Certainly, the system of Democracy is dependant upon the masses to participate in elections so that it can be clarified which candidates are to represent them in the councils and parliaments. This electoral process is also essential in determining the ruling party and the President or Prime Minister of the country.
Because the system is founded on the masses choosing leaders to legislate laws and implement policies on their behalf, the entire democratic process could not exist without elections. If it weren’t for the participation of the masses in the electoral process, Democracy would not be possible to implement as there would be no one to vote for any candidates and therefore their would be no elected members of parliament to act on the people’s behalf in legislation and government policy.
‘Abdulwahhāb Al-Kilālī said, “It means that the people, to whom the mastership belongs, do not practice the authority of legislating themselves. Rather, they grant it to the Members of Parliament whom they elect for a specific period and appoint to represent them in practicing this authority on their behalf.
Shaykh Abū Basīr Mustafā Halīmah said, “Firstly, Democracy is founded upon the principle that the masses are the source of power. And included in that is the power of legislation and that takes place by means of selecting representatives for the general population who take their place in the duty of legislation and the creation of laws. And in other words, the legislator and the obeyed one in Democracy is the human and not Allāh. And this means that the one who is worshipped and obeyed in the issue of legislation and the permitting and the prohibiting is the masses (the humans) and not Allāh, the Most High. And this is the essence of Kufr and Shirk and misguidance, due to its contradiction to the fundamentals of the religion and Tawhīd. And it results in the association of the weak, ignorant human with Allāh in the most unique characteristic of Ilāhiyyah (i.e. devoted worship), which is the ruling and the legislation.”
So the reality is that these Members of Parliament, which act upon the will of the majority and take their place to legislate laws etc., can only do so when the masses elect them to the positions to do so. And if we conclude that these Members of Parliament commit Shirk and Kufr by legislating laws besides Allāh, then what would be said about the people who elect them for this job, knowing that this candidate will be engaging in the formation of man-made laws on behalf of the people who elect him?
And the Shaykh, ‘Abdul-Qādir Ibn ‘Abdil-‘Azīz, said, “As for those amongst the people who vote for them (i.e. Members of Parliament), they are committing Kufr as well, because according to the representative democracy, the voters are in reality delegating them to practice the mastership of Shirk – legislating beside Allāh – on their behalf. Thus the voters give the members of parliament the right to implement Shirk, and set them up – through their voting – as legislating lords beside Allāh. Allāh, the Most High, says:
“Nor would he order you to take Angels and Prophets for lords (gods). Would he order you to disbelieve after you were Muslims.” (Al-Imran 80)
So if a person who takes Angels and Prophets as lords has become a Kāfir, how then about the person who takes the Members of Parliament for that? Likewise, this is also implied in His saying:
“Say: O people of the scripture, come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but Allāh, and that we associate no partners with Him, and none of us shall take each other as lords besides Allāh.” (Al-Imran 64)
Consequently, taking people as lords beside Allāh is a Shirk and a disbelief in Allāh and that is what those who vote for the members of parliament are doing.” And this action falls into the description of the known rule: “Supporting Kufr is Kufr”, because the one who assists or enables the people to commit Shirk or Kufr, knowingly, takes the same ruling as the one who commits the Shirk or Kufr itself. And this rule is consistent with what Allāh, the Most High, said about those who remain present while His verses are mocked:
“And it has already been revealed to you in the Book (this Qur’ān) that when you hear the Verses of Allāh being denied and mocked at, then sit not with them, until they engage in a talk other than that; (but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be like them. Surely, Allāh will collect the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell.” (An-Nisa 140)
And Ash-Shawkāni said, “His statement: …certainly in that case you would be like them. In other words, ‘If you do that and do not prevent (it) then you are the same as them in the Kufr.”
And the Shaykh, Sulaymān Ibn ‘Abdillāh Ibn Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdil-Wahhāb, may Allāh be merciful to him, said, “The meaning of this verse is just as it appears. It means that if a man hears the verses of Allāh being disbelieved in or made fun of and sits among those disbelieving ones who are making fun of (them) without being compelled to, and does not prevent them and does not leave them until they begin to talk about (a different subject), then he is a Kāfir like them, even if he does not take part in this act, because this indicates his pleasure with Kufr. And being pleased with Kufr is Kufr. With this verse, and others like it, the scholars have demonstrated that he who is pleased with the sin is like the one who commits it and if he says that he hates it in his heart, it is not accepted from him because the judgments are upon their (outer) appearance and he has exhibited Kufr, so he would be a Kāfir.”
Therefore, one who merely remains present while the Kufr is being committed and does not leave nor attempt to prevent it, takes the same ruling as the one who actually performs the Kufr. So what is to be said about those who assist and enable the Kufr and Shirk by electing a candidate on their behalf to legislate for the creation, laws, other than the laws of the Sharī’ah?! And keep in mind that these votes are the only method by which this individual member of parliament will be able to do so, because without the electoral support from the voters, he would not be in the position to perform this Kufr and Shirk in the first place!! So in this case, the voters are the ones who enable and assist this one to commit the Kufr and Shirk and they are not merely from those who sat silently while the verses of Allāh were mocked.
Once you make the connection between the role of the voters, during the election, and the subsequent Kufr and Shirk which is committed by the Member of Parliament when he is elected, there is no more room for doubt. And what is the difference between those who elect this individual as a lord besides Allāh to legislate the lawful and unlawful for them and those who take the sun or the moon as a lord besides Allāh to provide them with their sustenance and provision? By Allāh, the ruling upon them is the same.
Filed under: islam
