Islamic Society

The social part of the Divine Revelation provides us with laws intended to guide the course of social evolution. Islam has developed a political Organization based on eternal principles of the Quran. Since these principles have their source not from any human intellect but delivered by Divine Wisdom, where men when obey them are obeying God but not any individual or system. In the Islamic society all men are equal in the eyes of the law. It is a community of free and equal persons, owing commitment to God and obeying His laws. But when analyze the scenario it comes up with another angle. We have seen that human being has two identities, the self and the body. The relationship between the two selves is close and intimate. But while the body is incessantly changing the self is getting stability. The ultimate spiritual basis of all life, as conceived by Islam is eternal and reveals itself in variety and change. A society based on such a conception of reality must reconcile in its life, the categories of permanence and change. It must possess eternal principles to regulate its collective life as a foothold in the world of perpetual change. But eternal principles, when they are understood to exclude all possibilities of change which according to the Quran is one of the greatest signs of God which tend to immobilize what is essentially mobile in its nature. The law laid down in the Quran is absolute and dynamic in nature to cater both permanence and change; None has the authority to make any change in these laws (6: 116)

What these permanent and eternal Laws do? It demarcates the boundary line of what is lawful "limits" in the terminology of the Quran which no one has the right to transgress. Within the boundary line, however we are free to frame such supplementary laws as the needs of the time require. These supplementary laws are of course subject to change and are to be enacted and revised by the representatives of the people "decide their affairs through mutual consultations and according to Divine Laws" (42: 38). While following the limits set by the Quranic laws, Islam upholds free and tolerant democratic activity. The Quran even leaves man free to devise his own consultative machinery. The form which consultations are to take will depend on the convenience of the people.

As regards the eternal and unalterable Law which sets a limit to the legislative activity of the Islamic democracy, the Muslim community (Ummah) is fully committed to it. It cannot break from its moorings. No one can claim the right to deviate from the laws laid down in the Quran for personal gains. We also cannot rule out the possibility that majority and unanimous decisions could be wrong. Such wrong decisions may not do much harm if they are not against the ethics of human respects. Social stability will be assured only if the legislature exercises its powers within the framework of permanent fundamental principles laid down by Quran. If this framework is rejected, it will cease to be an Islamic society. Within this permanent framework, change is not only permissible but advisable. The conditions of life are always changing and the constitution of the state and machinery of the government should also be revised and brought up to date. It is obvious that in such a system permanence and change are reconciled. The Islamic society is both stable and progressive. It rests on the firm foundation of eternal principles but men are free to create whatever superstructure they like on that foundation. To do good to others is an unalterable moral principle, but the way in which we can do well to others will depend on the particular circumstances of the time. The first cannot be left to the people but the second should be decided by them. We must bear in mind that progress is a change that brings the system nearer to perfection. It is change which is preserving the values achieved, includes them and raises them to a higher level.