Relationship between Religion and Politics in Islam — Page 22
The Relationship Between Religion & Politics 22 price of bribery and they threatened everyone that if they did not pay double the price of the ordinary bribe, they would channel their case through the Shariah Court. That was the net outcome. And you will be surprised to find that out of thousands and thousands of possi- ble choices, hardly two or three were those which were directed through Shariah Court and also because of political pressure. Because some political parties wanted to punish their enemies and they wanted such cases to be tackled by the Shariah Court. So this the reality of life. How can we change it? Question— So what is the reason for the change in laws as new prophets came along? Answer— First of all let me say that this generalisation is rather too bold. Because when you study the history of religion, it is not the case that every prophet came to change the law of the previous prophet’s revelation. More often than not, prophets came to strengthen the law and rehabilitate the law, rather than to change it. For instance, if you study the history of Judaism, you’ll be sur- prised to find that even up to Jesus Christ as, no new laws were enacted or introduced. They were changed or aban- doned by the people, and efforts were made by prophets to rehabilitate them, to make people practise and to interpret them again in light of the original. So, the history of religion as revealed to us by the study