Islamic Law and India-Part 1

Introduction: We have been hearing for centuries that Islam is Allah’s code of law, which is the panacea for all social ills. Though no Islamic country ever practised a legal system which could be labeled as the Islamic Law, the Muslims of India became so enamored of this belief that they partitioned their own country to create Pakistan where they could enforce the Islamic Law and live happily thereafter.

The Pakistanis have been trying this recipe for the last fifty years but it has not yielded the magical cure: instead it has produced conditions which are no less horrible than what happened in the battlefield of Karbala.

(Who had chanted? Qatl-i-Hussain asl men Murgh-i-Yezid hai, Islam zinda hota hai har Karbala ke baad?)

Perhaps the more uncanny part of the tragedy is that, so far, they have not been able to enforce what may be termed as the Islamic Law. Why? This is a big enigma which only a scholar of Anwar Shaikh’s stature could solve.

His article: “Islamic Law and India” is truly an eye-opener. No wonder he is considered an Original Thinker. Had someone come to this conclusion fifty years earlier, India might not have suffered the fate she did to facilitate introduction of the “Islamic Law” in Pakistan.

As fervor for the “Islamic Law” is threatening to cause social upheaval in Bharat, Anwar Shaikh’s article has a special relevance to the current situation. Those who truncated India to enjoy the blessings of the “Islamic Law”, are once again marching on the same path of national suicide by obstructing the move toward a common civil code for the whole country…

Who is Anwar Shaikh? He is a scion of the Kashmiri pandits. Some two hundred years ago, his ancestor embraced Islam and became a fervent preacher of this religion. Anwar Shaikh was born in 1928 in a village near the City of Gujrat (now in Pakistan). He was raised to be a scholar of Islam. As a result, he took an enthusiastic part in the formation of Pakistan. Having realized the effect of Islam on the non-Arab Muslims, especially those of the Indian origin, he experienced a change of heart and mind. He is acknowledged an original thinker, philosopher and theologian. Besides, his essays on economics, taxation, history, law, psychology and literature are read with profound respect. He is also a well-known poet of the Urdu language.

One of man’s greatest desires is to avoid molestation by others. From this fact arose the maxim:”Do not do to others what you do not want to be done to yourself”.

It is usually true that if you do not wrong others, they will not injure you, but there is no guarantee for its happening because some people will be hurtful to you, no matter, how helpful you may have been to them. Therefore, protection of life, property and happiness need the discipline of law to check our behavior.

What is law?

In view of what I have just said, I may add that the law is a set of rules designed to promote right conduct through a system of reward and punishment operated by the central authority usually called the “state” which is fully responsible to protect the citizens by maintaining order within its jurisdiction.

Here the word “order” describes the true meaning of law because the rules which fail to assure order become the source of anarchy, highly injurious to public interest. Thus law is order, and order is law.

That law is order, and order is law, is the truth that was first revealed by the Vedic seers. Through observations of the moon and the stars, changing seasons, phenomena of day and night, and above all, realisation of the fact that the universe is in motion all the time, they came to the conclusion that the jagat is controlled by the law which is eternal. They were convinced of this truth so strongly that the Rgveda mentions it over one hundred and fifty times without contradicting anywhere. For example, the Rgveda states in Book one, hymn one, verse 8:

“Mitra and Varuna, through Law, lovers and cherishers of Law Have ye obtained your mighty power.”

God Mitra is believed to preside over day and God Varuna over night. As life is usually measured in terms of day and night, a close connection is believed to exist between these two gods, and therefore they are invoked together.

The Vedic verse clearly states:

1. The Law is binding on Gods,
2. Like Mitra and Varuna, they all not only obey the Law but do so very willingly because they love and cherish it, and
3. They obtain their mighty powers by obeying the cosmic law.

Again in Book IV, hymn XLII, verse IV, it is stated that this universe is the Seat of Order through operation of law and everything is obeying it in its allotted sphere of function.

The 5th book, hymn one, verse seven, makes it clear that the Law which creates the Cosmic Order is eternal; it has always existed and it will always be there.

As it is the Rgveda, which pointed to the Cosmic Law first, I feel aggrieved to note that all the ancient wisdom that the vedic seers discovered has been attributed to other nations. The discovery of the Natural Law is credited to the Stoics of Greece who existed circa 300 B.C. whereas the Rgveda was composed at least in the 3500 B.C., if not earlier. This is the price of political weakness, and the Hindus have still not stopped paying for it. Until they learn to be strong, the erosion of their cultural greatness will not only continue but is likely to accelerate its pace.

Why is the Hindu culture great? Because it is originally based on freedom of thought and scientific observations. Let me explain it with reference to the modern discoveries which back the Vedic view of the law.

To understand what I am about to say, it ought to be understood that natural law is a determined quantity which produces definite result. For example, two plus two equal four and not three and three quarters. Similarly, two minus two comes to zero. These are the exact results, making exactitude the essence of the Natural Law, without which the Cosmic Order cannot be maintained.

The state law known as the positive law (which is in contrast with the law that ought to be) does not always work efficiently because there are too many middlemen such as interpreters and enforcers. These people lack the natural harmony to apply it with equal zeal. Thus the model for positive law remains the **natural Law, which is exact and strictly neutral in accordance with the Vedic legal approach.

I may describe a couple of scientific discoveries to explain the point.

1. The universe is claimed to have been expanding for the last fifteen billion years. The precision in the rate of expansion is absolutely stunning. Scientists claim that one second after the Big Bang, if the rate of expansion had varied by one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe could not have evolved! This may be termed as the Law of evolution, which means development.
2. Electric charges which are opposite to each other, have got to be exactly equal in numbers. To realise the vastness of the opposite charges in the universe, just take one gram of hydrogen, which contains about 600 billion trillion protons and exactly the same number of electrons. A proton has a positive charge and an electron has a negative charge. If an ounce of ordinary matter suffered as little as one per cent difference in the numbers of its positive and negative charges, the said ounce of matter would explode with a force equal to the entire weight of the earth.

From the above discussion, the following emerge as the salient features of law:

1. Socially, the law is the supreme force in every land. Owing to the ever-changing needs of the country, it is made and enforced by the state.
2. It applies to both low and and high with equal intensity It must be neutral in make-up and application. The law must not suffer from any kind of bias.
3. The purpose of the law is to regulate social relationships between individuals and society through a system of reward and punishment. Thus law is a binding force which seeks to create social order.
4. The social order is best preserved if the law is uniform and the same rules apply to all citizens without any reference to color, creed and religion. Thus, built-in differentiation in the making and application of law defeats its purpose, that is, promotion of social order.
5. Barring emergency, which is rare, law is a social affair, that is, law concerns the entire society and cannot revolve around one person.
   When we apply these rules to what is called “Islamic Law”, it appears so primitive that it does not qualify as the law at all. Let us take the issue of legal supremacy. While the Veda and all advanced countries hold the law as the source of power and order, the Koran contradicts it. For example, it states:

   "Allah is able to do anything He likes."
     (The Cow: 106) 

   Again it says:

   "Sovereignty belongs to Allah."
     (The Family of Imran: 26) 

   This theme recurs throughout the Koran. As it contradicts the Veda, which holds that the Law is eternal and even the gods obey it, we are entitled to examine the Koranic claim to see if Allah can really make or change the Natural Law which holds this cosmos together. Honesty demands that I must make up statements about Allah but quote from the Koran to establish what Allah really is. Just ponder over the following verses to see what the Koran says about Allah who claims to be the Creator and Master of the universe.

   1. In verse 18 of Jonah, the Koran says that all praise is due to Allah the Most High, and then in verse 21 adds:

      Allah
          is more swift in pretending than humans.

   2. In Repentance: 29, Allah resorts to swearing:

      The unbelievers
          are impure and their abode is hell.

   3. The hypocrites seek to beguile Allah, but it is Allah
          who beguiles them. (Women: 142)

   4. The unbelievers schemed against Allah, and Allah schemed
          against them, and Allah is the best schemer. (The Family of Imran:
          54)

   5. Allah seeks loan from the believers and promises to
          return it ten- fold, or twice the amount borrowed. (The Cow:
          245 - The Iron: 11)

   6. On unbelievers is the curse of Allah. (The Cow: 161)

   7. Allah complains that most people do not thank Him. (The
          Cow: 243 - The Heights: 165 - Jonah: 60)

   8. Allah is an enemy to unbelievers. (The Cow: 98)

      9. Allah mocks the unbelievers. (The Cow: 15)

   9. Allah is afraid of being reviled at. (The Cattle: 109)

   10. The worst of beasts in Allah's sight are the ungrateful
           who will not believe. (Spoils of War: 55)

   11. Allah swears by His name. (The Bee: 63)

   12. Allah plots against unbelievers. (The Morning Star:
           15)

   13. Allah takes revenge. (The Romans: 47)

   14. Unbelievers are the enemies of Allah, and they will
           roast in hell.(Fusilat: 19)

   15. In “Saba: 1”, Allah claims that everything in the univferse belongs to Him, but in “Muhammad: 7”, He says:

       "O ye who believe! If ye help Allah, He will
           help you and make your foothold firm."

   Making a claim is one thing but proving it is quite another. From the above Koranic quotations, it is quite clear that Allah lacks consistency in Himself; neither He is All-powerful, nor are His laws impartial to all human-beings. He is the champion of the Muslims and dreadful enemy of those who do not believe in Him. In fact, He is a man pretending to be the Almighty Creator and claiming to be the law-giver, who is above law.

   It is obvious who this man is. Therefore I need not go into details here, and explain the “Islamic Law” with reference to the previously mentioned rule: 5, which states that law concerns the entire society and cannot revolve around one person.

   When we apply this test to judge the validity of the “Islamic Law”, it fails to qualify as law because it is founded on the personal needs of Muhammad. Though stunning this claim may sound, false it is not.

   Why is Islamic Law personal to Muhammad? It is because the Koran lays it down for all times that Muhammad is the Behavioral Model for the believers under all circumstances:

   "You
     have a good example in God's Messenger for whosoever hopes for
     God and the Last Day." (The Confederates: 20)

   It means that those who hope for salvation and want to enter paradise, must treat Muhammad as the Model of Action. This is the reason that Muslims all over the world think it a duty to walk, talk, eat, drink and even think like Muhammad. In fact, whatever Muhammad said and did, has become the Islamic way of life, and ranks as the Islamic Law for his followers, and those who do not accept it as such, are sure to rot in hell. Those who obey it, not only get a preferential treatment in an Islamic state during their life-time, but will have plenty of beautiful women and pretty boys in the next world, which is a major defect and cannot be approved by the jurisprudential rules.

   Now, I may quote some examples to show why the so-called Islamic Law revolves round the personal convenience of Muhammad, and thus disqualifies itself as law:

   "....marry such women
     as seem good to you, two, three, four; but if you fear you will
     not be equitable, then only one...." (Women: 1)

   It means that the Koran allows a believer to have up to four wives at the same time.

   It is universally accepted that the laws of a law-giver are binding on himself, and this is especially true about Muhammad, who claimed to have been made the Model of Behavior by Allah. The hadith-books testify to the fact that he had at least nine wives at the same time. Is it not a violation of the laws of God? What is even more surprising is that Allah does not show the disapproval of Muhammad’s transgression of the Divine Law!

   There is one further point which ought to be remembered; those Arabs who had more than four wives, were ordered by the Prophet to divorce their extra wives for limiting the number to four. For example, Ghilan bin Salam had ten wives before embracing Islam. He had to divorce six wives and keep four. (Ibn-e-Majah, vol. 1, ch. 628 p. 545)

   In the said verse, it is made abundantly clear that a Muslim can have up to four wives at the same time provided he treats them all equally; if he cannot, then he must have only one wife.

   As it happened, the Prophet himself could not treat all the wives equally: it led to a terrible friction in his household. Allah Himself frightened them with double punishment if they did not stop aggravating him; He even tried the remedy of increasing their reward if they surrendered to him. Yet they kept demanding their right of equity. For subduing them, the Prophet even threatened to divorce them. Eventually, Allah gave the Prophet dispensation from this law.

   "You can suspend any of your wives as
     you will and receive any one of them as you will: and whomsoever
     you desire of those whom you have set aside, it is no sin for
     you... (The Confederates: 50)

   To observe the Law of Equity, the Prophet had fixed a certain night for each of his wives to be with her on a rota system. This verse gave him dispensation from the Law of Equity stating that he could treat his wives the way he thought fit!

   Fancy God giving dispensation from His own laws to a man who is the Behavioral Model! It is unthinkable, and it is especially so when there is no good reason involved in it except the personal convenience of Muhammad.

   Here is the decisive proof to show that the so-called family laws were designed for the convenience of Muhammad. Allah, who is supposed to be God of entire mankind, could not have ignored the needs of them just to please Muhammad. Just look at the following:

   "And any woman believer, if she gave herself to the
     Prophet and if the Prophet desires to take her in marriage, for
     thee exclusively, apart from the believers." (The Confederates:
     45)

   For understanding this verse, the reader ought to know that it is addressed by Allah to the Prophet Muhammad. Allah makes it abundantly clear that this particular law exclusively applies to Muhammad, and other Muslims are not allowed its benefits. And the law as stated in this verse is, that any believing woman can offer herself to Muhammad in marriage, and if he desires, he can have her as a wife irrespective of the number of wives he already has!

   This type of law-making which is exclusive to one person is not known in the civilized world. Of course, despots have been above the law, but despotism is an antithesis of legality. Law is not law unless it applies to all and sundry with equal force.

   Here is another instance which shows the personal nature of the Islamic Law:

   According to the rota system that the Prophet had fixed as a rule for spending certain nights with his spouses, he should have been with his wife called Hafza (the daughter of Umar), who to her utter amazement found him in bed with Marya, his beautiful Coptic concubine, who became the mother of his son, Ibrahim. Hafza was a hot-tempered woman. Seeing what was happening, she shouted: “In my room, on my day and in my bed!”

   The incident seemed less than honorable to Hafza. The Prophet realizing the delicacy of the matter, wanted her to keep quiet about the matter. In an attempt to appease her, he promised her never to visit Marya again. This amounted to an oath, which should have been kept by the Prophet. But what happened, is stunning. Allah sent down the following verse to absolve the Prophet from his oath:

   "O Prophet, why forbiddest thou what God
     has made lawful to thee, seeking the good pleasure of thy wives...
     God has ordained for you the absolution of your oath, God is
     your protector..." (The Forbidding: 1)

   Here is another case which is personal to Muhammad but ranks as the family law to the entire Muslim world:

   Aftr defeating Banu Mustaliq, as Muhammad resumed the return journey, Aisha, his youngest wife, lost the way while searching for her necklace. A young soldier, Safwan b. Mu’Attal Sulami Zakwani, recognized her and gave her a lift back home. Though it was an innocent journey, the Prophet’s enemies created a nasty scandal out of it, subjecting him and Aisha to a great deal of distress.

   Though Aisha was faultless, Allah found it necessary to devise an impossible law of evidence to protct the Prophet and punish the accusers. See for yourself:

   "And those who cast
     it up on women in wedlock, and then bring not four witnesses,
     scourge them with eighty stripes, and do not accept any testimony
     of theirs ever..." (Light: 1-4)

   This law pertains to fornication and rape. To prove that such an act has taken place, the calumniator must produce four eye-witnesses to this effect. If he does not, he is liable to receive eighty lashes. In the case of Aisha, both Mistah (a relative of Abu Bakr) and Hamma (Zainab’s sister) suffered this punishment.

   As a result of this law, a raped woman has to produce four eye-witnesses to the act, which is more or less an impossibility. Its devastating effect can be clearly seen in Pakistan where several thousand good, honest women are imprisoned for suffering rape. When they report their cases to the police, they are required to produce four eye-witnesses. As they cannot do so, they are held as false accusers, and put behind bars.

   Cosmic Law is the supreme example of Natural Law, which is believed to be the system of justice common to all mankind.

   By: Anwar Shaikh