IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SHARIAH LAW — Re-engineering Individual Minds

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.