Flexibility of Consultation (Shoora) in the Muslim Society

The ruler in the Muslim Society must refer, when disposing of the state's affairs, to specialists among the scholars and experts. They can form a shoora council whose task is to study, research and form opinions concerning matters in which shariah allows ijtihad, guided in all that by the practice of the Prophet (Peace and Blessings be upon him). When the men of wisdom who represented the people of Madina were with him, all of whom were from among the Sahabah, he would consult them on matters regarding which there was no text of revelation, and he would give them freedom to speak and act with regard to the running of worldly affairs, because they were more experienced in that. What is meant by worldly affairs here is matters which had nothing to do with shar'i or social rulings, but were purely practical matters, such as fighting battles, cultivating the land, protecting the harvest, etc. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) used to leave these matters up to them, saying, 

"You know best about your worldly affairs."

              When Islam approved of shoora and obliged rulers to abide by it, and forbade dictatorial rule by a single individual, it left it up to people to determine the ways and means of achieving shoora, so that the matter would be broad in scope and could be adapted to different times and circumstances. Hence shoora may take many different forms, depending on times, people and customs. What matters is that the entire process of government, starting with the selection of the head of state down to the formulation of policies and administrative matters should all be done in consultation with the people and the majority of the ummah, or with their representative among the people of reason and wisdom, who are known in Islamic terminology as ahl-hall wa al-'aqd (i.e., decision makers). Thus the ruling power will be subject to two restriction:  shari'ah and shoora, or the rule of Allah and opinion of the ummah.

          This is the flexibility in application of shoora in the Muslim Society, and this is the field of the mujtahideen and those who have experience in formulating an Islamic constitution, so as to prevent rulers and tyrants from deviating or from daring to transgress against the sole right of Allah to sovereignty and the people's right to submit to Him alone.

         The best guarantee of achieving all that is to spread awareness among the people of their obligation to ascribe sovereignty to Allah alone and to submit to Him alone, to the exclusion of all people. This is achieved by completely avoiding any veneration of a party or person, be he a leader, king or hero, because all of that invalidates belief in Tawheed. The most dangerous situation is when a society reaches a state where such veneration makes the individual feel insignificant beside the inspired leader or great king or dominant party, or other forms of idolatry which are akin to rituals of worship and which makes people commit shirk whether they realize it or not. All of that is not permitted in a Muslim society that is guided by the Qur'an and Sunnah.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014