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In Islam, each and every human is, in a sense, considered a representative of God on earth.
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Theocracy
vis-à-vis Islam
The
political system of Islam is not theocratic because the term “theocracy”
implies two basic elements: The first element is the assumption or acceptance of
the principle that God alone is the Sovereign of ultimate power. The second part
of the definition of “theocracy” is the assumption that there’s a certain
priestly class or clergy who claim to be representatives of God on earth, who
alone have the right to interpret the will of God, and who in some certain cases
are the ones who are supposed to enforce the divine law.
According
to the first part of its definition, theocracy is not contradictory with Islam,
whose structure is based on the acceptance of the supremacy of God in that His
laws are ultimate and His wisdom is infinite. However, the second part of the
definition has nothing to do with Islam. In Islam there’s no church as an
institution as such, there’s no clergy. Islam doesn’t accept the notion that
a particular group of people can claim for themselves to be representatives of
God on earth. The entire human race is regarded, in a sense, as representatives
of God on earth.
In
Islam, legitimacy of any power or institution is derived mainly from people’s
acceptance of this legitimacy. In other words, one can’t gain legitimacy as a
ruler unless people agree to this, not to have it imposed on them; the people
are entirely free to choose their rulers. Islam does not accept a system which
involves any kind of dictatorship, nor does it accept a system of monarchy where
the power is inherited within the same family. Indeed, one wouldn’t only point
out to systems that call themselves monarchies because there are many countries
that call themselves republics, but indeed power seems to be circulated only
within the elite.
Is
the Political System of Islam Democratic?
Whenever
a comparison is made between Islam and anything else, we need to remember that
Islam is not a man-made idea. Islam is a God-ordained way of life, and as such
it reflects the infinite divine wisdom, which is absolutely infallible. With
this kind of understanding, Islam, as reflected in the word of God and the
sayings of the Prophet—which he also received by way of revelation—present
the ultimate truth. It’s not something that anyone can update or change or
supersede in any way; it is free from error or else, of course, there wouldn’t
be any belief in God. On the other hand, other systems, whether they are
democracy, socialism, or otherwise, are man-made ideas or ideologies.
The
human being is fallible, his wisdom and knowledge are imperfect. Of course, in
any of these man-made ideas there may be certain good ideas. When saying that
Islam is similar to democracy, this seems to carry an implication that democracy
is “the way,” “the ideal,” and then we go back to Islam to find out
whether it meets these ideals or measures up to these standards or not. And that
is almost like saying: Let’s take God’s ordained way of life and judge it in
accordance with the criteria established by humans. Therefore, democracy and the
political system in Islam, although they may have some similarities, are not
really synonymous.
Similarities
and Differences
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In a true Islamic system, even if the majority wants to deprive the minority, they can’t do it because of the automatic restriction on their action.
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Some
of the fundamental principles in democracy are similar to Islam: first, the idea
or notion of freedom of the people to choose the rulers they want. Another idea
that is similar is that of participation in the decision-making process in some
form or the other. The third similarity between democracy and Islam is the
notion of the removal of some governments which fail to meet the expectations of
the people.
The
first basic difference between the political system endorsed by Islam and
democracy is that in democracy, the ultimate authority lies with the people. In
Islam, however, the ultimate authority doesn’t belong to people; it belongs to
God alone. That means that both the ruler and the ruled in Islam are subject to
a higher criterion for decision-making, that is, divine guidance. If the
people—the rulers and the ruled—are truly believers, the final say in the
interpretation or understanding of these divine laws would have to be within
those laws.
Some
might feel or think that this distinction between Islam and democracy is
academic or theoretical, but it is not. It has some serious implications. For
example: When the majority, in a Western democracy, decide that the drinking age
should be lowered to 13 or 14, no matter how harmful this may be, it becomes a
law, because that’s what the majority of people want. Under Islamic law, the
Qur’an itself prohibits drinking, so it shall be prohibited regardless of what
the people want.
Another
example regards the rights of minorities. Suppose in a given society the
majority of people, who belong to a particular race or class or group, decided
to deprive minorities of their rights. Even if the constitution prohibited this,
the constitution itself can be changed. So, if a decision is taken to oppress a
certain minority or minorities, it could be done under democracy, theoretically
at least. Yet, under an Islamic system it cannot happen because the rights of
the minorities are rights which are enshrined in the Qur’an and the Prophetic
tradition, and as such no human being can supersede that.
The
Qur’an and Prophetic tradition are the ultimate constitution, which is
different from the secular constitution because it cannot be changed. In the
secular system the constitution can be changed whenever needed because it’s
human-made and there may be better words than the ones that were put in the
first place. Whereas, in the case of divine constitution, one cannot say “I
know more than God.” In addition, it’s quite clear that democracy seems to
go with systems which are basically secular, where the legislation of churches
or temples or any religious body has nothing to do with the actual political
system. However, the system of government in Islam doesn’t make any
distinction between the moral and temporal and the whole notion of secularism is
alien to Muslim thinking.
What
Is the Political System of Islam?
Some
have tried to give the title of “theo-democracy” to the political system in
Islam. “Theo-democracy,” in this sense, would reflect an element of
theocracy concerning the supremacy of God and His laws. At the same time, it
would also reflect the democratic notion that there is no exclusive class and
people who can monopolize the interpretation of that system.
A
better term, however, has been suggested by Abul-A`la Al-Mawdudi: “popular
trusteeship.” This suggests that the entire human race is appointed on this
earth to be like trustees or vicegerents of God on earth, and it [trusteeship]
is not to be claimed by one individual, group, or class. Rather, it is a
collective type or responsibility to fulfill this duty, which means that the
rules apply to rulers and ruled alike.
Does
the Islamic Model Exist Today?
In
order to have what can be called an Islamic political system, it is not enough
to simply implement some aspects of Islam, such as the criminal law, while
neglecting some more fundamental issues, such as the freedom of the people to
choose the rulers. In addition, if penalties are to be applied, they have to be
applied impartially
Similarly,
it would not be necessarily representative of the true approach of Islam, to
restart immediately implementing aspects of criminal law without allowing
transitory periods of sufficient time to reform society and move it to the
ideals of Islam. The philosophy of criminal law in Islam is not just punishment;
it is the idea of creating reform in a society by removing the causes of crime
before punishment can be applied. Therefore, before applying the laws, rulers
should look into the wisdom of the legislation and the prerequisites to
implementing those penalties.
Unfortunately,
the complete and perfect model of an Islamic political system does not exist
today. But this does not mean that it is a utopian system that exists only in
theory. It existed in a complete and perfect form during the lifetime of Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him), and during the reign of the first four Rightly
Guided Caliphs. There were ups and downs, but there were some periods when one
could actually say that the model was either perfect or as close to perfection
as could be expected. In later centuries, however, there have been lots of ups
and downs and many deviations. It is very difficult to point out any single
model and claim that it represents the true picture of an Islamic political
system. Indeed, there are many systems that are quite apart from Islamic
teachings and violate the very basic principles on which a truly Islamic
political system can be based, although they may claim that they are Islamic.
*
Adapted from a
lecture in Dr. Jamal Badawi’s Islamic
Teachings series.
**
Dr. Jamal Badawi is a professor at Saint Mary’s University
in Halifax, Canada where he currently teaches in the
areas of Management and Religious Studies. He is the author of several
works on various aspects of Islam.
