What should be the form and nature of the Government of an Islamic State?

What should be the form and nature of the Government of an Islamic State? We note that the Amir was the only person to whom obedience and loyalty were enjoined and to whom the people delegated, in the fullest possible measures, their right of taking decisions in all matters concerning their collective existence.

His status was, therefore, entirely different from the status of the British Monarch, or the French President, or the Head of the Soviet Union.

He was not only the President of the State, but also the Prime Minister. He attended the parliament himself and presided over all its meetings.

He used to take the fullest part in its discussions and was responsible not only for his own acts and opinion but also for the decisions of his government. In his parliament there was neither any specific government party nor any specific opposition party.

The whole parliament was his party as long as he kept to the right path but as soon as he deviated from it, his whole party automatically turned into opposition.

Every member of his parliament had full freedom to vote for or against him on any point and even his ministers was free to oppose him if they felt impelled to do so honestly and sincerely.

And, in spite of all this, the Ministers and the Head of the State were all along working in complete co-operation and harmony and the question of anybody resigning in protest never arose at all.

The Caliph was not only answerable before the Parliament but also before the people, and that not only for his public acts but also for his private and personal conduct.

Five times every day he had to face the people in the mosque, and he had to address them every week on Fridays.

Each and every member of the public had the right to stop him in the streets of Madinah to question him on his conduct or to demand any of his rights from him, and he would do so at all times and at all hours.

No such rule existed that if a question was to be asked from the govern­ment, some member of the parliament must give a previous notice about it. The general proclamation of the Head of the Islamic State was:

“Assist me when I act rightly: but if I go wrong put me on the right path. Obey me as long as I remain loyal to Allah and His Prophet; but if I disobey Allah and His Prophet, then none is under the slightest obligation to accord obedience to me.”

This form of government cannot be identified with any modern form of government. But it is this which stands in the fullest accord with the ideology of Islam. It is, therefore, our ideal too.

But it can be achieved only when the society has been already developed in accordance with all the revolutionary teach­ings of Islam.

And that is exactly why no sooner than the Islamic society deteriorated, this idea of government could not be fully adhered to.

As to the present times, if we desire to revert to it, it would be essential to adopt the following four basic principles initially, and then to adjust them in accordance with our subse­quent requirements and needs:

(i) Whosoever is entrusted with the responsibilities of government should be required to face not only the representatives of the public but the public itself.

Further he should not only discharge his duties in consultation with those entrusted with the job but also should be answerable for all his actions.

(ii) He should reform the prevalent system of strict party loyalties, a system in which party instead of remaining an agency of public opinion becomes the standard of truth and untruth.

Such a system pollutes the govern­ment with a false sense of loyalties, and it comes within it the possibility that once a group of self-seeking people comes into power, it may manoeuvre party politics at public expense itself, in such a way as to continue in the saddle infinitely.

(iii) The system of government should not be based on such complicated rules and legulations as may render it extensively difficult for the earnest workers to work, for the critics to criticise and for the people in general to find out the root cause of the evils that might arise from time to time.

(iv) The last and the most important principle should be that only those are elected as Head of the State and as members of the consultative Assembly, who possess those qualities and are equipped with those qualifications which have been prescribed by Islam for the office bearers.

In Islam, the first and the foremost right of the citizens is the protection of their life, property and honour, together with the assurance that this right would not be interfered with except on valid legal grounds.

The Prophet has explicitly and repeatedly enunciated this thing. In his well-known address given on the occasion of the farewell Pilgrimage, where in the details of the Islamic way of life was stressed, he said:

“Your lives, your properties and your honour are sacred as this day (of the Haj).

The second important right is that of the protection of personal freedom. In Islam, personal freedom cannot be violated, save after proving delinquency in accordance with the due process of law and never without giving an opportunity to the accused to put up his defence.

As long as specific charge is not laid against a person, he cannot be detained or imprisoned. The Holy Prophet did not imprison on false or unproved charges. He did not imprison people on mere accusations.

It was necessary that the two parties should appear in the court and if the complaint failed to prove his allegation with all the evidences at his disposal, the defendent was acquitted.

The third important right is that of freedom of opinion and belief. Ali, the fourth Caliph, has given the best exposition of Islamic law in this respect. During his period, the party known as the Kharijites reared its head in revolt.

This group was very similar to the modern anarchists and nihilists. Its members defied the State openly and denied the need for its existence in Islam.

And they were making preparations to wipe it out by sword. Ali sent the following message to them:

“You may live wherever you like, the only condition between us being that you will not indulge in bloodshed and will not practice cruel methods. On another occasion, Ali addressed them thus:

“As long as you do not indulge in actual disruption and disorder, we will not wage war against you.”

Another right which has been greatly emphasised in Islam is that of the provision of basic necessities of life to all citizens with­out distinction of caste or creed. Zakat was made compulsory for Muslims for this very purpose.

Islam has made no distinction bet­ween the Muslims and non-Muslims. It gives to the Zimmi the same guarantee as it gives to the Muslims, that state would not let anybody be without food and clothing or a place of residence.

Revival of Islamic Values in Pakistan

The main idea behind the creation of Pakistan was to provide an opportunity to the Muslims of the South Asia sub-continent to mobilise their law, education, politics, economy and culture and to bring them in conformity with the spirit of Islam.

The Muslims had visualised that in their separate homeland they would create a society and an administration which would be modelled entirely on the conception of an Islamic state.

Their potential of faith found expression in a political setting where Muslims have been called upon to order their lives according to the laws prescribed by Almighty Allah.

Thus, the creation of Pakistan implied the presence of unity, faith and discipline within an Islamic framework.

The Pakistan movement was in consonance with the spirit of Dar-ul-Islam. The idea emanated from the premise that the princi­pal source of law in Pakistan should be the Quran and the Sunnah.

Pakistan society was conceived to be an ideological society, bound by a contract of Islam with the divine injunctions.

The Sharia in this context is the legal codification of this contract. The prescrip­tions of the Islamic Sharia cover individual and the collective life alike.

A great deal of effort was devoted in terms of Islamic ideo­logy. The ideal state was sought by Quaid-e-Azam not in any other contemporary system but in Islam itself.

He upheld the view that in an Islamic state of Pakistan the vicegerency of God would fulfil it and honour its trust, by acknowledging that the owner­ship of all land vests in Allah, and by accepting that man’s duty is to produce wealth for the benefit of Umma.