Live by Law of the Land

LAW

Live by Law of the Land

See our Commentary titled as Islaam – 303 – Jihad is no road to Peace which is the hub-post and refers to about a dozen other Commentaries related to different aspect of Jihad.

Verse 004:060 mandates to “Obey Allah, the Messenger and those in Authority among you.”    This Command is dealt with separately in our Commentary titled as The Obedience.   The Holy Prophet s.a.w and the early Believers living in Makkah followed the law of their domicile.    They migrated to Madina when the atrocities in Makka grew unbearable but they never violated the rules in Makkah as long as they lived there.

The Command to obey has been interpreted with numerous contradictory extrapolations by the scholars.    Moslems have been indoctrinated with one or more of the weird interpretations of this one verse.   The Holy Prophet s.a.w is still respected as the undisputed leader of a great majority of Moslems.    But his precedent on this issue is shelved aside the newer definitions of allegiance and obedience.

The Holy Qor-aan mandated Obedience to Allah.    But the clergy chose non-compliance with certain provisions it did not like by fabricating doctrines such as Abrogation.    Initially they side-stepped the issue, then put up different views, then hardened into establishing new schools, and eventually formed their own sects which later on became recognized by others as separate groups.    Many divisive issues such as Ijmaa (Consensus Of Opinions of Scholars) and Ijtehaad (Extensions alleged to be logical) created big rifts and started an ongoing string of newer sects and sub-sects.

Our commentaries Islam and Sect Formation and Islam Sect Recognition describe the following major earlier sects.                                                                                                                Ahle-Qor-aan (Followers of the Qor-aaan)                                                                             Ahle-Hadeeth (Followers of the Hadeeth)                                                                                  Ahle-Sunnahwul-Jamaa-ut (Followers of the ‘Actions’)                                                                Shiites (Supporters of Ali or She-yan-e-Ali that others called as Kharjees, Expelled ones)

Each of the above four major groups have dozens of sects branched out of them.    Their further bifurcation into sub-sects made their number exceed seventy-two by 1889 AD.    Some sects openly declare others worthy of being killed by waging wars on them.    Moslem history of fourteen centuries is filled with the records of such unfortunate battles.  Our commentary Jihad Is Striving For The Good has mentioned many murders that have been in the news recently.

All blood-shed in the name of God flagrantly flouts the Injunction: Killing one person is like killing whole mankind [005:033].  Yet each faction claims it is living by the Law of Land as commanded in the Holy Qor-aan and set in the precedent of the Holy Prophet s.a.w.

The Obedience to Allah as well as the Obedience to the Messenger to follow the Holy Prophet s.a.w is defied in many unfortunate ways.  Public debates still rage on regarding how he interpreted the Holy Qor-aan or set up the precedents.  The sole unbridled arbiter on these issues is the self-appointed Guardian of Faith known as clergy; see Commentary Islam-101.

Around the end of 20th century AD, the press reported that Jaame-tool-Azhar University in Cairo gave a PhD.  The recipient professor’s thesis had doubted that a camel-rider 1400 years ago could have set up any precedent of value for the airplane pilots of today.  The fact is that the prayer which the Prophet Noah a.s used when boarding his Ark some 5000 years ago, which the Holy Prophet s.a.w used when riding a camel 1400 years ago, which is used by the Saudi Arab Airlines pilots and crews in their flights to and from Saudi Arabia, and which is usable by all of us even today is still the same Bismilla-hay-mujree-haa-wa-moo-sa-haa (011:042).

Clergy has publicly violated the Obedience to Allah, the Obedience to the Messenger, and the Obedience to those in Authority.  A very tiny minority follows the common sense rule that A Yusuf Ali stated in his Note 169:   “Islam follows the Golden Mean. All well-regulated societies lay down reasonable limitations.    These become incumbent on all loyal members of any given society and show what is ‘Lawful’ in that society.”    He reiterated the same view in interpreting 002:168 in his Note C50 as follows.

“The Society thus organised
Must live under laws
That would guide their every-day life
Based on eternal principles
Of righteousness and fair dealing.”

No law of any civilized society permits persecuting minorities, creating disturbances, committing riots, destroying property, spreading rebellions, staging strikes, making mischief or slaying women and children.  The Holy Prophet s.a.w never did any of those things nor allowed anyone else to do any of them.  Yet today many Moslem countries are accused of doing all those things as a part of Al-Qaeda, Arab Spring, ISIS, Taliban or their sympathizers.

The Holy Prophet s.a.w lived by the Law Of Land when he lived in Makkah.  Those who followed him after their migration lived by the Law Of Land in Madina.  Today the millions of Moslems who live in hundreds of jurisdictions live by the Laws Of those Lands.  What the rest must learn is to live by the Law Of Land or leave that land and go elsewhere as was the precedent set by the Blessing-To-The-World, the Rah-ma-tun-lil-aa-la-meen, s.a.w (021:108).

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