Giving correct scholarly opinions to both Muslims and non-Muslims: Is Islam compatible with democracy?

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Is Islam compatible with democracy?

Question:

Is Islam and democracy compatible?
Answer:

If your question is whether Muslims can decide and run the affairs of their country through consultation and consensus among the people the answer is yes; but if, while exercising this authority, they were to legislate on matters on which God and His Messenger have pronounced decisive judgments, then that is not acceptable in Islam. A case in point is legislation to legalize homosexuality, fornication, adultery, aggressive wars, discrimination based on race or ethnicity or language, liquor and intoxicants, etc. People have no authority to legislate on matters God has pronounced a decisive judgment. Nor are they allowed to tamper with them.

People, however, are mandated to make decisions on all matters that do not fall under the purview of the divine writ through mutual consultation and consensus among themselves. This area of legislation in Islam is at once immense and extensive whereas the first category where they have no freedom to exercise legislative authority is rather limited.

The vast area of legislation affecting public life and social relations are, therefore, subject to democratic practice so long as they are governed by the Qur'anic imperatives to establish Truth, Justice, Fairness and Compassion as best as humanly possible. People are not only permitted to achieve this through democratic process of consultation and consensus; rather they are mandated to do so according to the clear orders of God in the Quran:
"----And consult them in their affairs; then when you decide (matters based on consultation) put your trust in Allah (in implementing the same) for verily Allah loves those who place their trust in Him." (Qur'an: 3: 159)."
"And their affairs are run through mutual consultation!" (Qur'an: 42: 38).

The Prophet, peace be upon him, further warned rulers/leaders who betray the trust invested in them by people of terrible divine retribution.

Finally, the Quranic mandate for humanity is to establish Justice, Compassion and to strive against injustice, evil and aggression:
"Verily, God commands justice and compassion, and giving freely to the kith and kin, and He forbids lewdness, evil of all kinds and aggression; He admonishes you in order for you to remain conscientious." (Qur'an: 16: 90).
"O you who believe, be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity; and let not hatred of any people make you swerve from justice. Deal justly; that is nearer to God-fearing. Fear Allah. Allah is aware of what you do." (Qur'an: 5: 8).

To conclude: If anyone thinks Islam sanctions monarchy, dictatorship and despotic rule, and is opposed to democracy as stated above, they are simply contradicting the teachings of the Qur'an both in letter and spirit.

http://askthescholar.com/AskTheScholar2.aspx?q=705

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Salaam and welcome

The purpose of this blog is to give accurate and fair fatwas from notable scholars on the religion of Islam.

What's a fatwa?

A fatwa is an opinion or ruling by one who is knowledgeable about Islamic ethics. Usually these people are Imam's, Mufti's, or anyone who has done deep studies of Islam.

Why should we follow scholars?

The Prophet Muhammed (peace be upin him) said:

“Scholars are the inheritors of the prophets.”

A Quran verse is said to coincide with this hadith:

“Then We gave the Scripture as inheritance unto those whom We elected of Our servants.” [Qur'an, 35.32]

Another hadith states:

”The superiority of a scholar (alim) over the devout (abid) is like my superiority over a worshipper or like that of the moon in the night when it is full over the rest of the stars, and truly the scholars arc the heirs of the Prophets, and truly the Prophets do not leave behind them gold or silver, they only leave knowledge as their heritage. So whosoever acquires knowledge acquires a huge fortune.” (Transmitted by Ahmad, Abu Dawud and al Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah.)

We pick and choose the most relevant opinions on major issues that many Muslims have either doubts or questions on.

The thing is there's many sites that give fatwas, but many of them are too extreme, flat out stupid or just wrong, all of whom contradict Islamic teachings. It's gets real tiring hearing about what some ulema (body of scholars) say about women, non-Muslims, and harmless customs. They judge, accuse and somtimes even degrade others. These people are suppose to guide us and help us, yet they're doing the opposite. Islam tells us only God and his Prophet (peace be upon him) can declrare what is haraam (forbidden), however these 'scholars' will find out ways to try and make whatever they want as haraam.
These are also feeders to anti-Islamic material. It makes us look even more worse than we're portrayed.

Another thing, there's many liberal and secular sites that are giving their own rulings, and they lack some of the basic Islamic education, most of which are found in kid's books. They are also doing significant damage to the ummah (worldwide Muslim community).

Our goal is to set things straight and educate both Muslims and non-Muslims about Islam. All of the postings on this blog are to-the-point As well, these posts are for our own benefit, so we can refer back to them when we need to.

The rulings and opinions from scholars on this blog are mostly selected from the following popular sites:

http://www.askthescholar.com/ (run by Sheikh Ahmed Kutty, labeled as one of the top 100 Muslims worldwide).
http://www.onislam.net/ (formerly IslamOnline, one of the most visited Islamic websites in the world).
http://www.muslimvillage.com/
http://www.askamufti.com/
http://en.islamtoday.net/
http://www.canadiancouncilofimams.com/
http://fiqhcouncil.org/
http://www.ali-gomaa.com/ (Grand Mufti of Egypt)
http://www.dar-alifta.org/ (headed by the Grand Mufti of Egypt, advises the Egyptian government on matters)

We are thankful to God that we have found these sites, as they are the only ones (as of now) who post relevant and reliable material. And we hope inshallah (God willing) other Muslims can benefit from them as well)

We also pick out videos from sites like Youtube that feature scholars giving lectures, or their opinions on certain matters.

WE NEVER ISSUE OUR OWN FATWAS, EVER. We have studied Islam and know it well enough to know what's in our religion and what isn't. We can tell what's a good fatwa and what isn't. This is just a heads up because we don't want to recieve emails critisizing us about our selection of fatwas. All the scholars featured on this blog are well known and respected. They aren't random people wanting to misguide the ummah.