Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jttmab who wrote (216639)	2/6/2007 4:23:56 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Religions are not democratic institutions, they are dictatorships. jttmab I understand that. I didn't say Islam is a democracy, I said it is not incompatible with democracy. One being a system of faith, principle, and cultural teachings, the other being a system of social order. The two may coexist and have coexisted with no contradiction, as a matter of circumstance rather than dogma. Keep in mind that the term ‘Democracy’ is not going to appear in ancient literature since its development as a political term is relatively recent. So we need to look for structures and forms that accommodate the term Democracy and ask whether or not they are applicable. What has happened over the past few hundred years to destroy opportunities for democracy in the Middle East? The historical premise that drove the current social values hierarchy was to keep the Islamic community from further territorial fragmentation after the fall of the Ottoman Empire (which did encourage democracy). As a result a lot of political literatures were written not only to justify the monarchial regimes from Islamic perspective but to islamize such regime formats. This was a huge error, and one that has driven Islamic scholarship since that time, in my opinion. The role of Islamic scholar has become subject to the king or monarch of the region. Scholars are regularly imprisoned for promoting ideas that provoke action counter to the existing political establishment. There is no doubt among educated Muslims that none of the current states has resulted in an Islamic society. We have a problem at the foundation of political establishment and it is inherently bound to the form propagated from the fall of the Ottoman empire on. There is no possibility for the government entities to avoid their roll in corrupting pure Islam until they embrace the concept of a liberal democracy. The hierarchical form currently in existence shuns liberal democracy. However, the basis of Islamic teaching is that we are all equal creatures in the eyes of God. Muslims know that when they pray it is shoulder to shoulder and that no one has a prestigious spot in the Mosque. As in the Mosque, so should it be in the world. The whole premise of such ritual is to generalize the relations of the participants to society. All are equal. A King has no more entitlement in the prayer line than a pauper. A saying from the Prophet Muhammad, as opposed to a Quranic verse, is also considered Islamic authority. The following is a saying from the Prophet Mohammad. “Every one of you is a ruler and all of you are answerable for your ‘subjects.’ and no one vicegerent is inferior to another in any respect.” Vicegerent, as used in the Qur’an means that we are all emissaries of God and therefore bound to righteous behavior and righteous treatment of one another. Although each of us is a divine creation. None of us are more divinely correct in our thinking and decision making that any others. So, when one rises in status to be a ruler, decision maker, or representative, that one must take council from the many in order to effectively lead. In the above we see the foundations of guaranteed equality as a citizen. This is what provides real basis of democracy in Islam. If you have a position as a “ruler” (Political leader) you are answerable for your subjects (those you represent and serve). What is clearly mentioned in the Qur’an (Al-Nur: 55) is the promise that every Muslim has been made God’s vicegerent; not that He will exalt some one of them as viceroy. A society in which every one is vicegerent and equal partner in vicegerency, cannot give way to class distinction, or privilege by birth or place in the society – every one shall enjoy the same status and the same rank. Preference (if any) shall be according to personal ability and conduct. Prophet Muhammad specifically mentioned this in clear terms. A true democracy entails meaningful consultation and participation in policy-decisions and accountability from top to bottom. If that is ensured, then the type of government – parliamentary, presidential, central or federative – makes no difference. In the pure Islamic governance during the days of the Prophet Mohammed and the four Caliphs, we find all shades. Yet the basic elements of consultation and accountability were always there. This was established to be a model for all future Islamic governments but no current so-called Islamic regime comes any where near this. In such a society, every sane and mature person, man or woman should enjoy the right of vote, because he or she is the bearer of vicegerency. What Westerners fear most about an Islamic state that has democracy is that there would be some sort of Bishops (clerics/Islamic scholars) ruling the people. However, in Islam there is no such structure of human authority to speak for God. As a human, each is Gods vicegerant (practitioner of human decency) with absolutely equal status and no one goes between you and that relationship with God as a spokesperson for God…making all equal in the eyes of God and government. What we commonly refer to as ‘Islamic Clerics’ are simply called scholars by Muslims. The people most learned in Islamic teachings. Their authority is limited to giving advice (Fatawa) on issues that we struggle with whether governmental or personal. Unfortunately that is commonly corrupted (usually by Kings) to be some sort of order from God (Equivalent to a Pope's proclamations) but that is not at all the Islamic rule. Over time even the common citizens have come to believe that once a fatawa has been delivered they are obligated to follow it to the letter, whether it suits their unique circumstance or not. So, the corruption instituted at the government level has, over centuries, become the common man’s confusion as well. Reformation starts with ideas and is spread by heart to heart communication.