By Hassan Masood, New Age Islam
Times of India has reported a horrifying story of a 11 year old minor girl who was abducted, gang raped by three men and strangled to death in Qutub Sher locality of Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh. Another young rape victim from Bihar, in her early twenties has petition President of India, seeking permission for mercy killing after losing all hopes for any justice. Several readers have favored “Death” penalty including torture for rapists. Some expressed anguish at the apathy of our slow moving legal process with ample escape routes as it’s currently going on in internationally famous Delhi Nirbhaya case. Every possible effort is being made to save culprits from gallows. Poor victims’ cries are unheard while justice is left to perish gradually.
Kidnapping, raping and killing has become order of the day everywhere. Lack of human values, no fear of law, slow and tedious legal process, far expanding legal avenues for appeal, all these have tremendously contributed for crimes against downtrodden Men, Women and Children.
Allah (SWT) is questioning the Muslim community “Why don’t you fight in the path of ALLAH on behalf of those extremely helpless men, women and children who are crying, "O our creator and sustainer! Rescue us out of this land whose people are oppressors, and raise for us, out of thy grace, a protector, and raise for us, out of thy grace a helper (for our relief)" – (4:75).
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Said “Surely! Every one of you is a guardian and is responsible for his charges; The Imam (ruler) of the people is a guardian and is responsible for his subjects; a man is the guardian of his family (household) and is responsible for his subjects; a woman is the guardian of her husband’s home and of his children and is responsible for them; and the slave of a man is a guardian of his master’s property and is responsible for it. Surely, every one of you is a guardian and responsible for his charge” (Bukhari, vol 9 / book 89 /Hadees No 252).
Muslim community is referred to as “The Best community” being sent down on earth for the benefit of humanity as whole. They have been given a “3-Point Agenda”, (1) Enjoin which is Good (2) Forbid which is bad (3) Believe in ALLAH (Holy Qur’aan 3:110). For the welfare of humanity, Islam presents a triangular frame work known as “Socio-Politico-Economic Justice System”.
Social Justice System: Oneness of GOD lays the foundation for social justice. If GOD is ONE then the whole of humanity is also ONE. This theory removes all grade barriers among human beings. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Said “The whole of humanity is family of ALLAH. Human beings are equal same like teethes of a comb”. Thus, Islam wishes to prevent human exploitation. Humanity has been suffering a lot due to superiority/inferiority complex prevalent in the society on the basis of nationality, religion, caste, color or creed. Islamic social justice system breaks down all these anti-human barriers through its policy of “Oneness of GOD”. GOD alone is Supreme. Difference of external features is for recognition only (Holy Qur’aan, 49:13). Arnold J Toynbee said “extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam”. In India, Adivasis, Dalits, SC/ST and lower caste people are being subjected to various atrocities. Apart from this, there are other evils too, like, Dowry, bonded labor, extortion, kidnapping, eve-teasing, rape, forcible prostitution and many more. It’s the mandate of Muslim community to create awareness, relieve every one’s difficulties and support all live with self-esteem.
Political Justice System: Islam offers a political justice system which is closer to democracy. World democracy and Islamic democracy go hand-in-hand. The only point where they differ is promulgation of laws. Under normal democratic setup, any bill passed by majority of present and voting becomes law. But under Islamic democracy, divine laws are final and shouldn’t be amended even if 100% majority approves it. For example ‘Interest’ based economy is forbidden in Islam as such parliamentary majority can’t change this. But in case of other bills which are not violating divine laws, majority’s decision shall be final and binding. Under current democratic set up, poor people are forced to vote for a dominant political party under coercion or threat or in exchange for nominal gifts. After entering parliament they forget masses. They interrupt parliamentary proceedings. Islam mandates Muslim community to streamline, purify and weed out all corrupt practices so that people can freely elect people of their choice. Those elected should work with dedication for public welfare. Delhi CM Arvin Kejriwal is the living example. His positive pro-public initiatives have shaken even National rulers.
Economic Justice System: From King to scavenger, all category people are important for human survival. If all select white collar jobs then who will do subordinate jobs like peon, driver and cleaner? ALLAH has created human beings with different capabilities and disabilities so that all human beings could be inter-dependent and society is live. According to the nature of jobs, their individual income will also differ. This creates disparity of wealth distribution which is unavoidable. To overcome this anomaly, Islamic economy offers ‘equitable’ distribution of wealth so that no single individual is deprived of his basic essential needs. Islam mandates compulsory annual payment of Zakat, Sadaqat-ul-fitr and other charities. If all Muslims pay off all these charities, honestly and systematically then surely poverty would vanish. Large Muslims are poor because of non-payment, inaccurate payment and unregulated form of payment of charities. Lord Macaulaywhile addressing British parliament on, 1835, observed “I have travelled across length and breadth of India but could not find any beggar nor any one committing theft” Actually, this is what Islamic economy desires. Those were the ending days ofMughal Kingdom.
Islam forbids ‘Interest’ but encourages “Musharaka or Profit-sharing”. Under ‘Interest’ based investment, maximum return is 8% per annum. For an investment of Rs 1,00,000 monthly income will be Rs 700. Under ‘Profit-sharing’ if net profit per month is 10% then investor will get Rs 5,000. Businessmen are very shrewd, they can best utilize funds for higher returns even more than 10% per month. It’s for the banks to identify and invest in potential projects aiming higher returns. If “Islamic Banking” is introduced in India, ‘Interest’ will be out. In Malaysia more than 40% customers under Islamic banking are non-Muslims because they have enjoyed higher benefits.
Almost all major multinational banks like HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Dow Jones and many more have Islamic banking sections. Muslim economist have a major role to play to create awareness of Islamic banking.
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