Relationship between Religion and Politics in Islam — Page 21
The Relationship Between Religion & Politics 21 Innamaa anta muzakkir lasta alaihim bi musaitir ( Surah al-Ghaashiyah , 88:22–23) You are just an admonisher. No more. You are given no authority to coerce. You are not a superintendent of police. Mu sait ir is exactly the superintendent of police. So, that is why I say neither coercion is possible, nor permitted by God. Moreover, what prevents a Muslim from following the Muslim law? Why should he wait for the whole legislation to be changed? Most of Islam, Christianity and Hinduism can be practised without there being the law of the country. The more so since the general principle accepted by the modem political thinkers is that religion should not be permitted to interfere with politics and politics should not be permitted to interfere with religion. Interference is what I am talking about, not coopera- tion. Cooperation is the second part of the same subject. So, if a society is permitted to live according to their own religious aspirations, why should the religious law con- cerned be made law of the land? I quote an example of how the Shariah law has already failed in Pakistan. During the late General Zia’s regime, Muslim Shariah Courts were also constituted. And the choice was left to the police either to charge a criminal and channel him through the Muslim Shariah Court or to channel him through the ordinary court. Do you know what the result was? Hardly any case was tried by the Muslim Shariah Court because the police had raised the