The efforts for the enforcement of Islam in our country, which have been continuing even before its creation, had two phases. In the first phase, the aim was to achieve the supremacy of the Shariah in the law and constitution of our country. The aim in the second phase was to strive for the changes required from the Islamic view point at all levels in all affairs of the state. The first of these began in 1948 under the slogan "The Demand for an Islamic System", and was primarily an attempt made by some of our ulema to `Islamize' the newly born state. God willing, the recent elections held in October 1990 will very soon end this first phase in the accomplishment of the required objective. The time has now arrived to commence struggle for the next and final phase.
No doubt, the first phase in the presence of intense western hegemonic influences turned out to be a gruelling enterprise. But now this second phase___ a call for a complete change in the present set up of our state is bound to be even more formidable. Let everyone be aware that in the whole struggle, it is this phase which infact occupies the fundamental importance. The first phase was just a prelude. The profound realities concealed in the terms `Islamic Revolution' and `The Revival of Islam' will God willing, be revealed if this second phase also culminates in success. It would then certainly also become possible for us to strive for the supremacy of Islam in the rest of the world___ a cherished goal envisioned centuries ago. This second phase, is infact the declaration of war against the existing state of affairs. In this phase, the objective behind all our efforts would be the manifestation of the actual truth, so that the hollow concepts of law and politics, economics and sociology fashioned by the west be rendered meaningless.
Following are the details of this objective, which are actually the changes that must be brought about in the affairs of the state.
At the Political Level:
1. It should be very clearly written down in the constitution of our country, that the Qur’an and Sunnah shall be the Supreme law of the state to which our parliament and constitution itself must submit.
2. For the interpretation of the Qur’an and Sunnah a committee of competent religious scholars should be instituted by an electoral mandate of the parliament. This committee would be entrusted with the task of ascertaining the implications and purport of the Qur’an and Sunnah in the collective affairs of life. It would also be assigned to formulate the rules for legislation, and to determine the limits beyond which we as muslims can never exceed. After this the actual task of legislation should be done by the parliament itself keeping in view these ascertained implications as well as these rules and limits.
The following two principles should be clearly spelled out in the basic code of this committee:
Firstly, all differences of opinion shall be resolved by a majority vote. Anyone, within or outside the committee, who disagrees with its final verdict will have all the freedom to rationally express his views, wherever he likes and in whatever form he chooses. However, any protest, evasion or refusal to obey it would be considered a criminal offense.
Secondly, the content of Islam is only that which is endorsed by the Qur’an and Sunnah, which also incidentally, are the only two sources of it. Whoever considers this to be so, can only be appointed in this committee.
3. It should be declared that the enforcement of Tawheed (oneness of God ), refutation of Shirk (associating others in the Being, Attributes or Rights of God), establishment of prayers and zakat, enjoining what is virtuous and forbidding what is evil are the primary objectives of the state.
4. The affairs of the state should only be run by the consultation of only those, who establish regular prayers, and if eligible, pay zakat to the Bait-ul-Mal, and the only basis of their appointment in the Shurah (parliament) should be their wisdom and piety, intellect and sagacity which distinguishes them from others.
5. Those at the helm of the state's affairs should be obligated to maintain their standard of living equal to that of a common man, and that their doors should always remain open to the general masses.
6.(a) The centre of each administrative unit of the state should be its Jam-e-Masjid. Furthermore, the division of these administrative units should be such that one Jam-e-Masjid should suffice for the needs of one unit.
(b) Within each unit all the administrative offices and courts should be instituted adjacent to this Jam-e-Masjid.
(c) The capital of the country together with each of the provincial capitals should have a single central Jam-e-Masjid.
(d) The address of the Friday prayers should only be delivered by the Head of the state, and only he should lead these prayers in the central Jam-e-Masjid of the capital. The provincial governors should be entrusted with this job in the central Jam-e-Masjid of the provinces, while the representatives of the government should perform this duty in the Jam-e-Masjid of the various administrative units.
(e) The Friday prayers should be prohibited in all mosques except these.
(f) These mosques should be managed and supervised by the government.
(g) Every religious scholar should be allowed to deliver a lecture or teach, train and instruct his students according to his own views in any of these mosques.
7. In the general elections the mode of proportionate representation should be adopted, so that instead of an individual, a party presents itself to take charge over the affairs of the state, and as a result of which the parties, on the basis of the trust and support bestowed upon them by the public, are able to nominate its pious and competent members for the parliament.
8. In the parliament this tradition should be established, that instead of the party members only voting for their own party, they should vote for what they consider as right, abide by it and infact take pride in this . Also, no one should not be allowed to forcibly convince them against something which they consider as correct.
9. After the general elections the process of transfer of power to the newly elected representatives should be delayed by at least six months. During this interim period, all the members of the parliament should undergo training in political affairs in an academy specifically instituted for this purpose, just as in the present set up those selected for their civil services are given a training in administrative affairs for nine to ten months before they actually take charge of their duties.
10 The present set up of the Executive and the Judiciary should be extracted from its roots, and its place a new system should be implanted. Under this system, the whole country should be divided into small administrative units where all the problems of the general public should be dealt. The present gradations in the government should be finished, and these administrative units should be first directly linked with the provinces and then to the centre.
11. For prompt action against any excesses committed by the administration an ombudsman invested with appropriate powers should be appointed.
12. All citizens should be dealt equally by the law and no citizen, even if he is the country's president or its prime minister should be considered above the law.
At the Economic Level:
1. All institutions which provide capital on loan should be completely abolished, and all banks should be converted into various branches of the Bait-ul-Mal, where people can deposit their savings. These branches should provide security, exchange and other similar facilities. In return for this service, the Bait-ul-Mal should only be allowed to spend the deposited money in the public sector upon industrial, commercial, agricultural and welfare projects, with the precondition that without being given any profit on the original amount, the depositer would be returned his money whenever he demands.
2. The only form of absentee partnership permitted should be that in which people can directly become share holders in business projects of the private or public sector.
3. Every economic venture which leads to moral misconduct in the character of an individual, is a means of deceit or damage for the parties involved, or is a cause of accumulation of wealth in the society should be declared unlawful. Interest, insurance, gambling and hoarding should be prohibited, and the law of inheritance should be correctly enforced.
4. To run the machinery of the state, the government should only be allowed to rely on the income obtained from its lands, industries, mineral reserves, trade and zakat. Usher should also be imposed upon industrial produce. In emergency situations however, an appeal for money can be made by the government. Furthermore, no tax should be imposed on the people, so that they are liberated from the shackles of this barbarity of the modern age.
5. In every economic enterprise which results from the interaction of labour and capital, labour should be granted a share according to its participation. Those working on the lands should also be given wages and be entitled to all other facilities like the industrial workers.
6. It should be the responsibility of the state to provide everyone with the basic necessities of life which include food, shelter, clothing , education and medical treatment. Those at the helm of the state's affairs should always keep in mind God's promise about all means and resources, that if people in their national capacity hold steadfast to his directives he would bless them with tremendous prosperity and happiness.
7. All means and resources of development and progress should be divided into small units, to get rid of the menace of large cities.
8. If in the means of production, the rights private ownership result in injustice and usurpation, the state has all the authority to interfere and debar a person from these rights, only if a court pronounces this verdict.
9. To keep money in circulation, people should be urged to spend it in the way of God, and to refrain from accumulating it.
At the Social Level:
1. All the institutions of the state should help establish a society, in which people should be honoured and respected on the basis of their wisdom and piety instead of their cast, creed, profession and social status.
2. The house should be regarded the center of activities for women, and they should be granted the necessary facilities to maintain this priority even in indispensable social and economic needs.
3. A husband should be accepted as the head of a family, and his right to admonish his wife according to verse 34 of Surah Nisaa, should also be accepted.
4. The age old tradition of obeying parents and treating them kindly, which is still widely acclaimed in our society should be promoted and patronized in all circumstances.
5. Co-education should be completely abolished, and all women should be binded to dress as honourable muslim women do when they go out of their houses a by wearing Jilbabs (large cloaks).
6. The custom of Jahez (dowry) and Baraat (marriage procession) should be gradually eliminated, and the tradition established that if at all there is to be some expenditure upon wedding ceremonies, the bridegroom's family must bear it.
7. A restriction should be imposed on the people, that if they desire a separation from their wives, then they should do so according to the prescribed procedure mentioned in the Qur’an by administering the divorce sentence once only. However, if someone who is ignorant of this procedurem, or due to his own foolishness administers three divorce sentences in succession, then such a case should be decided in the manner our Prophet (pbuh) had done so with Rukana-Bin-Abde-Yazeed.
8. Ploygammy should be made conditional to moral, social or economic requirements only, and the general concept about it being permissible in the absolute sense should be discouraged.
9. A complete end should be put to the injustices suffered by women, and they should be given all their divinely ordained rights in all affairs, specially in inheritance.
10. The daily routines of people should be organized in a manner that they gradually develop the habit of going to bed early at night and rising early in the morning, so that the status occupied by the morning prayers and the morning Qur’anic recital is restored with all their glories.
11. Our national language and dress should be popularized and given patronage and all national traditions should be firmly established in the society. The Arabic language should be given the same status as the English language is given in present times.
12. It should be accepted that music, photography painting and other branches of fine arts are in no way forbidden in the absolute sense, but it is their nature and usage which in some situations must be forbidden. As such their prohibition is no eternal law of the shariah, however, in certain circumstances when they become a source of evil a restriction can be imposed upon them by the government.
13. The every day offenses committed by our media which include radio, films, television, newspapers and journals should be stopped.
Their first offense is that they seldom give any coverage to learned and accomplished women who have not only distinguished themselves in the fields of arts and science, but also as scholars of Islam. Instead, they present women as objects of lewd entertainment. This lecherous display is in complete disregared to the injunctions of the Qur’an, which specifically enjoins all Muslim women to cover their heads and chest, and to refrain from exhibiting themselves. Rather then setting examples of dignity and modesty, they sell their honour and integrity by furthering the shameless trends of a fiendish culture.
Their second offense is that through their courtesy the stories of romance and episodes of chanson de geste, which everywhere in the world had been confined to the subtleties of poetry and literature and whose recital and listening to was not disallowed in a specific age and situation even by the great Caliph Umar, have new invaded the everyday atmosphere of our homes. Such is the nature of this invasion, that the modesty in the relationship of a mother and son, father and daughter, brother and sister upon which the poise and grace of a society so heavily depends is becoming an episode of the past. Due to the courtesy of our media, a stage has been reached in which our youngmen , like most women are seen perpetually involved in glamourising themselves with the latest flares of fashion. The older lot, may not be very enthusiastic about their clothes and appearances, but show tremendous enthusiasm in shredding off any shame they might have originally had.
Their third offense is that they have promoted sports and other means of amusement to an unwholesome and unhealthy degree. Such is the nature of this patronization that our younger generation now regards actors and sportsmen as their ideals of life. While our scientists and technologists, scholors and thinkers do not even receive posthumous recognition for their achievements, these merry makers are kept in the highest esteem. The bewitching manner in which thy allure young minds by depicting the daily routines of these celebrities, effectively diverts them from the higher objectives of life, after which they can no longer be expected to become scholars, thinkers or indulge in other intellectual pursuits.
Their fourth offense is that specifically among them, radio and television show complete disregard to the mandatory hours of worship in a day when nothing except prayers are permissible.
At the Educational Level:
1. A unified system of education should be enforced in our country. Any diversity in nature, religious or non- religious, and medium, Urdu or English should be eliminated.
2. Only teachers who are self-righteous, staunch and practising Muslims besides being proficient in their fields should be selected.
3. Just as in the present system, the total period of education should be divided into three levels: primary, secondary and a higher level. The first of these should span over eight years, the second over four years while the last level should extend over five years.
4. At the primary level only the Qur’an and the language trio of Arabic, Urdu and English along with mathematics and calligraphy should be taught. Initially the students should be made just capable enough to read the Qur’an fluently and they should then be made to learn by heart the last group of the Qur’an (Surah Al-Mulk to Surah An- Naas). As soon as the students get acquainted with Arabic, the Qur’an should be studied with a specific stress over its meanings. By including the essential teachings of Islam in the Arabic reader and interweaving the Urdu reader with topics pertaining to general knowledge and the English reader with topics relating to science, the students should be imparted a comprehensive understanding of these languages, besides being enlightened with other branches of learning. They should be encouraged to read about subjects that interest them from the libraries. Furthermore, all modern educational aids should be extensively employed in all these pursuits, and the present way of loading the students with scores of text books should be discontinued.
5. The study of the Qur’an and languages should continue at the secondary level. Besides this, a few more subjects relating to the one in which a student wants to specialize at the higher level should be introduced. Just as in the present system the students of medicine and engineering study certain science subjects at this level, the students of Deenyat for example, would study pre-Islamic Arabic literature, grammar and rhetoric. This same mode should be adopted in the teaching of other subjects.
6. The higher level should only be reserved for specialization. This specialization can be in deenyat, medicine, engineering, sociology, physics, biology or any other subject the students choose. The existing mode of higher education should be completely terminated.
7. All topics in various books should begin with an elucidation of the Qur’anic point of view about these topics. Other details should be enlisted in coherence with this point of view, so that the relationship between the knowledge obtained from the Qur’an and the knowledge acquired by means of rational inquiry and scientific observation is clear in the minds of the students.
8. Teaching should be made the most highly paid profession and teachers should be given more facilities than any other professional venture. The fact that a person should have an aptitude towards teaching must be firmly emphasized in his selection.
9. The government should establish universities for religious education under its own management and supervision, and should urge our present religious educational institutions to revise and reorient their courses.
10. Scholars entrusted with task of teaching in these universities should specifically be the ones, who only consider the Qur’an and Sunnah as the source and basis of Islam, and as far as possible practice what they preach.
11. These scholars should be allowed to form and express their opinions about various matters and issues of our religion, wherever and whenever they want to do so under the limits set by the Qur’an and Sunnah, so that all distinguished scholars are provided with an opportunity to lecture here.
12. Only those students should be allowed admission in these universities who have passed their intermediate, just as in the present set up the students of medicine and engineering are allowed admission only if they have cleared their intermediate examinations.
13. The total period of education should be five years. The Qur’an should be made the pivot around which the whole curriculum should revolve. Students should be reared with the notion that in the Qur’an rests the final authority, and it is the Qur’an which rules over every matter in our religion. With this beacon in their hands, they should be made to explore the various domains of knowledge and at every step seek its guidance. Everything accepted in our religion should be scrutinized under the light of this divine guidance. All basis of belief and faith should be directly derived from this word of God. Students should be made aware of the fact that even the works of great jurists like Abu Hanifa and Shafi, scholars of hadith like Bokhari and Muslim, scholastics like Ashaari and Maturidi, Sufis like Junaid and Shibli must be weighed in the scales of this meezan, and nothing can be accepted from them which is not in consonance with it.
14. Besides these mental pursuits, the characters of the students should be moulded, so that they profess a high calibre of moral conduct. They should be made to spend sometime everyday in the company of pious scholars. They should also be urged to pay special attention to the injunctions of the Qur’an and Hadith which pertain to character building and the purification of the soul. They should be induced with the spirit of offering utmost support and co-operation in furthering the cause of Islam. They should be made conscious of the fact that after being enlightened with the true understanding of Islam, it is their responsibility to urge and exhort the ruling class of our country to follow and implement the teachings of Islam.
15. The existing way of obtaining higher education in Islamiat should be stopped, and the degrees given to the students who graduate from these universities should be equal in status to the M.B.B.S and the engineering degrees.
At the Panel Level:
1. All those criminals who take the law into their own hands, become a nuisance for the state, adopt immodesty land profligacy as a profession, become notorious for their ill ways and vulgarity, commit rape, become a threat to honourable people because of their immoral and dissolute practices, openly disgrace women due to their social status, cause destruction, are a source of terror and intimidation for the people, are guilty of killings, robbery, decoity and hijakking, or create a law and order situation for the government by committing other similar crimes should be severely dealt with. They should be administered the punishments of Taqteel1 (kill someone in a manner which crucification, chopping off limbs on alternate sides, and exile which are specifically prescribes for such criminals in verses 33-34 of Surah Maidah.
2. Other criminals who commit zina (fornication), Qazf2 (to falsely accuse chaste men or women of fornication), theft or are guilty of killing or wounding someone, but at the same time do not create a situation of law and order for the state, and do not take the law in their hands should be administered the prescribed punishments of stripes, chopping of hands, Qisas (capital punishment) and Diyat3 (fine exacted for any offense upon a person). Apart from these, if a criminal is inflicted with stripes due to some other crime then according to our Prophet's decree the number of these stripes should not exceed ten.
3. In the case of Diyat it should be accepted and acclaimed that though it is an everlasting law which must be obeyed in all times, yet its quantity, nature and other related affairs have been left upon the customs and traditions of a society. Consequently, no eternal quantity of Diyat has been fixed by Islam, nor has it obligated us in any manner to discriminate between a man or a woman, a free man or a slave and a Muslim or a non Muslim in this matter.
4. Likewise, in the case of apostasy also, it should be recognized that the prescribed death sentence was specifically meant for the mushrikeen or the people towards whom our Prophet (pbuh) was directly assigned. It now has no bearing whatsoever upon any person or nation. Hence, today if a muslim becomes an apostate and is also not a source of nuisance for the state, he cannot be administered any punishment merely on the basis of apostasy.
5. The present erroneous concept about the testimony of a woman must be revised. In cases of Hadood, Taziraat, Qisas, Diyat, Financial Rights, Marriage and Divorce and indeed in all such matters, it should be left upon the discretion of the judge whether he accepts someone as a witness or not. In this regard, there must be no discrimination between a man or a woman. If a woman testifies in a clear and definite manner, then her testimony cannot be turned down simply on the basis that there is not another woman and man to testify alongside her. Similarly, if a man records an ambiguous and vague statement, then it cannot be accepted merely on the grounds that a man has testified. If a court is satisfied by the statement of the witnesses and by the circumstantial evidences, then it has all the authority to pronounce a case as proven, and if it is not satisfied, then it has all the authority to reject it even if ten men have testified.
6. Similarly, it must be accepted that is not necessary in case of zina, that four witness can only testify if they have seen the convicted man or woman in position of the criminal act. According to the Qur’an and Hadith, this is only required when a case has been filed on the basis of an accusation and the accused are chaste, virtuous, and morally sound, and about whom no one can even imagine that they can commit such a crime.
7. It should also be accepted, that in all cases of Islamic law a crime legally stands proven not only by the testimony of the witnesses or by the confession of the criminals themselves but also by any circumstantial evidence. Hence in cases of zina, for example, medical examination, and in some other crimes the usage of post mortem reports, finger prints and other similar aids, the extent of certitude obtained is no less than that obtained by the testimony of the witnesses or by the confession of a criminal himself.
8. Apart from the crimes whose punishments have been mentioned in the Qur’an, punishments in cases of other criminal offenses should only be restricted to physical chastisement, exaction of fine, exile or house arresting a criminal. The inhuman punishment of confining a person behind bars should be completely abolished.
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With this manifesto in our hands we declare war against the existing tide of time, and upon the present state of fairs. For their nature is diabolic, their fiber fiendish, their breed sinister and their constitution satanic. The very movement of reformation started in the west in 1405 A.D. has culminated in the creation of a civilization which is based on utter deception and total fraud, a civilization that has rejected any metaphysical explanation of this universe.
Our crusade will continue until the`Kingdom of God' is established on this earth. Now is the time for every believer to have a share in this blitz. For this will be an offensive launched by man against satan and his agents, an assault of truth against falsehood, an onslought of faith against disbelief, an uprising of cognizance against ignorance. Let no one be mistaken about our ammunition. Rational reasoning is our only weapon, and the only help we are counting upon is the help of the Almighty. We invite every Muslim to join this upheaval against the forces of evil. Before Agog and Magog are let loose to herald the end of our first creation, and before the door of repentance is closed forever, let us deliver the final blow.
Muslims! come forward and march for the glory of Islam to the very front of this battlefield. What have you to loose except your lives, which one day you would do so anyway. A life in which the regrets of the past and fears of the future do not exist, awaits you. For once, rise to the call of the day!.
(Translated and adapted from Ghamidi's "Shazraat".)
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1. To kill someone in a manner which
serves as a severe warning to everyone. This includes stoning to death.
2. To falsey accuse chaste men or women of zina (fornication).
3. Fine exacted for any offense upon a person.