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| Accountability without Western Democracy |
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Authoritarianism
Political authorities that stifle debate within wider society, whether it be to do with public policy, the conduct of politicians, or lack of transparency, are generally considered to be authoritarian. Political authorities within the Muslim world are often labelled as authoritarian, whether they claim to be secular or religious as they have a legacy of repression.The accusation of authoritarianism within a political system cannot be levied only at the Muslim world or indeed any 'religion' based systems. Robert Michels, a political theorist, convincingly argued in his classic treatise on democracies that all political systems, including democracies, are under the strong grip of what he named the Iron Law of Oligarchy. Michel argues that political systems suffer very powerful pressures towards centralization and oligarchy, and that these pressures are a natural tendency within all human organizations. [11] There are various degrees of authoritarianism; even very 'democratic' and 'liberal' states are authoritarian to some extent, for example in areas of national security.The coercive measures undertaken by a state to ensure conformity can easily lead to authoritarianism.
Secularism delegates religion to personal life, and it strictly forbids its entertainment within the political sphere of society.A person is free to give authority to whatever spiritual basis he wishes for self morality. In this circumstance it is acceptable to succumb to the 'persuasive authority' of religion regardless of the nature of such persuasion. However, to bring this spiritual aspect of authority from the private sphere into the realm of political life, where one can be coerced into obedience via state mechanisms leads to authoritarianism as far as secularism is concerned; this is supported by the European historical experience of unaccountable clerics and rulers.
The Islamic creed has a political system that has a concept of authority as one of the means to unify society under its system. It is assumed that because the belief in God is central to the Islamic system, an Islamic political system is thought to be like any other religious state and thus intrinsically authoritarian.
The Nature and Source of Authority in Islam
The concept of authority and its place in Islam has to be discussed in the context of Islamic law (Shari'ah). Examination of the Islamic creeds demonstrates that they are at odds with Plato's idealism, as Islam maintains that the material which constitutes the world is a reality that is independent of reason. It also contradicts Karl Marx's realistic materialism, as it does not believe that material is the basis of all existence. Rather, the Islamic belief transcends both matter and reason, towards an eternal cause, considered to be the basic principle that underpins the source of all that we can comprehend of this world both at the material and abstract levels. This eternal and infinite cause is God (Allah) according to the Islamic creed, and He is the creator of all existence and this is the central tenet of the Islamic system. [12]
Islam means submission to the will of Allah. This has been the most common explanation of the word Islam. Submission to Allah is the dominant principle present in all manifestations of Islam: in its ideas, forms, ethics and worship. This submission inherently acknowledges an authority. In Islamic thought, ultimate authority for any determination resides in Allah. Allah is the ultimate authority both in sovereignty and legislation. If Allah wants one thing and not another then any person who wishes the contrary does so in defiance of Allah. He states in the Qur'an:
"The rule is to none but Allah". [13]
The Islamic belief is therefore a system of normative values, which act as criteria for identifying the major societal objectives, evaluating institutions and justifying the claims of legitimacy. It justifies political power as well as the use of force and the right to obedience. [14]
Islam rejects the idea that philosophers are endowed with a perfect mind, or that they can be entrusted with legislation and management of social affairs in contrast to Plato's belief of the philosopher-ruler. Instead it recognizes a messenger who mediates between the Creator and His Creation conveying and explaining His Message.The messenger does not have any legislative authority or command of obedience, except in his position as a messenger of the ultimate Authority. [15] Islam also rejects the positivists approach to authority, which sees legislative authority as detached from any normative values. Unlike the Positivists, Islam does not view law as being detached from the aims of society. It does not see how a society or a state can be defined without reference to its aims. [16]
As far as Muslims are concerned Allah and the Prophet are the only authorities that count i.e. they are the authoritative in Islam. The directives of Allah for the Muslim are contained in the text of the Qur'an and hence to understand the Divine will, it is a matter of interpreting this text. The Sunnah, which constitutes the sum total of the statements, actions and approvals of the Prophet Muhammad is an additional source of guidance. Since there have been numerous attempts to forge elements of the Sunnah, a matter not possible with the Qur'an, an elaborate discipline of authentication and verification has developed around the Sunnah, whose collected text is known as Hadith.The verification of the authenticity of a Hadith determines its degree of authority.
The Muslims' Quest for Political Authority
To understand the nature of political authority that Muslim political organisations now seek to establish, it is necessary to appreciate how legitimate political authority is derived in Islam and how this was implemented in the Prophetic and subsequent periods.This does not mean however that one can surmise the reality of Islamic political doctrine from studying Islamic history in different eras, as only the earliest period is considered to be a source of emulation from a legislative point of view. A common pitfall that many critics of political Islam fall into is to ignore the fact that the practices of the rulers in different eras of Islamic history and the Islamic doctrine itself are two separate matters. The former may concur with the latter, or it may be divergent from it, as history testifies. [17]
Since the Prophet was the primary human agent in explaining the Qur'an and demonstrating how to practically submit to the authority of God, it would be difficult to argue that he was not regarded as a source of normative practice. The Qur'an itself explicitly adds credence to that concept repeatedly enjoining the Muslims to obey the Prophet and emulate his actions:
"He who obeys the messenger obeys God." [18]
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