{"id":20460,"date":"2014-11-13T07:04:05","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T07:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/new-wp\/?p=20460"},"modified":"2014-11-13T07:04:05","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T07:04:05","slug":"rules-of-governance-in-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/rules-of-governance-in-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Rules of Governance in Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Islam is an Arabic word which carries several meanings. In the Quran, two distinct meanings are used by Allah. For example, in\u00a0<\/span>Surah<\/em>al<\/em>–<\/span>Nisa\u2019<\/em>\u00a0verse 90 and\u00a0<\/span>al<\/em>–<\/span>Anfal<\/em>\u00a0verse 61, \u2018Islam\u2019 or \u2018<\/span>salm<\/em>\u2019\u00a0<\/span>means \u2018peace\u2019. In a number of other verses, it carries the meaning of \u2018submission\u2019 or \u2018surrender\u2019, for example, verse 83 of\u00a0<\/span>Ali<\/em>Imran<\/em>\u00a0and 208 of\u00a0<\/span>al<\/em>–<\/span>Baqarah<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, such connotations are not in contradiction with one another. In fact, peace and submission are closely correlated in the sense that without practical submission to Allah and compliance with His commandments, real peace cannot be materialised nor can it be put into practice in life. (Abdurrahman, 1999).<\/p>\n

As for submission and obedience, Allah proclaims:\u00a0\u201cO you who believe! Obey Allah and the Messenger and those in authority from among you; then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the last day; this is better and very good in the end.\u201d(al<\/em>–Nisa\u2019<\/em>: 59)<\/p>\n

The verse basically explains the hierarchy of submission in Islam. Regardless of his status, man must first submit to Allah\u2019s will since He is the Creator and the Owner of the Universe. After the Divine, man must submit himself to His Messenger by following all the\u00a0sunnah<\/em>s of the Prophet. As the chain of prophethood was completed by Prophet Muhammad who needed to assign his companions to oversee new Islamic territories outside the city of Madinah, thus, the Quran also includes submission to the leader or\u00a0Uli al-Amr.<\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Uli al-Amr\u00a0<\/em>referred to\u00a0in the verse reflects the concept of\u00a0khilafah\u00a0<\/em>which means \u2018representation\u2019. The actual position and place of man according to Islam is that of the representative or vicegerent of Allah on this earth. As such, by virtue of the power delegated to him by Allah, man is required to exercise divine authority in this world within the limits prescribed by Allah. (Siddiqi, 2006). Since the\u00a0Uli al-Amr<\/em>\u00a0holds the supreme power on behalf of Allah, and responsible for the well-being of his people, justice, therefore, is incumbent on him.<\/p>\n

Unlike the Divine-appointed prophet, a\u00a0khalifah<\/em>\u00a0or leader under the concept of Islamic state, secures his authority through the concept of\u00a0mubaya\u2019ah\u00a0<\/em>with its legitimacy clearly mentioned in\u00a0al-Fath\u00a0<\/em>verse 10 and\u00a0al-Mumtahanah<\/em>\u00a0verse 12.<\/p>\n

Mubaya\u2019ah<\/em>\u00a0is a double oath of allegiance binding the public to comply with orders and the ruler to guarantee public participation. As such, subjects must submit their obedience to their ruler, who, in turn, has to rule in accordance with justice and the dictates of the\u00a0Syariah<\/em>, including the duty to consult his subjects (see Ahmad [2002] in\u00a0Righting<\/em>\u00a0Public Wrongs and Enforcing Private Rights: Public Involvement in Islamic Law<\/em>). This double allegiance entitles a citizen to withdraw his allegiance to a ruler in the event the latter does not fulfil his own portion of the obligation.<\/p>\n

After taking the\u00a0bay\u2019ah<\/em>\u00a0(pledge of allegiance) of both the\u00a0Ansar<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Muhajirun<\/em>\u00a0upon becoming the\u00a0khalifah<\/em>, Hadhrat Abu Bakar was reported to have imposed the following obligations upon those wishing to offer their\u00a0Bay\u2019ah.<\/em>\u00a0[seeWalkerin\u00a0Pledge of Allegiance\u00a0<\/em>(bay\u2019ah<\/em>)]:<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u201fO People, I have indeed been appointed over you, though I am not the best among you. If I do well then help me; and if I act wrongly then correct me. Truthfulness is synonymous with fulfilling the truth, and lying is tantamount to treachery. The weak among you is deemed strong by me, and until I return to them what is rightfully theirs, Allah Willing. And the strong among you is deemed weak by me, until I rightfully take from them what is rightfully someone else\u2019s, Allah Willing. No group of people abandons Jihad in the way of Allah, except that Allah makes them suffer humiliation. And wickedness does not become widespread among a people, except that Allah inflicts them with widespread calamity. Obey me so long as I obey Allah and His Messenger. And if I disobey Allah and His Messenger, then I have no right to your obedience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another characteristic of the rules of governance in Islam is the concept of\u00a0shura\u00a0<\/em>or mutual consultation.\u00a0Shura<\/em>\u00a0creates an avenue for the public to actively participate in governance and for this it is not merely a ceremonial procedure. When interests of members of the society are to be affected, the public must be consulted and their opinion weighed.<\/p>\n

The importance of consultation is underscored by Allah who dedicated a\u00a0Surah<\/em>\u00a0title in the Quran to the Arabic word.<\/em>\u00a0More precisely,\u00a0shura<\/em>\u00a0is highlighted in verse 38 to the effect:\u00a0\u201cAnd those who respond to their Lord and keep up prayer, and their rule is to take counsel among themselves, and who spend out of what We have given them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the above verse, a more direct injunction by Allah on Muslims to practice\u00a0shura<\/em>\u00a0is found in verse 159 of\u00a0Ali Imran:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThus, it is due to mercy from Allah that you deal with them gently, and had you been rough, hard-hearted, they would certainly have dispersed from around you; pardon them therefore and ask pardon for them, and take counsel with them in the affair; so when you have decided, then place your trust in Allah; surely Allah loves those who trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ibn Atiyya (d.546H\/1151 C.E) as quoted by Fathi Osman stated his commentary on this verse \u201cShura\u00a0<\/span><\/em>is\u00a0<\/span>one of the basics of Islamic law and a mandatory rule; and any [who is entrusted with a public authority] who does not take the counsel of those who have knowledge and are conscious of God, should be dismissed from his [or her public] position, and there is no argument about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Prophet who could do away with this concept for the information arbitrage he had, seldom made a decision without engaging those who would be affected. For instance, he consulted his Companions when before he decided to meet his enemies from Quraish in the Battle of Badr in the year 1H.\/622 C.E. He took a similar approach before getting into the Battle of Uhud. Based on the majority opinion and rather than staying in and defend Medina, he decided to meet the attacking army out of the city. Even in his private life, when his wife Aisha\u00a0\u00a0faced a\u00a0fitnah<\/em>\u00a0(false accusation), he asked his Companions for opinions.<\/p>\n

Arguably the minority or even a single person may be right and the majority may be wrong. Nevertheless, reliance on majority opinion reduces the risk of error in making decision. More importantly the principle of\u00a0shura<\/em>\u00a0promulgates freedom of expression and allows members of society to participate in decision-making process; and it indirectly ensures the appointed government does not regress into an authoritarian regime.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Islam is an Arabic word which carries several meanings. In the Quran, two distinct meanings are used by Allah. For example, in\u00a0Surahal–Nisa\u2019\u00a0verse 90 and\u00a0al–Anfal\u00a0verse 61, \u2018Islam\u2019 or \u2018salm\u2019\u00a0means \u2018peace\u2019. In a number of other verses, it carries the meaning of \u2018submission\u2019 or \u2018surrender\u2019, for example, verse 83 of\u00a0AliImran\u00a0and 208 of\u00a0al–Baqarah. Nevertheless, such connotations are not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-star","category-220","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}