Relationship between Religion and Politics in Islam — Page 28
The Relationship Between Religion & Politics 28 want to ask your opinion regarding the type of legislation a country should adopt. Should the Shariah be rejected? Should it be modified? Should it be a secular type of legis- lation? What do you think should be the way out? Answer— Thank you very much for this question, which I should have touched upon during my address. The fact is that the concept of government in Islam is a very important issue which must be resolved before we proceed further. I have studied this issue in depth. I have studied the Muslim scholars of the past century who have spoken on this subject and written a lot on it, and who have not been able to resolve the issue properly. If Islam proposes a gov- ernment which is representative of God, then the issue is to be looked at from a different angle altogether. If, on the other hand, Islam proposes a system of gov- ernment which is common to various denominations of religions and different people, then an entirely different outlook would appear. In my opinion, the first is not the case because Islam pleads for the secular type of government more than any religion and more than any political system. Now, this is surprising for some, but I can quote from the Holy Quran and prove the point. The very essence of secularism is that absolute justice must be practised regardless of the differ- ences of faith, religion, colour, creed and group. This, in essence, is the true definition of secularism, and this is exactly what the Holy Quran admonishes us to do in mat- ters of state; how things should be done and how the state should be run. The Holy Quran says: