Islamic way of choosing leaders

Society Religion & Philosophy
21

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

Okay!
So why u have elections in Iran?

22

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders


Quite a strong statement! isn't it. just remind me what were the guidlines given to select Caliphs? were not Muslims advised to SELECT a person among them, who is of a good character and practicing muslim. of course this selection wasn't like todays democracy where all GADHAI and GHORAI are equal.

further more:- Among muslims there are TWO school of thoughts, one agrees that a leader should be chosen by the people or community consensus. and OTHER of school of thought says that he should be from Al-e-Rasool.

23

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

nope, I dont support musharraf or oppose him, you can go back and read my very first posts when nawaaz was booted out to confirm that I am not just making up this now.

however I acknowledge when his govt achievs something positive. Some people in their dislike of musharraf fail to accept any positive that he has delivered.

I still want democracy in pakistan, but I want democracy that is atleast somewhat true to the key of of the people, by the people and for the people.

when we have elections are the represntatives..

a)of the people?

or are they teh same old fuedal lords, sardars and stuff?

b)by the people?

do people have a free choice in electing their reps, or is voting fraud, dhandli and

and the biggest one

c) for the people-

do these elected people really serve in public interest

…

we have dictatorships, either through martial law, or thru voting. just because some joker gets onto office by voting does not mean that the govt is a democracy. the regimes of BB are a proof of that.

between a military dictator that delivers results versus a civilian dictator that delivers jack, I would pick the former.

anyways, here we are discussing islamic way of choosing leaders so lets not go off topic any further than we have already, I am more than willing to discuss it in a sperate thread in Pakistan affairs.

24

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

So who has the power for legislation under this system of yours?

25

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

sharabi, your question has been answered already just scroll up and read.

btw, you did not answer my question about, how is a system where public chooses people from their ranks to representthem on the govt and to do work on behalf of the public, how is it conflict with the surah you posted.

26

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

US Resident,
Very interesting. Infact, so far what I gain from the writings of my fellow guppies is that there's a thin line between democracy and khilafat.

How is khilafat to be determined and in times of today, how are we supposed to have a khalifa? Some brother suggested about the shura council, I would humbly like to ask that who chooses the shura council and what should be the criteria for soemone to be a member of the shura?

Regarding democracy, I believe as you explained very clearly that legislation shouldn't conflict with the Islamic rules and regulations. So in my view, democracy is acceptable as long as civil laws are not in conflict with the Islamic laws.

Also, I would really appreciate if someone can tell me a website where I can find the information about the much infamous woman right's bill that's in debate in Islamabad right now...

I'm gaining quite a bit of knowledge from everyone's post but my question still needs a Hadith that can relate to selection of leaders or any verse from the Holy Quran regarding the leaders and their selection... I'll really appreciate everyone's respone here. Also, what's the name of the book that Maulana Modoodi wrote about the selection process for our leaders.

Many thanks and Best Regards,
Umer

27

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

Democracy and Khilafat are names for two separate political entities. To me a democracy is a political system, which empowers the people to vote people into power as their representative, simply put. So in a political system as big as it may be or as small as it may be (even a group of 5 people), it could be said to be democratic if its people elect their leaders. The criteria is irrelevant to the democracy, everyone has different values and goals for which they elect. Its the process of selecting the leaders, which make you democratic. Khilafat is what we call the Islamic polity that runs the state. Khalifa is the head or just different terminology i.e. President.

Every democracy has different models of laws and legislation, whatever serves the best interest of the people. Shura simply implies you are making decisions with the collective consent of people or major representative of groups of people depending on the size and structure of the entity.

Another thing to me is that leaders should not be judged by the means they came i.e. democratic, monarchs etc. They should be judged by the results they produce and impact they have through their policies. You can find examples of different types of selection of leaders in Islamic history.

28

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

US Resident,

Very well articulated and agreed with you. Let me just ask that what's the procedure to choose a Khalifa and how can we have a Khilafat in the modern times?

Regards,
Umer

Did you ever sing a song for your significant other
29

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

so khilafat democracy sounds exactly like constitutional democracy. the leader is elected but cannot pass laws by himself. the constitution is the basis for all law.

hm.....then why all the uproar from the longbeards against democracy?

30

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

Maybe someone should ask the longbeards that questions. But then again they always need something to whine about.

31

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

This can be a topic on its own. Honestly, from an Islamic point of view piety and Islamic knowledge is a criteria that should be innate in choosing a leader besides all the other criteria we define. With todays complex social and economic structure I think other criteria count as well. A pious person is not enough to be running a country today.

I think the problem today is that people give more precedence to the procedure than the actual person. We can elect an A%^Ho*&, would everyone be OK with it. Islam never restricted us in how we wish to choose the leader but rather specified whoever you choose make sure he has these qualities i.e. piety and knowledge of the religion. This is why I said you'll find examples of different ways people came into power. Usually democracy works best because if you are going to rule over a huge population then it better come with acceptance from the population rather than just enforce yourself on top of them. People should be able to realize if it were done for good reason though. Now we don't have prophets or their companions whose character is not questionable so better to stick with majority concensus. The status of Prophet SAW and his companions was elevated by Allah SWT, we are not in the same league here.

32

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

Not all are against it. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt takes part in a democratic process. Hamas, the main Islamist movement in Palestine formed a government democratically. The MMA in pakistan consists of a whole group of Islamic parties which span Barelvi, Deobandi and Shia groups and are all united in supporting Pakistan’s 1973 democratic constitution as being Islamically valid.

33

Re: Islamic way of choosing leaders

As usual the gurus of the religion forum have stated it perfectly. You know who they are. And its not the ones saying “democracy - haraaaaaaammmm”

:rolleyes: