will say, “To God!” Say: “Yet will ye not Receive admonition?” (Q. 23:84‑5) As the Khalifa (representative) of Allah on earth, man’s constituency is the whole world not a portion thereof. Thus he owes a responsibility to the whole of mankind not only a section thereof. It is the Hijra that draws man from his narrow confines, cleans him of his parochialism and introduces him into the vastness of this earth, impressing upon him the responsibility he owes the whole of Humanity. By refusing to come out of his confines to take his full responsibilities man to this extent is unjust to himself and constitutes a threat to mankind. This is precisely why Allah views the issue of hijra very seriously. In His sublime words: Surely (as for) those whom the angels cause to die while they Are unjust to their souls, they shall say: ‘in what state were you?’ They shall say: ‘we were weak in the earth.’ They shall say : ‘Was not Allah's earth spacious, so that you should have migrated therein?’ So these it is whose abode is hell, and it is an evil resort; Except the weak from among men, women and the children who have not in their power the means nor can they find a way (to escape); (Q. 4:97-8) When a land becomes characterized with injustice, tyranny and oppression, i.e. Dar al‑Zulm to use the Islamic terminology, where man’s inalienable right to freedom and justice has been transgressed it is no longer worthy of human habitation and man must break with it and find for himself land more worthy of his esteem. It is the Hijra which gives man a clear break with this Jahiliyya and impresses upon him the obligation he owes to humanity to fight this Dar‑ al Harb the abode of war, until freedom and justice is restored and the land once again becomes suitable for human habitation - Dar al-Salam the abode of peace. Thus the Hijra not only liberates man from the Injustice and oppression of his fellow man but inspires man to fight injustice and oppression where ever he finds it and whoever perpetrates it, thus ensuring for man a just and equitable society to live in. Centred on justice, based on ideological foundations and free from constraints of parochialism, the Islamic Political System is the only political arrangement capable of delivering justice not only to those who believe in it but to the whole of humanity. It therefore remains the only hope for humanity, especially the beleaguered and unfortunate people of Nigeria. |
