The Quranic Teachings

According to the Quran, Allah imposed three main limits or restrictions on the Authority of the Prophet (s.a.w.).  The limit to his legislative authority was that he could not make unlawful anything which Allah has made lawful[1]. The limit to his judicial authority was that he had to judge all matters in the light of Allah’s revelation (i.e. the Quran)[2]. The limit to his executive authority was that he was to decide all public matters in consultation with the believers[3]….

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Sovereignty has been defined as “supreme authority within a territory”[1]. This definition has two major components viz. (1) authority (2) territoriality, where authority means “the right to command and correlatively the right to be obeyed”. In parliamentary sovereignty, the legislative body is the ultimate source of power and can make, change or repeal any law, without subject to any judicial review (which may overturn the law deeming it as unconstitutional). Parliamentary sovereignty is associated with pure Democratic form of Government,…

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Justice as ‘fairness’ is the hallmark of an Islamic political system. The Quran makes it clear that the key task of all the Messengers of Allah and the objective of giving them the Book of Divine laws was to establish justice[1],[2]. Justice must be meted out in all fairness even if the decision goes against one’s own self, one’s parents, relatives, the poor or the rich[3]. And the hatred or enmity of someone should never be a cause to deviate…

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The ultimate goal of an Islamic Republic is to establish a society wherein people are able to fulfill their valuable physical, mental and spiritual potential in peace and security. In order to ensure peace and security in the society, the state must intervene for the protection of life, liberty, property, honour and dignity of the people, and also for their protection from exploitation or victimization by one another. The state must provide basic healthcare and education facilities for the physical…

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Although Ibn Rushd  (d. 1198 AD) is arguably considered the father of the secular thought in Western Europe, the term ‘Secularism’ was coined by an Atheist English Writer, George Jacob Holyoake in 1851, as a replacement of the then negatively perceived term ‘atheism’[1]. Ibn Rushd put forth the idea that there are at least two paths to reach the Ultimate truth, i.e. Philosophy and Religion, implying that one can find the ultimate truth without necessarily resorting to Religion. On the…

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