Fictional Muslim government

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

i was thinking about this couple days ago while reading Code_Red’s thread in Culture Forum regarding the passing away of Ashfaq Ahmed. Ashfaq Ahmed - a man of his talents, his ambition, his passion for those artistic/literary fields, should have been appointed Minister of Culture decades ago. Infact, he is not alone; there are many worthy Muslims who would, together, (in my opinion) comprise an effective combination of Muslim governmental leaders. This is purely for “fun”, so don’t get too serious over it… and blah blah blah my usual disclaimer of don’t kill me.

This is to see what types of influential Muslims exist in the world today, and what types of effective, honest individuals we could come up with in a fictional Muslim government to fill the different govt’l positions.

President (symbolic role): Musharraf (i like him, but he’d have to be elected to this position; no military coups in my fictional country’s government)

Prime Minister: Hakeem Olajuwon… no i’m serious. He’s hardworking, honest, reliable, humble, generous, compassionate, incredibly intelligent. What more qualities could one want in a PM?

Minister of Religious Affairs: it should be either Yusuf Islam, Sheikh Estes, Jeffrey Lang, or Michael Wolfe. (i just noticed all of them are reverts, not that that should matter). The person for this position should follow Islamic principles when it comes to minority religious groups within the country - in other words, have a high degree of tolerance towards nonMuslims. No Saudi prince dictating that synagogues can’t be built.

Minister of Social Development: Mr. Edhi. No one else.

Minister of Women’s Affairs: Rania of Jordan (i would have said Jemima Khan, but don’t think she will elicit too much respect from some Muslims, subsequent to those pictures)

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Monia Mazigh (she’s Canadian-Syrian, her husband was tortured by Syrian security services after the US illegally deported him to Syria, her husband is suing the US gpvt, she ran as an NDP candidate in this year’s Cdn federal elections)

Minister of Sports/Tourism: Imran Khan ? :~/ not certain about this one

Minister of Security Affairs (domestic and external): Abdullah of Jordan ? i kinda like him.

If you look at the corruption indexes (released by Transparency Intl? each year), you will note that many Muslim countries today are corrupt. If we had individuals like the above to actually lead a truly Islamic government, i think the country could be a ‘success’. It’d be more honest and less corrupt than what we currently have. People wouldn’t be sitting on their bums doing nothing, non Muslims wouldn’t be afraid to practice their own beliefs, women would play an active role in the state, widows/orphans/elderly would be given the necessary social support services… in short, it’d be an almost ideal Muslim state.

2

Abdullah, Rania, Musharraf, Imran etc already have their countries.. and they're all in some messs.. and notably all amreekan pitthoos.... unless being one is not anathematic to your Muslim lala land.

[quote]
It'd be more honest and less corrupt than what we currently have. People wouldn't be sitting on their bums doing nothing, non Muslims wouldn't be afraid to practice their own beliefs, women would play an active role in the state, widows/orphans/elderly would be given the necessary social support services... in short, it'd be an almost ideal Muslim state.
[/quote]

We already have such a country.. it's called the United States of America..

3

What I'd be happy with would be ....

Khalif: Racep Tayyep Erdogan

Ministers - I really don't care, I'd trust whoever Erdogan chooses to whatever position.

4

PA, Good point but none of the above are part of a government together, in combination. This is why i stated that There are many worthy Muslims who would, together, (in my opinion) comprise an effective combination of Muslim governmental leaders. When you just have one (honest) individual in some governmental role, s/he may not be able to accomplish too many significant tasks; taken together, though, i think each of them would contribute to each other's strengths and detract from each other's weaknesses.

[quote]
*We already have such a country.. it's called the United States of America..
[/QUOTE]
*
thinking That is a subjective statement i think.

MS, Why him?

5

Because of all the leaders of Muslims today, Erdogan is without doubt the most genuinely devout, the most pious, and the most competent of them all. His excellent leadership of Turkey since his election has been as outstanding as his dedication to his faith.

He is the only man in the world who I would love to see proclaim himself Khalif, who I would not hesitate for a moment to swear my loyalty until death to.

His intelligence and political savvy impress the hell out of me. You can see his policies, and planned policies, bit by tiny bit eroding the stranglehold that secularist interests have on Turkey - at the very same time as his other policies strengthen Turkey politically, diplomatically and economically.

Erdogan knows that Turkish society can only be reformed from the top down, and also that the military would topple him if he tries any major changes to Turkish society. So instead, you see his wisdom, making tiny steps one by one. His Islamist predecessor was toppled by the military in 1996 precisely for attempting to change Turkey too fast.

Thus, in his wisdom, Erdogan, despite his clear private beliefs in favour of hijabs, has not tackled the headscarf ban in Turkey, which would be a significant visible change that would lead to his overthrow and the end of social reformation in Turkey. Instead, he is focusing on trying to push through a law allowing graduates of religious education, such as himself, to have access to the same jobs and opportunities as other Turks. This may seem like a small change, but all of a sudden it would insert intelligent and yet devout Muslims into mainstream Turkish societies to preach and spread Islamic behaviour, leading to a quantum shift in Turk society. All in what would be essentially an invisible Islam revolution.

He is, in a word, utterly brilliant and enthralls me like no other leader of Muslims I have come to know about this in the past 100 years.

I earnestly hope that Erdogan, his perfect mix of piety and competence, represents the future of the Ummah.

6

[QUOTE]
Originally posted by mAd_ScIeNtIsT: *
**Because of all the leaders of Muslims today, Erdogan is without doubt the most genuinely devout, the most pious, and the most competent of them all. His excellent leadership of Turkey since his election has been as outstanding as his dedication to his faith.*
[/QUOTE]

hmmm okay. i have to read up more re Erdogan and his policies, to be honest. prepares to google i don't know much about him or his policies or his administration, his beliefs etc.

Waisay, i'm curious. You state that he is the "most genuinely devout, the most pious, and the most competent of them all" and possesses an "outstanding....dedication to his faith." Just curious, i am not looking to argue with anyone. But just curious, i swear... how do you know all that? How did you arrive at those very very VERY lofty words of praise ? Have you ever met him ?

7

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Nadia_H: *
But just curious, i swear... how do you know all that? How did you arrive at those very very VERY lofty words of praise ? Have you ever met him ?
[/QUOTE]

Many news reports of his devoutness abound, along with a lack of news reports about nepotism and corruption. More so than for any other Muslim leader. He has raised his family to be religious too, has been to jail for his dedication to Islam (how many Muslim leaders can say that?), and draws a core constituency in Turkey who adore him for his piety.

Even the rumours mill, so long used to cast without proof allegations of immorality at the rulers of Pakistan and arab states, has been unable to come up with anything againt Erdogan.

This man, more than any other alive today, gives me hope that the Ummah is still capable of producing truly great men as leaders.

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sidebar.. can we take a 'snapshot' of Turkey as it's today and wait till Endrogin has implemented all of his policies in making a lala land.. let's see how Turkey and Turkish people stand then..

9

Fictional government of a fictional entity called "Muslim **Ammah Janni **Ummah". What a concept!

These MAToos will never quit selling their snake-oil. Well I guess they can, as long as they have buyers lined outside their hujras.

10

I think Mady has’nt picked up a newspaper in about 2 years. Erdogan moved away from his hardline Islamic beliefs of yesterday and has been selling himself as a pro-Western conservative since about winter of 2002. He wants Turkey to be part of Nato and favors EU membership. He has not brought out his own wife in state functions because she wears headscarf… so much for his Islami salami.
He has zilch idea of outside world, doesn’t speak languages, and goes whichever way the breeze is flowing. If he can use Islamic sentiments to lore votes, he will expose his rohani arse to get their votes, and if he can get votes of the secularists by pretending to be pro-western, he will do that. in other world, he is an excellent choice to be a Khalifa. He may have little idea about running a country (absolutely no idea of economics) but he sure can get votes. He is the jerkiest of all Turkish leaders ever. I am surprised what Maddy sees in him? I think Maddy is impressed with his fair skin.

11

Madhanee, did you google all that information (in your first five lines)? i found the same info from two BBC links.

i googled him up and okay it does seem like he has some positive ideas in his mind (and he used to sell lemonade as a kid on the streets which would endear him to the masses), but to be honest - i really still don't know about him well enough yet.

i think ppl like Yusuf Islam and Edhi would be fantastic if for no other reason than that they don't seem power-hungry... as opposed to a lot of ppl in power today.

12

For any leader, most important is leadership qualities. One need to be able to work and make his subordianates work according to his/her plans.

For example Hazrat Umar :ra: was strict diciplinariane and an excellent leader. So he was successful in controlling huge empire. But Hazrat Usman :ra: was lenient and was not able to control trouble makers. Although he was very good human being, pious companion of prophet :saw: , but he was not a good leader.

Now analysis of your selection…(many I dont know about )

Edhi - Vast experience of organization and administration :k:

Queen Rania - Not more then a good presentation, you can go for Faryal Gohar

Minister of Security Affairs (domestic and external): Abdullah of Jordan…
that should be two ministeries . tough job, he is not of that calibre

Imran khan is a born leader… great leadership qualities should be given some important ministry :k:

I suggest Ministry of defence should be given to Moulana Fazal-ur-rehmaan

[thumb=H]mullah17058_2134911.JPG[/thumb]

:jhanda:

13

Nadia, I get my news from New York Times, and from my Turkish Kurd friends who hate Erdogan with passion. There was a whole NYT Sunday Mag dedicated to him a few months ago. He is an idiot.