Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 232
232 islam’s response to contemporary issues belongs to the people by way of delegated power, therefore, such a system is democratic. Mullahism This is the rigid view of the so-called orthodoxy who would come to an understanding with the modern democratic tendencies of the Muslim populace only on the condition that the mullah* be granted the ultimate right to judge the validity of democratic decisions on the basis of shariah. If accepted, this demand would be tantamount to placing ultimate legislative authority not in the hands of God but in the hands of the orthodox or some other school of clergy. When you consider the awesome power placed in their hands in the background of fundamental differences prevailing among the Muslim clergy itself regarding their understanding of what is and what is not shariah, the consequences appear horrendous. There are so many schools of jurisprudence among the orthodoxy. Even within each school of jurisprudence, the clergy is not always unanimous on every edict. Again, their position regarding what the actual Will of God as expressed in Islamic shariah is has been changing in different periods of history. This presents a complex problem to the contemporary world of Islam which still seems to be in search of its true identity. It is gradually becoming more apparent to Muslim intellectuals that the * Nearest translation Muslim ‘clergy’.