Studying Islam

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[quote]What I have understood is that Mawdudi, and others like him, take, what can be termed as, SYSTEM'S APPROACH to understanding Islam. That is, he sees Islam as a SET OF RULES which if implemented by the state will be a panacea to all our problems -- a divine solution to man's earthly problems.

Probably he was influenced by the times in which he lived when scholars in the west were proposing different systems -- such as democracy, communism, as ideals. Hence what would have seemed to him --a disarray of confusing and contradictory thoughts -- all coming from the west, he, among other Islamic scholars, sought refuge in the stability of Islam -- and delved in it to find the ideal political, economic and legal system.

Once this mistaken conclusion was reached, then the only thing left was to somehow grab the reins of power to implement this system. Hence Islamists in various Muslim countries became competitors for political power with other political forces -- socialist, nationalist, democratic etc. Also this led them sometimes not to stoop from using non-democratic ways of getting to the power corridors -- for e.g. by supporting dictators.

In the search for ready made solutions to the complex legal, economic questions of our times they turn to Qura’n and to the actions of the Holy prophet and that of the Caliphs.

The problem with this approach is that it does not correctly place the scope of vahy -- divine guidance -- in our life. Revelation gives broad GUIDELINES to humans and not ready made solutions. These guidelines are given in the Quran.

Once they don't find these ready made solutions in the Quran they turn to the decisions taken by the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the Caliphs  -- but the problem here is that they take those decisions literally  -- without going into the spirit behind them and also looking at the environment in which they were taken.

They fail to understand that these were ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS  (no doubt guided by Quranic principles) taken keeping in view the conditions of the society and state at that time and as solutions to the problems faced by them. It must be remembered that Madina was a small city state in a country which had a nomadic culture and a very simple society.

Hence in my view there are no ready made solutions -- i.e. no shortcuts here. Society has developed a lot since then, hence Muslim scholars and professionals have to make efforts to work out creative solutions to today's problems -- taking guidance from revelation.

I would love to have your observations on it.

Regards 
Asim Vardag[/quote]

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