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[quote][One of our respected readers has raised various questions on a weekly message entitled "Islam and Democracy" sent by Studying Islam on 20th Sep03. He has also sent a detailed article in support of his views. He has raised various questions; however his primary question is about the translation of the verse 38 of Surah Shura 42. As asked by him, we have pasted his primary question as well as our response here. You are requested to express your views.] His email requiring us to respond to his question is: "Salaams I want a clear answer from you on the use of the translation - "The affairs of state of the believers are run by their mutual consultation. (42:38)" Which is totally WRONG. You should publish my response first and then give your response if any and clarify why you have used a wrongful translation of the verse 42:38 from Quran. These should be sent to all members. It doesnt take a mujtahid to open a Translation of Quran or to look it up in the internet and confirm the translation of 42:38 Quran. Islam is not Judaism that it needs a Rabbi/Imam or Mujtahid to simply read or understand the translation of Quran. Regards Naufal" [His first email, mentioning this question is] "Salaams There are couple of linguistic correction to the previous mail: Please find the article attached which discusses the issue of Democracy and Islam (Democracy is system of kufr.pdf) There are few things to note 1. I strongly disagree with the QUATATION given in ur mail as authentic and taken from QURAN "The affairs of state of the believers are run by their mutual consultation. (42:38)" THIS IS SO WRONG TRANSLATION. THE WRITE TRANSLATION IS: 42.38: QURAN And those who respond to their LORD and keep up Prayer, and their rule is to take counsel among themselves and who spend out of what we have given them. (Translation by M.H. Shakir Publisher: Tahrike Tarsile Quran INC New York) There is no bit of mutual consultation. And certainly there is no issue of ruling aswell. This is literally meaning Muslims should take counsel (seek help) amongst themselves about matters and should not spend more than what Allah has given us. Where did mutual consultation come from here?????????? 2. A procedure to elect is not a part of the system itself. Majority voting system is present in Democracy, Communism, Islam and also in Dictatorship. This is not a defining factor of a political system. Rather what defines a political system is what is the legislative and conceptual goal attached to it. 3. The two aspects of Democracy given is simply flawed understanding of Democracy. This is not the way the thinkers defined democracy neither it is the way democracy came about as a system. Therefore the two basic aspects shown in ur mail are WRONG 4. You mentioned: "Keeping in view linguistic considerations, it is evident that a consensus or majority opinion of the Muslims can in no way be overruled" This is taken in a wrong context. To run a country, the KHALIF of the Islamic State is not bound by the decision or recommendation of 'Majlish e Sura'. I.E when it comes to decision making the Khilafa is the absolute power holder and no other body or system. 5. Your own discussion of the 2nd issue is more or less accepted. However, you were totally mistaken in concluding that qualifying this rule that Allah's laws are implemented we can accept democrcay is totally wrong. Reason is, democracy itself says there is no need of ANY OTHER's LAWS than MAN MADE LAWS. And thereby man makes laws for every aspect of the society e,g, economic, political, criminal laws as opposed to Sharia. Therefore there is nothing is Democracy which is Islamic. Please see the attached document for further understanding on the matter. Zajakallah Naufal (If this reply is not circulated to the present students and list members then I shall be bound to take this issue to the public platform and expose the situation of Studying Islam in all web platforms as necessary.)" My response to his first question is as follows: " Wa alaykum assalam Of course, you should have a clear answer as regards the translation. I think it is only a matter of comparing the translations of the other Muslim scholars and giving due consideration to the context and words of the verse. I have tried my best to address the question raised by you. And please rest assured that your objection as well our response have been pasted to the Discussion Forum of Studying Islam and people have been invited to participate into this debatable point. The translation that you have quoted is that of Mr. Shakir and you maintain that this is actually the correct translation of the verse in question (42:38). As advised by you, I did look up this verse into translations done by various great scholars. I should very humbly say that I found these translations to be perfectly in conjunction with what our translation of the verse is. Abdullah Yousaf Ali is a recognized Muslim scholar. His translation as well as of Mr. Pikthal are the most used English translations. Both translate the verse to perfectly corroborate our viewpoint. Mr. Abdullah Yousaf Ali translates the verse as is under: who (conduct) their affairs by mutual Consultation; who spend out of what We bestow on them for Sustenance. (42:38) Mr. Pikthal renders the verse into English as follows: whose affairs are a matter of counsel, and who spend of what We have bestowed on them (42:38) [if you do not have these translations, you may visit: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/042.qmt.html , there you will find both these translations as well as of Mr. Shakir] For your reference, I also quote here another translation which is of Mr. N J Dawood: Conduct their affairs by mutual consent. (42:38) (N J Dawood, The Koran, ed. 1956 P. 153) Viewing these translations, every sensible person would regard ?conducting the affairs? through consultation dependant on what decision is actually arrived at through consultation. Giving full authority or control to the head of the state would obviously render meaningless the complete message of the verse. It is actually the ?Product? or the ?Result? of the consultation that should be adhered to. Imam Zamakashri and Bin Kathir also hold this viewpoint. It would be beneficial to quote here what Bin Kathir has written in this regard: ?They would not decide a matter unless they take counsel in order to benefit from their opinions in matters like wars or any other issue of importance. (Tafseer Bin Kathir, Vol. 4, p. 118)? The interpretation that you offer could only be accepted if they words of the Qur?an were somewhat like: Fil Amri Hum Ushaa Waroon, they are consulted in running the affairs. In this case, the process of consultation would definitely be confined to ?taking consultation alone? and not acting upon it. However the actual words negate this very possibility. The Holy Qur?an says: Amru Hum Shura Baina Hum, their affairs is based on consultation or they conduct their affairs through consultation. I do not think that this leaves any room for such assertion as the ruler would only take consultation and then do what he pleases. The practice of the companions (rta) of the Prophet (pbuh) also endorses my humble assertion that state affairs should be run according to the majority opinion and not by the ruler himself. The second Khalifah, Hazrat Umar (rta), did not decide on his own the issue of the lands of Iraq (Sawad e Iraq). He had the opinion that these lands should be kept and governed under the supervision of the Islamic state. Initially, this opinion was opposed by the majority of the Majlis Shura but he did not impose his decision on them. Had he followed your interpretation of the verse, it would have been much easier for him to take the initiative and do what he wanted disregarding the opinion of the Shura members. He indeed invested a great deal of effort in convincing the dissident members. And after convincing them and getting their positive response, he implement the decision. This is just one incident quoted from the life of one Khalifa. I think you will find a plenty of similar incidents which should give you an insight how practically the companions (rta) of the Prophet (pbuh) ruled in their respective reigns. Keeping the foregoing discussion in view, I very humbly suggest that you please explore translation of other scholars as well and see their interpretation of the verse. The right approach is not to start threatening people merely because your opinion or of the group you like most is not in conjunction with the opinion of other people. A Muslim should always be very humble as regards his knowledge. He should not confess complete knowledge. As any point of contention arises, he should discuss it rather than suggesting kufar on the part of other people. I will welcome any point raised by you, which is based on logic and reasoning and not merely reaction." <center>______</center> The response to his other questions will be posted here as well. As a suggestion, I would request Mr. Naufal to post here his furhter queries in this regards instead of emailing us. This will facilitate an open discussion on the topic. Editor's Note: The reader sent us a new email stating that he has made some corrections in his first email. I have posted the same in place of his previous one. Edited by - jhangeer hanif on October 01 2003 17:28:06 Edited by - jhangeer hanif on October 01 2003 17:31:37[/quote]
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