IN present times, movements to impose Shariah law have been launched in different Muslim countries; for instance, in Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan, etc. In all these countries we find almost the same state of affairs. Muslims are divided into two groups—the rulers and the ruled. These two groups have gone on a collision course, resulting in great harm. It has ultimately proved impossible to impose the Shariah law, and these movements have only brought hatred, violence and coercion in their wake.

Why did these movements to impose Islamic law prove to be counterproductive? The reason is that everywhere the watchword was the enforcement of Shariah law, but the mistake made was that the example of the Prophet of Islam was not followed.

The enforcement of Shariah law begins in any society with intellectual purification, rather than with the practical enforcement of law.

The Prophet of Islam lived in this world for a period of 63 years of which 23 years were as a Prophet. During his prophethood a successful Islamic state was established. However in that period we do not find Muslims in Arabia dividing into two groups and fighting in the name of the enforcement of the Shariah, like the Muslims of today.

Light is thrown on the nature of this problem by a tradition of the Prophet narrated by Aisha, the Prophet’s wife. She says: ‘First of all, those verses were revealed in the Quran which deal with God and the Hereafter. It was only when people had come within the fold of Islam, and minds had been prepared, that the commands concerning what was lawful and unlawful were revealed. If the commands regarding the prohibition of wine and adultery had been revealed first, people would certainly have said, “We will never stop drinking wine and we will never stop committing adultery”' (Sahih Bukhari).

According to a tradition, everyone is born a child of nature. But then under the influence of the environment, he or she is gradually turned away from the natural state. This is known as perversion. The act of forming a good society begins with the rectifying of this perversion— that is, bringing this state of perversion to an end and causing people to revert to their original state. This process of rectification may be categorized as de-conditioning.

According to the tradition narrated by Aisha, the way of the Prophet Muhammad was first to de-condition people and then bring them back to their original state. The successful completion of this process engenders in members of society the capacity to readily accept the concerned commandments. And it is only then that the task of enforcing Shariah law can be properly performed. According to the method of the Prophet of Islam, the enforcement of Shariah law begins in any society with intellectual purification of individuals, rather than with the practical enforcement of law.

The policy of Islam in all matters is based on result-oriented action.

Today there are 57 Muslim countries, in every one of which, Muslim leaders have launched a movement for the enforcement of the Shariah. But even after a long struggle, these movements have failed to achieve their goal. All they have succeeded in doing is create traditions of violence and coercion.

In this connection, Muslim countries can be divided in two groups. One group consists of those where violent confrontation is going on between the ruler and the ruled and the other consists of those where an oppressive coercive system has been put in place. These are the countries where the rulers have suppressed these movements and established their rule by the use of force. Obviously, both these situations are undesirable from the Islamic viewpoint.

Had the Muslims in question followed the method of the Prophet, they would have learnt that the right way of working was, for their leaders to begin their work from the non-political field. By imparting peaceful training, they would have changed the mind and character of the people. During this process they would have opted for the way of statusquoism regarding the political system of the country. They would have subordinated matters of politics and government to the democratic process. They would have given people the opportunity to elect their representatives by the peaceful democratic procedure of voting, thus giving them the opportunity to have their share in governance.

Had Muslim leaders opted for this two-fold wisdom, then certainly the conditions would gradually have changed. In these countries, first of all, a revolution in terms of thinking and character would have been brought about and then gradually politics and government too would have been revolutionized. But because of their blindness to prophetic wisdom, Muslim leaders have not only failed to achieve their objective, but they have also incurred great losses within Muslim society.

There are a number of traditions in the books of Hadith which have expressly commanded Muslims not to opt for a collision course with their rulers under any circumstances, however much perversion has set in amongst them. And if they think that something needs to be done to rectify matters, they should advise them of this in private. Such movements should never be aimed at confrontation with the rulers.

This policy of non-confrontation does not mean surrender. It means to remain strictly peaceful and continue to strive to educate people in nonpolitical spheres. This allows time for decisions to be taken about what action is necessary, if any, when it has become evident that political perversion has taken place. Efforts to resolve the problem without resorting to confrontation should be continued till conditions improve to the extent that the desired change can be effected peacefully.

The policy of Islam in all matters is based on result-oriented action. If the result of an action is positive, only then should one go ahead, but if the result is likely to be counter-productive, then one had better opt for the way of peaceful reform, keeping oneself totally away from politics. With the adoption of this method, peace will necessarily prevail, while going against this method will inevitably result in war and violence.