History Of Haqiqat E Jamhuriat

1618 Words4 Pages

Haqiqat-e-Jamhuriat

Since the topic of Shariah vs jamhuriat has taken its toll on the media and has been a hot topic for discussion for nearly a month, relatively an age-old topic, I thought I would share my views. This document is open to criticism and queries in case if anyone reads it.

Democracy:
Democracy, in its true essence was first defined by Abraham Lincoln like so:
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people”
It is a Greek word which literally means “Rule of the People” where ‘Demo’ means people and ‘kratos’ means ‘government’ but some people compare it with ‘majority of the people’ when in truth it is the ‘support of the majority’ which is why the Greek Philosopher Herodotus says:
“Democracy is such a government in which the head of state holds influence over the society.”

HISTORY OF DEMOCRACY
The first signs of democracy showed light 600 years before the beginning of the Christian calendar and just before the birth of The Buddha in the democratic states known as Janapadas. The first state was known as “Washani” which is popular today as “Bahar”. Similarly, during the reign of Alexander the Great, there existed small democratic states known as Sabaracae or Sabastai, according to the Greek Philosophers, in the present areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Similarly, history shows us the example of ‘The Senate’ and the ‘Roman Empire’ in 49 BC. Some other examples are:
1. Tacitus
2. Frankish Custom of March Field
3. All things parliament of Iceland
4. Tutha system of Ireland
5. Even some tribes of the Quresh
DEMOCRACY IN ISLAM:

In Islam, besides Allah, no one has the right to make laws. Allah is our Creater, our Lord and he knows well that what is good and what is bad for us. It is the responsibility of hum...

... middle of paper ...

...nately, we must not call today’s Muslims true Muslims. That is because Islam constitutes rules, discipline, principles and actions based on the rules and principles. Today these have been lost. Islam survives only in lectures and classrooms, for we are not living by Islam today. It has become a name without a body”

12) Personal Opinion:

The idea of democracy in Islam has confused a lot of people. Even I, myself do not know whether to believe in it as there are many Islamic scholars calling Islamic principles and democracy as two sides of the same coin. My opinion is that democracy cannot work here in the third-world countries because majority of the people are un-educated and are used to the tribal system of their villages and cannot analyze the righteousness of a person. They will continue to choose their leaders according to tradition as can be seen in Pakistan.

More about History Of Haqiqat E Jamhuriat

Open Document