The Path Towards A True Islamic State

The Path Towards A True Islamic State
M. Bakri Musa
The Sun Daily (Malaysia) June 11 2005

Christian cobblers do not make Christian shoes; they make good shoes, observed Martin Luther. Likewise, Islamic leaders do not craft Islamic laws, they craft just laws. An Islamic state is not one adorned with Islamic paraphernalia, rather one that is just.

Merely tagging laws as Islamic does not make them just (adil), let alone Islamic. The first imperative is that they be just. Killing is wrong not because the Quran says it is so; killing is wrong and that is why the Quran says it is wrong. The difference is not at all subtle.

Sparing philosophical waxing on the meaning of justice and being just, I will instead examine their antonyms. Injustice is like pornography, I know it when I see it, to borrow the phrase of an American jurist. There is no justice in depriving people of their freedom, nor is it just to keep them in bondage or abject poverty. Leaders who do or tolerate that cannot claim the mantle of Islamic leadership.

Islamic laws like hudud provides for amputating the hand for thievery and stoning to death for adultery. Their justifications are nothing more than endless recitations of some ancient Arabic texts interspersed liberally with Quranic quotations.

The basic question – Are these laws just? – is never asked. Hand amputation deprives a person the means to feed, clean and protect himself. Stoning to death is barbaric; even a rabid dog should be spared such a torture.

Nor are these laws fair. A non-Muslim caught stealing would be jailed; a Muslim, amputated. That would surely drive Muslims away from our faith.

These laws are not consistent with my concept of an All-Merciful, All-Beneficent Allah (Ar Rahman Ar Rahim).

Similarly, the closing of businesses and entertainment centers at times of the Muslim prayer would not be just to their non-Muslim owners and patrons. Non-Muslims at the time of the prophet s.a.w. respected and obeyed the Medinah Compact not because the laws were Islamic or that they were enforced by Muslims, rather those laws were just, to them as well as to Muslims.

Before enacting more Islamic laws we should first cleanse the present laws from “unIslamic” or unjust provisions. Is the Internal Security Act just?

When Muslim leaders ban books, it is not with the noble intention of protecting the minds of their followers, rather for the more sinister reasons of trying to control. Leaders, Muslims and non-Muslims, are not immune to abuse of power.

When corruption is tolerated and the religious police zealously prey on the young for holding hands or not wearing tudong instead, then the leaders have lost their moral compass.

There cannot be an Islamic state when we have rampant corruption, untrustworthy institutions, and dishonest personnel. The recent Police Commission Report is a reminder of the ugly reality in Malaysia. The loot from corruption and breaches of trust is enormous compared to that of petty thievery. If the latter is punishable by amputation, then the former must surely be capital offences. Ulamas must first fight corruption before they can even contemplate setting up an Islamic state.

Proponents of Islam Hadhari have it backwards; they are putting the cart before the horse. We need the Hadhari before the Islam. We need progress first: in alleviating poverty, enhancing education, enshrining liberty, and reducing corruption. Islam brought light (nur) to its believers during their Age of Darkness (Jahiliyah). The faith enlightened and emancipated its believers.

You cannot be an Islamic leader, no matter how exquisite your tajweed (rendition of the Quran), if your people still die of typhoid because you cannot provide potable water and sewer system. You would be a great leader, Islamic and otherwise, if you could uplift them from the dehumanizing clutches of poverty through effective economic policies. Kemiskinan mendekuti kefukuran (Poverty invites impiety), goes an ancient Malay wisdom.

Our faith is progressive, inclusive, egalitarian, and above all, liberating. An Islamic leader embraces those principles; piety alone is not enough.

A nation mired in economic stagnation and its citizens in physical and moral degradation cannot be considered to be Islamic. Lift the yoke of poverty off our people, bring them light through superior education, and empower them by giving them their merdeka (liberty). This is the only path towards an Islamic state.

The writer, a surgeon in Silicon Valley, is currently completing his latest book, Towards A Competitive Malaysia. He can be contacted at bakrimusa@juno.com (www.bakrimusa.com)