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Compiled by: Azeem Ayub |
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Reflections | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In the Name of Allah, |
Limited Liability
From time to time, we come across terms like ‘limited’ or ‘private limited’ in our daily life. These terms are usually inscribed on the wraps of the articles we purchase and are always preceded by the name of the manufacturing or the distributing company. The concept is that the company, whether it is public or private, will pay off the liabilities in case of insolvency only to the extent that proceeds accrue by disposing of its assets. Once these proceeds are consumed up, the remaining liabilities will not be paid by disposing of other personal assets of those responsible for the failure of the business. It needs to be noted that assets of such enterprises, which are no longer going concerns, often devalue and therefore do not allow even paying off the short term liabilities not to mention the long term. In case of public limited companies, shareholders, who are counted as actual owners of the enterprises, also add to the list of losers. Sadly, all the stakeholders (parties who have interest in the business) suffer for no reason. Key management personnel, who are vested with the right to manage the business on behalf of the shareholders, contrive to play foul games: they play, earn and amass astoundingly big bucks and then plead in the court of law for liquidation (insolvency). For one, the case of Taj Company Limited may be cited; Enron the Energy Giant is another fresh example to quote here. Both give us an insight into the tyranny of limited liability.
This is a man made law in which he is responsible only to the extent of investment made into the business. On the contrary, the divine law will hold every person responsible till all debt is paid off. There is no concept of limited liability in the Hereafter. Each and every penny embezzled in this world shall be recovered in the world to come. The medium of exchange to pay off debts will be the good deeds done in here. As the good deeds are consumed up, evil deeds of the losers will be transferred into the account of the embezzler. He will watch justice being dispensed in a perfect manner. No lawyer will be able to come forward and feign the facts. No provision of imperfect laws will save his skin from the grievous penalty that his own evil actions entailed. Try as he may, he would fail to deny the facts and figures that would be presented before him; every member of his body will serve as a witness against him. Should he have ignored the eye opening declaration that the Holy Book of Allah proclaimed in the world:
And whosoever does the slightest good will see it then. And whosoever does the slightest evil will see it then. (99:7-8)
No one will suffer without a reason. Void will be the provision of transferring the liability. Whosoever cultivates will come to reap exactly what he grows. Everyone would feel heavily burdened; everyone would be preoccupied with contemplating his own fate. No relationship or friendship will serve man and he will stand alone before the Judge, the Almighty. The Holy Qur’an negates the very notion of transferring the liability in very simple yet meaningful words:
No laden one shall bear another’s load. (53:38)
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* This provision to incorporate companies with limited liability was enacted and enforced in the Sub continent long before the idea of Pakistan was conceived. This has been fully appreciated and adopted by the Companies Ordinance 1984. While trying to save the shareholders from undue loss that may be caused by ignorant or fraudulent conduct of the directors, the legislative bodies have ended up risking the interest of many stakeholders.
Author: Jhangeer Hanif
Topic URL: April 2004 www.monthly-renaissance.com
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Read & Reflect
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Debate & Discuss * Discussion Forum: Introduction to the Hadith | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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* General Discussion Forum: Castes in Islam
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Implementation of the
Shari'ah (Divine Law) Author: Imam Hamiduddin Farahi
Tr. by Tariq Hashmi
Some people
believe that democracy is a concept alien to Islam. The ideal
way of setting up an Islamic government in our times is the
one that the Taliban adopted for Mullāh ‘Umar’s government in
Afghanistan. The constitution, the parliament, and elections
are nothing but modern day shams. For its implementation,
Islam does not depend on any of these mechanisms. Whatever
interpretations have been accepted in the Ḥanafī law[1]
are final and authoritative. The opinions of its jurists have
all been compiled in matters related to individual as well as
collective affairs. According to these people, these opinions
and verdicts are based on the Qur’ān, the Sunnah (the
Prophet’s teachings), Ijmā‘ (consensus), and Qiyās
(analogy) and are contained in the manuals of Fiqh
(Islamic law) and in the fatāwā (verdicts) of
“qualified” Muslim jurists. These laws and verdicts must be
implemented. And this implementation does not require the
approval of any parliament. The modus operandi recommended by
people with these views is that all institutions of the
government be under the judiciary and the judiciary itself be
under the control of the ‘ulamā’ (religious scholars)
as it is the ‘ulamā’ who are the experts in the
understanding and interpretation of the Sharī‘ah
(Divine law). These people hold that the last 1200 years of
Muslim tradition stands in support of their view. In their
opinion, after the appointment of Imām Abū Yūsuf as the
qādī al-quḍāt (chief justice) of the Abbasid sultanate,
the same modus operandi was adopted everywhere for the
implementation of Islam. It was the Western colonialism that
put an end to this tradition. Now, the Muslims are
independent; therefore, this approach to running the affairs
of the state in accordance with the Sharī‘ah must also
be restored. I can say with full confidence on the basis of my study of Islam that this viewpoint is not acceptable to the Qur’ān. It prescribes democracy as the basis for running the affairs of the State. The Qur’ān (42:38) says: amruhum shūrā baynahum (the affairs of the Muslims are run on the basis of their consultation). ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Whosoever pledges allegiance to anyone without the collective consent of the Muslims presents himself for the death sentence.”[2] It is true that, in Muslim history, monarchy and dictatorship have often been accepted forms of government. Some people also believe that the head of government should be an appointee of God Himself. However, the principle the Qur’ān spells out is very clear. What this principle entails in terms of its nature and foundation has been explained very aptly by a well-known Muslim scholar of our times, Mawlānā Abū al-A‘lā Mawdūdī. He says:
First of all, people whose interests and rights are directly affected by collective decisions should have the absolute right to express their opinions. They should be fully informed of how their matters are being dealt with, and they should be granted the full right to criticize those in charge of their matters for any mistakes or flaws. They should also have the right to change their leaders if they do not see any effectiveness in the efforts for their reform. Making people conform to collective decisions by stifling their voice, shackling their hands and keeping them in the dark is downright dishonesty, which no intellectually honest person can consider as compliance with the directive of amruhum shūrā baynahum.
The second thing that needs to be understood is that the appointment of the person responsible for the collective affairs of the Muslims should be with the free will of people. Support gained through coercion, intimidation, jobbery, bribery, deception or misrepresentation does not reflect free will. The rightful leader of the people is not someone who attains this position by hook or by crook, but someone whom they choose of their own accord.
The third point is that representatives of people involved in consultation with the head of the state should be appointed on the basis of the genuine trust of people. Obviously, those who have attained this position on the basis of coercion, bribes, lies and deception can never be deemed as worthy of this trust.
The fourth point pertains to freedom of expression for people’s representatives to present their opinions correctly and honestly in accordance with their understanding and conscience. If this aspect is missing and the representatives are bound by any fear, greed or group affiliation, the consequence will be dishonesty and betrayal rather than conformity to the principle of amruhum shūrā baynahum.
Finally, the unanimous or majority
verdict of the consultative body should be accepted. The reason for this
principle is that, if any person or group is given the authority to violate the
collective decision, the whole process of consultation becomes meaningless. The
Almighty Allah does not say: “In their matters, the Muslims are consulted.”
Instead, He says: “Their matters are based on their consultation.” Compliance
with this directive does not take effect by mere consultation. Compliance here
requires that, in the consultation, whatever is decided by unanimous or majority
verdict become binding.”[3]
This extract clearly shows
that, for the interpretation and application of even a religious directive
pertaining to the state affairs, it is consultation that should be the
procedure. Experts of Islamic sciences may proffer their opinions. It is their
right to express their viewpoints, but their opinions become legally binding on
people only when the majority of the elected representatives of people accept
them. In the present-day state, the institution of the parliament is constituted
for this very purpose. It is the right of the people to disagree with decisions
of the parliament and to express their viewpoints to rectify its mistakes.
However, no one has the right to violate the laws enacted by the parliament or
to defy the system. Neither the ‘ulamā nor the judiciary is superior to
the parliament. Each institution has the obligation to comply with the
parliamentary decisions even if it has differences of opinion with it.
If this status of the
parliament is accepted, the discussion on an “Islamic state” vis-à-vis a
“secular state” also becomes irrelevant. Discussions as these were relevant in
situations of autocracy and dictatorship. Now, the objective of our efforts
should be a purely democratic state. Once this state is truly formed, Islam will
manifest itself in the system in proportion to the degree of people’s commitment
to this faith. This is the natural way. Any deviation from it will lead only to
hypocrisy, which we have been witnessing for the past half-century in Pakistan.
The real task of the ‘ulamā’ and reformers is to prepare the minds of the people for Islam through education and communication. They should call people to this message with sagacity and decency; they should face their questions and queries; they should cogently resolve people’s intellectual issues and explain to them not only the sharī‘ah but also the Divine wisdom in its directives. For example, they should be ready to explain what the relationship of the sharī‘ah is with the collective affairs of society, what the foundations of its directives are, and why the modern mind is impeded in understanding the wisdom of the Divine law. They should adopt such means and modes of communication as would bring out the wisdom and the meaningfulness of the sharī‘ah so that people are able to understand the underlying objectives clearly and become willing to accept these laws with heart, mind and soul. The responsibility that the Qur’ān lays upon the religious scholars is that of calling people to Islam and exhorting them to follow its directives (da‘wat-o indhār) – they have not been given the role of keepers of morals and, therefore, have no right to use groups of their followers to enforce their conceptions and interpretations of the Sharī‘ah on people in their society through the force of guns. Not even the state itself has been permitted by Islam to use the force of law to coerce people into fulfilling any obligation of purely religious nature except the mandatory prayer and alms (al-salāh and al-zakāh). The Qur’ān is very clear in this matter: regardless of what the adherents to Islam are responsible for in the Hereafter, the State cannot hold them responsible in religion beyond these imperatives. Beyond them, appeal, exhortation, education and training are the means that may be adopted to make the efforts for reformation of people. If some of the religious scholars are fond of politics as well, they can join political parties to become part of the parliament where they can play their role in legislation in accordance with the parliamentary norms and procedures.
(Translated by Asif Iftikhar, Fellow, al-Mawrid, Lahore)
[1]. Islamic law as understood, interpreted and applied in one of the major Sunni schools of thought. The Ḥanafī school is named after the Iraqi legal expert Abū Ḥanīfah (d. 767). [2]. Bukhārī, No: 6442. [3]. Abū al-A‘lā Mawdūdī, Tafhīm al-Qur’ān, vol. 4, (Lahore: Maktabah-i ta‘mīr-i insāniyyat, 1972), 509-510.
URL : http://www.studying-islam.org/articletext.aspx?id=1210
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Hischam khan
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Discussion Forum:
Castes in Islam angeln
Assalam u
alaikum everyone, I would just like to know everyone view on castes. The
caste system is now common amongst Muslims especially Pakistani Muslims
where the castes 'rajput, choudry, jatt' etc are very common. Are these
castes acceptable in Islam? and is there any mention of them anywhere
Tariq Hashmi
Classification
of mankind in different branches is endoresed both by reason and
revelation. Not only the the Holy Qur'an alludes to this segregation
rather it hints towards the basic wisdom of the phenomenon. It says:
ayesha However, castes should play absolutely no role in social relationships.
Ronnie Although the Qur'an has given us a sense that there are various people with differing backgrounds, I cannot agree that the "caste" system is merely a simple classification of human groups. Actually, from my information, I find that the "caste" system is merely a concept that places certain groups of people as superior and inferior. While the Qur'an has posed the beauty in our differences it has also reminded us that no one is better than another except thought their works. Castes on the other hand, it seems to me, a classification for repression and disparagement. If this is the case then I see no plausible harmony between castes and what the Qur'an has stated.
Tariq Hashmi Thank you Ronnie. I stand corrected. I thought it basically connotes the sense.
imsam Ronnie's reasoning is correct. It is welcoming that the moderator is prepared to accept and admit an oversight. This programme will certainly go a long way, insha'allah.
Razi Allah (Moderator) Since you have referred particularly to the prevalent caste system in Pakistan, i can present some observations from my experience. While it is true that there is nothing inherently wrong in the caste system for the purpose of 'knowing one another', people tend to harbor certain preconceived notions, usually negative, about a particular caste, and judge the entire group accordingly with a naive and mock disregard for individual differences. This i have seen pervasive even among the educated people.
Ronnie Indeed there is no prohibition in dividing ourselves. I don't think that has been a point of contention. I would, however, posit that the nature of some of these castes are contrary to Islamic principles. Not only are they used to segregate people based on prejudice and hatred but they are also contrary to Islam's concept of equality of humanity. The only division is that of the righteous and the evil doer. The Children of Israel created such a caste; they elevated themselves and cast out the world. Division is not inherently evil or wrong but as implemented in most castes (that I know of) is without a doubt contrary to the Truth.
Razi Allah (Moderator)
AOA Ronnie,
Further may be seen at: http://www.studying-islam.org/forum/topic.aspx?topicid=161&lang=&forumid=1
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Are Paris made in Heaven?
Answer:
What it means is that every decision
that is taken on earth is already known to the Almighty beforehand, because He
is the All-Knowing God. However, in the case of some such decisions, what is
known to Him is actually expedited through us, as we use our discretionary
powers. In other words, he knows beforehand what we will decide even though His
foreknowledge doesn’t interfere in our free-decision making process. I believe
that decisions on marriages, in most cases, belong to this category.
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