Relationship between Religion and Politics in Islam — Page 26
The Relationship Between Religion & Politics 26 ‘You have your faith and I have mine’. When it is said: 1 ۤاَل َهاَرْكِا يِف ِنْيِّدلا Laa ikraaha fid-deen ( Surah al-Baqarah, 2:257) The word deen encompasses every course which people adopt for their code of life. It is not just a faith in God. Even a denial of God could be a deen. Shariah on other hand is founded on the concept of God. So, where a deen is founded on the belief that: i. There is a God, ii. Who also reveals His desires of how man should shape his destiny, and iii. Where that will is defined in the form of certain laws or principles; that is called Shariah. Not neces- sarily that of Islam. Every faith has its own Shariah. Now, the question is: Can Shariah be adopted even though it is not a part of the law of the land? We can quote an example from our Community that it is not impossible at all. The fact is that almost every country of the world per- mits members of its society to resolve their differences mutually through arbitration. And in most countries, to my knowledge, arbitration is respected so much by the law 1. There should be no compulsion in religion ( Surah al-Baqarah, 2:257). [Publisher]