SHARIAH Shariah is normally translated as “Islamic Law”. It is, however, not “law” but a set of regulations, principles and values from which legislation and law are drawn. While Shariah is eternal, Islamic law – like all law – evolves and grows and continues to change as the Muslim situation changes. The basic sources of the Shariah are the Qur’an – the words of Allah, the Sunnah – the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, Ijma – the consensus of the Muslim community, and qiyas – analogical reasoning. Muslim jurists have also developed a number of supplementary sources for the Shariah of which “al-Istislah” – the public interest, and “al-Urf” – custom and usage of a particular society, are the main. THE AIMS OF SHARIAH The ultimate aim of Shariah is to establish justice in society on the basis of compassion between human beings and between government and the public. It seeks this aim by emphasising the rights and responsibilities towards each other of individuals and society, the community and the state, the rulers and the ruled. The main aim is the creation of a morally responsible society, with the accent on social, economic and political justice. Shariah presupposes total freedom for human beings: freedom to act according to Shariah as well as freedom not to act according to Shariah. Those who wish to order their society according to the dictates of the Shariah do so willingly and consciously – not by force. Shariah also envisages a free society, a society capable of self- determination and in charge of its own resources. Unless a society has the freedom to harness and utilise its resources, it cannot distribute its resources appropriately and establish social and economic justice. The development of self-reliance, self-sufficienc y and self-respect, both individually and collectively, are essential for a society that functions on the basis of Shariah. In other words, such nation/state must be economically self-sufficient to making adequate provisions to meeting the needs and welfare of its citizens who are mostly the under-privileged, the sick, the blind, the disabled, etc appropriately without giving room for cheating, stealing from their fellows or neighbours in the community. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WHY IS RELIGION NECESSARY? What a man who believes in the existence of Allah has to do first, is learn the orders of his Creator and the things that will please Him, Who gave him a soul when he was nothing, made him live, eat, and drink, and gave him health. Then he has to spend his whole life abiding by Allah’s orders and seeking Allah’s approval. It is religion that shows us the morals, behaviour, and way of life of which Allah will approve. Allah has made it clear in the Qur’an that people who abide by religion will be on the true path, whereas others will go astray. Allah says: “He whose breast is opened to Islam is therefore illuminated by his Lord. Woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of Allah! Such people are clearly misguided.” (Surat az-Zumar: V22). WHO DOES ONE LIVE ONE’S RELIGION (DEEN)? People who believe in Allah, and who humbly obey Him, organise their lives in accordance with Allah’s recommendations in the Qur’an. He who lives the religion leads his life, complying with the right things his conscience inspires in him and abandoning everything bad that his self, the negative voice within him, orders. Allah states in the Qur’an that He created men with the predisposition to live their religion: “Therefore, stand firm in your devotion to the true Faith, the upright Faith which Allah created for man to embrace. There is no changing Allah’s creation. That is the true Faith, although most people may not know it. (Surat ar-Rum: V30) HOW CAN THERE BE MORALS WITHOUT RELIGION? In societies where there is no religion, people become predisposed to commit all kinds of immoral acts. For instance, a religious person would never take a bribe, gamble, feel envy, or lie because he would know that he would have to account for these actions in the hereafter. Yet, an irreligious person is prone to doing all these things. It is not enough for a man to say, “I am an atheist but I don’t take bribes”, or “I am an atheist but I don’t gamble”, because a man who does not fear Allah and who does not believe that he is going to give an account of himself in the hereafter may do any one of these things when the situation or conditions change. A person who says, “I am an atheist but I do not commit fornication” may do so at some place where fornication is considered normal. Or a person who says that he does not take bribes may say, “My son is sick and about to die, therefore I have to take the bribe”, if he has no fear of Allah. In a state of irreligiousness, even theft may be considered legitimate under certain conditions. For instance, people of no religion may not consider taking towels or decorate accessories from hotels and recreation centres as stealing to their own way of understanding. Or in our own case (in Nigeria), a politician who does not have fear of Allah can do anything, just anything – ie: lying to their constituents during the election campaign rallies without fulfilling their promises after wining the elections, lying on oaths in front of a judge, stealing, misappropriating public funds, and misusing public facilities – such as vehicles, etc. misusing their positions against the weak and the underprivileged, etc. simply because they believe that they would never die to account for their deeds to their Maker afterwards. However, a religious person does not display such immorality, because he fears Allah and does not forget that Allah knows his intentions as well as his thoughts. He acts sincerely and avoids sin as much as possible. A person who is distant from religion may say – “I am an atheist but I am forgiving. I feel neither vengeance nor hate,” but one day some untoward event may cause him to lose his self-control and display the most unexpected behaviour. He may attempt to kill or injure someone, because the morality he adopts is one that changes according to the environment and conditions of the place in which he lives. Like recent incident (in this December 2012) example of those psychopaths with gun culture in the United State of America – when a man began his shooting sprees of about sixty people (started with his biological mother first), killing primary school children and their teachers, and lastly himself – such people do not believe that they would account for their deeds afterwards because they don’t believe in Allah. The psychopath man committed grievous act of genocide for taking the lives of these innocent people unjustly, and these are the lives of people he did not create. The man might think he escaped justice in this world, but definitely, he shall never escape the wrath of Allah. Yet, one who believes in Allah and in the hereafter never deviates from his good morals, whatever the conditions or the environment may be. His morality is not “variable” but immutable. Allah refers to the superior morals of religious people in His verses: “Those who keep faith with Allah and do not break their agreement those who join what Allah has commanded to be joined and are afraid of their Lord and fear an evil Reckoning; those who are steadfast in seeking the face of their Lord, and attend to their Salat (regular prayer) and give alms from what We have given them, secretly and openly, and stave off evil with good, it is they who will attain the Ultimate Abode.” (Surat ar- Ra’d: V20-22). Allah knows best.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Jun 2013 21:30:47 +0000
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