Having acquainted ourselves with the Islamic system of government we can compare this blessed system with the other conventional systems including presidential and parliamentary democracies. A little study shows that none of these systems can replace and take the stead of the Islamic system. Though both of the conventional systems have certain merits and demerits neither of them has an affinity with the Islamic system. The major defects inherent in these systems, which render them incapable to be adopted into the Islamic system of government, are discussed below:
First we take the parliamentary system of government.
In the parliamentary system of government all power is vested in the prime minister and his cabinet. It also attaches with it a figure-head, a titular president or a king [as in England for example] who discharges the responsibilities of the appointment of the ministers etc. In the Islamic system there is no place for such titular show boy. The khalīfah enjoys authority required for the smooth running of the government. Islamic system of government does not admit of any such unnatural dualism.
Another major flaw in this system of government, in the view of Islam, is that it is based on party system. The party which enjoys majority in the legislature is invited to form the government. The leader of the party with majority in the legislature is appointed the prime minister of the state. He continues leading the government as long as he enjoys majority vote in the parliament. In absence of this party system the parliamentary system cannot work.
Contrarily, the Islamic system is never dependent on party system. The truth of the matter is that the party system is, in principle, negation of the essence of any sound government system. Islam aims at correcting and developing it not encouraging it.
Most democracies, owing to their constitutional and legal complications, have turned out to be puzzles. When some crucial affair of emergent nature surfaces in the political scene of the country the inherent weakness of the system is exposed. They are then compelled to violate their constitutional and legal norms in order to save their nation and state. The Islamic system of government based on consultation is simple and target oriented and works in times of peace as well as war. Because of the blessings of the system of consultation even in the most crucial of times its power to operate survives and the authority of the government remains stabilized. It can react in time to emergency situation. The Islamic khalīfah is never compelled to ignore the process of consultation and suspend the shūrā. Abū Bakr (rta) and ‘Umar (rta) ruled during a very crucial and eventful time of the Islamic history. They faced the gravest issues imaginable. Yet they never suspended the system of consultation.
Similarly the presidential democracy like the one operative in the United States is also not acceptable in Islam for the following reasons.
First, separation of powers between executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, the necessary characteristic of the presidential system, is at variance with the nature of the Islamic system. In the Islamic system the khalīfah can fully take part in the legislative process in all such matters the sharī‘ah allows humans to legislate for themselves. He can propose before the shūrā any law which he considers indispensable and which he can defend in the shūrā.
Secondly, the presidential democracy does not recognize the system of recall in the true sense. The voters have no right to remove their elected president from office by means of a petition till the end of the tenure prescribed in the constitution. He is not subjected to accountability and enjoys excessive freedom. Islamic khilāfat does not allow this liberty to the rulers even for a moment. In the presidential system the president cannot be removed from his post even each and every voter in the country demands his removal from the office. The legislature cannot investigate even the most outrageous decision by the president. It can at best create some problems in his way but such hindrances erected by the legislature can hardly affect his sovereignty. On the contrary they create difficulties and imbalances in the national political framework. Islam does not ascribe to the khalīfah such unlimited independence and does not consider him beyond impeachment. If the people of the country elect a khalīfah today and very soon find out that he is not able to discharge his duties fully they can revoke his selection. There is no legal hindrance in the removal of the khalīfah.
Translated from Islahi’s Islami Riyasat by Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
