About Islam
Islam is the second largest religion in the world, after Christianity. Islam is a religion in growth. It is a monotheistic religion and the word “Islam” means submission or the total surrender of oneself to God. The adherent of Islam is a Muslim and it means “One who submits to God”. Muslims follow the Five Pillars of Islam, which are Shahadah (profession of faith), Salah (ritual prayer five times a day), Sawn (fasting during Ramadan), Zakat (tax on the community) and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca).
Most Muslims belong to one of the two major denominations, the Sunni and Shi’a. In the late 7th century, Muslims got divided after disagreements over the religious and political leadership of the Muslim community. About 85 % of all Muslims are Sunni and about 15 % are Shi’a.
Qur’an
The primary sacred text of Islam is the Qur’an (aka Koran). The only actual version of this text is written in Arabic, a translation of this text would only be an interpretation of the Qur’an. The Qur’an has 114 surs (chapters) that are in a system where the longest chapter comes first and the shortest in the end, with exception of the first sures, which is a short text and a central Muslim pray. In the seventh century of the Christian Era (610 CE -632 CE) The Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel by God.
Source: http://www.islam101.com/quran/quran_art.html
Politics and Islam
Politics and Islam
7th century (601-700)
From the day Islam came to existence, it has bound the society where people followed the religion. After the prophet Mohammed had escaped to Medina, he organised the control of this city according to his revelation. This became the constitution of Medina, who solved conflicts that appeared with, none Muslims and Muslims there.
After Mohammed’s death, his father in law, Abu Bakr was chosen to Caliph. So the form of government where developing by the Caliphs when they were offered against challenges.
The Caliph was worldly a religious leader for “ummaen” – the big fellowship of Muslims.
Around 1290
In the end of middle-aged The Ottoman Empire where growing and became a dominated power in the eastern middle pacific. The empire was multicultural, but the Ottomans built their politics towards The Muslims on “dhimmi” principle. Later the sultans appointed them self to Caliphs. This was later abolished. Later the Ottoman Empire was replaced with new Muslim states. Now nationalism was compared with Islam. Arabs, Turks and Kurds demanded national states after a European model among other groups of people. But England and France were organising the form of government and borders. Only two lands rose from the rest of The Ottoman Empire and could choose. (Turkey and Saudi Arabia) They adopted two different models. Turkey was modernising with a kind of western model, but Saudi Arabia chose a conservative and strict version of Islamism.
This was two different paths that later on have developed to other Muslims. The Saud Arabic version became the guiding lines “Wahhabi” and “Salafi”. “Wahhabi” was a version that wanted to hinder or stop the destructive aspects from the modern society. “Salafi” on the other hand, wanted to go back to the origins of Islam, purge and lead it into the modernised world. The versions infiltrated and appeared in different versions as well.
1800
During the nineteenth century Ibn’Abd Al-Wahhab a scribe, wanted to renew Islam. He adopted “tawhid” and wanted to clean out what he saw as pollution from the origin. He only wanted the strictest teach “Hanabali”. He allied with Ibn Saud (King of Saud Arabia). Now the Qur’an became the only constitution with “sharia” based on “Hanbalischool”.
In Egypt Hassan al Banna established a brotherhood that called their teach salafiya. He wanted to show that renaissance had roots in values from the origin of Islam practice and believe. They got influence through politics, their measure for the poor Muslims and building an armed unit. They used their armed force on corrupted Muslims rulers and killed representatives from the Egyptian government, who answered by banning the brotherhood. Hassan al Banna got killed, but the brotherhoods action did not appear. They went to Jordan and other countries, to continue what they were doing. Hassan wanted a peaceful solution, but his successor armed them self to fight. Their targets were Syria, Iraq and moderate Muslim rulers.
An Egyptian called Sayyid Qutb from this brotherhood developed a source of Islamists that could fight in battle for an Islamic government. Syria killed many members of the brotherhood in Hama, but that didn’t stop the brotherhood, which later became the source for Hamas and Islam Jihad.
1979
In Iran Ayatollah Khomeini replaced the “sjahen” and a republic based shia-islam rose. It had a democratic form but an Islam assembly had the power. The assembly consisting of “ulamas” supported Kohmeini. After his death a guarding council stopped decisions and candidates that were not Islamic.
Around 1978
The Civil war in Afghanistan drew militant Islam’s from many countries and gave them military experience. Taliban took over most of the power in 1996, they were close to “wahhabism” and inserted a strict regime. They were financed by Saudi Arabia, like many other conservative Islam groups and allied with Al Qaeda, who trained foreign volunteers. A Saudi Arab Osama Bin Laden build and was the boss of Al Qaeda, who later kept distance from the regime in his country, because they was not teaching clean Islamic. Groups like Al Qaeda is called “jihad salafi”, because they use weapons to clean the Islamic teach and the world.
2001
When USA tried to destroy Al Qaeda in Afghanistan 2001, they only spread them to other countries. An example is Iraq were they appeared in Turkish self-government and some out breaking groups from Kurdish Islam movement IMK. They were financed by Saudi Arabia for religious and social work in North Iraq. Out breakers that wanted a more aggressive politic called them self ansar al Islam, and were leaded by Mullah Krekar. There politics were the opposite of KDP and PUK, who wanted democracy in North Iraq.
We still have problems with development between democracy and Islam.
The Islamic version of democracy is built on three terms.
- Tawhid (Unit of Allah) “Only Allah is the creator, sustained and master of the universe and of all that exists in it, organic or inorganic.”
- Risalat (Prophet hood) “The medium through which we receive the law of Allah.”
- Khialafat (Vicegerent) “Man according to Islam, is the representative of Allah on earth, His vicegerent. By virtue of powers delegated to him by Allah, he is required to exercise his Allah-giver authority in this world within the limits prescribe by Allah”
Source:
http://vindheim.net/politikk/relpol.html
http://www.islam101.com/politics/politicalsystem.htm
Government in different countries in the Middle East
Saudi-Arabia
Saudi-Arabia is a monarchy based on Islam. The government is headed by the King, now it’s King Abdullah. The judicial system of the country is based on Islamic law, Sharia for both criminal and civil cases. The king is at the top of the legal system. He acts as the final appeal of court and can issue pardons.
The court system of Saudi-Arabia consists of three main parts. The largest part is the Sharia Courts, which hear most cases in the Saudi legal system.
The Board of Grievances supplements the Sharia Courts. They hear cases that involve the government. The third and final part of the Saudi court system is various committees within the government ministries that address specific disputes, such as labour issues.
Saudi’s consider the Quran, their country’s constitution and as said they follow the Islamic Law, Sharia. In 1992, the Basic Law of Government was adopted.
Criminal cases are tried under Sharia courts in the country. Capital punishment and corporal punishment is handled by the Saudi legal system.
Iran
The government of Iran is a republic with Islamist ideology and it’s based upon the Constitution that was approved in a national referendum in December 1979. The highest state authority is the Supreme Leader, currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He is also the one that controls the military power of the country and the only one who can declare war. The Supreme Leader controls the policies of the country and he has the power to appoint and dismiss the leaders of the judicial system.The President is the executive power of Iran and has the most power after the Supreme Leader. The President now is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He has the responsibility to implement the Constitution and he is elected for a 4-year term after an election.
Iran has a unicameral parliament which consists of 290 members that are elected to a 4-year term. Every candidate to the parliament or even a presidential candidate has to be approved by the Council of Guardians.
The Iranian court system is a form of the inquisitorial system. Since Iran is the only country in the world that has Shia Islam as their official religion, the general principles of its legal system are somewhat different to other countries that also has adopted Islamic Law.
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven emirates, each with their own ruler.
The executive branch of the United Arab Emirates is the Federal Supreme Council, which the President heads alongside with the Council of Ministers. The rulers of the seven emirates compose the Federal Supreme Council. They supervise all of the United Arab Emirates politics, ratify federal laws and oversee the union’s budget.
The Federal National Council consists of 40 members and has both a legislative and supervisory role.
The Federal Judiciary is independent and it includes the Supreme Court. The judges handle federal laws and also handle disputes between the federal and local government. All seven emirates have their own local government. They vary depending on population, area and development.
Summary
These three countries have different forms of government, but only Saudi-Arabia and Iran follow the Islamic Law. The United Arab Emirates are a more liberal country and they also have Islam as their official religion, but they have their own constitution that they follow.
All the countries in the Arabian Peninsula are Islamic and only some use the Qur’an as laws in their country. Only Saudi-Arabia uses the Islamic Law as their constitution of the countries in the Arabian Peninsula.
Iran is a country with features that other countries also apply. For instance both male and female are eligible to vote for presidential candidates, but then again people also have to follow the Sharia laws or they can get punished. That shows that Iran can be a country with certain features that we in non-Islamic countries are used to. However, the citizens of Iran must live on the right side of the law.
The reason to tell about the United Arab Emirates is that the country is a federation and it borders to Saudi-Arabia. The country doesn’t apply Sharia even though they are an Islamic nation. The Local governments of the emirates use their own laws, which can’t inflict with the federation’s constitution.
This shows the variety of governments in the Middle East and at the same time it shows that a country doesn’t have to have a specific form of government to follow the Islamic Law. It can be a republic or it could be a monarchy, like Iran and Saudi-Arabia respectively.
Islamic countries manage to find a solution to follow their religious laws, even though the government types are different.
Source:
http://www.saudiembassy.net/Country/Government/Gov.asphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_system_of_Iran
http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Iran.htm
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/United-Arab-Emirates-GOVERNMENT.html
http://uaeinteract.com/government/
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Sharia law and Political Islam
Sharia law is a religious code for living for the followers of Islam. It includes both a moral code as well as guideline of how to govern other elements of life, including laws relating to personal acts of worship, commercial dealings, marriage and divorce and even criminal laws.
While the Qur’an is believed to be the written word of God, the Sharia law is only inspired by the Qur’an and Sunna, the teachings of Muhammad. It has been altered numerous times through the efforts of men and it is inevitable that personal interpretations have occurred. Sharia law should for that reason be viewed with criticism, and from a Muslim point of view it should not be considered as unapproachable as the Qur’an.
Human rights in Sharia law are deeply neglected. There is a vast segregation between the sexes and several laws advocate violence towards one’s wife. There are punishments for lifestyles not in correspondence with the Islamic way of life. As a result of Sharia law, the law system in some of the Islamic countries (e.g. Saudi-Arabia) is heavily unjust towards the defendant. Punishments for Hadd offences, a specific set of offences and specific penalties to complement them, are severe to an extreme degree – stoning to death or flogging for sexual offences and gambling/consuming alcohol and theft is punished by cutting off a hand or a foot. The most extremist impetrations of the Sharia law is even used to justify terrorism. Despite all of this, Islamic leaders are still trying to implement Sharia law as a ruling law in their countries. Islam is not only a religion, but a political system. While the general assumption appears to be that the two are inseparable, this is, for reasons explained in this article, not the case. The Five Pillars of Islam [(1) The Declaration of Faith, (2) Prayer, (3) Fasting, (4) Zakaat (giving alms to the needy), and (5) The Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca)] shows that there is no correlation between Islam and the state and that the Islamic faith should be strictly personal. The religion of Islam is founded upon a peaceful message and it teaches tolerance and non-violence. Political Islam is a tool attempting through violence to submit people into the religion of Islam.
The Sharia law is deeply weaved into the roots of the Islamic culture and way of life, and it is therefore difficult to point public critique at it without offending the Muslim society. However, it is exceedingly important to be able to criticize aspects of any religion that violate human rights, both through organized critique and satire, without having to face accusations of racism or cultural imperialism. The world have evolved since the birth of Islam, and the global community of today is not compatible with the ideas of governing people during the 7th century, when first Islam originated. Failing to recognize this should be viewed as nothing less than a prolonged stagnation of the Islamic culture.
Sharia law must be challenged, analyzed and altered to protect the individuals’ human rights, and a secularization of the Islamic community is needed. The religion of Islam is compatible with human rights, democracy and modernity. Political Islam is not.
Sources:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/aug/20/qanda.islam
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/sharia_1.shtml
http://www.ntpi.org/html/whyoppose.html
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=6104754#
http://www.islam.no/newsite/content/default.asp?Action=Article&nTopPage=2&nPage=&nATID=61
How does religion affect state and society in Islamic countries in the Middle East?
First of all, countries make their religion as their constitution. Governments make laws that are based on their Holy Book. This affects the state and as well the society, because the laws aren’t that conservative unlike other countries that don’t have their religion as their constitution.When making a constitution, the people decide together and agree new laws. That happened here in Norway, France and in USA during the revolution of the countries, but where a state makes their laws because of their religion, the people can’t express their dissatisfaction regarding the new laws.
Since the people believe in their religion, they follow the new rules and lifestyle. After all they believe the message in the Qur’an is godsend.
Countries with their religion as their constitution follow the Islamic Law and people need to obey the laws or they can get punished severely. Since the laws can be found in their religious book, then it’s the right way of living.
If people break the law, then they can be punished with different methods that are used in modern world. For instance, human beings can be stoned to death or even hands or feet amputated. This is abnormal for us in the Western world, but these unusual methods weren’t unusual in the past. These are methods that were used before and for people in countries with these kinds of laws, it’s not that unusual.
As said these types of laws and methods are old and while other countries develop into different punishment methods and forms of government, some countries still allow Islamic Law. When Iran had their revolution in 1979, they went from a dictatorship to an Islamic Republic. That shows that even in modern times, country choose Islamic Law as their form of government.
Another point that separates Islamic Law from different forms of government is that a country can’t change or agree new types of laws. Here in Norway you can make proposal for new laws and even change the constitution. To change laws that inflict with the connection of the religion is something that is not quite possible.
It’s harder for someone to express their selves in Islamic countries, since a punishment could occur. Freedom of speech is almost gone and people can get convicted for saying something wrong or something that not acceptable for the state
Is there any necessary to divide religion and politics?
We feel that is necessary to divide religion and politics. Religion is something that is personal for a person and that it shouldn’t inflict with state matters. A human being is religious if that person wants to be religious and not every person is religious and has the same feelings towards a religion as people might have. You choose which religion you want to believe or even if you want to believe in superior powers. The state shouldn’t be able to decide for you. The state should make own laws based on what the majority of the population want and have no connection with religion. Most countries have freedom of religion, and freedom of religion is in the human right declaration of the UN. But then again, not every country follows the human right declaration.
