Ahmadiyya Movement — Page 47
47 Secondly, the administration of a country , must, according to Islam, be conducted with the advice of the people. The Promised Messiah used to consult his followers in all things, and each and any one of them was welcome to offer his advice, and he often followed their advice even when sometimes he differed with them, that they might learn the importance of consultation. Thus he revived the spirit of true democracy which Islam was the first to introduce into the world. Thirdly, he laid down that it is the duty of government to arbi- trate in inter-communal disputes which are likely to lead to disorder and thus disturb the public peace. He often drew the attention of Government to communal disputes and suggested that it should secure public peace and order by procuring a de- cision of the matters in controversy by means of arbitration. But he did not approve of any kind of interference with liberty of conscience or with the rights of individuals. Indeed, Islam teaches such sanctity of the rights of individuals that it goes so far as to enjoin upon a Government the duty of securing to every workman the payment of the full value of his labour. Every Government is compelled to pay attention to a dispute which is likely to affect the whole community, but the early history of Islam shows that even individual workmen sometimes ap- proached the Government with complaints that they were not being paid full wages, and the Government always looked into their grievances. Where, however, on the one hand, the Promised Messiah laid special stress on the rights of the poor and taught that we must regard them as our brethren, on the other he taught that a man should not be deprived of that which he has acquired by the ex- ercise of his talents. He considered that the competition which was the result of a divergence in talents and capacities was es- sential for the progress of the world; but that those who were in possession of the wealth of a nation were bound to allot a certain portion of it, fixed by Islam, towards the welfare of the poor, and