Abstract
People say developed countries became developed by following secularism while Muslim countries became backward by following Islam. This is false perception. In fact developed countries are following Islamic principles unknowingly in all the areas of development; Islamic principles of rule of law, justice, honesty, integrity, research and knowledge learning, development and application. Developed countries and corruption ridden Muslim countries are self harming in all those areas where they are not following Islamic principles; resource intensive hedonism, predatory economic and financial policies, corruption, fraud, injustice, prejudice and selective exploitation of people. Latest development in many developed countries is adoption of prohibition of smoking in public places and this is also based on Islamic principle of avoiding greater harm. So Islam is an essential aspect of humanity’s existence. It teaches us how to conduct ourselves in all aspects of life in a morally and legally upright manner. Islam created a well-defined system of laws governing moral behavior, civil and political rights, social issues and rights, marriage and divorce laws, inheritance rights, and all other matters we deal with daily. It serves as a guide to life in all its facets and is not just for the mosque. Since Islam is logical and rational, it keeps a Muslim free from confusion of any kind. These are some of the main points raised in the paper regarding how Islam is a comprehensive, functional, and practical code of life. Nine major relevant and significant fields have been discussed: the Islamic political system, law and legal system, Jihad, economic system, education system, marriage and family, Islamic society, the mindset, and the hijab. The discussion is analytical and comparative addressing secular ideologies based on Islamic texts and social sciences. The paper establishes that the Islamic system is the alternative system that can replace secular ideologies. This paper has been summarized from a broader and larger discussion of the same topic.
Keywords
Political Islam, Islamic Education, Islamic Marriage and Family, Feminism, Jihad, Islamic Character, Hijab
1. Introduction
Humanity is on the path of annihilation because they are self-focused through their individualistic desires separate from the Divine. Take the example of the secular society where today it may be almost impossible to originally differentiate between a biological man and a woman without further investigations
. Also, humanity has left the noble values of reason, justice, fairness, accountability, transparency, contentment, morals, knowledge, rule of law, empathy, humility, understanding, and self-reflection and prioritized and focused on the values of looks, style, wealth, influence, material, sexual and dietary indulgence, trend, populism, self-esteem, self-image, ego, and pride. All major indicators (political chaos, wars, social, psychological, health, and environment) point to that
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. The ultimate aim of individualism is pride, arrogance, attention, influence, and amorality, judging insignificant objects and processes that have no importance towards an ethical, just, and content life. This individualism is driven toward achieving entertainment, astonishment, and pleasure.
The success of a policy, science, or practicality depends on its outcome, and how effective and efficient it is in solving a problem. A solution should be durable with high longevity, convenient, low maintenance, safe and secure. Its consequences spiritually, morally, socially, politically, and economically also should be positive. The discussion establishes Islam as a complete, functional, and practical guide to remedy these problems gradually with the hope of reverting humanity to the path of salvation.
The discussion focuses on the major themes humanity must achieve through Islam: political system, law and legal system, peace and warfare, education, society, marriage and family, economic system, and personal character. Muslims first must show to the world that Islam works. Through ethnic unity across all Muslim demographies through the system of
Khilafa Muslims should achieve this. Today’s inferiority-complexed and ethically corrupt Muslims must remember that if Europe can unite through the EU after being at war for more than hundreds of years, why cannot Muslims unite even though they have guidance from the Almighty? For example, France and England are allies today but have been enemies for more than 900 years! While Europe went towards unity after disunity, Muslims have gone to disunity after unity! All because of greed, jealousy, envy, nationalism, racism, and tribalism, while Europe's unity is all because of survival as a collective, a desire to be ethical, and a sense of guilt. If Prophet's will was obeyed we wouldn't see disagreements and disunity among Muslims. Prophet had appointed twelve leaders over the Islamic nation
.
2. Islamic Political System
Any political system is created or implemented by a group and for Islam this group is Muslims, who based on the divine values transcending their race, tribe, and nationality have been named as the Islamic Nation and their political representatives as the Khilafa over earth.
Does Islam support politics and political science? Truly, the Quran and Hadith are full of divine legislations, politics, and stories about the battle between good and evil power, between divine supremacy through human vicegerency and satanic supremacy through human enslavement. So, Islam is a political religion.
Man is the Khalifa i.e., representative of Allah on earth so he needed to be political (powerful) to represent His authority . Political Islam is therefore control over men and society through exercising policies on Islam. In order for man to: a) be able to communicate with Allah; and b) live in a just and peaceful world through Allah, Allah has sent laws through prophets and messengers throughout human history. Muslims must realize that believers are a single community with a shared sense of empathy and solidarity. This solidarity and unwavering empathy grounded in faith opposes racism, nationalism, tribalism, and aristocracy.
Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) mission was political: “No one fought with him over his good manners, which he had even before prophethood. It was when he began to be active in politics that they started showing enmity toward him”. When the prophet called to the
Kalima, one of the major demands of this was realizing Islamic jurisdiction over Muslim polity and he used preaching, diplomacy, and armed
Jihad to realize, sustain, and evolve these in the first Islamic jurisdiction of Medina. It is also, to preserve political Islam, that imams of Ahl Bayt fought the secular sentiments of the tribal Arabs and were martyred
[8] | Mohammad Mushfequr Rahman. (2023b). The Religio-Political Biography of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): Philosophy, Ethics and Lessons. International Journal of Law and Society, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230604.11 |
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.
2.1. Islam Against Secular Ideologies
Secularization is against Political Islam. There are three stages to the secularization process: a) Social structural, in which institutions guided by Islamic principles lose roles that are now filled by secular organizations. b) Cultural, where a secular worldview has largely replaced the artistic, musical, literary, and philosophical content that is still valid in Islam. 3) Individual consciousness, in which the faithful become a cognitive minority and the number of people thinking in a religious manner is decreasing. As Islam has become a cognitive minority then it follows that Islamic intellectual and cultural expressions have become almost non-existent. So Islamic political system rejects monarchy, secular democracy, Marxism-communism, and feminism.
2.1.1. Monarchy
Monarchy in Islamic history and world history has been mostly dark, oppressive, and cruel and continues to be. Monarchy in Islam started with the usurpation and massacre of the Prophet's family
. Monarchical is irrational and is not earned by hard work, merit, and piety but rather inherited, so monarchs have been often cruel, wasteful, and thus economically oppressive throughout human history.
2.1.2. Democracy
The democratic and electoral systems of today are broken and ineffective. Voters are uneducated, naive, sentimental, and uninformed; political parties receive funding from the corpo-ratocracy; an electoral majority does not imply the will of the majority; citizens submit to a small group of elites selected by their rival political parties; the party system causes division in society, religion, and the nation; and, above all, democracy is devoid of morality and divine guidance. All democracy is good for is dividing the populace, splitting votes, and strengthening the union of capitalist and politician. Islam therefore disapproves of this, which is based on numbers, wealth, and power rather than virtue and piety. So it is less of a truth that the existence of opposition parties acts as checks on power, rather opposition parties often end up in rivalry, and propaganda and this becomes an impedance to a healthy and moral political atmosphere. So, the Quranic concept of Shura cannot be applied to democracy or parliamentary sovereignty. While political Islam enforces principles of justice, morals, and knowledge party-based secular system enforces the agenda of winning votes through ethnic, nationalist, racist, corporate, and even false appeals. This often results in, among other things, civil strife, deadlock, unstable coalition, and shutdown of government
[3] | Cavanaugh, W. T. (2009). The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict (p. 296). Oxford University Press. |
[5] | Kapstein, E. B., & Converse, N. (2008). Why Democracies Fail. Journal of Democracy, 19(4), 57–68. https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.0.0031 |
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.
2.1.3. Marxism-Communism
Marxism states that society has no obligation to be loyal to the ruling capitalist class. Communism is thus violent, and totalitarian because it aims to control all aspects of citizens' lives. Mass murder, crimes against humanity, genocide, forced starvation, rejection of privacy, and creating amoral human beings are the achievements of communism and these continue to be practiced by the Chinese communist party starting from Mao. Marxism rejects private property and enforces the idea of communal property. This means the community as a whole will own property and everyone will share
.
2.1.4. Feminism
Feminism has eroded the historical natural non-engineered femininity consisting of traits of gentleness, sensitiveness, nurturing, delicateness, gracefulness, cooperation, decorativeness, dependence, emotional, passiveness, and psychological weakness into a form of hostile, confrontational, impulsive, apathetic and masculine form. Men’s masculinity has dominant features of being strong, assertive, brave, active, independent, intelligent, competitive, insensitive, unemotional, and aggressive. In human and social evolution, the differences between psychology and biology are intended to establish, preserve, and perfect the bonding and synergy of gender mating, cooperation, and roles, each of which complements the other. Gender roles have historically been different and equitable rather than equal because of the fundamental differences between the sexes.
Feminism is about feminine individualism at the social level and matriarchy
at the political level. Women having financial and political freedoms have been disastrous and these are the major reasons:
1) Divorce has increased due to rivalry, deadlock, and conflict in a relationship as women see themselves as equal to men. Also, divorced women getting 50 percent of their husbands’ wealth made them abuse marriage and seek divorce
2) Marriage has decreased as women focus on careers and random casual sex
3) Children's upbringing future and mental health are jeopardized as women give more time to their careers than families or seek quick impulsive divorce
4) Irrational and impulsive spending has increased for women
5) Sexual infidelity and workplace sexual harassment exponentially increased due to free mixing of opposite sexes
6) Irrational and impulsive female decisions due to female hormones and brain features resulted in a deviated outcome
[1] | Ali, S. A., Begum, T., & Reza, F. (2018). Hormonal Influences on Cognitive Function. Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, 25(4), 31–41. https://doi.org/10.21315/mjms2018.25.4.3 |
[7] | Mohammad Mushfequr Rahman. (2023a). A Psychosocial Comparative Analysis of Woman in Islam and Woman in Feminism. Social Sciences, 12(8). https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20231206.17 |
[17] | Rahman, M. M. (2021). Why Society Needs Patriarchy: A Scientific and Social Justification. Social Sciences, 10(5), 229. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20211005.14 |
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7) Abortion has increased whimsically as women engage in free sex and avoid the mother’s responsibilities
8) Discrimination against skilled workers increased in the name of feminist affirmative policy
Men and women are different in psychology, and biology so their rights, duties, and responsibilities should be different. Also, organizational functionality demands hierarchy between genders with males being stronger getting the leadership. Many evolutionary scientists have defended and validated the historical reality of gender roles based on biological and psychological differences. The idea that evolutionary theory offers grounds for anticipating consistent sex differences in behavior, thought, and personality supports this.
. These are some of the reasons why Islam prohibits female leadership , and it is for the welfare of women.
2.2. Political Islam
The political Islamic System is rational, moral, and just because it is Divine. Political Islam is not irrational like monarchy, “mob rule” like democracy, or violent like communism. It is not the case that he is always guided by reason that his individual liberty will be good and perfected and neither, indeed, he is always guided by a beastly impulse that he needs to be monitored and controlled always. Political Islam thus proposes rational freedom so man realizes his rational and spiritual nature and suppresses his beastly and evil impulsive nature. No form of government can be represented truly by the inefficient many or privileged few, so Islam proposes the election of the righteous and merit by the righteous and merit. Islamic political system is based on the constitution in line with the Prophet’s constitution of Medina, rule of law, theocratic meritocracy, and parliamentary vicegerency as the man being the khalifa of Allah.
In order to lead and guide Muslims and their future through Allah and against evil, political Islam offers an ideological front. Islamic activism (Jihad by word, pen, and money), Islamic governance, Islamic law, and Islamic wealth management are all included in the category of political Islam. The instrument of political Islam is the realization of Islamic self-determination in Muslim nations, all of which have experienced or are the products of colonialism. Political Islam establishes political authority (Sulta) and judgmental power (Qada) through Islam. Political Islam rejects tribalism, nationalism, and racism, as these are ethical philosophies that state moral actions as right and wrong, good and bad based on what empowers and supports the racial, national, or tribal cohesion and survival irrespective of the consequences, justness, and rationality of such actions. Political Islam considers Muslims as the Ummah and non-Muslims under its rule as part of the Ummah. This is why political Islam rejects any pride and self-identification as Iranian, Malaysian, Turkish, Pakistani, etc. as these are, western nationalism, and have become secular value-based connotations rather than saying “from Turkey or Malaysia” as these are geographic connotations. Political Islam opposes exploitation, colonialism, and occupation because it envisions peaceful coexistence among nations where knowledge, technology, and trade will be for mutual benefit. Islam condemns tyranny everywhere and is committed to uplifting humanity on an equitable basis.
The political Islamic system does not allow Muslims to change their religion from Islam. It's comparable to individuals in a state contesting the current system and altering their political views. During the Cold War, Soviet Russia persecuted democratic activists, and the USA used special laws and tribunals to persecute Communist supporters. As long as they comprehend and respect the Islamic system, Muslims and non-Muslims alike have the right to participate in the operations of the Islamic State. Can a non-Muslim hold the position of head of state? Asking whether a foreigner can become the head of state is analogous to this. Nationality is prioritized in the secular nationalist system, just as merit and piety are in the Islamic system.
2.3. Islamic Leadership
Islamic leadership is based on piety and merit . In Islam leadership is not only structural but also characterial because Islam believes that man cannot be or remain moral without Allah and His religion. Believing in a compassionate and benevolent Allah, or in a just and punitive one, who observes my deeds, understands my thoughts, and holds me responsible for my beliefs and actions serves as a superior moral guide, driving force, and deterrent compared to societal influences or evolutionary morality. Allah and divine guidance stand as the most potent and influential regulating factors. This is because no other moral doctrine, principle, or standard, except Allah, mandates that humans surrender to a higher authority and perceive themselves as humble and insignificant. Without embracing this sense of humility and insignificance, and without humanity being certain of facing inevitable judgment and accountability, individuals remain highly susceptible to moral deviation and malevolence.
Imamate in Islam is the concept of leadership in which both political and religious leadership conjoin. The Prophet of Islam for example never was under an equal or superior leader because he was the theocratic meritocratic leader. Also, consider mankind was one community and Allah sent prophets to rule over them. The only ideology that Islamic jurisdiction proposes, supports, and enforces is then political Islam on theocratic meritocracy. Support for this ideological monolithism is a must to suppress conflict among the political and social institutions, among various members of the government, and between the Islamic leadership and the public servants.
One can say Prophets were obeyed because they were prophets and thus, they cannot be used to extend the establishment of Islamic leadership among common Muslim men. First of all, prophets showed us the principles of Islamic leadership and governance, so they are examples. Nothing says that their model of theocratic meritocracy is to be abandoned. What is exchanged by abandoning this? Secondly, the Quran obligates judgment by Sharia law, and this cannot be achieved except by an Islamic leadership as judgmental power also implies political authority. This has been demonstrated by Prophets, Imam Ali, and the first three caliphs. So Islamic leadership is a necessity. The Islamic leader must be close to people. He must know the needs and psychology of the people and the Islamic society. He must be ready to make changes by Islamic guidance and must respond efficiently and effectively to people’s grievances. He should allow healthy and constructive debate among the public .
Social change under Islamic leadership is guided to maintain and further develop security, hygiene, aesthetics, and character. Under Islamic leadership, social inequities are removed by adopting policies and laws of Islam and making legal access easy for everyone. Social change which refers to the transformation of culture, behavior, social institutions, and social structure over time, must go through a filter of rationalization and Islamic law, rather than trend and populism. The Islamic leadership must adopt policies and frameworks to embrace and spread Islam rather than values and models that may overwhelm and suppress Islam.
2.4. Process of Appointment
Several Islamic jurists with spiritual and moral character are elected by the intellectual, upright, and moral members of the public. This is an effective pathway in realizing the concept of Wilayat Faqih by the revolutionary Imam Khomeini. The essential reason for the failure of the secular party-based system is the lack of Allah-fearing, moral guidance and intellectual aptitude. In Islamic jurisdiction learned pious clerics who have had the experience of teaching and peer-reviewed shall come forth as part of fard kifaya and all of them, by lottery, select a certain number of candidates (twelve because imams are twelve) who will be given equal funding from Islamic treasury to spend on their election campaign. From these candidates, the intellectual and upright citizens will choose the members of the guardian council who will choose the supreme leader.
For the voters, they must have a record of being morally upright, and that is, Muslims must be practicing and have no recorded major sins or legal crimes, and non-Muslims, must never have performed immoral acts or legal crimes such as gambling, drinking, cheating, fraud, murder, corruption etc. Intellectual ability is established by good results in undergraduate degrees, various social activities, journal publications, etc.
2.5. The Islamic Constitution and Political Institutions
The Guardian Council will define the Holy Law and will give the charge of adjudication to the judiciary, a selected body of competent jurists. The executive heads of governmental political and social institutions are chosen by the Guardian and the Shura Council from relevant civil servants and will obey the judiciary in the case of implementation of the law. This is because civil servants have institutional knowledge and memory, unlike politically elected and appointed candidates. Any disputes in the government system or branches where there are no resolving laws/rules/protocols will be presented to the relevant court.
The Islamic constitution is a legal document that guides the Islamic government on how to exercise its power and withhold it from being a dictator over the people. It is a document of balance and trust between Allah and His vicegerent and between the Islamic government and the people. In the absence of the twelfth imam, it is a document to protect the common people against unfounded charges brought to eliminate enemies and against Islamic judges too responsive to the voice of higher authority. The core constitution of Islam and Islamic jurisdiction is the Quran and established Sunnah. Any legislation, rule, norm, or practice of any governmental or private institution providing services to the common people, which goes against the Quran and Sunnah can be removed. The members of the public can appeal against any member of the government from any level based on Islamic laws, the Islamic constitution, documents of incorporation of the institutions, and the concept of equity. What this means is that Islamic leadership does not act on whims and impulses.
Some fundamental features of Islamic constitution, modelled after constitution of Medina are a) Islamic state is a system based on belief in One Allah, His exclusive sovereignty and right to legislate through Quran and Sunnah, and the necessity of justice and its fundamental role in setting forth the laws b) In the Islamic state the entire edifice of government is based on the protection of Islam, justice, life, wealth, honor, lineage and intellect, its implementation, and the welfare of the Muslims and the non-Muslims both citizens and foreign residents c) The Guardian council along with the help of other scientific, security and technological experts will form the outline of the government institutions and nature of the private institutions and organizations that will work in the country d) All institutions of government will be made on the basis of Islamic progress, the need of the people, the survival of the land, its resources, its boundaries, its air and its sea and rivers e) Islamic state will not see race, ethnicity, tribe or nationality to determine political and public offices, rather only piety for Muslim, moral uprightness for non-Muslims and merit f) It is the duty of the members of governmental organizations to report and/or disobey any policy, command, dictate from the government which violates the principles of justice, honesty and integrity g) Allow thriving of constructive criticism but censor insult, threat and proven propaganda. Ensure that criticism of any kind is expressed in clearly logical argument, or else it becomes similar to propaganda, threat and/or insult h) All religious minorities are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education provided it does not breach or threaten the security and stability of the Islamic republic i) Everyone has the right to life, right to justice, right to sustenance and livelihood, right to knowledge, education and information, right to welfare and charity, right to marriage and family, right to self-defense against injustice, right to own property, right to participate in Islamic election and freedom from liability j) No one can be detained without sufficient evidence (prima facie or circumstantial) and punished without trial which cannot be delayed, and that everyone at trial must be heard equally by a competent and fair tribunal k) Right of freedom of expression, based on Islamic law, can be curtailed for the sake of national security, public safety, prevention of disorder and crimes, protection of health, morals, rights and freedom of others.
In the Islamic political system, if the Imam fails to discharge his duty to Islamic law and the Islamic constitution, he will be removed by the Guardian Council. If the Guardian Council fails as a whole in such it will be dismantled by the Imam and a new Guardian Council will be formed. If the parliament as a whole fails to discharge its duties based on the Islamic constitution and other laws and mandates the imam can dismiss the parliament and a new Shura Council election held. If the Imam, the Guardian Council, and the Shura Council fail in such, the Islamic military will take over and hold relevant elections for the Guardian and Shura Council. Any citizen can bring a case of "failure to perform" of the Imam, Guardian Council, or the Shura Council to the imam, Guardian Council head of Shura Council, or any Islamic court. Depending on the nature of the complaint and the parties involved, the adjudicators will be the imam, the Guardian Council, the Shura Council, and the Islamic court respectively. This whole mechanism is based on Quran 3:104, the notion that no one is sinless except the Prophet and Ahl Bayt, and Islamic principle of disobeying the sinners and tyrants in their sins, and the protection of Islam and its sovereignty to rule from the example of Imam Hussein. Who will hold the public servants accountable? The imam and the Guardian Council can appoint inspectors to governmental institutions to achieve this.
2.6. Character of Public Servants
Islam, by its textual rulings and by emphasizing the essentials of character and mind, enhances the chances of political efficacy and institutional functionalism. For example, democracy in America has brought racists into power and threatened the rights of the minority. In India even with the democratic process and functions the Hindutva has been able to control the judiciary against Muslims. All these are examples of what happens when the moral system, if any, and the political character is corrupt. Islam by focusing on the building of the political character and by proposing moral guidance and laws of justice preserves its institutional and organizational system.
Following the command of the Holy Quran, consultative bodies such as Islamic consultative, the Islamic consultative assembly, the provincial councils, city, regions, district, and village councils and the like of them are the decision-making and administrative organs of the country where the members of Shura Council are elected through region-based theocratic meritocratic election. The nature of such councils throughout the country, their duties, scope, and jurisdiction, functions determined by Islamic textual guidance, Islamic constitution, Guardian council, Shura Council, and Islamic legislation in that order. Every elected and employed official must pass the test of piety, morality, and merit concerning their relevant offices.
The political and social institutions in Islamic jurisdiction are run on a patriarchal consultative hierarchy. The Quran obligates patriarchy, the hadith advises every group of more than two persons must have a leader and the Quran encourages consultation. Consultation does not only mean consultation among equals but also consultation among superior and inferior as the Prophet who is the superior often consulted with the companions who were his inferior. The purpose of the consultation is to increase solidarity, minimize rivalry, and create a fertile ground for innovative ideas and new solutions for consideration by the leadership. The institutions in the Islamic jurisdiction will also make the Islamic society functional and its functionalism is established and measured by the contributions and results to research and the wider society.
Membership in governmental institutions needs upright morals and relevant merits and not party loyalty or personal favors, and this is why such members must earn their positions through various means rather than be appointed randomly by the Islamic Guardian Council or Islamic Shura Council.
Merit for members of the Guardian Council is established differently from the merits of the civil servants. For Guardian Council first and foremost the member must be a cleric who has been peer reviewed by other clerics of equal status. Such a cleric must have mastery of the Arabic language, Islamic logic and philosophy, Islamic theology, Islamic Jurisprudence, and Islamic law and also have published articles in any of the social sciences subjects. Also, their writings must never undermine political Islam and Islamic textual guidance nor support secularism in any flavor or smell. This mechanism demands the development and maturity of a clerical system of education who will enter this system and train to become a cleric.
For members of the Shura Council and the civil servants, they must finish an undergraduate degree in any social sciences, must have taken a specialist certificate in Islamic law, and must pass an entrance exam on Islamic law, Islamic history, critical thinking, international law, and analysis of Islamophobic ideologies. Specialist entrance exam subjects may be designed as per the needs of time.
2.7. Freedom and Privacy
Islamic theocratic meritocratic government, as its form suggests, must allow the formation of public opinion through proper, clear, and detailed protocols. One consideration is that only those opinions are public which concern the wider society and every member of the society. Rights, duties, and responsibilities are important enough to become public opinions, so concerned members of the Islamic society and validated interest groups should consult with Islamic lawyers before initiating an emergence of public opinion. The content, objective, and purpose of the public opinion must not violate the Islamic constitution, must not seek to promote irrational civil disobedience, and must not promote beliefs or acts deemed unhealthy and prohibited by Islamic rationale and law. A rational healthy public opinion will highlight issues that are making the lives of people hard, making them vulnerable to injustice, and exploiting and impeding their spiritual, moral, intellectual, and material growth.
Privacy in Islam is that which the person is unwilling to share or reveal except to people of his or her choosing or none at all, either by prescription of Islamic law or willingly. Privacy can also be defined as the beliefs, acts, or states of the individual which is no a concern of the Islamic government. Several verses of the Quran and Hadith emphasize the importance of protecting one's privacy. This is because revealing privacy may create situations, conditions, or causes that violate the objectives and purpose of Islam and/or harm the individual in question in some way. However, like many laws of Islam, there are exceptions to the protection of privacy.
2.8. Islamic International Political Philosophy
How should the Islamic international relations of this Ummah Allah's community be? Prophet’s national and foreign policies were designed to achieve, preserve, and evolve the following agendas: a) Unity of Muslims (along with their maps and boundaries) b) Security of Muslims across all maps and boundaries c) Supremacy and sovereignty of Islamic rule. Towards these ends the prophet sent several emissaries to the emperors and rulers of his time such as the Byzantine, Persian, Ethiopian, Oman, Bahrain, Syrian, and others. The kings inside the Arabian Peninsula were threatened by the prophet because no two religions were to be followed in the peninsula, as was the last command of the prophet. By this prophet had made the Arabian peninsula the last fallback sanctuary of all Muslims irrespective of their color, language, and ethnicity.
While nation-states have tried to exploit, dominate, and invade through imperialism Islamic Ummah is about peaceful co-existence, mutual development, and support for the oppressed. Islam rejects imperialism. Islamic humanitarian law which is the law of war has established the concept of proportionality, protection of civilians, and their properties, treatment of prisoners, and conditions to start and end war among other things. Islamic law also established the principle of protecting the oppressed and giving them sanctuary who are called refugees today. Islamic law has also established the principle of peaceful and equitable international relations.
Islam, unlike imperialism, believes in peaceful coexistence among nations where knowledge, technology, and trade will be for mutual benefits and thus rejects exploitation, especially through interest on loans, colonialism, and occupation. Islam believes in uplifting humanity on equity and rejects any tyranny and exploitation, especially on life-saving sustenance anywhere in the world. Islamic international relation is thus based on equity and resistance against tyranny and imperialism. Islamic International thus rejects empowering or siding with any tyrant nation-state or state such as America, Russia, or China today.
Islam obligates the unity of all Muslim countries. A model towards realizing Ummah can start even between two Islamic states and then they can invite Islamic states. Some of the features of the united Islamic jurisdiction of Islamic states are a) free migration b) sharing wealth income based on the efficiency and corruption level of the state c) every ethnicity will be represented in the federal Shura Council.
Islamic international system is based on justice, seeking peace, the importance of diplomacy and humanitarian intervention to save the oppressed, rejecting exploitative capitalism based on interest on loans, putting checks and balances on corporations, rejecting corporatocracy, and seeing the Ummah as a distinct entity among mankind.
3. Islamic Law and Legal System
3.1. What Is Law
Law and rule are prescriptions of identifiable beliefs, acts, behavior, and procedures creating rights, duties, and responsibilities for our individual and collective ontological states, and consistently invoked when a call is made often through adherence, enforcement, or violation of the law, so it has permanency and generality. Law has a rational aspect which is the reason, relevance, significance, and consequences, and a functional aspect which is the administration, implementation, and interpretation of the law to the facts.
Even though Islamic law and legal system and secular law and legal system agree on certain rationale, semantics, principles, and law overall, they are different in major theological, philosophical, and functional aspects. Theologically Islamic law appeals to Allah and the Prophet while secular law has no such appeals. Philosophically Islamic law proposes patriarchy and inequality of sexes and gender whereas secular law proposes equality. Functionally Islamic law proposes a lot of physical punishments whereas secular law proposes almost zero, except maybe jail time. In terms of actual law and elements of legal wrongs Islamic law and secular law also differ.
Islamic law is Sharia Law
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. Judging or ruling according to other than what Allaah has revealed is contrary to faith and Tawheed/Monotheism, which are Allaah’s rights. Islamic laws can be categorized by subject matter such as health law, moral law, security law, culture law, contract law, military law, etc. Every law of the Quran and Sunnah can imply or contain a category. The purpose of categorization is to see clearly how to apply law vis a vis legal entity or legal person. Any categorization that organizes the law and makes it visible is acceptable.
1) Proposes resistance against tyranny, persecution, and exploitation
2) Proposes equity and fair play in the economy and an interest-free economic system
3) Establishes Morality and charity
4) Proposes defense of honor, property, and lives
5) Proposes Humility and mercy
6) Proposes rational freedom
7) Proposes accountability and transparency
8) Proposes justice irrespective of class, race, gender or power
9) Proposes defensive war
10) Proposes harsh deterring criminal legal system
Five fundamental human rights are safeguarded by sharia law: religion, life, lineage, property, and intellect. Although different countries have different approaches to recognizing these fundamental interests, all other nations share these recognitions.
3.2. Islamic Legal System
The legal system is an institution and organization that is a consequence of the socially accepted political process where people willingly or by force submit to law, legal people, and legal processes. By this, a balance of conflict of interest is also achieved. The legal system and law thus also preserve the political process and guide the exercise of power, the two most important requirements for achieving order. Islam has these features spread across its vast compendium of texts and historical legal phenomena.
3.3. Islamic Jurisdiction
The law cannot function without jurisdiction. Without jurisdiction, the law will just be an advisory morality. Does Islam propose the concept of jurisdiction? There are many texts of both the Quran and Sunnah that establish the need for jurisdiction. For example, whenever the Quran commands or prohibits by “O ye who believe…”, it often implies a collective obligation and therefore establishes the need for a jurisdiction. The Prophet established a jurisdiction in Medina, but he was unable in Mecca. Gradually Prophetic jurisdiction spread across all of united Arabia. So, Islam also needs a jurisdiction to function.
Are non-Muslims bound by Islamic law in Islamic jurisdiction? Non-Muslims are obligated to follow Islamic law which does not require religious intention and belief in the Islamic faith to perform. The difference between foreigners and citizens in an Islamic jurisdiction is not based on discriminatory laws
but between certain rights and duties which must be fair and just. So, non-discrimination is the principle and dominant practice but justified discrimination is also appealed to if there is a benefit for all parties involved in the thing discriminated on, such as patriarchy, or at least harm is not greater. As the principle is non-discrimination it primarily applies to the right to life, right to justice, right to sustenance and livelihood, right to knowledge, education and information, right to welfare and charity, right to marriage and family, right to self-defense against injustice, right to own property, right to participate in Islamic election and freedom from liability.
The Islamic legislative is a section of the Islamic government consisting of the Imam, the Guardian Council, and the Shura Council. The Islamic State is an independent Islamic legal jurisdiction with territorial integrity and a political Islamic system and culture. While proposing legislation the Islamic member of the Shura Council must understand the daily life of a Muslim and other citizens and realize how the day for them starts or should start, how it goes through or should go through, and how it ends or should end.
The Islamic legislative cannot just make any enforceable law because the Islamic legislative is only an instrument for realizing the Quran, the Prophet, and the Ahl Bayt. The enforceable legislation must follow the following rules: a) It must enforce what Allah, His Prophet, and Ahl Bayt obligated or prohibited for the collective existence, betterment of society, and collective interest. Collective existence excludes beliefs or acts that are personal and thus beyond its enforceable capacity. For example, prayer or fasting cannot be enforced on individuals because these acts require intention, sincerity, and devotion. One cannot be forced to achieve these. b) The legislation must be able to achieve objective and purpose in the texts of Islam. Major legislative principles towards this end are blocking the means, obligating the means, and continued interest such as benefits any of Islam, mind, wealth, honor, life, or morals. c) The legislation must not contradict established textual ruling unless textually justified and temporary. d) The legislation must not seek to replace or add more to textually existing law. For example, the legislative cannot impose any new tax on people's wealth and property. Islam has already imposed taxes of Jizya, Khumus, and Zakat so new taxes cannot be imposed on the people e) Legislation must ensure compliance, administration, enforcement, and facilitation of laws of Allah by adopting policies, practices, and theories. While designing legislation the legislative must be clear and precise and clarify scope, priority, and, if any, conflict with other existing Islamic laws and legislation.
3.4. Islamic Judge
The Islamic judge is a man as part of the Quranic patriarch construct and interprets Islamic law based on Usool Fiqh and the Islamic legal maxims, decides cases, and proposes legal injunctions. The Islamic judge has control over the case. The Islamic judge depending on the type of court he is employed in has investigative power, a mission of assistance to victims and a mission of mediation, the power to enact recommendations, and the power to promote equity. Islamic law does not have precedence. A judge cannot make law but can only establish and/or enforce the law of Sharia from the Quran and Hadith and other subsidiary sources in Islamic jurisprudence. The judge must explain his decision, be rational, and reveal his sources, if any when acquiring exclusive information that may motivate his judgment. This is to ensure that the judge has not been motivated by outsiders against any of the clients and that the legal representative may be able to raise an issue against the judge’s sources. The judge cannot bring any evidence for or against any client because that would be unjust and taking sides, but the judge may assist in bringing evidence by justification from any of the parties in the case. The judge must allow equal opportunity for both parties to present their cases without consideration of their backgrounds or attachments. The judge may bring in experts for clarification or allow legal representatives to bring such. The judge cannot refuse to accept any relevant and admissible evidence from either party.
3.5. Access to Legal Justice
Not everyone can access justice. Many people lack the income necessary to pay for legal interventions against injustice, preventing them from meeting basic needs, like protection against financial fraud and abusive relationships. How can these people be helped to access justice under Islamic jurisdiction?
What can be referred to as judicial process? First of all, any person or group under Islamic jurisdiction can bring an issue to the court if such an issue in the first instance shows some legal wrong and some kind of Hujja relevant to it. Also, in the absence of such, any act that affects the individual and society, such that if not addressed will impede individual or social welfare or cause injustice or lead to disorder and chaos or destruction of mind, religion, wealth, honor, and lineage.
the Islamic treasury will provide, and the judge, in case, any party is unable to have a legal representative, will assist such party in presenting its case, either by himself or by appointing a legal representative, the amount of which will depend on the gravity of the case and the gravity of punishment or loss for the affected party. Islamic activist groups may also offer pro-bono work for the helpless and the needy. Islamic legislation also should ensure they deliver a more just, equitable world for all through its legislation; this protection can be provided through inspectors and regulators of the legal market who license providers of law and legal services to sell their services. Islamic government may create mini Fastrack schools for the poor and the needy to self-help on legal issues such as how to approach Islamic court, what forms they need, how to present cases, and an understanding of the science of Islamic evidence, etc.
Access to justice also depends on the organization of Islamic courts. This should be done based on the subject matter, demography, statistics of legal wrongs, people’s life schedules, and income. Separate courts for judicial review for administrative and judicial wrongs, criminal law, labor court, morality court, discrimination court, and other civil matters may be created and within each division, further segmentation can be made depending on categories such as urgency, time, expertise, and finance. Such developmental and evolutionary policies are based on the Islamic legal maxim of seeking easiness and removing hardship, achieving coherency and sustainability of laws, rules, and protocols, minimizing exploitation and injustice of the system, and realizing the objectives and purpose of Islamic text.
The legal representatives of the parties are to facilitate in representing, explaining, and prosecuting/defending their cases and their clients. Any legal expert who wishes to represent his client in a defense must ensure the following: the client has not confessed to a wrong against another or himself or herself, and if so, the client does not have any valid and justified defenses towards his or her act of wrong. If the client confesses to a wrong against others such as violence and injury or against himself or herself such as drinking alcohol or adultery and has no valid or justified defense, then the Islamic legal expert must reject such client in the act of defending him but may represent such client until legal punishment or compensation has been delivered. This arises from the Quran’s prohibition on representing or supporting evil people in their defense. One wisdom behind this is when society rejects evil from being defended evil is reduced.
3.6. The Legal Wrong
A legal wrong in Islamic jurisdiction is any violation of enforceable law either by performance or failure to perform. All laws of the Quran are de facto laws of the Islamic jurisdiction but are not necessarily enforceable. Non-enforceable laws of the Quran and Sunnah are those that are personal such as ritual and worship. Enforceable laws are in the Quran, and Sunnah and are also made by Islamic legislation. Enforceable laws are a) that which has a textually specified punishment b) that which if not enforced will have a worldly effect c) that which is for the collective welfare and interest of Islamic society d) that which if not implemented will result in physical or material or existential harm. These conditions include almost all the commands and prohibitions of the Quran and Sunnah. Violation of the law will beget consequences such as spiritual, physical, or financial. It is the latter two that will be enforced and administered by Islamic jurisdiction. For non-enforceable laws such as rituals and worship, if a Muslim does not pray or fast for example, then the punishment is spiritual. The demand of prayer is devotion but by force or punishment devotion cannot be created. So, these are non-enforceable laws.
The purpose of Islamic legal punishment whether physical or material/financial is deterrence. However, deterrence should best work if the punishment can be publicized. When the Islamic government punishes an individual defendant, he or she is probabilistically less likely to commit another crime because of fear of another similar or worse punishment. When the public learns, for example, that an individual defendant was severely punished by cutting off a hand or crucifixion or the death penalty, this knowledge can inspire a deep fear of criminal prosecution. Islamic punishment also acts as a retribution by giving victims or society a feeling of advancement.
3.7. Evidence
Hujja in Islamic law is primarily witness, confession, oath, and document. Other types, especially modern forms of evidence, can be used only in issues where Islamic text has not been prescribed using any of these or as supportive Hujja. Islamic texts where the use of any of these has been prescribed cannot be substituted by any other form of Hujja. For example, if in an adultery no witnesses are found then forensics cannot be used to establish adultery. Islam accepts circumstantial evidence for support of primary Hujja, consideration, initiating an investigation, and weakening factor of primary Hujja. However circumstantial evidence should be used to create a completely convincing ontology to achieve a persuasive Hujja.
Islamic law recognizes four, two, or one witnesses, depending on the gender and number of witnesses. Two female witnesses are equal to one male witness; however, in cases pertaining to femininity, where women have greater access to information, only female witnesses are accepted. These differing figures depend on the area of law involved and the necessary level of proof. While one witness accepts a lower standard of credibility, four demand that a very high level of credibility be established. A witness must meet certain requirements for cognitive ability related to the legal matter at hand, be just, mature, and sane. Another requirement is that, unless there are extraordinary circumstances, he or she must be a Muslim in cases involving Muslims against Muslims. Another requirement is that, in most cases, the witness must be a Muslim in a case involving Muslims v. Muslims. However, in certain extraordinary cases, non-Muslims may testify on behalf of or against Muslims. Other than that, if the issue extends beyond Muslims to include non-Muslims, then only the requirements of justice, sanity, and adulthood apply.
4. Jihad
Since the beginning of time, warfare has been ingrained in human history as a means of both destruction and survival. Islam's defensive and hu-manitarian approach to warfare, as demonstrated by the prophet, is survivalist. When the holy prophet was told to fight for the rights of the oppressed Muslims—that is, their rights to accept Islam and live by it—political and military jihad began. The holy prophet left for Madinah as a result of the Meccans' persecution of Muslims because of their teachings of justice and One Allah, which put the pagan political, economic, and social establishments in jeopardy. Persecutors became more numerous. Quraish besieged Mecca's Muslim propertiesJ ihad is a struggle personally or collectively spiritual, financial, or military to achieve specific Quranic goals and purpose. Spiritual is the struggle against sins to abstain from them, financial is helping to empower Islam and charity in Islamic causes, and militarily is, the fight to defend the oppressed and to protect Islam and Islamic rule. All verses of Jihad are to protect religious identity and spirituality, Muslim honor, Muslim wealth, the oppressed, Islam's sovereignty, and self-defense against tyrants and oppressors. The intensity of the persecution increased, and the verse for self-defense became clear. The following were the defensive triggers: a) Violating a peace agreement b) Targeting and killing Muslims c) Ongoing hostilities directed towards Muslims, including financial support for adversaries, schemes, and economic aggressions; military invasions and attacks; and sanctions imposed on Muslims and Islamic causes.
Jihad is a perpetual obligation. Allah commands believers to consistently and steadfastly prepare for both known and unknown threats. The Quranic verses and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad regarding Jihad elucidate several key aspects: a) the rationale behind fighting, b) the legitimate adversaries, c) the appropriate timing, and d) the permissible methods of engagement. It's evident from Islamic scripture and the Prophet's life that those who are oppressed have the right to defend themselves to safeguard their lives, property, honor, dignity, and way of life, all in obedience to Allah. However, engaging in combat for ideologies like communism or secularism isn't considered Jihad and is unacceptable to Allah. Jihad must also be conducted with proportionality, meaning that collective punishment is forbidden. This entails refraining from indiscriminate destruction and the killing of non-combatants such as women, children, the elderly, religious figures, and other civilians. Even in the midst of Islamic warfare, humanitarian principles must be upheld. The spoils acquired from a just defensive or humanitarian war should be fairly distributed among the needy and less fortunate.
There are three conditions that must be met for jihad to end: First, there must be an end to the tyranny, persecution, and the ideology that gave rise to it. Secondly, Allah's religion must become the supreme law. The third requirement is that they return to the pre-conflict state of affairs or create a new reality founded on some sort of understanding if the adversary stops their hostility: One instance would be if the opposition withdrew and the war ended while making reparations.. The goal of Jihad is to advance Islam by ensuring the freedom to practice and govern according to its principles, protecting the oppressed, weakening hostile forces, and securing favorable conditions for Muslims.
Jihad is not a means to subjugate people or nations. The Quran neither promotes nor mandates slavery; instead, it advocates for the release of prisoners as an act of goodwill or through ransom. Islam came to abolish slavery through transformative change and reform.
5. Islamic Economic System
5.1. Background: Capitalism
During the era of colonialism, Western legal, philosophical, scientific, and economic ideologies flourished, largely due to the exploitation of colonies by European powers. As colonial powers gained access to additional resources, knowledge, and experimental opportunities, their dominance expanded. However, the onset of Adolf Hitler's regime marked a significant shift, leading to the downfall of traditional colonialism in Western nations as the costs of war nearly bankrupted them. While many colonies eventually gained independence, this newfound autonomy did not necessarily translate into intellectual, political, and economic self-sufficiency. The devastation wrought by colonial exploitation left these nations with depleted human capital, leading to continued reliance on Western support and markets. Moreover, the imposition of dictators and despots by colonial powers, often through arbitrary border demarcations and the manipulation of identities, further hindered the attainment of genuine independence and equality. In reality true independence was never achieved for most Muslim countries including Bangladesh as there is no freedom in the violation of others’ rights, disregarding one's responsibility and duty.
Capitalism perpetuates avoidable suffering on a global scale to accommodate its business operations, market dynamics, and labor requirements. It consistently tolerates the unnecessary hardships faced by the working class to sustain its profit-driven model. At its core, capitalism relies on a structure of exploitation and the imposition of interest-based debt bondage, particularly in developing nations where it penetrates through influential individuals and powerful corporations. The inherent flaw of capitalism lies in its dependence on interest-based systems and profit motives, which facilitate the perpetuation of debt servitude. This fundamental flaw has rendered corporate capitalism unsuccessful, marked by a history of instability spanning the 20th and current centuries. The system is characterized by recurring global financial crises, widening inequality, the exploitation of human beings and the environment, all of which are prominent and persistent features of capitalism. Islamic economy doesn't need to create expensive things unless necessary for survival or reduce great hardships. However, things that become expensive due to economic mismanagement and corruption are excluded. Islamic wealth policy also rejects unfair capitalist banking control of people's wealth. Only Islamic taxes can be taken and people's wealth must be free at their disposal to spend without undue restrictions. People's wealth is not a loot vault for the royals, politicians and the capitalists. Increase of the economic total wealth is nothing unless the increment has been achieved and distributed fairly, properly and on Islamic guidance.
5.2. Islamic Welfare Economy
Islamic economy is meant to create a massive resource generating jurisdiction. Divided nations divide resources and limit their resources within thereby barring resource sharing among themselves. Under an Islamic united Khilafa and Ummah united effective and efficient management of resources will benefit the population and humanity in general.
Islam provides rules of private ownership, trade and business, rules of wealth collection and distribution, and rules of financial activities thus making it also an economic system. Islamic economic system prioritizes welfare over profit, equity over-exploitation, ethical supremacy over Marxian, and corporate materialism.
Islam believes growth without welfare is slavery. Islamic economy proposes an equitable system that rewards honest work yet cares for the weak and the vulnerable. While profit is essential but is secondary and shared through the wide-ranging taxation system of Islam. The key features of the Islamic economic system are interest-free schemes, welfare models from diverse taxation schemes, Islamic financial security schemes, and a gold-back system.
Islam believes that a) Man will be motivated to work if given the opportunity and boost through welfare, justice, and security b) Family is founded on love and patriarch financial supremacy is a protective scheme for women, society, and the demography c) Women cannot be exploited for sexual and economic gains at the expense of values, morals, relationship, their health, family and the demography. So there are things the Islamic government must provide to the weak and vulnerable such as unmarried women, widows, the disabled and the needy who are middle to low-income patriarch families, unemployed adult men, and homeless people such as subsadized or free water, electricity, healthcare, housing, and monthly or yearly payments. The welfare economy will provide for a common and normal life which should allow, for example, every “Islam recognized” family to enjoy a choice of basic diet two times a day, enjoy security in life, property, and honor as well, and allow them to afford convenient utilities of life. A welfare model minimizes hardship and increases happiness. The welfare maturity is measured against the growth of the rich in relationship to the growth of the welfare. That is if the rich grow then welfare must grow and if the rich shrink welfare will also shrink in proportion. For the Islamic economy, it is a reflection of total Islamic tax wealth (Islamic treasury wealth) increase and welfare distribution.
An Islamic citizen invests or starts a business on Islamic rules and guidelines. He doesn't seek maximising profits but welfare is primary so that cost minus expenses is balanced and sufficient to an acceptable standard of living while taking into consideration labour rights, animal rights, environmental rights and justice. He also considers a savings plan.
Intellectual maturity of the citizens will determine the quality and quantity of products and services manufactured and consumed
. It is not true that Islamic welfare will make people lazy. Those who have a thirst for achievement, creativity, and desire to become self-sufficient will always work their way to achieve these. In the capitalist system, workers are never compensated for the full value of what they produce; in some industries, they are paid only a tiny fraction of it. Public welfare is needed because not everyone can succeed in education, job, or business due to
1) Cognitive deficiency
2) Health problems
3) Finances
4) Lack of connection and favoritism
5) Market dynamics
Islamic taxation encompasses two main categories: those based on faith, applicable to Muslims, and those based on security, applicable to non-Muslims. These taxes cover both monetary assets and natural resources, which are further categorized as follows: a) Zakat, b) Khumus, c) Jizya, d) Rikaz, and e) Ushr. Zakat is obligatory on specific agricultural produce such as camels, cows, goats/sheep, wheat, barley, dates, raisins, gold, and silver. These items are essential for societies that rely on both meat and crops, thereby emphasizing Islam's support for agriculture and livestock to ensure essential dietary needs are met within Islamic society. Additionally, Zakat Al-Fitr is obligatory on every mentally competent and financially able individual, covering dietary items equivalent to 106 liters, such as wheat, barley, dates, or any other staple food necessary for sustenance. Khumus is levied on various sources, including spoils of war, deep water resources, treasures, natural resources, income, wealth obtained from halal and haram means, and land owned by non-Muslims. Jizya, on the other hand, is a security tax imposed on non-Muslims residing within Islamic jurisdiction, including foreign non-Muslim traders operating within Islamic territories. Islamic society must gradually replace the Western secular taxation model with the Islamic one.
The recipients of Islamic taxes are the following: a) Allah, His messenger, and Imams of Ahl Bayt: These constitute the Islamic government b) Orphans, poor, and the travelers of Banu Hasim: This is the tribe of Prophet Muhammad (s) c) The destitute: This can be the lower and lower middle class d) The needy or poor: This can be the homeless, those in poverty, etc. e) The tax collectors: Those who are in the administration of the taxation system f) In the path of Allah: All charitable work. Some examples include public services, social welfare and research g) People burdened with debt: Those who are unable to pay debt h) The wayfarers/travelers: Those who are stranded on their journeys when the Islamic society is their transit i) People in bondage or slavery: In the modern world these can include prostitutes, child laborers, child soldiers, etc j) Those who are inclined towards Islam: This is basically for those who are inclined to Islam but have not yet accepted Islam. These can be non-Muslims in the Islamic society or those new Muslims who have financial problems and are too weak to fully commit themselves to Islam.
The basic model of collecting Islamic tax can be summarized in the following:
1) Calculate the taxable wealth (total wealth and Nisab) of the individual.
2) Calculate the universal essential cost of living based on the economy.
3) Calculate the individually tailored essential cost of living if any.
4) Deduct the amount needed for the essential cost of living.
5) Deduct taxable amount from the remaining wealth.
6) Add to Islamic treasury.
7) Distribute to welfare recipients.
Islamic social welfare needs a solid efficient, and effective algorithm of verification and distribution of public funds and services. In short Islamic economic system is based on growth that sustains welfare, human and environmental rights over profit, an interest-free loan scheme, minimum wages based on specialization rather than universal minimum wage, immigration based on skills and morality, private ownership with accountability, eradication of corruption and unfair practices, and skill creating and consuming job industry
. The implementational details and policies are in the Shariah law. Development must never come at the cost of more important things such as innocent lives, rights and the environment.
6. Islamic Education System
When society is abundant with liars, cheaters and fraud who will you trust? How will law and order function? This is why Islamic upbringing is a necessity. The righteous brings change for God while the wicked brings change for evil. In a society abundant with wickedness God's intervention becomes a necessity. Islamic education and upbringing create the abundance of the righteous so that people are not oppressed, exploited or violated of their rights.
Education is a social institution that teaches members the skills, knowledge, norms, and values they need to become good, productive members of their society. However, secular education has resulted in a Godless science, emphasizing the human ego and centeredness of the world. This secular system has led to destructive features such as violent crimes, apathy, xenophobia, racism, exploitative foreign policies, economic injustice, falling population, eroding matrimonial relationships, and harmful lifestyles
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To change Muslim-majority societies towards Islam, it is essential to change their social acts and behavior through social programs and institutions. Islamic education must aim at controlling and modeling the social and cognitive schema by various psychological means, creating social interaction to instill a sense of community based on Islamic values, rejecting negative values, and promoting positive ones. It will lay down the potential to create group norms in political and social groups, earning admiration by piety, morality, and ability to govern.
Islamic education will make individual citizens empathetic, rational, and just in their dealings and relationships with society. It will impart the priority of good, justice, charity, and removing oppression and injustice. Islamic education will train the citizen's mind to filter social occurrences and events through reason, research, relevance, and significance. Social and familial relationships will be based on equity, justice, transparency, respecting privacy, a helping hand, charity, and exposing and suppressing evil forms of relationships. Relational conflicts will be solved through Islamic solutions such as avoidance, confrontation, or compromise.
Modern Islamic education aims to build a strong and moral human capital to serve Islamic citizens, political Islam, and the system of Islamic governance. The success of a nation depends on the richness and development of its psychology, reflecting the importance of a child's spiritual, moral, cognitive, and gender-based emotional development. Islamic education has a continuous mission of Islamization, changing behavior through social programs and institutions through family, mosque, social environment, relationships, media, and entertainment.
Islamic education should encompass the creed, spirituality, morality, and cultural heritage of Islamic ummah throughout history, as well as exposure to natural sciences, classical logic, mathematical and computational sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Muslim children must learn their social categories and values based on Islamic guidance, such as chastity, husband, childbearing, leadership, matrimonial responsibility, and family protection.
From childhood, children are exposed to Allah, Islam, family, children, husband and wife concepts through cartoons, animations, games, pictures, and toys. It is important to prevent exposure to secular social constructs and family, avoiding foreign movies, cartoons, magazines, games, etc. that promote atheism, anti-patriarch, anti-family agenda, or feminism. Analytical education promotes the synthesis of concepts through illustrations, movies, animations, site visits, museums, archeology, and awareness and learning through case studies, archives, records, reports, and textbooks.
In the Islamic system education should be compulsory for boys, as they are the patriarch Qawwam over women and have the duty to care for and protect them. Females should be taught socialization with relatives and how to spend time productively as members of a family.
In higher education, subjects should be gender-based, with women focusing on teaching children, family care and development, nursing for women, women-specific medical doctors, and home-based businesses. Islamic brotherhood and Islamic solidarity should be taught from an early age, while higher education should teach the importance of jihad, prophetic wars, and hostile Islamophobic ideologies.
Islamic education will create strong researchers, fostering inquisitive minds and analytical thought into Allah's creation. Sciences that the Quran has indicated and hinted which have been established through rational thought and research are many
. The Quran encourages various pathways to understanding Allah's creations, and Quranic verses encourage reasoning, thinking, perception, hearing, discovery, and invention .
7. Islamic Marriage and Family
The modern society has become increasingly resentful of marriage, leading to a culture of increasing perversion and carnality, including rape. Islam rejects this secular social trend and legislates marriage, establishing a protective sphere for Muslim women, and granting them rights that shield them from the negative effects of feminism. Modern research generally finds that marriage benefits both sexes, with married people generally being happier, having better psychological well-being, physically healthier, having better sex lives, and lower death rates. This should also allow for protection, cooperation, reproductive success, contribution, avoiding harm, wastage of resources, and emotional and sexual infidelity in group living.
The family performs several essential functions for society, such as socializing children, providing emotional and practical support, regulating sexual activity and reproduction, and providing a social identity. However, the shift from traditional norms has caused a detached and distanced family, with parents often working stressful capitalist jobs to raise their kids improperly. This has resulted in domestic violence, children living without fathers, and young people having babies, using drugs, and committing violence.
Marriage under Allah and in front of people is a union and agreement that creates responsibility, a sense of duty, and a sense of long-term commitment. Islamic marriage activates further legal injunctions for the couple, their children, and relatives, which is not found in secular arrangements. Islamic marriage creates wide-ranging religious, familial, social, economic, financial, and legal rights, duties, responsibilities, and consequences.
Throughout evolutionary history, females sought men who were resourceful, protective, older, intelligent, dependable, and mature. Feminism has triggered the negative disruptive psychology of anxiety, jealousy, envy, and greed in the female, potentially threatening relationship-building on the evolutionary basis of submission and trust, protection, and care. The woman acquires a love for simplicity and fewer financial requirements while prioritizing masculine values like care, protection, industry, hard work, responsibility, leadership, and empathy in a potential husband, like the ancestral women of our evolutionary past.
The fundamental aspect of an Islamic marriage lies in the piety of the individuals involved and their mutual respect and admiration as they embark on building an Islamic family, regardless of the challenges they may face. The Islamic court plays a crucial role in ensuring that marriages are entered into with the sincere intention of creating a lasting companionship rooted in piety and righteousness. To this end, the court may conduct inquiries and investigations into the backgrounds and circumstances of the prospective couples and their guardians to ensure the integrity and suitability of the union.
Genuine marriage involves a continuous deepening of emotional connections, companionship, unity, intimacy, trust, commitment, and loyalty, alongside a desire for physical closeness, romantic love, and a willingness to sacrifice for one another's well-being. It entails finding contentment in each other's company, supporting each other through difficulties, and deriving joy from each other's presence, appreciating each other's smiles, voices, closeness, thoughts, attitudes, and personalities. In Islamic marriage, the wife demonstrates submissive care and contribution, fulfilling her duties dutifully, while the husband assumes a role of guiding, directing, and providing authoritative care and protection, thus bearing responsibility. Marriage should not be pursued as a means to attain material wealth, social status, or power, nor should it be seen as an avenue to escape debts or indulge in extravagant spending.
The success of the Islamic family depends on patriarchy on the basis of the male sex given intrinsic potential to excel in overall parameters of psychology and biology with certain specific gender attributes as explained
. Patriarchy is a social construct that requires men to have authority in all organizational capacities, employment, education, and guardianship. It is about taking care of women and lessening their burden from various social roles, such as childbirth, childcare, menstruation, and duty to husbands and the household. Patriarchy is obligated to protect and care for the woman's mental, physical, spiritual, and financial well-being, as failing to do so can lead to genuine prolonged harm in the mind and body of the female. To achieve, solidify, and sustain the Islamic matrimonial patriarchal hierarchy, six foundations are necessary. These foundations actualize the best matrimonial bond in both sexes and genders, creating the best feelings, intimacy, and relationships. The gender status and gender roles defined by Islam are a collective model that contradicts the individualist model of feminism focusing on self-interest and self-esteem being the primary driving factors of its life process.
Marriage is initiated after consideration of the match, whether the adult husband is suitable and just, whether he is of pious upbringing, and whether he will guarantee the care and safety of the wife-to-be. Adult Muslim men and women have the right to choose their marriage partners, while their guardians only work in an advisory role, especially for women. There is no place for forced marriage, financial reasons, elitism, or social class in Islamic marriage. The most important thing in an Islamic marriage is the piety of the couples and their mutual admiration of each other in starting an Islamic family in hardship or ease.
Islam has made the family a hierarchy where the husband is the head of the organization by his finance, biology, and psychology, and the wife emotionally, cognitively, and behaviorally submits to the order, and harmony flourishes. This creates harmony as the positions of the husband and wife are unequal, with the husband providing leadership and the wife obeying him and providing an advisory role. Any wrong or injustice is dealt with by an adjudicating model .
Islam rejects gender equality, as it does not see marriage as a partnership like a business venture. The Muslim wife plays a vital role in fulfilling the divine mandate on earth and Allah's will by contributing to the stability of the Islamic family as a homemaker and to the broader Islamic Ummah. She fosters harmony, prevents deadlock, rivalry, and detachment in marriages, enhances patriarchal productivity, influences demography, and strengthens familial bonds.
In recent history, women have been increasingly involved in the workforce due to feminism and the need to sustain their families due to insufficient income for their husbands. However, an Islamic family should receive Islamic welfare if the husband is of the low-income category so that the wife does not need to be under the stress of outside work and homework.
In Islam, a woman must obey her closest patriarch, such as her husband, in all issues except those that result in violation of her Allah-given obligatory rights, sin, or harm to anyone. In case of a conflict of rights between husband and wife, the husband's rights will be preferred as he has greater rights over the wife . Obedience to the wife is optional and depends on his love and sympathy. However, the husband should obey the wife cumulatively so that every rejection of the wife's desire does not lead to psychological or physical harm. The husband also has the right to discipline a wife. Aggression and the threat of aggression function to deter long-term (female) mates from sexual infidelity. Indeed, when stringent punishments are in place for those who fail to contribute their fair share (in group living such as marriage), high levels of cooperation tend to emerge. So patriarchial matrimonial disciplining and punishment contribute to achieving protection, cooperation, reproductive success, contribution, and avoiding harm, wastage of resources, and emotional and sexual infidelity in this form of group living
.
A Muslim woman is prohibited from marrying a non-Muslim man due to patriarchy, as it influences the worldview and upbringing of the children. The Quran and Sunnah command to marry pious and chaste men and women, with Muslim men being allowed to marry practicing Christian and Jewish women as wives but not idol-worshipping/polytheistic women. The Quran rejects polytheism and nothing in polytheism is revealed or prophetic, so there is no fundamental common ground.
Islam allows the marriage of close relatives, which psychologists and evolutionary scientists call kin selection. Muslim women accept polygamy as an Allah-given right of men and have no right to reject or deny this from their husbands. Polygamy has many benefits, such as safeguarding from married and unmarried infidelity, wealth distribution, relationship building and cohesion, growth of family values, improved demography, and enhanced sexual experience through virginity and chastity.
Islam also allows child marriage, which is also legal even in the US today
. Age can be a differentiating factor for sexual intercourse only and not the actual contract of marriage.
In Islam, the concept of marital rape is not recognized due to the understanding of male sexual psychology and the husband's greater rights within the marital relationship. According to Islamic teachings, a wife is generally expected to comply with her husband's sexual advances unless she has a valid medical reason or is physically unable to engage in sexual intercourse. Refusing her husband's advances could potentially strain the marital relationship, lead to disagreements, and even result in divorce, as well as potentially contribute to instances of infidelity.
Divorce is a highly disliked act in Islam, as it can lead to instability and negative impacts on children and adults involved. In Islam, both husband and wife can seek separation through different rules, with the Quran prescribing a waiting period for divorce to allow wives to prepare emotionally, financially, and biologically.
The Islamic family, the smallest representative unit of Allah's will, is founded on marriage, defined as harmony in the Quran. This peaceful relationship fosters unity and understanding between men and women, as Islam creates values and traits that can be agreed upon under Allah and His Prophet.
Parents play a crucial role in guiding their children on Islam and communicative knowledge, using light beating and authority to teach them the importance of authority and rule-based life. They also teach children that life is a cycle of reward and punishment
.
8. Islamic Society
Islamic society is a group of ethnic Muslim people who live in a defined unified territory or territories and share the Islamic culture dominantly with Muslim ethnic cultures marginally. The ultimate goal of Islamic society is to connect with Allah and live in Him, resulting in peace, satisfying mental and emotional states, avoiding chaos, minimizing risks, achieving success in the afterlife, and stimulating spiritual and moral conscience towards Allah's greatness .
Islamic society operates on political, academic, public, and legal institutions based on the values of Islam, famous Islamic biographies, and history. It does not believe in true multiculturalism, as contemporary multiculturalism often entails one dominant liberal culture coexisting with other minority cultures selectively. Instead, Islamic law sets the standard for inclusion, and non-Muslims must follow Islamic laws in matters of non-faith.
Islamic society also believes in lawful leisure and entertainment, such as halal leisure and entertainment, as the human soul cannot continue in anything for long. The prophet advised taking time off from voluntary religious activities to give the soul a rest, and all obligations and prohibitions must be followed. Islamic society rejects corruption, fraud, cheating, exploitation, and manipulating the weaknesses of people.
Islamic culture refers to symbols, languages, beliefs, norms, values, and artifacts rooted in the Quran, Sunnah, and pious ancestors who preferred Islam over their races and ethnicities. Islamic society may participate in foreign cultures provided it is allowed under Islamic law, but must filter influencers and celebritism to prevent immorality, vices, and misguided ideologies from spreading .
Islamic society adopts the Islamic diet and hygiene across all food shops and grocery sellers, ensuring health improvement and reduction in illnesses. Islamic society rejects animal cruelty. The Islamic society has established rules of permissibility for food, including hygiene, age, health, type of animal, nature of finance, benefit vs harm, purity vs filth, and manner of slaughter. Islamic society adopts Islamic diet and hygiene, ensuring health improvement and reducing illnesses. Animals are generally omnivorous, carnivorous, or herbivorous, with the Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH) indicating that plant-eating animals are halal.
The Islamic society establishes care homes for the elderly and obligates earning sons to care for their parents financially as part of the obligation on children to show mercy and respect. All bureaucracies in Islamic society have written rules and regulations, and social deviance is punished by physical or financial punishments. It establishes insurance based on welfare rather than profit motive to reduce inequality and discrimination. Medical professionals are held accountable for their professions, and society does not make policies based on race or nationality.
Islamic law, legal system, and governance are based on the Quran and Sunnah, and these work synergistically as a collective whole. Rehabilitation is only for those with medically proven cognitive deficiency and when their crimes are not severe or grotesque and do not violate Allah’s rights. Social change is guided to maintain security, hygiene aesthetics, and character.
Islamic society rejects apathy, xenophobia, racism, feminism, harmful lifestyles, sexual perversions, nudity, free mixing, disdain for marriage, free sex trends, and the normalization of extreme violence. The Islamic society is not a victim of trends, impulses, and populism but tackles them with determination, reason, and reluctance. It functions on political institutions, academic institutions, public institutions, and legal institutions based on the values of Islam, famous Islamic biographies, and history.
Islamic society is based on foundational principles such as reason, justice, fairness, accountability, transparency, and morals. It rejects corruption, fraud, exploitation, and manipulation of people's weaknesses. Islamic society promotes a cooperative model and rejects stratification based on iniquity, economic exploitation, and caste system. It recognizes sex and gender differences and implements patriarchy, favoring men in social roles and leadership. Islamic culture includes symbols, languages, beliefs, and values rooted in the Quran, Sunnah, and pious ancestors. Islamic society expresses Islamic culture through various forms such as greetings, Sunnah dress, hijab, and Islamic attitude. Islamic society may participate in foreign cultures, provided it is allowed under Islamic law. Muslims must understand when they are learning a culture or participating in it.
9. Essential Islamic Psychology and Character
Since the dawn of humanity, the question has been why all this? Why existence rather than non-existence? Why joy and suffering? What is then the meaning and purpose of life? Islamic psychology reveals a God who creates, manages, and relates with His creation, so divine servitude is the purpose, and going through tests to achieve divine reward or punishment is the meaning of life. God sent guidance through prophets and messengers only to guide our psychology. Psychology steers the world of man.
There are three standards; divine standard (reward and sin, God's pleasure, divine peace), scientific standard (mathematical measurement, systematic empiricism, biological survival, and reproductive success), and social standard (whatever people accept as norms). Islamic psychology embraces the first two while remaining cautious about the third.
Science has been used to separate God from the population of many places. Muslim must understand science is much of it preordained yet much also evolved if one considers science as a program and God as the programmer updating His program. God does not need to intervene to make changes for situations. He can rationally modify the system He created for example by increasing efficacy of a medicine or increasing its side effects. God in this sense makes things difficult or easy and encompasses things. God and our actions are thus rational. God's intervention in violation of the system is miracle and only for the Prophets. The scientific aspect discovers the system continuously while yet as the programmer God may continue to evolve the rational system.
Islamic character is a divinely guided self-construct consisting of an integrated whole of attitudes, emotions, beliefs, personality, and mood, a relatively enduring and general evaluation and judgment of an object, person, group, issue, or concept on a dimension ranging from negative to positive. Islamic character consists of many traits established from the Quran and Sunnah. These traits make an integrated whole, but traits have their moment of manifestations, that is, which trait to use when, it is established by Sharia law, philosophy of religion, and the Islamic purpose of that moment. Some traits are unique to men and some to women while some are common to both because men and women are different.
Table 1. Islamic Traits.
Positive Traits | Negative Traits |
1) Repentance 2) Awe 3) Abstinence 4) Contentment2 5) Simple living2 6) Patience 7) Thanksgiving and gratefulness 8) Sincerity2 and reason 9) Trust in and love of Allah2 10) Humility and asceticism 11) Resistance against sins, injustice, and oppression 12) Honesty and trustworthiness2 13) Modesty and chastity 14) Charity2, courage, and generosity2 15) Activity and work2 16) Justice2 and yet also forgiving 17) Good manners 18) Reconciling with brothers 19) Amicability and brotherhood 20) Humility in speech and action 21) Reason over stubbornness 22) High standard of beauty, taste, hygiene, and organization 23) Right priorities and objects of focus in life 24) Objectivity, that is the intention and desire to acquire the truth of matters and reject bias and emotional influences 25) Timely and relevant judgment2 26) Healthy, reasonable and just relationship with others2 2 2 2 2 | 1) Gluttony 2) Unjustified envy 3) Miserliness 4) Arrogance 5) Astonishment in forbidden things 6) Sins of the tongue 7) Unjustified backbiting 8) Rumor-mongering and gossip 9) Suspicion 10) Defeatism 11) Lying 12) Betrayal 13) Bad manners 14) Hypocrisy 15) Anger and outburst 16) Cowardice 17) Exploiting the weak and the ignorant 18) Aristocracy and greed 19) Vice and wastage2 20) Seeking convenience by harming others. 21) Nationalism, racism, tribalism and secularism |
The Muslim believes in reasonable prayer. Muslims should not expect miracles from prayer. Muslims should also understand that any prayer may be rejected by Allah. Prayer is not separate from effort and planning . Prayer is a way of bringing Allah’s help. Maybe Allah will change the heart of someone, bless an object such as medicine for treatment, or imbue someone with knowledge. Muslims must always put their trust in Allah because there is uncertainty, risk, and evil in this world.
Muslims reject fatalism and predestination. Muslims should believe that Allah will reward and punish us based on our beliefs and actions that we can choose freely . Allah may take into consideration aggravating and mitigating factors when judging us. For example is death already determined by Allah? Allah has appointed a time for our death but this doesn't mean that is the only time of death. If someone murders you you may die sooner, if you do suicide you may die sooner, if you abuse your health you may die sooner but also if you pray for a longer life you may die later as well. If all these situations don't take place then you will die on the appointed time as Allah wills.
God created suffering for many objectives but also established hope with it; Our hope to God, from our closed ones, our friends, our society etc., to come out with joy and betterment. It is only the apathy that worsens or enhances the suffering and its nihilism.
10. Hijab
The dress code is human culture and social rule. There are many dress codes across societies many of which are enforced either legally or socially. Islamic hijab is also a dress code that is Divine , and one that must also be enforced by Islamic jurisdiction. The hijab can be explained as the proper covering of the human body and a state of mind and lifestyle depending on sex and gender. It is a proper covering of the body to cover one’s shame properly, prevent oneself from being a distraction and temptation, protect the feminine body from sun damage, and be a responsible social citizen. The hijab is a dignified dress protecting the honor of women from sexualization and commercial exploitation of their beauty.
The real question is why cannot women control their artificial desire for “as you wish” clothing but men have to control their intrinsic natural “hard to control” psychological and biological desires. Genetics and environment play a major role in male sexual desire and the most important aspect of this environment is the female sex. Research conducted in Japan, Great Britain, and the United States showed that men have roughly twice as many sexual fantasies as women. In every nation, from Thailand to Croatia to Trinidad, men reported having a higher sex drive than did women a finding that contradicts the notion that these sex differences are caused by economic gender inequality.
Lack of Hijab affects male spiritual, functional, and intellectual aptitude. The matrimonial relationship may decay as the husband fails to see the physical beauty in his wife which he admires in a woman without hijab. For example, porn is a trigger of matrimonial disaster ending in divorce or cheating couples. There is a correlation between increasing nudity since the 1950s and increasing rape culture and we see that research indicates that up to one-third of U.S. women will experience a rape or sexual assault, including attempts, at least once in their lives. This arises from sex differences between men and women. While the sexual desire of women is extremely sensitive to environment, social, and cultural factors and is more contextual, more subjective, and more layered on a lattice of emotion men’s sexuality is stronger and direct because men think of sex more, vividly and men are visual. For example, prostitution is still mostly a phenomenon of men seeking sex with women, rather than the other way around. Nuns do a better job of fulfilling their vows of chastity than priests. The Hijab along with the prevention of free gender mixing is a perfect measure and a preventive reducing mean against sexually related crimes and men being able to control themselves better. For example, strategies women use to avoid rape: a) avoiding appearing sexually receptive (e.g., not wearing revealing clothing) and b) avoiding being alone
.
The legal rules of feminine hijab are: a) It must cover all body and head except face and wrists which are optional to cover b) the hijab itself must not be provocative or tempting c) the hijab must not be tight as to reveal the shape of the feminine body especially arms, breasts, thighs, and buttocks d) the hijab must not be transparent as to reveal the color of the skin e) should not have fragrance f) should not resemble religious cloths of other religions, men or cloths associated with sins and transgressions.
11. Conclusion
Islam is a political religion that emphasizes unity and solidarity among Muslims through the model known as Khilafa. The Quran and Hadith contain divine legislation, politics, and stories about the battle between good and evil power. The Khalifa represents Allah on earth and must be politically powerful to represent His authority. Political Islam is based on the Prophet's constitution of Medina, the rule of law, theocratic meritocracy, and parliamentary vicegerency. It rejects nationalism, racism, tribalism, and aristocracy, and considers Muslims and non-Muslims as central and subsidiary parts of the Ummah, respectively. Islamic leadership is based on piety and merit, with the concept of imamate combining political and religious leadership. Social change under Islamic leadership is guided by maintaining security, hygiene, aesthetics, and character. The Islamic constitution guides the government and is a document of balance and trust between Allah and His vicegerent. Islamic international relations should focus on unity, security, and sovereignty of Islamic rule unifying all the Muslim-majority territories. The Prophet's national and foreign policies aimed to achieve these goals, including the establishment of the non-Muslim free Arabian Peninsula as a fallback sanctuary for all Muslims. Islam rejects imperialism and promotes peaceful co-existence, mutual development, and support for the oppressed.
Islamic law and secular law share some similarities in terms of rationale, semantics, principles, and law overall. However, they differ in major theological, philosophical, and functional aspects. Theologically, Islamic law appeals to Allah and the Prophet, while secular law has no such appeals. Philosophically, Islamic law proposes patriarchy and inequality of sexes and gender, while secular law proposes equality. Functionally, Islamic law proposes many physical punishments, while secular law proposes almost zero. The legal system is an institution and organization that preserves the political process and guides the exercise of power. The legal system needs to function with jurisdiction, as it is necessary for implementing the Quran and Sunnah. Non-Muslims are bound by Islamic law, which does not require religious intention or belief in the Islamic faith. The difference between foreigners and citizens in an Islamic jurisdiction is based on fair and just rights and duties, with non-discrimination being the principle and dominant practice. The Islamic legislative, consisting of the Imam, Guardian Council, and Shura Council, is responsible for proposing legislation. Enforceable legislation must enforce what Allah, His Prophet, and Ahl Bayt obligated or prohibited for the collective existence, betterment of society, and collective interest. The legislation must achieve objective and purpose in the texts of Islam, not contradict established textual rulings, and ensure compliance, administration, enforcement, and facilitation of the laws of Allah. The Islamic judge interprets Islamic law based on Islamic legal science and Islamic legal maxims, decides cases, and proposes legal injunctions. They have control over the case, must explain their decision, be rational, and reveal their sources when acquiring exclusive information. A legal wrong in Islamic jurisdiction is any violation of enforceable law either by performance or failure to perform.
Warfare has been a human right since the beginning, with Islam's concept of Jihad being a survivalist and humanitarian one. Jihad began when the Prophet was commanded to fight for the rights of oppressed Muslims, aiming to protect their religious identity, honor, wealth, and sovereignty. It is a continuous command, to preserve life, property, dignity, and way of life for obedience to Allah. Jihad ends if tyranny, persecution, and hostile ideology end, Allah's religion becomes the rule, or the enemy ceases hostility.
Western colonialism thrived once, but it did not fully provide intellectual, political, and economic independence to its former colonies. Capitalism, based on exploitation and interest-based debt slavery, has been flawed due to its interest-based system and profit motive. The Islamic Welfare Economy, on the other hand, prioritizes welfare over profit, equity over exploitation, ethical supremacy over Marxian, and corporate materialism. The Islamic economy proposes an equitable system that rewards honest work while caring for the weak and vulnerable. Key features of the Islamic welfare economy include interest-free schemes, welfare models from diverse taxation schemes, Islamic financial security schemes, and a gold-back system. Islamic taxes are faith-based for Muslims and security-based for non-Muslims, targeting monetary items and natural resources. The recipients of Islamic taxes include the Islamic government, orphans, the poor, destitute, needy, tax collectors, charitable works, debt-burdened people, wayfarers, slaves, and those inclined towards Islam. The basic model of collecting Islamic tax involves calculating the taxable wealth, universal essential cost of living, and individual-tailored essential cost of living. The Islamic economic system is based on growth that sustains welfare, human and environmental rights over profit, interest-free loans, minimum wages, private ownership, eradication of corruption, and skill-creating job industries.
Islamic education aims to change Muslim-majority societies towards Islam by controlling and modeling social and cognitive schema through psychological means. It aims to make citizens empathetic, rational, and just in their dealings with society, prioritizing good, justice, charity, and removing oppression. Modern Islamic education builds a strong moral human capital, focusing on spiritual, moral, cognitive, and gender-based emotional development. It should be compulsory for boys, gender-based in higher education, and teach Islamic brotherhood and solidarity. Islamic education also fosters strong researchers and analytical thought into Allah's creation.
Modern society has become increasingly resentful of marriage, leading to a culture of perversion and carnality, including rape. Islam rejects this secular trend and legislates marriage, establishing a protective sphere for Muslim women and granting them rights that shield them from the negative effects of feminism. Modern research generally finds that marriage benefits both sexes, with married people generally being happier, having better psychological well-being, physically healthier, having better sex lives, and lower death rates. Islamic marriage is a union and agreement that creates responsibility, a sense of duty, and a sense of long-term commitment. It is rooted in patriarchy and emphasizes the importance of piety and mutual admiration between couples. The Islamic court ensures marriage is taking place with the intention of marriage and prolonged companionship committed based on piety and righteousness. Islam rejects gender equality and emphasizes the importance of the Muslim wife in fulfilling the divine mandate on earth and Allah's will by contributing to the stability of the Islamic family as a homemaker and the broader Islamic Ummah. Muslim women are prohibited from marrying non-Muslim men due to patriarchy. The Quran and Sunnah command pious and chaste marriages, with Muslim men allowed to marry Christian and Jewish women. Islam allows close relatives marriage, polygamy, and child marriage, and does not recognize marital rape. Divorce is disliked, and the Islamic family is founded on marriage, harmony, and teachings from parents.
Islamic society is groups of ethnic Muslim peoples living in a unified territory, focusing on connecting with Allah and living in Him. It operates on political, academic, public, and legal institutions based on Islamic values and history. Islamic culture includes symbols, languages, beliefs, norms, values, and artifacts rooted in the Quran, Sunnah, and pious ancestors. It rejects corruption, fraud, and exploitation, and promotes a cooperative model. Islamic society may participate in foreign cultures, provided it is allowed under Islamic law. It also rejects apathy, xenophobia, racism, feminism, harmful lifestyles, and extreme violence.
Islamic character is a divinely guided self-construct consisting of attitudes, emotions, beliefs, personality, and mood. It consists of traits established from the Quran and Sunnah, with some unique to men, and women and others common to both genders. Muslims believe in reasonable prayer, rejecting fatalism and predestination, and believe in Allah's ability to reward and punish based on actions.
Dress codes are cultural and social rules, including the Islamic hijab. The hijab protects women's dignity and prevents sexualization. Men have more sexual fantasies than women, and the lack of hijab affects their spiritual, functional, and intellectual aptitudes. Research shows that men have twice as many sexual fantasies as women, and a lack of hijab can lead to matrimonial disasters. The legal rules for feminine hijab include covering all body except the face and wrists, not being provocative, tight, transparent, fragrance-free, or resembling religious and sinful cloths.
12. Recommendation
The Prophet of Islam oversaw the transformation from a secular pseudo-religious structure to an Islamic one. Present-day Muslims need to undertake a similar shift, constructing pathways from secularism to political Islam. Initially, this transition must occur on a psychological level, leading to the establishment of political Islamic and Islamic cultural norms. The reformation of legal frameworks and procedures, guided by Islamic principles and employing epistemic tools such as logic, philosophy, and social sciences, should be prioritized. Furthermore, various aspects of society including the political system, economy, institutions, family, marriage, education, media, and entertainment should be aligned with Islamic philosophy and guidance. Islamic intellectuals face the challenge of adapting Islamic teachings to contemporary issues and finding corresponding solutions
.
Author Contributions
Mohammad Mushfequr Rahman is the sole author. The author read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflicts of Interest
The author declares no conflict of interest.
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Cite This Article
-
-
@article{10.11648/j.ijecs.20240903.11,
author = {Mohammad Mushfequr Rahman},
title = {Islam: The Complete, Functional and Practical Guide to Life
},
journal = {International Journal of Education, Culture and Society},
volume = {9},
number = {3},
pages = {87-108},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijecs.20240903.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20240903.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijecs.20240903.11},
abstract = {People say developed countries became developed by following secularism while Muslim countries became backward by following Islam. This is false perception. In fact developed countries are following Islamic principles unknowingly in all the areas of development; Islamic principles of rule of law, justice, honesty, integrity, research and knowledge learning, development and application. Developed countries and corruption ridden Muslim countries are self harming in all those areas where they are not following Islamic principles; resource intensive hedonism, predatory economic and financial policies, corruption, fraud, injustice, prejudice and selective exploitation of people. Latest development in many developed countries is adoption of prohibition of smoking in public places and this is also based on Islamic principle of avoiding greater harm. So Islam is an essential aspect of humanity’s existence. It teaches us how to conduct ourselves in all aspects of life in a morally and legally upright manner. Islam created a well-defined system of laws governing moral behavior, civil and political rights, social issues and rights, marriage and divorce laws, inheritance rights, and all other matters we deal with daily. It serves as a guide to life in all its facets and is not just for the mosque. Since Islam is logical and rational, it keeps a Muslim free from confusion of any kind. These are some of the main points raised in the paper regarding how Islam is a comprehensive, functional, and practical code of life. Nine major relevant and significant fields have been discussed: the Islamic political system, law and legal system, Jihad, economic system, education system, marriage and family, Islamic society, the mindset, and the hijab. The discussion is analytical and comparative addressing secular ideologies based on Islamic texts and social sciences. The paper establishes that the Islamic system is the alternative system that can replace secular ideologies. This paper has been summarized from a broader and larger discussion of the same topic.
},
year = {2024}
}
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Islam: The Complete, Functional and Practical Guide to Life
AU - Mohammad Mushfequr Rahman
Y1 - 2024/06/03
PY - 2024
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20240903.11
DO - 10.11648/j.ijecs.20240903.11
T2 - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
JF - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
JO - International Journal of Education, Culture and Society
SP - 87
EP - 108
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2575-3363
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20240903.11
AB - People say developed countries became developed by following secularism while Muslim countries became backward by following Islam. This is false perception. In fact developed countries are following Islamic principles unknowingly in all the areas of development; Islamic principles of rule of law, justice, honesty, integrity, research and knowledge learning, development and application. Developed countries and corruption ridden Muslim countries are self harming in all those areas where they are not following Islamic principles; resource intensive hedonism, predatory economic and financial policies, corruption, fraud, injustice, prejudice and selective exploitation of people. Latest development in many developed countries is adoption of prohibition of smoking in public places and this is also based on Islamic principle of avoiding greater harm. So Islam is an essential aspect of humanity’s existence. It teaches us how to conduct ourselves in all aspects of life in a morally and legally upright manner. Islam created a well-defined system of laws governing moral behavior, civil and political rights, social issues and rights, marriage and divorce laws, inheritance rights, and all other matters we deal with daily. It serves as a guide to life in all its facets and is not just for the mosque. Since Islam is logical and rational, it keeps a Muslim free from confusion of any kind. These are some of the main points raised in the paper regarding how Islam is a comprehensive, functional, and practical code of life. Nine major relevant and significant fields have been discussed: the Islamic political system, law and legal system, Jihad, economic system, education system, marriage and family, Islamic society, the mindset, and the hijab. The discussion is analytical and comparative addressing secular ideologies based on Islamic texts and social sciences. The paper establishes that the Islamic system is the alternative system that can replace secular ideologies. This paper has been summarized from a broader and larger discussion of the same topic.
VL - 9
IS - 3
ER -
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