The Syrian interim president, Al-Julani, spoke about some features of the future Syrian state and heralded the principle of “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves.” We have some knowledge about the subject of “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves” from ancient history, We did not find in the folds of this history any clear, specific, and justified theoretical or practical intellectual indication regarding the content of “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves ” Therefore, we turned to modern history and to some of those interested in the principle of “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves ” Among these was Sayyid al-Qimni in his book “Thank You, Bin Laden,” then the book of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood member Bashar Awad “The Group and Power,” and others,These people tried to explain and clarify the problem in different ways!
Al-Julani refrained from using the word “democracy” to emphasize his rejection of democracy, relying instead on the concept of “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves ” It can be concluded that the alternative to the democracy rejected by al-Julani has become “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves.” Given the scarcity of countries and societies that operate on the principle of consultation among themselves, it is possible that these countries and societies have not noticed what Bin Laden and his successor al-Julani discovered regarding the concept of “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves,” which has become a leading principle in the modern era concerning consultation!
We were very surprised that the concept of democracy, with all its meanings, implications, contents, and intellectual foundations, was taken on an equal footing with the concept of “Shura,” that is, considering a political means with contents that convinced most of the 8 billion people as equivalent to the concept of Shura, which only convinced a small number of millions of people, The reason is that the issue of Shura is without content, meaning, and proven benefit. How can democracy be placed on the same level as Shura? Knowing that they are two things that are different to the point of contradiction, and there is absolutely no connection between them, All of this indicates that the concept of Shura was not clear to people, as was the concept of democracy, That is, there is ignorance among some of both concepts, and the first of these ignorant people was Al-Julani.
Democracy is a product of the Roman Senate, roughly ten centuries before the emergence of Ibn Abdullah, Since then, democracy has meant the rule of free people by themselves, This is something that religious scholars have failed to grasp, because they are inherently ignorant and foolish, They have never engaged with it and therefore have been unable to differentiate between democracy and Shura (consultation), that is, between the religious alternative and the civil democracy of Greek origin,These scholars are not experts in politics and governance, and they cannot evaluate democracy, which is absent from their cultural and intellectual framework, Furthermore, there is no translation for the word “democracy,” which was adopted as is and written in Arabic instead of Latin. Consequently, it can be said that al-Julani is ignorant of the implications of democracy, and even of the implications of Shura, which differs from democracy. Mr. al-Julani, the criminal of bombings and assassinations, has not concerned himself with any of these matters, Even if he had, his interest would have been in vain, With his limited cultural and intellectual capacity, he is incapable of engaging with the subject of democracy, Democracy is an idea, and an idea requires a mind. Consultation is obedience and submission, and it does not require a mind, Al-Julani quoted Abu Bakr in a recent sermon: “Obey me!!!”
If al-Julani had at least been able to understand Shura (consultation), he would have known that it is an ancient Arab system, known to the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula before the advent of Islam, Here, the tribal sheikh had a council of Shura, and the council was formed, according to the sheikh’s will, from men who were considered wise and considered his friends, according to his standards, This system was intertwined with religion, like other systems that prevailed in the pre-Islamic era, In the Quran, it is said in Surah Al Imran, “And if you had been harsh and hard-hearted, they would have dispersed from around you, So forgive them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter, And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah. Indeed, Allah loves those who rely upon Him.” So, whoever relies upon Allah does not need to rely upon reason, God commanded His Messenger to consult his companions regarding a problem that occurred after the defeat at Uhud! Therefore, God revealed to His Messenger a verse, “And consult them in the matter,” etc.
Democracy is based on the majority resulting from elections, while Shura (consultation) rejects the majority because democracy is an imported principle unrelated to religion, Few scholars believe that the essence of democracy is Muhammadan! Generally, the rejection of democracy is based on “sacred” texts that claim the majority always stands on the side of falsehood and tyranny, The majority imposes the ruler and thus undermines God’s authority: “And if you obey most of those on earth, they will lead you astray from the path of God,” then “And most of the people, even if you strive for it, will not believe,” then “But most of the people do not know,” then “But most of the people do not believe,” etc. Therefore, in Islam, the opinion of the majority is not taken into account, In addition, there are matters that do not fall under the realm of voting because they are constants that do not accept change unless the community changes and is no longer Muhammadan, Voting only applies to matters of “ijtihad” (independent reasoning) or what is called “masalih mursalah” (public interest), such as electing the president, As for the religion of the president, it is not subject to voting because, according to religious axioms, he must belong to the true religion, We don’t know what relationship the presidency of a republic has to the religion of the president himself!
Religion does not rely on this consultation and advice, nor does it favor one opinion over another because of majority approval. Rather, it considers it in itself: is it right or wrong? If it is right according to the texts and the position of jurisprudence, it is implemented even if it has only one vote, or no one at all. Abu Bakr and Umar acted according to this system of consultation, The Companions advised Abu Bakr not to fight the apostates and to make peace with the separatist apostate tribes, but he did not take the advice of the Companions and made the opposite decision to wage war on the apostates and rejected the consensus, Democracy is very far from consultation, Democracy operates according to the opinion of the majority and not according to the opinion of the circle close to the decision-maker, such as his friends and relatives.
Consultation (Shura) is not binding on the ruler, nor does it possess the tools to enforce it, nor legislation to compel it, nor institutions capable of enforcing it, Consultation is arbitrary and capricious, sometimes expanding like a tumor in a matter that was not intended for such expansion and is not in the ruler’s interest, as happened in the Wars of Apostasy, Here, the majority of those who participated in consultation saw no need for it, unlike Qaradawi, who recently stated that if it weren’t for the Wars of Apostasy, the religion would have been extinct, Thus, he indirectly confirmed that the religion was established by the sword, We do not want to discuss whether consultation is part of Sharia or not, because the idea that Sharia is harmful is rejected in principle, After 1440 years of attempts to implement Sharia, is there a state built on the foundations of Sharia? Consultation was a pleasant practice among friends, and the matter was and still is as stated in the hadith: “Obedience to the ruler in matters that do not involve disobedience.” With the obedience that al-Julani ordered, there is no place for anything called consultation, nor is there any place for anything called democracy.
The Syrian interim president, Al-Julani, spoke about some features of the future Syrian state and heralded the principle of “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves.” We have some knowledge about the subject of “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves” from ancient history, We did not find in the folds of this history any clear, specific, and justified theoretical or practical intellectual indication regarding the content of “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves ” Therefore, we turned to modern history and to some of those interested in the principle of “their affairs being conducted by consultation among themselves ” Among these was Sayyid al-Qimni in his book “Thank You, Bin Laden,” then the book of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood member Bashar Awad “The Group and Power,” and others,These people tried to explain and clarify the problem in different ways!