PART 3/3: A short review of Sh. Akram Nadwis course on Khilafah In this final part I cover the final of the three questions I asked to the sheikh. I stated that I believed the sheikh had decoupled the individual problems people face from the necessity of the state. Therefore when theres a failing of individuals normally societies look to see what systems they can put in place in order to mitigate these problems in the future. Eg during the MP expense scandal in the UK. The solution was to create an independent audit committee that would investigate and oversee expense claims made by mps rather than simply leaving it to themselves. The corruption was dealt with not simply by claiming mps should fix themselves. Or that individuals should solve their own individual problem and this will magically fix the mps. Rather a system was put in place that provided transparency and accountability of mps. Similarly when we look to problems in the muslim world we cant just expect people to sort themselves out. Leave the rectification to the individual as this would be a hit or miss approach. Secondly what we find in the muslim world are systemic problems that actual promote corruption in society. Thus good ppl ar forced to do bad things in order to get by. Eg I said the police in Pakistan are paid low wages which are not sufficient to provide sustenance of their basic needs. They supplement their income through bribery as the only means to provide for their family. Secondly you have mass poverty that results in many people living well below the poverty line. Thirdly you have a breakdown in the rule of law, such that people have little to no confidence that theyll receive their rights through due process. Fourthly corrupt leaders who actively usurp the rights and squander the wealth of the masses. Effectively if the rulers are corrupt this will trickle down to ordinary citizens who would again lose trust in the system and thus in a corrupt environment with limited resources and mass poverty good ppl will do bad things. Therefore you cant expect the solution to this problem to be just tell ppl to work on themselves. Thats not a solution. Rather you need a sufficient number of individuals to be practising they will apply the system of law. Secondly you need to have checks and accountability of those in authority. Islam has systems like qadi madhaalim that looks into the usurpation of rights and oppression committed by those in authority. Finally through application of these systems can ppl be lifted out of poverty, officials be given a decent wage, laws that befit the value set of the society and a leadership that remains accountable to the ppl. Thus the individual problem of corruption is part of the societal problem and a lack of proper system implemented in that society. The sheikh simply mentioned that a state doesnt make people islamic. To which I said but if the problem is endemically related to the system then you will have a situation that good ppl will do bad things. Earlier in fact the sheikh mentioned how insurance is haram but because its a law in the UK we are obliged by necessity to take it out if we want to drive. Although I didnt repeat this example to him it does show my point, how a system impacts on the behaviour of individuals.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 15:33:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015