12. ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY

Democracy is incompatible with Islam. Democracy is rule by majority. It is ultimately rule by human being. Islam prescribes rule by God. Therefore, most Muslim will see “Islam is incompatible with democracy” not as a disparagement of Islam, but as a compliment because they sincerely believe that their idea of rule by God is superior to that of rule by men which is democracy.

Muslim in general opposes western democracy. In Western democracy, people are sovereign; in Islam sovereignty is vested in Allah and the people are His caliphs or representatives. The laws given by Allah through His Prophet (Sharia) are to be regarded as constitutional principles that should not be violated.

Ayatollah Khomeini called democracy “a form of prostitution” because he who gets the most votes wins the power that belongs only to Allah.

Maudoodi, an Islamist theoreticians, dreamed of a political system in which human beings would act as robots in accordance with rules set by God. He said that God has arranged man’s biological functions in such a way that their operation is beyond human control. For our non-biological functions, notably our social, political and cultural functions, God has set rules that we have to apply once and for all so that our societies can be on auto-pilot. In any arguments Muslim scholars mixes up both, biological functions like breathing with non-biological functions like punishment of a thief or relation between man and wife. You cannot question why you have one mouth and two eyes. Similarly you are not expected to question sharia, rule of God.

The late Saudi theologian, Sheikh Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Jubair sincerely believed that the root cause of all of our contemporary ills was the spread of democracy. “Only one ambition is worthy of Islam,” he liked to say, “the ambition to save the world from the curse of democracy: to teach men that they cannot rule themselves on the basis of manmade laws. Mankind has strayed from the path of God; we must return to that path or face certain annihilation.”

Many Muslim theologians believe that the real danger to Islam does not come from American tanks and helicopter gunships but from the idea of democracy and rule by the people.

Islamic rule

Democracy means the rule of people. This is unacceptable in Islam. The Quran is empathic that “to Allah belong all Dominion and power”. The words “No judgment but God’s” (la hukmilla li-llah) is based on several Quranic verses. This power is vested on His regent known as Caliph al-Allah.

The Caliph cannot legislate. He can only interpret the Law given in the Quran and the sunnah and apply it. Naturally, since the Quran is not a clear book, this allows for a wide range of interpretations and this explains why there are so many Islamic schools of thoughts and sects. But the bottom line is no Islamic government can be democratic. Common people cannot elect legislators for enacting legislation. Common people are called awwam, and as the saying goes: al-awwamkalanaam! (Awwam are like animals).

It is up to the “experts” of the Law to interpret the Sharia and let the awwam know how they should live their lives. This endows the “expert” ruler, all the power and allows him to act as the deputy of God on Earth. There can be no opposition to the ruler. You can’t oppose God by opposing his representative.

In democracies people’s beliefs are irrelevant. They can belong to any religion or no religion and still manage to govern themselves in a secular state. This is not the case in Islam where God is the lawgiver. Christians and Jews have managed to separate the Church from the State. Such a separation in Islam is not possible. The concept of Church as understood in Christianity does not exist in Islam. There is no central authority like the Vatican or the Church of England in Islam. Mullahs and Imams are average Muslims who through their knowledge of the Quran and Sharia gain reputation among the ummah and their own peers. Every Mullah can interpret the Sharia in his own way. But he can’t redefine the explicit teachings of Islam. Every mullah is empowered to issue “fatwa” regarding social, political and military matters of adherents of Islam. You can’t separate the Islamic “Church” from politics, because there is no such thing as the Islamic “Church”.

Presently, Muslims don’t have a Caliph acceptable to all. Even if they had, he would not have been able to deviate from the Quran and separate Islam from politics.

Democracies are pluralistic. In democracies people have different faiths and are free to criticize, not only each other’s religions but also their own. Islam does not tolerate such a thing. Anyone who criticizes Islam faces severe punishment including execution or assassination. Islam is regarded as the only Truth. Defying this truth is the same as defying God. Challenging the authority of the representative of God on earth is like challenging God himself.

Islamic rule is rule of sharia as interpreted by experts. No citizen has any right to criticize. Non-Muslims in Islamic state do not have equal right to that of Muslims. Non Muslims are generally treated like sub-human. And among non- Muslims, people of books have preference.

Obligation of Islamic state

Islam’s main goal is to give the dominion of this world to its “rightful” owner, Allah. No authority on Earth can change that. Impeding Islam to achieve this goal is denying its raison d’être and it is tantamount to blasphemy. Islam by definition is imperialistic. It must advance, conquer and reclaim the dominion of all the earth or there is no reason for it to exist.

Tawhid means that only Allah is the Creator, Sustainer and Master of the universe and of all that exists in it, organic or inorganic. The sovereignty of this kingdom is vested only in Him. He alone has the right to command or forbid. Worship and obedience are due to Him alone, no one and nothing else shares it in any way. Life, in all its forms, our physical organs and faculties, the apparent control which we have over nearly everything in our lives and the things themselves, none of them has been created or acquired by us in our own right. They have been bestowed on us entirely by Allah. Hence, it is not for us to decide the aim and purpose of our existence or to set the limits of our authority; nor is anyone else entitled to make these decisions for us. This right rests only with Allah, who has created us, endowed us with mental and physical faculties, and provided material things for our use.

This definition makes clear that the rule of Islamic system of government is not limited to Muslims but to every “organic or inorganic” thing that exists in this universe. This of course includes the non-Muslims. In an Islamic state everyone must live according to the dictates of Islam. The next thing in Islam is the concept of Jihad and the necessity to struggle in order to advance the Islamic dominance.” Islam does not preach peace, it has never been peaceful and it will never be. Islam has advanced through aggressive militarism and regards Jihad and martyrdom as the most meritorious acts. Islam is militant and imperialistic by its very nature.

Islam advises Muslim state to make truce with Non-Muslim states when it is not ready for engaging them in challenge but truce should be rescinded as soon as situation reverses. Muslim state should always try to advance the domain of God or the frontiers of Islamic state. Also it is duty of every Muslim man to join Jihad. He is glorified in victory and achieve heaven if becomes shaheed to receive blessings of God in the form of virgin young girls among other things.

Islam is Fascist

1)     Fascism is elitist.

Islam is also elitist. The Caliph or the velayat-e faqih is the ultimate authority on Earth. He is the one who can understand the scriptures properly. His word is the ultimate undisputable decree. However, theoretically, just as in communism, anyone can aspire to become Caliph. The Caliph in Sunni sect is elected by the learned whereas the velayate-e faqih in Shiism is nominated by a body of the ruling Mullahs called: “The Assembly of Experts”.

Whether this ruler is elected or nominated, just like in other totalitarian regimes, he occupies his seat for life and responds to no human authority.

2)     Fascism is totalitarian

In fascism state is absolute. Every individual lives as per the requirement of the state. The fascist leader rules by deceit. He portrays himself as state. Ultimate leader’s requirement becomes state’s requirement.

Just like in fascism, the Islamic state is defined as an organic whole to which individuals must submit. In Islam “freedom” is in submission to Allah and his messenger. The very word Islam, which Muslims deceptively translate as peace, means submission. What is good for Islam and the Islamic state is good for Muslims and what is bad for Islam and the Islamic state is to be spurned and regarded as bad for the Muslims too. Islam and the establishment of Islam’s dominion are the greater good and the ultimate goal that every Muslim must strive for. The most important feature of Islamic polity is the glorification of Islamic state and the total subordination of the individual to it.

3)     Fascism discourages knowledge

Islam opposes knowledge and technology but it is presented as the religion that encourages learning. Muslims are fond of reminding others that Muhammad said “seek knowledge even if it is in China” But the fact is that any knowledge that is perceived as contradicting the Quran is regarded satanic and is to be destroyed.

The Royal Library of Alexandria in Egypt was once the largest in the world. It was founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt. It stored at its peak, 400,000 to 700,000 scrolls. In 640 AD Muslims took the city and upon learning of “a great library containing all the knowledge of the world” the conquering general asked Caliph Omar for instructions. Omar has been quoted as saying of the Library’s holdings, “they will either contradict the Quran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous.” And to be on the safe side he ordered the library to be destroyed and the books burnt.

It is important to note that when Muslims talk about knowledge, they are talking about the “revealed” knowledge and not the secular scientific knowledge that has given birth to our civilization. The word science in Arabic is ilm. The people, who possess this ilm, are called ulama(plural of alim).  Alim does not mean scientist. It means religious scholar. Ilm is religious knowledge.

4)     Fascism discourages reason

Another similarity of Islam and fascism is their disdain of reason and intelligence. In Islam, the emphasis is on faith and unquestioning obedience to the mandates of God. Reason is rejected as a fallacy. Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, (1058 – 1111 CE), arguably the greatest Islamic scholar ever, in his book “Incoherence of the Philosophers” bitterly denounced Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and other Greek thinkers as non-believers and labeled those who employed their methods and ideas as corrupters of the Islamic faith. He took aim at Avicenna for being a rationalist who drew intellectually upon the Ancient Greeks. By emphasizing on the incompatibility of faith and reason, and by asserting the futility of making faith subordinate to reason, Ghazali gave validity to unreasoned faith and thus glorified stupidity.

William Montgomery Watt says: “The early period of Islamic thought is dominated by the conception of the exchangeability of true religion and the special Arab and Islamic conception of the nature of knowledge. Knowledge that is important for the conduct of life – and this is knowledge in the fullest sense – is obtained in the revealed words of God and in the sayings of prophets and other specially gifted men. From this conception of knowledge it follows that the work of the scholar is to transmit accurately the revealed text and other wise sayings”.

In Islam, the Caliph does not wear a showy uniform. On the contrary, in accordance to Muhammad’s sunnah, he exerts himself to make a public display of modesty. Modesty is just a show and a hallmark of Islam. The more modest you dress, the more pious you look. But Caliph did live a luxurious life in private, away from public gaze. The Friday prayers and the hajj are the Islamic versions of mass parades that are designed to impress the believer, give him a sense of pride and belonging and make him firm in his belief that Islam is strong.

This way all Muslims become equal and they had to lead a life as directed by Sharia. Sharia rules remained unchanged through fourteen hundred years. Even today no innovation, no change or no modification is allowed in Sharia rules. Naturally, reason is not appreciated. Only faith and total surrender to the interpretation of Imam is acceptable. Islamic education promotes mindless learning by heart of Quran and Hadith and rejects science and knowledge.

Clearly, the Islamic system of government is fascistic.

·        It is marked by centralization of authority under a supreme leader vested with divine clout.

·        It has stringent socioeconomic control over all aspects of all its subjects especially Muslims.

·        It has a policy of belligerence towards non-believers. It also controls non-Muslim subjects through another set of rules which is suppressive.

·        It suppresses its opposition through terror and censorship.

·        It opposes knowledge.

·        It disdains reason.

Islam, like fascism, appeals to people with low self-esteem and low intelligence. Both these ideologies are irrational. They disdain reason, and hail devotion and submission to a higher authority. Like fascism, Islam advises Muslims to bring more area under Muslim rule, more people under Islamic faith and destroy everything that does not conform to its sovereignty. Muslims seek power, domination and control. They pride themselves in their strength of number, in their mindless heroism, in their disdain for life and in their willingness to kill and die for their cause.

Islam is political and political Islam is fascism. Islam is what Democracy is not.

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