THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE STATE

Example of the Prophet

According to a Hadith, the Prophet told his Companions to offer their prayers in the manner in which they saw him praying.

Perform your prayer the way I perform it;
O people learn from me the rituals of Haj.

THIS is what he said with regard to salah or prayer. But, he did not say the same sort of thing with regard to governance. He did not tell his Companions, ‘See my model of governance, and you, too, should establish governance in the same way.’ The Prophet of Islam did not issue the same sort of instruction for governance that he used with regard to prayer.

If you ponder over this difference, you will realise that the question of individuals is distinct from that of the state. As far as individual conduct is concerned, we have in front of us an ideal model — the model of the Prophet of Islam. Every believer must be an idealist in matters related to his individual conduct. He must always strive to mould his life in line with the model of the Prophet.

But the question of the political setup is entirely different from this. In the matter of the political or governmental setup, the prevailing status quo with regard to the collective conditions should be kept in mind and the political setup should be shaped accordingly. This is why there is no single model for the appointment of a Caliph in Islam. Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali and Umar ibn Abdul Aziz are regarded by Muslims as five 'rightly guided' Caliphs, but, as is well known, the method of appointment of all five of them was different from each other.

In later times, after the Prophet, Muslim jurisprudents or fuqaha formulated a political model by the name of Dar ul-Islam (The Abode of Islam). This was a derived concept, which was not proper. These jurisprudents exercised their own reasoning in this matter. Consequently, people took Dar ul-Islam to be the criterion and began using it to judge the governments of their times. And when they found that political systems were not in accordance with this criterion, they began fighting against established governments. Such wars were without any doubt against Islam; because in Islam, the political setup is to be determined in accordance with prevailing conditions, and not in accordance with any ideal model that has been formulated beforehand.