What Is Required of Islamic Governments

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Islamists are advancing toward power in a number of Arab countries, and are now the center of attention as people wait to see what they will do. Islamists have argued, over the days, that every imported theory has collapsed, and with it the nationalists and the parochial nationalists have failed, and that only Islam can succeed in governing the Arab lands, considering themselves the rescuing knights.

This view has spread to the Arab street, such that one can easily detect a popular position holding that the nation’s future is tied to Islam, and that there is no hope of progress and contributing to world civilization except under the rule of Islam.

The moment of truth has arrived, and here are the Islamists forming governments, with more expected to form in a number of Arab states. The Arab masses await the Islamic experiment, and there is no doubt many states are watching closely to see what the Islamists will do. Will they succeed? From my position as a specialist in Islamic thought (not Islamic jurisprudence), I see it as important for those raising the Islamic banner to take the following matters into consideration, which could contribute to establishing a rule that pushes the nation forward:

The Ruler’s Knowledge of Material Matters

It is noteworthy that some are well-versed in matters of religious law, but their knowledge of material matters is very weak, which weakens their capacity to deal with people, manage their affairs, and arrange their relations.

They are deeply versed in matters of religious law and hold a vast repertoire of hadiths, and memorize portions of the Holy Quran, but do not know much of material and intellectual sciences such as sociology, philosophy, political science, economics, logic, and administration.

Of course, people’s affairs cannot be managed merely by knowledge of the rulings on prayer, ablution, or Hajj, or the rulings on divorce, marriage, and alimony, and so on. Governance requires broad knowledge of global philosophies and various sciences, if the Muslim wants to be capable of applying what he believes in a scientific, methodical way that leads to arranging public relations smoothly, in a manner that attracts the public’s interest, participation, and contributions.

The ruler and his aides are supposed to enjoy broad, diverse knowledge enabling them to address people across their various academic, social, and economic levels, and across their various creeds, ideas, and opinions.

Justice Is the Foundation of Governance

Islam prevails through justice, and Muslims stray from proper governance through injustice, despotism, and enslavement. Islam does not rest on coercion, suppression, or repression, whether of Muslims or non-Muslims — it rests on justice, concern for people’s dignity, good distribution, and their participation in decision-making.

According to Islamic texts, the struggle between truth and falsehood is ongoing, and it is a struggle of negation, not coercion, conducted through argument, evidence, proof, and scientific demonstration. Truth prevails through presenting evidence and proof, not through security apparatuses monitoring people, pursuing them, tracking their words, and taking punitive measures against them. If the people of Islam establish justice, their call will reach all people forcefully, and will be met with approval and admiration, and if they fail in this, they will fall just as unjust rulers fall.

Justice in Islam is broader in scope than fairness, equality, and equity — it encompasses material and moral matters. Perhaps some would judge that justice in moral matters sometimes carries even greater importance than justice in material matters. No one should think that merely raising the banner of Islam will pave the roads toward the Islamists’ success in establishing justice.

Between Thought and Jurisprudence

Islamic jurisprudence has prevailed over the centuries while thought has receded, leading to the nation’s decline generally and its arrival at the humiliation and disgrace it has reached. Muslims busied themselves with matters of jurisprudence, or the permissible and forbidden, and shied away from matters of thought, or truth and falsehood, going into great detail on jurisprudential matters, which complicated Muslims’ lives, rituals, and daily conduct, and turned Islam — to some extent — into a priestly religion instead of a practical religion that always leaves its mark on the ground.

Jurisprudential details — mostly the product of independent legal reasoning lacking textual support — have plunged Muslims into a state of eschatological dread, such that many people have abandoned worldly matters, handing them over to those who have transgressed and oppressed on earth. The Islamic religion is not a priestly or monastic religion, and people must be brought out of a state of submission into a state of work and activity.

At the same time, Muslims shied away from matters of truth and falsehood related to scientific research and scientific methodology for discovering the signs of God — the cosmic truths God Almighty created, governing the relations of beings and things with one another.

These are the signs, laws, or cosmic ordinances that Westerners focused on, discovering some of them, developing technology, and offering the new to people across the earth. As long as Muslims believe their religion is the truth, they are the ones most entitled to allocate large budgets for scientific research and support scientists and researchers, and thereby reach the truths that refute falsehood.

This calls on Muslims, or the Islamic governments now forming, to focus on three fundamental Islamic pillars: knowledge, work, and jihad, for it is through these pillars that the nation stands and advances.

It is true rituals lay the moral groundwork or incentives that push the Muslim toward knowledge, work, and jihad, but they remain incapable of building the nation if they are devoid of their moral content, or if people fail to translate their moral content onto the ground. Knowledge, work, and jihad are pillars at the very core of Islamic thought, and there is no possibility of progress if jurisprudence is severed from thought.

Thought remains the reference point for jurisprudence, because thought concerns cosmic relations, while jurisprudence concerns human relations. Cosmic relations, or cosmic universals, are broader than human universals, expressing God Almighty’s decree or fixed laws, while human relations are more specific, and since they are part of the total cosmic relations, they cannot contradict them.

If a disagreement of independent reasoning arises among Muslims over a jurisprudential matter, it is necessary to refer it back to the scientific truth thought has reached, since an idea built on a scientific foundation is stronger than an idea resting on conjecture.

Here it must be recalled that the Quran contains hundreds of verses calling for knowledge, verses within the cosmic dimension, and contains two verses about women’s dress, within the human dimension. The two verses on dress have preoccupied Muslims a great deal, while the matter of scientific advancement in universities and research centers barely occupies their minds at all.

Innate Freedom and Social Freedom

Freedom in Islam is innate, not social or historical. It is true the Holy Quran did not offer direct legislation regarding freedom, but it never offered legislation on innate matters at all. No legislation ever stated that Muslims must eat, because they eat by nature or by creation, and it never commanded them to breathe, because they breathe by nature too.

But it commanded them, for example, to eat from the good things He provided them — a matter related to eating behaviors, not the act of eating itself. God Almighty did not legislate regarding freedom because it is innate, part of human nature. God created within the human being the capacity for discernment, and thereby the capacity for choice, and is therefore responsible, and will be held to account accordingly.

Coercion and suppression are forbidden in Islam, because they constitute an assault on God’s creation, and whoever works to suppress a human being does not work against legislation but against creation itself. Working against creation is an act against a total cosmic law, not merely an act against a legislation with a human scope. This is why the oppressed human being cannot be held responsible, since he does not control his own affairs or possess his own freedom, and the sin falls on whoever does not respect human freedom.

And since God Almighty granted Iblis (Satan) a reprieve to whisper, mobilize his supporters and aides, and organize their ranks, then no human being is more dangerous to Islam than Iblis. In freedom lies what allows Muslims to know how the other thinks, opening the way for developing Islamic argument and Islamic evidence.

Human freedom does not only include speaking one’s opinion, moving about, or choosing suitable work — it also includes the freedom to form an opinion. That is, the Muslim ruler must provide people with various information so they can form opinions properly. God commanded Muslims to verify if a corrupt person brings them news, and said that those who conceal proof are like those in whose bellies fire boils. If the Muslim ruler practices manipulation, he loses his credibility and turns into a mere structure for mockery and ridicule, which means partisan press that publishes only what pleases the party is forbidden in Islam.

Freedom in Islam is broader than freedom in democracy, but the opposite has appeared to be true over time, because the customs and traditions of Islamic peoples contradict Islamic freedom, so they turned Islam into something matching their traditional view of the human being.

Freedom in democracy is historical and social, resting on liberalism and individualism, but freedom in Islam emerges from God’s honoring of the human being. This is why it is important for the Muslim ruler to stop promoting Islam by democratizing it. Freedom in Islam includes the freedom to form an opinion and opening the way for the emergence of human energies to develop and crystallize, and includes an electoral system that spares people injustice and falling into the trap of error.

Fanaticism

Fanaticism is a lethal affliction in the life of peoples, and Islam is innocent of it and forbids it. God Almighty commands justice among people, not just among believers, and the Prophet, peace be upon him, commands against cheating altogether, whether the consumer is Muslim or non-Muslim.

Islam calls for dealing with others with gentleness, wisdom, and fair admonition, which is why the ruler must not act as though he is a ruler of Muslims only, but as a ruler of the entire people across all its spectrums, and must not diminish anyone’s rights.

This means the Muslim ruler must provide opportunities for everyone, must not make government jobs an exclusive preserve of Muslims, and must not employ public funds to serve only his own people. The money belongs to the people and the jobs are for the people, and competence is the standard for a job, not religion, gender, or ethnicity. Fanaticism is blind and weakens Muslims, driving others to work against the existing rule, and it is necessary that the Muslim ruler not practice the same practices the Arab human being rose up against.

The Complex About Women

I once counted the legislative verses in the Holy Quran, including repeated commands and prohibitions — while I was detained by the Israelis — and found they numbered nearly four hundred. Now we have about four hundred pieces of legislation about women’s dress.

Perhaps the reason is that Arabs traditionally view women in an unhealthy way, far removed from the Islamic view. There are two verses in the Holy Quran about women’s dress, one addressed to the Prophet, peace be upon him, constituting an absolute ruling and involving covering the bosom, and the second addressed to the Prophet, peace be upon him, being circumstantial, tied to a specific reason, and involving drawing over their cloaks or part of them.

But women’s dress occupies Muslims’ minds more than economic development issues, and more than the matter of plundering public funds and administrative corruption. You find the religious person going on at length about women’s hair, but he takes refuge in silence if someone asks him about intelligence services’ repression of the citizen.

Modesty is required of both men and women, and it is necessary to understand that the Quran addressed men and women on equal footing — had women’s minds been small and women themselves minors, we would have two Qurans, one for men who understand, and another for minor women.

God Almighty created woman and man from a single soul, created them complementary, bound by affection, mercy, and companionship, and never obligated one with something He did not obligate the other with. Woman is obligated with jihad, seeking knowledge, spending, paying zakat, prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage to the House, and so on.

God only distinguished woman in that she is the final station for preserving the species, and distinguished man with guardianship (qawama), which involves attending to security. And if there are pieces of legislation that distinguish each party, this relates to physiological composition, not social, mental, or obligatory standing. And if testimony includes two women and one man, this is for social, not innate, reasons, because the verse concerning testimony is circumstantial, tied to a specific reason.

There are fatwas about women that assault Islamic legislation and thought, and it is important for the coming Islamic governments to take this matter into consideration.

Islamic legislation does not allow for flattery or the intrusion of whims, and the Muslim ruler must be a faithful guardian, not an appeaser of fatwas for which God has sent down no authority. We must understand that women are half the world, and I see no nation as preoccupied with women as Arabs are.

The Covenant with Others

Islamic movements win parliamentary elections held in Arab countries according to the democratic foundations of elections, and in this they enter an explicit covenant with other political forces that governance will be arranged according to what elections produce, and that the rules and foundations of these elections must be respected by everyone.

Everyone has agreed to the democratic game and committed to it, and in this the Islamic movements have entered a covenant with the various political forces to respect the democratic approach before, during, and after elections.

Islamically, breaking a covenant with others is not permissible unless they themselves break it, annul it, violate it, or its term expires, and the Islamic movements are religiously obligated to abide by what they have agreed with others, implicitly or explicitly.

This means the coming Islamic governments are required to abide by what God Almighty has legislated, and to keep in mind that their commitment provides them credibility across various circles, beautifies the face of Muslims, and contributes to spreading the Islamic idea. And if the Islamic movements see the democratic electoral system as flawed and full of gaps, they must present an alternative that others can be convinced of and agree to.

The Position on Israel and America

Westerners — the United States specifically — have made us taste humiliation and disgrace, and Israel has made us taste bitter, repeated defeats. For an Arab state to be convincing to the Arab masses, it must be clear in its position toward the West generally and the United States specifically, and this applies to Islamic governments as well.

Islamically, recognizing Israel and accepting it is religiously forbidden. Israel occupies Arab Islamic land and violates the holy sites, and rejecting it is not subject to debate from a religious standpoint. As for relations with the Western states, they must rest on mutual respect and mutual interests.

And since these states, in their entirety, backed the removal of Palestinians from their land and enabled Israel, and colonized the Arab countries, tore them apart, and plundered their wealth, these states must pay the price for what they did.

We cannot fine these states now because of our weakness, but Muslims are commanded to prepare, ready themselves, and acquire strength so they remain respected and commanding regard.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “المطلوب من الحكومات الإسلامية” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.