The Islamic community is committed to and
governed by a number of prime values. Some of these are:
·
Submission of God alone
·
Freedom governed by responsibility and discipline
·
Justice and kindness
·
Equality strengthened by brotherhood
·
Shuura or mutual consultation
These values are realized in a community through
the use of knowledge and power resources. An ignorant or a weak society cannot
hope to be free and to implement justice, for example.
We have already discussed the importance of Tawhiid or submission to God alone. Of the other values
mentioned above, justice and shuura are the key ones.
In a sense both freedom and equality are part of justice. Freedom of movement,
freedom of work and earn an honest living, freedom of peaceful association and
expression are all guaranteed by the practice of justice. So too is equality of
opportunities and equality before the law for all members of a community. Here
we shall just take a closer look at the supreme values of justice and shuura which must characterize any Muslim community or
society.
Justice is perhaps the most important of the
supreme values of Islam. In fact, it can be said that the main purpose of
revelation and the task of Prophet has been to establish justice.
Thus, one of the early scholars of Islam has said
that ‘When the signs of Justice appear and its face is shown in any way, that is where the Law of God and His religion are
found’.
Justice is the first principle of social life. It
can be shown to govern all relations in life: between ruler and ruled, rich or
poor, husband or wife, parents or children. Even in the ordering of an
individual’s personal habits, justice must be done to the respective
requirements of body, mind and spirit. As we have seen, it is unjust, for
example, to neglect your body and its needs in search of spiritual development.
In all Islamic institutions, justice can be seen
to be operating: in the lines of congregational Salaat
where no one has precedence over another by virtue of power, wealth or rank; in
the equality of all before the law such that noone, whether ruler or
criminal turned ‘prosecution witness’, can claim immunity; in the family where
no preference should be shown by a parent to one child over others and so on.
In all your dealings, you are required to stand firmly for justice even if it be against yourself and your kith and kin, for love too can
lead to injustice.
The fear of committing injustice may even prevent
the doing of an act that is otherwise permissible. In fact one of the derived
principles of the Shari’ah is that all permissible
things are permissible provided that no damage or harm results to others from
their practice and that in the event that such damage or harm is suspected or
confirmed, the permissible shall be prohibited to avert such damage or harm. (top)
The collective affairs of all Muslim communities
need to be run on the basis of shuura or mutual
consultation. The Qur’an in a verse revealed at Makkah described the Muslims as ‘those who answer the call
of their Lord and establish Prayer and who conduct their affairs by mutual
consultation (shuura), and who spend of what We have bestowed upon them’.
Whether Muslims are involved in the running of a s mall community group, the administration of a mosque,
the management of a school or a business corporation, or the governance of the
affairs of state, they are obliged to practice shuura.
There are two conditions to be observed in the
exercise of shuura. The first is that shuura is not applicable to questions on which an
injunction exists in the Qur’an or in the Sunnah, both of which constitute binding legislation.
Matters in this category are outside the scope of shuura,
except when its purpose is only to interpret the injunction or to enforce it.
For example, the fixed rate of two and a half percent Zakaat
on wealth cannot be referred to or changed by any group of scholars consulting
together. They may however need to exercise shuura to
work out what is the level below which no Zakaat is
payable in a particular community. The amount may very from one community to
another, depending on such factors as cost of living indexes.
The second is that when a question is referred to
shuura, the advisors cannot reach a decision
contradicting an injunction of the Qur’an or the Sunnah. For example, no advisors to a
government seeking to raise production levels in factories can decide that time
off will not be given to workers to perform the compulsory Friday
Congregational Prayer or that Muslim workers should not fast in the
month of Ramadaan. No educational ministry or
institutions, in the name of education reform, is allowed to pass a law forbidding
women students from observing Islamic dress requirements.
Matters to be brought before a shuura are normally of a delicate and important nature
requiring knowledge and deliberation to reach decisions on them. An example of
such a matter which we have just mentioned is how should Muslims calculate the
minimum level of income below which no Zakaat is
payable.
As for daily administrative matters which do not
require policy or strategic decisions, and especially when there is need for
quick action, no shuura is necessary. Shuura is not merely advisory. The decision reached after
mutual consultation by a majority of advisers is binding on the ruler or leader
of the Muslim community or state. The principle of shuura
was strictly followed by the Prophet himself and by his companions.
Provided that proper processes of consultation
are observed and seen to be observed, the people in a community should all
regard the decision of a shuura as binding on them.
It may happen that a minority may not agree fully with a decision taken but in
this case they should accept the decision of the majority provided that this
does not involve any disobedience to the Shari’ah. In
the time of the Prophet, for example, the majority decided that the Muslims
should leave Madinah to confront the enemy forces at Uhud outside the city. The Prophet himself felt that they
should defend themselves from within the city but he followed the majority
decision.
The Islamic rules on shuura
are so flexible as to allow any Muslim community to choose the best means to
suit its requirements according to the circumstances of time and place. One
community may decide to choose its leader or executive by direct election.
Another may choose to do so through indirect elections by nominated
representatives. The principles of shuura, like the
principles concerning dress in Islam, are general and allow for variety in the
detailed forms.
Shuura promote unity and the
striving for unified goals in a society. It is an indispensable condition for promiting the common good, to ensuring a sense of
responsibility, participation and commitment in members of a society.
The practice of shuura
should serve to prevent the emergence of despotic, authoritarian and arbitrary
styles of leadership in a community. It also serves to prevent alienation, the
growth of factions and conflict in a community. The principles and practice of
justice and shuura are best suited to dealing with
dissension and discord that may arise within a community – between individuals,
members of a family or conflicting groups or interests. There are processes for
counseling, arbitration and even for applying sanctions against stubborn and
unruly elements. The forty-inth surah
of the Qur’an, Surah al-Hujaraat, is an important one to study and apply in order
to promote harmonious social relationships. The judicial institutions of Islam
are equipped both for conducting arbitration and for applying sanctions and
punishment. The proper discharge of these functions are important for the natural
and stable growth of societies. The alternative is anarchy or oppression. (top)