The Key of Asia and Its Future is Collective Consultation (Shura)

 

By www.MalaysiaNur.com

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF SHURA (COLLECTIVE CONSULTATION)

A requirement for the realization of the Islamic Unity is a genuine and virtuous Collective Consultation within the framework of Sharia.

The Consultation which will be carried out by the gathering of the Genuine Scholars and Spiritual Guides in the World of Islam and will be based on the Methods of Sharia, can become a legitimate and competent Authority as in the meaning of the Consensus of the Nation’s Scholars (Al-Ijmaa al-Ummah) for all the Muslims. This Council determines the rules of activity and organization of the Consultation and the Islamic Union.

The Islamic States which unite around the Holy Constitution of the Qur’an as explained above, are to form the “United Republics of Islam” as designated by Imam Bediuzzaman (R.A.).

Expressing the importance of the Council of Consultation and the top-necessity of its establishment, Bediuzzaman was explaining the properties of the required Council at the Office of the Sheikh-ul-Islam of the Ottoman Empire. In Sunuhat, published in 1919, he discussed the setting-up of a Learned Body made up of specialists in different fields and based on the principle of Consultation, to tackle the problems facing not only the Ottoman Empire, but the Islamic World as well.

Having stated that the Sultanate and Caliphate were inseparable, and that the Office of Grand Vizier represented the former and the Office of Sheikh-ul-Islam the latter, he pointed out that in modern, complex society and in the face of the myriad problems facing the Islamic World, it was beyond the capacity of a single individual to perform the duty of Sheikh-ul-Islam effectively. A voice of such strength and authority was required at that time that it could only be supplied by a Learned Council such as one described above. He suggested that with the addition of further Ulama (Scholars), both Ottoman and from other parts of the Islamic World, an up-graded Assembly of Islamic Scholars (Dar al Hikmat-al Islamiya) could form its basis.

“We are not living in the Old Times. In old times, the Ruler was a single person. The Mufti (the official expounder of the Holy Law) of that Ruler was also an individual person. He was able to correct and modify His (the Sultan’s) Opinions.

Now the present is the time of community. The Ruler should be a Collective Personality which arose from the spirit of the community, a little specialist, a little deaf (not influenced easily) and resistant, and the Councils represent that Spirit…

The individual , even if he is a Genius, can be regarded as a mosquito as compared to the Collective Personality of the community….The word of a Sheikh-ul-Islam who rely upon such a Consultative Assembly would either cause the greatest genius to abandon his Jurisprudential interpretation (Ijtihaad), or restrict his opinion to himself.

Every competent person, though, can interpret the Law (in detail matters). However, his Jurisprudential Opinion , in order to be a guiding principle, must be met with approval by a kind of Consensus of the Scholars or the confirmation of the public….In the Illustrious Holy Law, the Consensus (Ijmaa) and the Public Opinion/Referendum (Ray ul-Jumhur) are always the sources of the Fatwa…

The natural members of the Consultative Council will be the Religious Leaders and Directors of the Departments in the Office of the Sheikh-ul-Islam and select Scholars of the Islamic World – fifteen or twenty of them for now – who had earned the trust and confidence of the Muslims due to their piousness and good moral qualities…(Sunuhat, 31)

The establishment of the Supreme Council of Islam will be based upon the Islamic Caliphate (Khilafat) which will be supported by the Islamic Unity. When Bediuzzaman put forth the proposal of the Consultative Council mentioned above, the Caliphate and the Office of the Sheikh-ul-Islam were existing in Istanbul, that is, the foundation was ready for a Supreme Council of Islam. Only the expansion and the reinforcement over the World of Islam was needed then.. Whereas, now, such a Council can be formed within the framework of the Islamic Union which should be realized by the United Republics of Islam.

Imam Bediuzzaman stated the necessity of the Consultation in one of his works, as follows:

The key to Muslims’ happiness in Islamic social life is the collective consultation enjoined by the Shari’a (Al Mashwarat-al Shar’iyya). The verse,

Whose rule is consultation among themselves. [Qur’an 42:38]

orders consultation as a fundamental principle. Just as the consultation of the ages and centuries that mankind has practised by means of history, a conjunction of ideas, formed the basis of the progress and sciences of all mankind, so too one reason for the backwardness of Asia, the largest continent, was the failure to practise that true consultation.

The key and discloser of the continent of Asia and its future is collective consultation. That is to say, just as individuals should consult one another, so must nations and continents also practise consultation. For it is the freedom resulting from the Shari’a, which is born of the consultation enjoined by the Shari’a, and the noble-mindedness and compassion of belief that will loosen and remove the fetters and chains of the various forms of tyranny fastened to the feet of three hundred, rather, four hundred million Muslims. It is that lawful freedom which, adorned with the customs and observances of the Shari’a, will cast out the evils of dissolute Western civilization. The freedom born of the Shari’a, which arises from belief, enjoins two principles:

Belief necessitates not humiliating others through oppression and despotism and not degrading them, and, secondly, not abasing oneself before tyrants. Someone who is a true slave of Allah cannot be a slave to others. Do not make anyone other than Allah lord over yourselves. That is to say, someone who does not recognize Allah ascribes relative degrees of mastery to everything and everyone, and piles worries on his own head. For sure, the freedom born of the Shari’a is a bounty of Almighty Allah through the manifestation of His Names All-Merciful and All Compassionate; it is a characteristic of belief. (The Sermon of Damascus, 60)

If it is asked: Why do you attach this much importance to Consultation (Shuraa)? And how can the life and progress of mankind, in particular Asia, and particularly Islam, come about through Consultation?

We would answer: As is explained in the Twenty-First Flash of the Risale-i Nur, the Treatise on Sincerity, because just consultation results in sincerity and solidarity, three ’alifs’ become one hundred and eleven. Thus, three men between whom there is true solidarity may benefit the nation as much as a hundred men.

Many historical events inform us that as a result of true sincerity, solidarity, and consultation, ten men may perform the work of a thousand men. Man’s needs are endless and his enemies innumerable, and his strength and capital insignificant, and the number of destructive, harmful humans who have become like monsters through lack of religion is increasing. Just as, in the face of those endless enemies and innumerable needs, man’s personal life can continue only through the point of support and point of assistance that proceed from belief, so, too, can his social life endure only through the Collective Consultation enjoined by the Shari’a, that again proceeds from the truths of belief. It is only thus can he halt those enemies and open up a way to secure those needs.

(The Damascus Sermon, 62)

www.MalaysiaNur.com