The Series "The Caliphate and the Imamate in Islamic Thought"
By the Writer and Thinker Thaer Salama – Abu Malik
Part Thirty-One: How Islam addresses human problems with a treatment that does not change across time and place – Part 2
As for the corrupt reality, the Sharia came to change it radically and revolutionarily. It dealt with reality not as a source of thinking but as a subject of thinking. The Sharia did not come to meet the society steeped in corruption in the middle ground, but rather completely separated from ignorance. Its logic: ﴿Say, "O disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship. Nor are you worshippers of what I worship.﴾ [Al-Kafirun], and its logic: ﴿But if the Truth had been in accordance with their desires, the heavens and the earth and whoever is in them would have been ruined. Rather, We have brought them their reminder, but from their reminder they are turning away.﴾ [Al-Mu'minun], and its logic: ﴿And they were about to tempt you away from that which We revealed to you that you might invent about Us something else; and then they would have taken you as a friend. And if We had not strengthened you, you would have almost inclined to them a little.﴾ [Al-Isra], and its logic: ﴿And I do not intend to differ from you in that which I have forbidden you; I intend not except reform as much as I am able.﴾ [Hud: 88].
Here, we find that Islam is not responsible for all the problems that resulted from the application of other systems, whether socialism or capitalism. Islam is not responsible for finding a temporary solution to the problem of imposing insurance on Muslims compulsorily, even though it contradicts their Sharia. It is not responsible for finding a temporary solution to the problem of poverty that has forced some Muslims to resort to usury. If Islam were applied, it would prevent insurance, prevent usury, and eliminate poverty. It does not take reality as a source of thinking, but rather changes reality with its radical revolutionary concepts, erasing disbelief and immediately putting Islam into practice.
Likewise, Islam has taken into account in its legislation the achievement of servitude to God alone. The person who legislates for others is setting himself up as a god besides God. Therefore, Islam is to bring people out of the worship of people into the worship of the Lord of the Worlds. Here, you find some legislation only came to test the obedience of the servants to their Lord, regardless of whether it collided with their immediate interests and their narrow view of things or agreed with them. The Westerner looks for a reason to prohibit pork, but he does not find it, and his measure is utilitarianism, and therefore he does not realize the reality of achieving servitude to the Lord of the Worlds, which is one of the most important demands of the Sharia. Commitment to what God and His Messenger have commanded is the realization of servitude to God alone and in it is submission to Him, may He be exalted, that He is more entitled to sovereignty, and that He alone knows what is good for mankind and what benefits them.
Finally, the Sharia has been granted what is not found in other legislations. It has made them standards based on belief, so it was a doctrinal deterrent that restrains a person to adhere to it for fear of God, love for God, and hope in the side of God, which makes a person not in need of a force imposed on him to deter him to adhere to the law, but rather makes him submit to the authority of God in secret and in public. He does not see escaping the punishment of the ruler in this world as booty or gain, for he knows that God is watching him, but it has also set the wise penalty appropriate to the violation of these commands, so the penalties were deterrents and expiations, deterring anyone who might presume to neglect the implementation of God's commands.
These are six examples that lay out broad outlines of Islam's method of treating problems, which are: that Islam treated problems with a radical treatment related to the human race, and secondly, that it took into account the unusual circumstances in which the Muslim is forced to do what is forbidden to him of food and drink, and thirdly: the relationship of the Islamic system to certain matters, which are what stemmed from the point of view in life, and what enters into the concept of civilization, and as for the aspect related to civilization, it left it to the human being to create in it as he wished, and fourthly, that it did not make reality the source of his thinking, but rather the subject of thinking in order to change it with correct concepts, not meeting it halfway, and fifthly, achieving servitude to God alone, Glory be to Him, because He is the ruler alone, and sixthly, that he put in place a mechanism for its application and implementation that guarantees its self-implementation in the absence of authority, but it also set deterrent penalties for those who deviate from it to ensure its proper application.
Islam differed completely in its method of solving problems from man-made laws. It was a solution that differed from the legislation that solves people's problems as so-and-so or so-and-so. This one wants a codification that allows him to commit adultery and that one allows him to drink alcohol, so the legislation is tailored to the whims of the legislators or those who are counted on them from the owners of industries and capital, or on the basis of nepotism, utilitarianism and desires, which makes the legislation unable to withstand days, let alone be suitable for humanity in the journey of worldly life.
The Islamic Sharia dealt with the problems of man to regulate his behavior, so it took into account verifying that the solution is good and what is other than it is truly ugly. It has taken into account the establishment of truth and justice, and guaranteed that behavior leads to the construction of the earth with good deeds and not corruption in the earth, so the Sharia avoided desires and narrow, immediate interests, elevating man above the degree of animality in satisfying his instincts and organic needs, taking into account his humanity and his mind, achieving his interest in truth, not guesswork, as a mercy to all people, based on a correct view of the universe, man, and life based on a correct solution to the major complex based on reason consistent with the instinct.
On another level in the research, the Islamic Sharia came in the Arabic language, so it expanded the treatment of problems that were in the time of the Prophet e, and which will occur until the Day of Judgment, for God has completed the religion, and this is a topic that has its long research, and we have discussed the research and rooting of these topics in our book: Man cannot be reformed in any time or place except with Islam, so review it, for it contains a completion and thorough investigation of the research related to this topic. Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds.
