ISLAM AND POLITICS

The Prophet’s Mecca’n period was the example of the first type of government. At that time Muslims were a tiny minority in Makkah and the majority of the citizens were non-Muslims. The Prophet accepted their rule which was established under their tribal parliament known as Dar al-Nadwa. The Prophet was even offered the position of the ruler of Makkah, but he refused because the society of Makkah was not prepared to accept a Muslim rule. So, in this first period the Prophet accepted what may be called a secular government. In 622 A.D, the Prophet migrated from Makkah to Medina and settled there for ten years. This period is divided into two phases. In the first phase, Muslims and non-Muslims in Medina were almost equal in number so it was a mixed society. He accepted a mixed type of politics. At that time there were two centres of power. One was the Prophet himself, the second was a Jewish leader, Kab bin Ashraf. So, it was a bi-polar state. The Prophet accepted it as it is without trying to bring a change in the political status quo of Medina. Then, in the second phase of the Medina period the whole city had accepted Islam. Medina became completely a Muslim society. At that time the Prophet of Islam implemented Islamic Shariah in Medina. Due to this nature of politics in Islam, there is no political structure in the Islamic system. For example in the early period there were six heads of the Islamic political system — the Prophet himself, Abu Bakr, Omar bin Khatab, Uthman bin Affan, Ali bin Abi Talib, and Umar bin Abdul Aziz. All six were heads of the state in the early period of Islamic history, but every one of them was appointed political head in a different manner. The most fundamental component of a political system is the appointment of the head of state and without a common method of their appointment there could have been no single political structure of Islam. Follow your own religion in personal life and accept the status quo, in social or political life. The Islamic political system is a peoples government rather than any kind of theocratic government.