Islam & Democracy

Islam & Democracy

Khutbah by Abdur-Raheem Green

The Preservation of Our Sacred Texts

We have a Book that Allah has preserved from all corruption. We have the Sunnah, the authenticated Hadith of the Prophet. What excuse therefore do we have when our Book is preserved? How about the case of democracy? We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the evil consequence of our evil actions. Whomsoever Allah guides, there is none to misguide and whomsoever Allah leaves to go astray, there is none to guide. And I testify that Allah alone is worthy of worship and that Muhammad is His Messenger.

The Best Speech and Guidance

After that, the best speech is the Book of Allah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. And the worst of all the affairs are those matters that have been newly introduced into the religion of Islam. And every matter that is newly introduced into the religion is a Bid'ah or an innovation. And all of these religious innovations, they are by their very nature a going astray from the straight path that has been shown to us by Muhammad. And whatever deviates and goes astray from the straight path of Muhammad is eventually going to lead to the Hellfire.

A Controversial Yet Clear Topic

The topic Islam and Democracy is without doubt in this day and age a topic that is inevitably going to be controversial. But there is a clue already on what I have just said that it doesn't need to be a controversial topic at least certainly for Muslims. Because if we were to transpose ourselves to another time, another era, then the topic would not be one of concern. The concept of democracy did not even exist except in history where a small state in Greece practised a form of governance which was known by the philosophers of the time as democracy.

Ancient Greek Philosophers on Democracy

And it is very interesting to note that a number of Greek philosophers themselves considered democracy to be a unbefitting and weak and corrupt form of governance. In fact one of the great Greek philosophers said that one of the major problems with democracy as it was practised then by the Greeks was that the leader would always have to pamper to the desires and the whims of the people in order to gain their support. And thus a leader would not be able to take the firm decisive and conclusive decisions and a leader would not be able to take the morally sound decisions that a leader should. Because by doing so he would have to contradict the opinion of the masses, he would lose their support and therefore would not be able to continue his position as a leader.

The Modern Reinvention of Democracy

Even then those many many hundreds of years ago the Greek philosophers had already expounded and discussed some of the weaknesses and the deficiencies of this system. And it is only relatively in recent history that this idea of democracy has been reinvented and reintroduced and has been spread mostly by first of all Britain or perhaps to be fair perhaps first of all France and then Britain and America. This concept of democracy as the ideal form of human governance. The ideal way through which and by which human beings should govern their affairs.

Beyond the Scope: Historical Context

Now really to go into the historical and philosophical context and causes of development of democracy is beyond the scope of our lecture today. And even if we had time I myself personally do not have the resources at hand to be able to deliver such a lecture. And also I question the benefits of going too deeply into such issues.

Warning Against Division Among Muslims

Now I know that there are many voices in the world today that are leveling their criticism towards Islam and Islamic what they call Islamic fundamentalism or the Islamist voice. And reflecting the Nawab's very precious statement and reminder and call for unity amongst Muslims. I would first of all like to add to that beware of allowing ourselves and allowing the agenda to be set by the non-Muslims for us.

The Agenda After September 11th

I remember after the events of September the 11th and the imminent invasion of Afghanistan. I did a huge number of lecture tours in the United Kingdom. And the theme of my lecture was the Taliban and Afghanistan and Islamic fundamentalism and there was a huge response from the non-Muslims. I saw numbers of non-Muslims in my talks that I had never seen before. But one of the messages that I wanted to convey to the Muslims as I found many Muslims would stand up in the question and answer session and they would speak very strongly against the Muslim fundamentalist. These fundamentalists this and these fundamentalists that and I advise those people as I advise you now.

Do Not Let Them Divide Us

Do not let the media and the agenda of those people who do not believe in our religion and who are not part of this precious Ummah of Muhammad. Do not let them divide us further. They want to divide us into fundamentalists and moderates and modernists and the more different groups they can divide us in and the more they can have us fighting amongst each other and refuting each other, the more happy they will be. Therefore, I don't even like this term fundamentalist Muslim, Islamist Muslim. Every Muslim must be a fundamentalist in the literal sense of the word because we all believe fundamentally in Islam.

The Fundamentals of Our Deen

We all believe the Quran is the Word of Allah. We all believe that the Quran has remained unchanged and will remain unchanged until Allah lifts up the Quran from this Earth. We all believe that Allah has sent with the Quran a Messenger whose words were true words, whose example was the best example, whose life was a practical explanation of the Quran and that this practical explanation exists with us today and we call it under the generic term the Sunnah of the Messenger.

Belief in Quran and Sunnah

We all believe in the Quran and we all believe in the Sunnah of the Prophet and whoever disbelieves in one verse of the Quran or whoever comes to know of one Hadith of the Prophet and they know that this is authentic and they disbelieve in it. They have disbelieved in the whole religion. This is what every Muslim believes. This is the fundamental of our Deen.

The Importance of Salah

Salah is the most important pillar of Islam after Iman, after faith.

Indeed successful are the believers, those who pray with humility and attentiveness. You have no excuse for missing a Salah. If you can't stand, pray while sitting. If you can't sit, pray while lying on your side. You can even pray with Ishara, with just indication. But offering Salah is compensatory. There is no excuse for you to miss your Salah. Salah the programming towards righteousness.

Islam: The Religion of Peace

The only religion acceptable in the sight of Almighty God is the religion of peace. Islam is religion of peace. Islam and Quran talks that force can be used as a last resort only to let peace prevail. Peace a vision of Islam is not meant only for the Muslims or the Arabs. It is meant for the whole of humanity.

The Companions: The Best Understanding

And having introduced this topic of the fundamentals of our Deen, the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet and by extension also that the people who understood this religion the best were the people who lived with and listen to and were taught by the Prophet, his Companions. The Companions of the Prophet were the living students of Rasulullah. When the Prophet prayed, they saw him praying. They saw the Prophet when he was sitting on his camel and the revelation came upon the Prophet and it was heavy. So the Prophet would begin to sweat and even the camel on which the Prophet sat began to sag and had to sit down from the weight of the revelation. His Companions saw that. They lived with the Messenger. Therefore, it is only logical and rational and this is

confirmed by the Quran. It is confirmed by the verses of the Quran that their understanding is the best understanding.

Following the Path of the Believers

Allah mentioned in His Book:

The meaning of which is whoever contends with the Messenger and chooses a path other than the path of the believers, then Allah will leave them in the path they have chosen and land them in Hell. What an evil refuge.

The Farewell Sermon's Wisdom

And the Prophet gave a Khutbah, he gave a sermon and the Companions began their hearts were moved and they began to cry and they began to feel as if this the Prophet was saying goodbye to them as if it was a farewell sermon. So one of them stood up and said, O Messenger of Allah, it seems to us as if this is a farewell sermon. So advise us. They were waiting, hoping for some precious piece of advice from the Prophet that if he was to leave them at that moment, there would be something they could hang on to.

Cling to My Sunnah

And so these were the words of the Prophet. He said I advise you to fear Allah, I advise you to fear Allah and to hear and obey your Amir even if he is an Abyssinian slave. He said after me, you will see great differing, you will see great differing. The Prophet is telling his Companions that after I have gone, you will see people differing to a great extent. So he said cling to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Khulafa Ar-Rashideen, the rightly guided successors. And bite it with your molar teeth, bite it and beware of the newly invented matters in the religion. This was the advice of the Prophet.

The Rightly Guided Successors

He didn't just say cling to my Sunnah, but he also mentioned the Sunnah of the Khulafa Ar-Rashideen, the rightly guided successors, which means of course first and foremost Abu Bakr As-Siddiq and then Umar Ibn Al-Khattab and Uthman Ibn Affan and Ali Ibn Talib. These first and foremost are the Khulafa Ar-Rashideen and of course the house of the Prophet, which includes his wife Aisha and Fatima and whoever else the Prophet included as his house. And then the righteous Companions and the people of knowledge, people like Abdullah Ibn Abbas, Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, Abu Huraira and many many other of the Companions. These are the ones the Prophet told us to hang on to their example.

Referring Back to Allah and His Messenger

When we see differing, we must always refer it back to Allah and His Messenger, not our whims, not our opinions, not our desires, not our intellect. But before anything we refer always when we have a disagreement

about anything, we must refer it back to Allah and His Messenger.

The Very Essence of Islam

So the very essence of Islam, the very essence of what Islam means, Istislam, to submit, to surrender to the will of Allah, obedience to Allah and His commands. This is the very essence of what Islam means. That is why the saying of the believers is always, we hear and we obey, we hear and we obey. So this is Islam, submission to Allah, to the commands of Allah and the commands of Allah are contained in His Sharia.

The Sharia: The Laws of Allah

The laws, the commands and the prohibitions that Allah has given us, whether they are the commands to pray and how to pray, to give charity and how to give charity, to fast and how to fast, to make pilgrimage and how to make pilgrimage, or the beliefs that we should hold about Allah and the angels and the messengers and the books and the divine decree and the life after death or the laws by which we should live. What is Halal and what is Haram? This is the Sharia, this is the laws of Allah. The laws concerning divorce, the family laws and the criminal laws and international law, all of this is contained within the Sharia.

Submission to Allah Above All

So at the very heart and the very essence of what Islam teaches us is that we are people who submit ourselves to the law of Allah, to the law of Allah and this is what it means to be a Muslim. By our very essence of what Islam teaches us that if ever the Muslim is faced with a situation where Allah has commanded us with something and a human being commands us with something which opposes the command of Allah, the Muslim is the one who must always choose to obey Allah. It's the very essence of what it means to be Muslim, to submit to Allah.

Allah Comes First

We submit to Allah first, we submit to Allah before we submit to our parents, our teachers, our wives, our children, our desires, our rulers, whoever it may be. Being Muslim means that Allah comes first and if in our hearts and in our minds we put anyone equal with Allah, this is Shirk. This is the unforgivable sin.

The Sin of Shirk

This is the sin about which Allah mentioned that He will forgive any sin that He wishes but He will never forgive that we should ascribe rivals and partners and equals to Him, Shirk.

That whoever makes Shirk with Allah, whoever makes rivals and partners and equals with Allah, whoever puts anything in this universe on the same level with Allah, then surely the Paradise is forbidden for them and the fire of Hell will be their eternal abode. This is what the Quran tells us.

Taking Priests and Rabbis as Gods

Allah mentioned a very important verse for all of us that we must take extreme notice of this.

Allah mentioned about some people who came before us and they still exist today. The Jews and the Christians have taken their priests and their rabbis as gods besides Allah. And there was one Sahaba who used to be a Christian. He said, O Messenger of Allah, we didn't use to worship them. He used to be a Christian and he was thinking that we didn't use to prostrate before them. We didn't use to supplicate to them and pray to them and worship them.

The Prophet's Clarification

But the Prophet then clarified the meaning of this Ayah and the Prophet said, didn't they make Halal for you what Allah made Haram and you accepted it? And didn't they make Haram for you what Allah made Halal and you accepted it? Again, didn't they make lawful for you the things that Allah made unlawful and didn't they make unlawful for you the things that Allah made lawful? He said, yes. We used to do that and the Prophet said, that was your worship of them. That was your worship of them.

Taking Human Beings as Legislators

Therefore, surely without doubt, whoever accepts any human being to be a legislator along with Allah and accepts that they have the right to legislate along with Allah, then they have taken them as a partner with Allah. Whoever believes that any Imam, any Mufti, any Mawlana, any Sheikh or any human being has the right to make Haram what Allah made Halal or to make Halal what Allah made Haram, they have done exactly what the Jews and Christians did. You have taken them as a god and you made them equal with Allah and you worship them as an idol along with Allah.

The Wisdom of the Great Imams

And I say to you, my brothers and sisters, what Abu Hanifa said to his followers and what Imam Shafi said to his followers and what Imam Malik said to his students and what Ahmed Ibn Hanbal said to his students. All of these great Imams, they said do not blindly follow me, take from where I took the Book and the Sunnah. If you find that Allah and His Messenger, if you find a Hadith or an Ayah that contradicts what I say, leave what I say and follow the teachings of Allah.

Justice: The Foundation

What kind of importance does Islam give to the concept of justice? The protection of human rights. That Allah does not consider us by the color of our skin or our social status or any of that, rather Allah judges us according to our deeds and according to our actions. That is justice.

(3:18 Quran)

That no one is worthy of worship but Allah and the angels bear witness and those who possess knowledge, they bear witness that Allah stands firmly for justice.

Rights in Islam

When you pay your Mahr, it's a credit. If you don't pay her, your relationship is considered as Zina. That is her right, you cannot take away their right until they allow you to do so. Islam is a beautiful religion, it teaches you on the basic human rights.

The Essence of Being Muslim (Repeated for Emphasis)

And this is what it means to be a Muslim. By our very essence of what Islam teaches us that if ever the Muslim is faced with a situation where Allah has commanded us with something and a human being commands us with something which opposes the command of Allah, the Muslim is the one who must always choose to obey Allah.

It's the very essence of what it means to be Muslim, to submit to Allah. We submit to Allah first, we submit to Allah before we submit to our parents, our teachers, our wives, our children, our desires, our rulers, whoever it may be. Being Muslim means that Allah comes first and if in our hearts and in our minds we put anyone equal with Allah, this is Shirk. This is the unforgivable sin.

The Unforgivable Sin (Reiterated)

This is the sin about which Allah mentioned that He will forgive any sin that He wishes but He will never forgive that we should ascribe rivals and partners and equals to Him, Shirk. That whoever makes Shirk with Allah, whoever makes rivals and partners and equals with Allah, whoever puts anything in this universe on the same level with Allah, then surely the Paradise is forbidden for them and the fire of Hell will be their eternal abode. This is what the Quran tells us.

The Lesson from Jews and Christians (Reiterated)

Allah mentioned a very important verse for all of us that we must take extreme notice of this. Allah mentioned about some people who came before us and they still exist today. The Jews and the Christians have taken their priests and their rabbis as gods besides Allah. And there was one Sahaba who used to be a Christian. He said O Messenger of Allah, we didn't use to worship them. He used to be a Christian and he was thinking that we didn't use to prostrate before them. We didn't use to supplicate to them and pray to them and worship them.

The Meaning of Worship (Reiterated)

But the Prophet then clarified the meaning of this Ayah and the Prophet said, didn't they make Halal for you what Allah made Haram and you accepted it? And didn't they make Haram for you what Allah made Halal and you accepted it? Again, didn't they make lawful for you the things that Allah made unlawful? And didn't they

make unlawful for you the things that Allah made lawful? He said yes. We used to do that and the Prophet said, that was your worship of them. That was your worship of them.

Legislating Along with Allah (Reiterated)

Therefore, surely without doubt whoever accepts any human being to be a legislator along with Allah and accepts that they have the right to legislate along with Allah rather than they have taken them as a partner with Allah. Whoever believes that any Imam, any Mufti, any Mawlana, any Sheikh or any human being has the right to make Haram what Allah made Halal or to make Halal what Allah made Haram. They have done exactly what the Jews and Christians did. You have taken them as a god and you made them equal with Allah and you worship them as an idol along with Allah.

Following the Scholars Properly (Reiterated)

And I say to you my brothers and sisters, what Abu Hanifa said to his followers and what Imam Shafi said to his followers and what Imam Malik said to his students and what Ahmed Ibn Hanbal said to his students. All of these great Imams, they said do not blindly follow me. Take from where I took the Book and the Sunnah. If you find that Allah and His Messenger, if you find a Hadith or an Ayah that contradicts what I say, leave what I say and follow the teachings of Allah.

We Are Not Scholars Like Them

Do not put anyone up on a pedestal where you think that their words are beyond question or their statements are beyond thinking and understanding. Does this correspond with what Allah said and His Messenger said? I am a human being. Imam Malik, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Shafi, Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, they were human beings. We all make mistakes. We forget, we make errors. Our tongues slip. So everything we always refer it back to Allah and His Messenger, always.

The Role of Scholarship

I don't mean by the way that just you can pick up the Quran and pick up the Hadith and now start making Fatwa. No, we still always need the scholars and we must always look to what the scholars have said. We are not scholars. I am not a scholar, not a scholar like Abu Hanifa or Shafi or Malik. No, I am not a Mufti able to make Ijtihad. But we can look to what the Ulema have said and we can compare it with Allah and His Messenger said and what other Ulema have said.

The Corruption of Previous Scriptures

Brothers and sisters, think about this. Think about this. Is the Bible that we have today, the Torah that Allah gave to Musa and the Injil that Allah gave to Isa and the Zaboor that Allah gave to Dawood, is this Bible the same as those? Yes or no? No, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. So is it not true that those books have been altered

and corrupted and changed and some things have been taken out and some other things have been put in. Is this not the truth concerning this book? Yes.

Their Excuse vs. Our Responsibility

Now believe me, if anyone had an excuse to blindly follow their Imams and blindly follow their Rabbis and blindly follow their Priests, it would be the Jew and the Christian. They say, look, our book has been changed and corrupted. How can we understand even a book that has been corrupted? So we will follow our Rabbis and our Priests because our book is not even reliable. Now if anyone had an excuse, they would have an excuse. But did Allah may give them an excuse? No. Allah said, they took their priests and their rabbis as gods besides Allah. As the Prophet explained, they made Halal what Allah made Haram.

Our Preserved Book

We have a book that Allah has preserved from all corruption. We have the Sunnah, the authenticated Hadith of the Prophet. What excuse therefore do we have when our book is preserved? Subhanallah.

What Is Democracy?

Then how about the case of democracy? How about the case of democracy? Of course, the controversial issue is this. What is democracy? What actually is democracy? That's a good question. You see, no one is actually really ready to define democracy. All they will tell us is democracy is good, democracy is right. What is democracy?

Well, there's lots of different versions of democracy. They don't really want to define it. Because they know that every definition they give does not actually realistically describe the system of government that they call democracy that they are practicing.

Lincoln's Definition

Abraham Lincoln described democracy as the government of the people, for the people, by the people. This is one famous definition of democracy. In fact, the actual word democracy itself means in the original Greek, rule of the people. That's what it means.

Examining Democracy's Pure Meaning

If we take the concept of democracy in its absolutely pure sense, its literal meaning, the rule of the people, for the people, by the people. And that's all we are doing right now, we don't pretend to get any more sophisticated. Let's just take that meaning and examine that meaning. Because at least that's one we can start with. Then is this something compatible with Islam?

Media Bias and Double Standards

All the media is playing games. 50-year-old Muslim Arab married a 16-year-old girl. But when a 50-year-old

non-Muslim rapes a 6-year-old girl, it comes in news briefs. Today, the fastest growing religion in the world is Islam. The fastest growing religion in America is Islam. The fastest growing religion in Europe is Islam.

The Reality of War

Before the Americans came to Iraq, there was no suicide bombing. After the Americans came, then suicide bombing. People worry that one day nuclear weaponry will fall in the hands of the Arabs. They fail to realize that the Islamic bomb has already been dropped. It fell the day Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was born.

Islam Will Supersede All

Islam is destined to supersede all. This religion of peace, this religion of Haqq will supersede all other ways of life. And enough is Allah's witness.

Understanding Our Religion

Media and Islam, war or peace? Why things closer to us are so invisible to us? We have been gifted with a treasure, the glorious Quran. But we live in our darkness of ignorance and suffer, struggle, strive. Understanding what Prophet Muhammad said, how his Companions lived will lead us to the path of peace and life. Wherever we are, anywhere in the world, our problems are the same and so is the solution. We have different forms, but the spirit is one. Let us invoke the spirit within, the spirit of Islam.

The Truth About Terrorism

We don't have records that 9-11 was done by Muslims. It is just a hypothesis. Muslims are being targeted. They are called as terrorists. Directly and indirectly they are the politicians. For the vote bank, for the power, for the money. The thousands of innocent people that have been killed in Afghanistan, ghost in Iraq. More people are being robbed, more people are being raped. The main purpose is what? Oil. It's an open secret. They are Buddhist terrorists, they are Hindu terrorists, they are Sikh terrorists, they are Jewish terrorists, they are Christian terrorists. Terrorism is not the monopoly of any religion. It is not.

Is Democracy Compatible with Islam?

If we take the concept of democracy in its absolutely pure sense. Its literal meaning. The rule of the people for the people by the people. And that's all we are doing right now. We don't pretend to get any more sophisticated. Let's just take that meaning and examine that meaning. Because at least that's one we can start with. Then is this something compatible with Islam? Is it?

The Essence of Islam Revisited

I just told you what Islam is in its essence. Islam is submission to Allah. Islam means obeying Allah's Sharia.

Islam and Our Duty

Islam means obeying Allah's law. Islam means that what is Halal has been decided by Allah. And what is Haram has been decided by Allah and what Allah decides is Halal. Was Halal in the time of the Prophet is Halal today and will be Halal until the Day of Judgment. And what Allah made Haram in the time of the Prophet is Haram today and it's going to be Haram until the Day of Judgment.

Allah's Names and Our Duty

We rule ourselves in our personal lives and we should as Muslims be ruled in our public lives by the law of Allah. Therefore, one of the names of Allah is Ash-Sharri, the Lawmaker and He is Al-Hakim, the Wise and Al-Hakim, the Judge so that when we judge, we should judge according to what Allah has revealed.

Those Who Do Not Judge by Allah's Revelation

And as Allah mentions in the Quran:

Those who do not judge by what Allah has revealed, they are the disbelievers.

And those people who do not judge by what Allah has revealed, they are the wrongdoers.

And those who do not judge by what Allah has revealed, they are the evil doers and the oppressors.

The Incompatibility of Two Sovereignties

So therefore, how can the law and the sovereignty being with Allah be compatible with the law and the sovereignty being with the people? Since at its very fundamental level, democracy teaches that the people have the right to decide what is Halal and what is Haram. The people have the right to decide what we should do and what we shouldn't do. Therefore, the people have been made equal with Allah. And whoever makes people equal with Allah has made Shirk with Allah without a doubt.

Believing in Legislation Against Allah

And whoever believes that human beings have the right to legislate in contradiction to what Allah has legislated is without doubt a disbeliever. Whoever believes that the legislation of the people is superior to Allah's legislation is without doubt a disbeliever. Whoever believes that it is permissible and allowed to judge and to legislate in contradiction with Allah's judgment and legislation is without doubt a disbeliever.

Weakness vs. Belief

However, if some Muslim out of weakness, out of a deficiency in their Iman or due to their particular situation in a particular environment is forced to do something or from their desires and their weakness does something or implement something in their life which contradicts Allah's Sharia. This of course does not make you a disbeliever. This is a sin because you accept in your heart that what Allah has legislated is the best and that we must follow Allah's legislation.

The Example of Drinking Alcohol

So let us take a simple example, if a person drinks alcohol does that make them a disbeliever? No, if a person drinks alcohol it does not make them a disbeliever and all the Muslims from the Companions and all the scholars afterwards except the extreme sect of the Khawarij which many scholars said they are not Muslim anyway. They all agreed that no sin, the committing of a sin does not take you out of Islam. So if you drink alcohol, you do not become a disbeliever. You are not... you do not leave the fold of Islam. Yes, your Iman may hover above your head during that time you are drinking alcohol, but you do not actually stop becoming a disbeliever.

The Example of Adultery

And the same with fornication or adultery and there were people who committed adultery in the time of the Prophet. As you know the woman and the man who committed adultery in the time of the Prophet and they came and they said O Messenger of Allah, implement the Allah's punishment on me. And when they started reviling this woman, the Prophet said leave her because her Tawbah is so great that it has... its Tawbah, the amount of this Tawbah would encompass all of the people of Medina. So she did not become a disbeliever because of this act.

Making Haram into Halal

But if someone was to say there is nothing wrong with drinking wine, it's Halal. Now that would make someone a disbeliever because they had claimed now that what Allah made Haram, they made it Halal.

Back to Democracy

Okay, so back to the issue of democracy. There is no doubt that we Muslims must implement Allah's Sharia in our personal lives because the Sharia is not only some punishments that we find in the Quran like chopping off the hand of the thief. This is one of the Hudood and there are only four or five of such Hudood. The Sharia is everything, praying, fasting, your personal life. This is all the Sharia. So we must implement this in our life. But if we were to fail due to weakness in our Iman or due to being forced due to circumstance, not accepting it in our hearts, then this does not make us disbelievers. This is very important to understand that.

A Cautionary Tale

So therefore, now let's go back and let us ask, if democracy means that sovereignty is with the people, that the people have the right to decide what's Halal and Haram and it's up to them, then no Muslim with any mustard seeds worth of Iman can agree with this. Just to illustrate, I want to tell you a joke. It's not true, it's a joke. There was this man. There was this man who made, he emigrated from the United States of America, from San Francisco, he emigrated to Afghanistan. You know when the Taliban were in power, he went to live there. So they said to him, they were asking him, it's just a joke, it's not true. They asked him, why did you leave the land of the free and the land of the brave America with all the money and all those nice things and everything you want and you came to live in Afghanistan? Why?

The Slippery Slope

He said, when I was a young man, homosexuality was a crime. When I grew up, they made homosexuality lawful. In fact, they made it a crime not to dislike homosexuals and call it homophobia. He said, I was afraid if I stayed around in America any longer, they would make it compulsory. And really if we think about it, this is the case of democracy. If you say the sovereignty are with the people and the people can legislate and the people can decide, I mean here on the very basic philosophical level. I know that countries have constitutions. I know that different ideas of democracy encompass different limitations for minorities and so on and so forth. But that's not what I'm discussing. I'm discussing the very basic concept and that's it.

Making Crime into Virtue

At the very basic concept, we all have to agree as Muslims that making a crime which is a crime in Islam to say it is actually a crime to have a problem with this crime. Do you understand what I'm saying? It's a criminal offense in England to revile someone because of their homosexuality. So now it has been made a crime to hate the crime. Can we accept this as Muslims? Can we say that Islam is compatible with this? Does any person in this room think that this type of ideology is compatible with what Allah has revealed? I hope not. If he's Muslim and even if he's not Muslim, logic would say no. I can see how your religion and this ideology are not compatible.

The Fundamental Incompatibility

So on the very basic philosophical level, we have to say Islam is not compatible with democracy. If we mean by democracy that people have the right to legislate and people have sovereignty. But of course democracy doesn't necessarily mean that. People have many different ideas of democracy. People have many different concepts of what democracy constitutes. But it is not my task tonight in order to discuss all of those different possibilities and all of those different aspects and how we could possibly reconcile Islam with democracy. I don't think we need to do that. Because I believe Islam has already fundamentally laid for us a good system, a good method of

governance. And that good system and that good method of governance was shown to us first of all by Rasulullah.

The Prophet's System of Governance

In fact if we go back and we look to the life of the Prophet. What do we find? We find that in many aspects the way that the Prophet dealt with people was more fair and more just and more equitable than any democratic society that exists in the world today. We have a system called Shura which is consultation. And the Prophet always used to consult his Companions about any matter that was concerning their public affair. Or he would consult certain members of his Companions who were more experts in certain areas. So not everybody would be consulted about every single thing because not everybody is knowledgeable about every single thing.

The Liberation of Muhammad

Shackles of life, two types of shackles. First is other people imposed on us and second we impose on ourselves. Muhammad is a liberator. He came to liberate the human beings.

He relieves them of their burden and he liberates them of their shackles. Taqwa of Allah, Taqwa of Allah have Taqwa of Allah and Allah will teach you. Will give you knowledge. So this means that Taqwa which is facing Allah helps you to learn more.

The Challenge of Change

From the world darkness was gone with salvation rising with dawn. Muslims do you need to change? What a challenge for somebody all their lives been thinking one way and all of a sudden somebody tell you change. This life you have to struggle. Man can have nothing except for what he strives for. Struggle is the very nature of human beings.

Common Sense in Consultation

And in fact this is common sense. I don't know about here in India but in England the government does not consult every single individual when it wants to look into some detailed scientific matter that is only understood by a few individuals. What do they do? They gather those individuals together and they question them about this matter and then they say we have consulted the experts and the experts tell us this and this and now that becomes our policy. That makes sense. So we have this type of consultative interactive process that was given to us by the Prophet Muhammad.

The Islamic Way of Conduct

And that operated on all different levels of society. This is the way which the Muslim should conduct themself with justice, with understanding, with compassion. We should love for our brother what we love for ourselves.

All of this means that we need to consult and discuss and share our knowledge amongst each other. But I don't like to call this democracy. I like to call it Islam.

Why Label It Democracy?

Why do we need to say Islam is democratic? For what reason? Because that's the time what we are in. We feel we need to adjust our religion to fit this predominant culture and this predominant philosophy that seems to be dominating the world at the moment. But I don't think we need to do that. In fact, I really don't like it at all. I don't like it at all.

The Analogy of Prostitution and Nikah

And I often give an example like this. It might shock you what I'm going to say. But I hope you will think about what I'm going to say. Imagine we live in a society where prostitution is the normal mode by which a man and a woman physically interact with each other. Imagine prostitution is so common that it's the absolute norm. And imagine these prostitutes when you look at them, they all seem so happy and they seem to be enjoying such a prosperous life. In fact, it seems that this society generally is very prosperous. They are building amazing machines and they have great technology. And so you imagine that because they've got these machines and they've got this technology, prostitution must be a good system as well. You think it all comes together in one big package.

A Shocking Comparison

So some unfortunate Muslim comes along and says, you know what? We've got prostitution in Islam as well. Yes, we do. It's called Nikah. You see, just as you go to the prostitute and you give her money, we go to our wife and we give her Mahr. You see, it's like prostitution. And you go, Astaghfirullah. How can you compare what Allah revealed and this beautiful way of life with that?

Democracy is Not Islam

Therefore, I find it very sad when Muslims start talking about Islam has democracy. Because to me it sounds like saying Islam has Kufr. It's like saying Nikah is like prostitution. It's not. And democracy is not like Islam on its philosophical basis. And the only reason that we feel we have to say this is because of the dominance of Western culture intellectually, philosophically and politically.

A Stark Warning

And it's another very stark warning for us. Why do we always feel that we have to accommodate and bend over backwards? And this is something we hear said a lot. Muslims have to move into the 21st century. Islam has to move and go with the flow. We have to adopt ourselves and change ourselves. As I read in an article recently, if Islam as we claim is a way of life for all places and all times, then Islam has to adjust itself for all places and all times.

The True Claim

This is another straw man. You build up an argument only to knock it down yourself. But it's not what we claim. We claim that Allah expects us to worship Him and follow His religion to the best of our ability in every place and every time. That does not mean that Islam changes in order to make itself fits. That is not what it means.

Modern Society vs. Our Religion

If modern society conflicts with our religion, you know what I say? Stuff modern society. Stuff it. I need to worship Allah. How long am I going to be here on this earth? A small amount of time. I don't say and I'm not saying here that there is a contradiction. There are many things in modern society that are perfectly compatible with Islam. And there are many things in modern society actually they came from Islam originally.

Our Lost Inheritance

And in fact, this is the amazing thing. When we actually study many of the qualities that we find existing in the Western world, when we look at the history, we find that these things already existed in the Islamic civilization. And in fact, the West or those though the West took those ideas from us. They implemented them and we stopped implementing them.

Historical Recognition of Islam

We can take many examples. If you read the writings, for example, of Western observers of Islam. Who were writing 150 years ago. They were praising how Islam did away with racism. How Islam was a religion that accommodated all races and all peoples. Now we find who is the one leading and stepping forward in eliminating racism. It is America. It is Britain. It is these countries. In their own countries they are making big efforts to eliminate racism. It's not something they invented. We had that in our religion for hundreds and hundreds of thousands, for so many hundreds of years. But unfortunately, that is one thing that the Muslims that we had and we lost it.

Social Mobility in Islam

There are many things that we had if we look in our religion. The idea that it doesn't matter what background you are from. You could be the son of a dustbin cleaner, a farm worker and you could be a scholar. You could be a doctor. You could be an engineer. You could do any career. If we look in history and we search, where does this concept come from? If we look in the West, we find that the West had something very similar to the caste system. They had the feudal system. The feudal system meant that if you are born a peasant, the peasants were called serfs. If you are born a peasant, born a serf, you are a virtual slave to your lord who is the landowner. You are a virtual slave. You stayed a serf. You are born a serf and you stayed a serf. You are born a merchant, you stayed a merchant. You are born a knight, knighthood stayed in your family. You are born a baron, that stayed in your family.

Breaking Social Barriers

So, all of these things were set in concrete. A serf could not become a knight. It couldn't happen. Nor did a knight become a tradesman. Which civilization in the world do we find did not recognize such distinctions? Allowed freedom of movement between people and professions? Islam. This came from Islam.

Justice for All

Which civilization if we look had a system of justice? Where it didn't matter what part of society you are from. You could be the leader. You could be a nobleman. You could be from whatever section of society. But the Qadi or the judge could bring you in front of him and make a judgment from you. And it didn't matter. This was Islam. We have so many famous stories and so many famous incidents from the life of the Companions. And in fact, we can find so many true accounts of the justice of the Muslims. It didn't matter who you were or from what part of society you were. You were all under the same law. This is an idea that they have in the West.

The Dick Cheney Example

And I remember a friend of mine recently. He gave me not quite actually quite a long time ago. He phoned me up. And Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney who is one of the most important people in America. Very close to the parent. Maybe he's even the vice president. I'm not quite sure. You may know that he was recently taken to courts for corruption. So my friend phoned me up. He said, have you heard the news? You see these Americans? That Dick Cheney, he's now in court for corruption. And this brother, he's a friend of mine. He's from Dubai. I said, yes. Isn't that amazing? I wonder my brother, do you have anything like that in Dubai? Where one of your princes or one of your leaders committed an act of corruption and he would stand in front of the court like that? Then he got embarrassed. Then he got embarrassed and he didn't say anything.

Why They Have Power

You see brothers and sisters, if you really want to know why? If you really want to know why and you want to see why? Allah has given these people power in the land. And the power has gone from us is because these are the principles they live by. They may have many bad qualities but still by and large, although I think it is changing. But still by and large, they have this concept of justice. And justice for all.

Our Condition

But look at us, look at the Muslims. Look at our lands, look at the way we treat each other. We can't even talk about each other. We can't even criticize each other in a just way. We find this one from this group is criticizing that one from that group. Even though there is a man in his own group or his own sect who is doing something worse but he doesn't criticize him. Just because he's in another group, he'll criticize him. Oh, you see him, he's doing this and doing that. But the one in his own group, he turns a blind eye. Is this justice? Is this justice? Or even he will lie against this person or slander this person or invent stories about this person. Is this justice?

The Root of Our Problems

We can't even deal with justice amongst each other. And these are the so-called Islamic groups. How about the ordinary people? And we wonder why we are in such a state. If these are the things that we mean by democracy, that's not democracy. That's Islam. And that's what our religion taught us 1,400 years ago. These things are our inheritance which we have to claim.

Learning from Others

And if we look at the Kuffar and we can benefit and we can see what they are doing and the way they are doing it and we feel that this is something that we can benefit from, then Alhamdulillah, there is no problem with that. But we don't and we should never feel that we have to compromise our religion. We should never feel that we have to give up our Deen. We should never feel that we have to change our whole religion in order to accommodate some ideology that to tell you the truth, brothers and sisters, to tell you the real truth, democracy is falling apart.

Democracy Is Failing

In many many countries, you will find that democracy is failing. In fact, they are subtly bit by bit giving up on democracy. In fact, my personal belief is that there is no such thing as democracy anyway. It doesn't even exist. It doesn't even exist. What they have in the West actually in my opinion is the illusion of democracy. It's the illusion of democracy. They make people think and believe that they have a choice that they can influence things but in reality, they can't change anything.

Who Really Controls the World

The people who control the world are the same people who have always controlled the world. They are the big businesses. They are the multinational corporations. They are those few elite people who have the power and the money in their control and the world runs according to the principles they want. They don't care whether you have girlfriends or boyfriends, whether you are homosexual, whether you drink alcohol or take drugs. In fact, you know what? They like that. Because the more you follow that corruption, the more miserable your life will become and the more miserable your life becomes, the more you need to fill your life with fashion, with film, with drink, with music, with all the consumer things that they want you to say, look, buy this, buy that, have this, have that. That's the way to be happy. Miserable people consume. So actually, it's for their benefit to create a society like that. So they imagine.

The Iraq War Protests

So I'm not really sure anyway that the so-called democracies even have democracy. And one of the things that highlights that for me is that in England recently, not only in England, but in Italy and all over Europe, they had massive demonstrations against the war in Iraq. In England, we had 2.5 million people gathered together to

protest this war. In Italy, it was 5 or 6 million. This is the biggest demonstrations there have ever been in history in Europe that we know about. They found through polls that the majority and in some cases, the large majority of the population opposed this action. But they still went ahead and fought the war.

What Happened to the Rule of the People?

What happened to the rule of the people for the people by the people? What happened to the people deciding what we should do and what we shouldn't do? And so we find in many countries that is the case. We find in many countries that is the case. I don't know much about Indian politics but I suspect that a very small minority actually decides what happens in this country.

George Bush's Election

In America, in America, George Bush was not even democratically elected. He was appointed by the Supreme Court. In fact, he was in the process of losing the election. He was in the process of losing it. And they stopped the count as it is very famous. What happened in Florida. And in fact, they manipulated the votes so that George Bush should win. What sort of democracy is this?

Democracy Is Hypocrisy

So this is what we really find that the famous saying goes democracy is hypocrisy. And the reality is when we look at these so-called many of these so-called democratic countries what do we find? Exactly that, hypocrisy.

Stop Apologizing

And I look forward to the day when Muslims will stop apologizing, stop being so apologetic, realize that they have the most beautiful Deen that doesn't need any changing, it doesn't need adjusting, all we need to do is recapture the true spirit of Islam as it was practiced by the Prophet and then once again, brothers and sisters, once again, we will be a shining light and a guide for humanity to follow.

When Will This Happen?

But this is going to happen, this is only going to happen when you change your life, when you and me, brothers and sisters, when we implement Allah's law in our life, when we implement Allah's Sharia in our life, when we obey Allah, when we display the characteristics of gentleness and kindness and love and compassion and justice yet at the same time firmness upon obedience to Allah, we will see that when we have established the Islamic state in our hearts, Allah will establish the Islamic state on the earth.

Closing Prayer

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَسَلَّمْ الْفَاتِحَة