Assignment
Introduction To Fiqh (RKFQ 2062)
Section
4
“Khilafah
Vs Democracy System According To
Fiqh Siyasah In Indonesia”
PREPARED BY :
HADIDATUN SOFRO (1125326)
SEMESTER 2
PERIODE 2013/2014
INTRODUCTION
§ THESIS STATEMENT
In the study of contemporary political science, a
topic which is related to the caliphate and democracy has been attracting the attention of many political observers. In Indonesia , it’s very common that both
topic democracy and caliphate system have been discussing in all over parts of
Indonesia . Not only in the certain parts of Indonesia but in all walks of life
. In addition , it is not rare be found that some of those people who are very
fanatic to one of the system makes the both topic democracy and caliphate as
the topic that is very sensitive to talk about . It is so because , there are
some of them that support the democracy system assume that caliphate system is an utopian system . They still maintain the
thinking that democracy is the most relevant system with the current situation
compared to other system ,especially caliphate system . On the other hands,
there are some of the people that are still maintain the thinking that
caliphate is the best Islamic system and democracy is the worst system today .
Not only that , it is also assumed as the “kufur” system which had adopted from
the Greek time and it was a secular system which is believed as the system that
is not relevant to the Islamic teaching . In addition , some of the people who
do not accept the democracy system within the country are also still keep the
thinking that the democracy is the worst system because from democracy , the
people who are sitting in the parliement have their more intencity to do
corruption which is greater compared to others . Thus , for them , the poor
will always be poor and the rich people will be richer than before .
However , from some extent , i strongly believe that
the democracy is the most relevant system with the current situation of political
life in Indonesia . I do not say that the caliphate is the bad system and it is
not applicable system for Indonesia as the muslim country , but for my point of
view , it is not relevant to the current situation of political life in
Indonesia and if it is implemented in Indonesia then there will be so many
conflicts occured in Indonesia as the implementation of Shari’ah laws which is
always be brought by the Caliphate system . In addition , there will be
supporting reasons of my point of view that will be taken from reliable sources
and also from the perspective of Fiqh siyasah that both are relevant to the
current situation . Then the content
of this assignment will also explain , give some evidences and examples of this
topic . Hopefully , the contents of this assignment will provide many benefits
and also achieve all the aims that have been attached at the objectives part .
Amin .
§ OBJECTIVES
o Describe the implementation
of democracy system in Greek time and also in Indonesia
o Clarify concepts and understanding also hone the critical thinking
of the reader about democracy system .
o Give some explanation of the democratic system according to the
Islamic Perspective
o Help the readers discover the real understanding of democration
o Help the readers to know about the advantages and disadvantages of
applying democratic system In Indonesia
o Help the readers to know about the advantages and disadvantages of
applying Caliphate system in Indonesia
o Help the readers to know about which one is more suitable system
to be applied in Indonesia according to Fiqh Siyasah and also Political
Perspective .
§ RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
o How Islam defines politic ?
o What is the difference between Caliphate and Democracy system ?
o Why is Caliphate system regarded as an Utopian nowadays?
o Why should be Democracy system in Indonesia ?
BACKGROUND
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
v DEMOCRACY
The word “democracy” is derived from two Greek roots
, demos which means people and kratia which connotes rule . Thus , literally , democracy means
rule by the people . For a society to be democratic , then a large number of
its people must enjoy the right to have some say over important decision that
affect their lives . In other words , democratic government is based on the
consent of the governed . The most popular definition of democracy has been
given by Abraham Lincoln as “the government of the people , by the people for
the people .” . It can be also defined as the government by the majority with
the consent of the minority . Austin Ranney defines it as “a form of government
organized in accordance with the principle of popular sovereignty , political
equality , popular consultation , and majority rule .”
The first emergence of democracy was in Greek ,
which was in Athena in the 4th and 5th BC . Democracy emerged as the
response to the presence of the monarchy-dictator at that time. When it first
appeared ,democracy was still in its pure form which is called as direct
democracy . However , democracy was born in Athena , it didn’t guarantee that
the democracy was the best system in Athena and it was well developed there .
At that time , the word “people” which was in the sentence of “the govenment of
the people , by the people and for the people “ has meaning only some people
who can have political right and can participate in the democracy system .
Women , slaves , foreigners and free men under 20 years old were exluded . They
could not participate in the process of democracy . In addition , the
population in Athena at that time was 250.000 – 300.000 people , but only
30.000 of the amount have their political right and 5.000 of those people could
participate in democracy process .
Then in the further development , some of the
political thinker came out with their political ideas to improve further the
democration . There were some of them like Machiavelli came with his ideas of
secularism , Thomas Hobes with his social contract and J.J.Rosseau with his
popular sovereignity ideas and social contract . However , because of that ,
finally democracy started facing a deviation , then because of that , it was finally
resulted a representative democracy . Representative democracy is that “a
system of government in which citizens elect their representative to run the
government on their behalf “.
In this stage , the democracy seems to be more apparent in supporting the
Liberalism , Capitalism and Secularism .
v CALIPHATE
In Indonesia , it is very common to say that when
people are talking about caliphate then it is always related to Hizbut Tahrir .
Hizbut Tahrir was founded by Taqiudin al - Nabhani in Palestine in 1953 . He
was a judge in Haifa . His full name is Taqiy Al-Din bin Ibrahim bin Musthafa
bin Isma’il bin Yusuf Nashir Ad Din An Nabhani . He was always
moving from one place to another from Jordan, Syrians, eventually died in
Lebanon . He was educated at Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt in 1928 AD . He
was very productive because he wrote so many books such as Nidzam al-Islam,
al-Takattul al-Hizbi, Hizb al-Tahrir Mafaheem, al-Nidzam al-Iqtishadi fi
al-Islam, al-Nidzam al-ijtimai fi al-Islam, al-Hukmi Nidzam fi al-Islam,
al-Dawla al-Islamiyya, Mafaheem Siyasiyah li Hizb al-Tahrir, and so forth.
Before
he founded the liberation party, he wrote a book called Risalat- Al arab . The
establishment of this liberation party was
closely related to the Israeli invasion of Palestine and the collapse of the
Ottoman Caliphate that fell in 1924 .
Hizbut Tahrir leadership system called 'Emirate' which was held by Amir al-Hizb. The limitation
of Amir al-Hizb leadership was not
limited, or lifetime. Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani himself held the reins of Amir
al-Hizb until 1977 (at the same year he died). After Al-Nabhani, and then it was
replaced by Abdul Qadeem Zallum (1977). As al-Nabhani, Abdul Qadeem Zallum has
also studied at al-Azhar. Encounter with al-Taqi al-Din Nabhani occurred in
1952, or one year before the party stand. Among the works are Zallum; Amwal fi
al-Dawlat al-Khilafah, Nidzam al-Hukm fi al-Islam, al-Ta'rif bi-Hizb al-Tahrir,
al-Kufr Dimuqrathiyyah Nidzam, and so on.
CONTENT
v THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMOCRACY SYSTEM
AND KHILAFAH SYSTEM
The
democracy is characterized by four features . The first features is that the
ultimate power to make political decision is vested in all the people . The
second one is that Each adult citizen has the same opportunity as every other
adult citizen to participate in the decision –making process . This means “one
person , one vote “ and , indeed, the freedom to choose from alternatives . The
third one is that the public policies are made only after ascertaining the
wishes of the people . The last one is that all political decisions must be
made according to the wishes of the majority .
In
addition , on the basis of relationship between the executive and legislature ,
democracies are classified into two categories , which are presidential system
and parliamentary system . Presidential system is that a system of government
that is organized by the principle of separation of powers . In this system ,
the President is the one who holds the responsibilities to lead the country .
He has a power in both head of state and chief executive . While for the
parliamentary system is that a system of government that is organized by the
principle of fusion power . It means the executive and legislature are fused .
This kind of system of government also can be called as a representative system
, which means , citizens in the country do not vote directly for a chief
executive . They only vote for
legislative representatives or members of parliament who are organized into
political parties . It also differs with presidential system because in
presidential system , the president is both chief executive and head of state ,
while in presidential system , the chief executive is the prime minister .
In
brief , it is very clear to be seen that the democracy system is that the
system of government in which majority voice of people are a backrest of all
political decisions . People have their own liberty to do whatever they want
and express what is in their minds .
However
, there are some evidences that showed how democracy cannot represent the
aspiration of people . Finally , the democracy is only becoming an illution now
. As we can see in Indonesia that the democracy cannot ever make all citizens
in Indonesia to participate in the democracy system . It is just becoming a
system in which a few people can participate in political affairs and only some
of them can have their right in political matters . Finally , it makes
democracy has no difference with oligarchy system or other system of government
, such as authoritarianism .
On
the other hands , As the opposition of democracy is that the Khilafah system .
It is a system in which a state
constitution is depending on the power of Allah ( swt) and His messenger . Not
only that , the khilafah system also submit all the sovereignity and
legislative power to Allah and His Messenger and it must believe that Allah
(swt) is the highest judge in the world .
In
addition , the concept of khilafah is very contradict with the democracy system
. In the democracy system , the people is the highest judge in decision-making
, while in khalifah system , the most high judge is going back to Allah (swt) .
In khilafah , people are limited in doing whatever they want . They have to do
something which is related to the Islamic law and does not against the Islamic
teaching . In addition , it has also been stating in Qur’an that Allah (swt)
has given the power and ability to someone. Allah also made man in such a
position , so that they can use the gifts of God. Therefore , men are not rulers
or the owner himself but they are just the caliph on earth.
In
addition , the concept of khilafah is quite different with democracy system .
In khilafah system , the state task must be done perfectly , it starts with choosing
the heads of state and officials in charge (ulil amri) and do things concerned
with legislation and executive matters which would have been agreed by all
muslims and mukmin . In addition , not like a democracy system , in khilafah
system , the way of elect the leader has certain conditions which have to be
fulfilled by the leaders . The leaders must be a good person , he has to have a
retentive memory , etc . If the leader doesn’t have all those requirements ,
then he could not be a leader .
Again
, when people talk about khilafah , It always comes to the Indoensians’ mind
that khilafah means hizbut tahrir . Hizb ut-Tahrir in the realization their
agenda to establish an Islamic state is through parliament . There are several
ways are done by Hizbut Tahrir to get involved in the parleament which are
Hizbut Tahrir tries to focus more on the doctrinal efforts to the community
about Islam . In this stage , Hizbut Tahrir prefer to the thought and knowledge
of Islamic civilization . The second way is that it tries to concentrate its
activities in the political sphere . It can be done by a mean in which they try
to everything possible to undermine the rules are made not from Islamic principles.
Not only that , Hizbut Tahrir assumes that the country is inhabited by Muslims
but adopt laws which derived not from the Islamic principles , then the country
can be called as Dar Al-Kufr . Therefore , Hizbut Tahrir Hizb ut-Tahrir in
Indonesia are trying so hard to press the government to implement Islamic laws
comprehensively which is impossible to be implemented in Indonesia as a country
that has been adopting liberal-democracy .
v DEMOCRACY SYSTEM ACCORDING TO FIQH
SIYASAH
Why
is Caliphate regarded as an utopian in Indonesia nowadays ?
When it talks about
utopian , utopian according to oxford dictionary is that “Modelled on or aiming for a state in which
everything is perfect; idealistic “.It
is not said that the caliphate system is a bad system and cannot be applicable
at all in Indonesia . However , Hizbut Tahrir has been forgetting that the
Islamic government at the time of Prophet Muhammad (saw) and his companions
which is called as Khilafah system is very impossible to be implemented again
in Indonesia . It is so because the quality of the people at the time of
prophet Muhammad (saw) and his companions are so much different with the
quality of people nowadays . The people today are much complex than the people
at the time of prophet Muhammad (saw) . It is so because the muslims today have
been confronting the challenges from Western , then some of them may have been
experiencing moral degradation as the result of Western influence to the
Muslim’s thought . Thus as the result of it , it is very impossible to
implement the shari’ah laws such as Hudud and Qisas in Indonesia , because it
will invite a lot of criticism and conflicts of various parties .
In
addition , when the muslims start to face a moral degradation then it will be
so much impossible to implement the khilafah system . It is so because as it
has mentioned above that to implement the caliphate system , it must be a
caliph to rule the country . However , as muslims face moral degradation then it
becomes a proof that it is becoming so much impossible to find an eligible
person to be a caliph to lead the country which is adopting caliphate system .
However , it is not enough to simply mention about the caliphate in all parts
of the country but when it comes to practice, then it gets nothing . Thus ,
this is something that people who want to implement caliphate must underline in
order a caliphate system is not just an utopian system .
Why
should Democracy system ?
“Contemporary
scholars are unanimous in their opinion that the Qur’an and sunnah do not
prescribe any particular form of government , nor elaborate a constitutional
theory . Consequently , it is argued that the Islamic polity can take many
forms ,”it is up to the Muslims of every age to find one that suits them.”
. From the statement , it is very clear that Al-Qur’an and Sunnah do not even
mention what the form of government muslims must adopt . It is neither
caliphate nor democracy . Thus it becomes a choice of individual muslim to
adopt any form of government which suits them and then it is a proof that there
is no big deal in implementing democracy system eventhough it comes from West
.In addition , democracy is an ideal system that can be applied by all
countries. Although with the implementation of democracy, there will be the potential
for the birth of secularism, communism and liberalism, but there are some
concepts of democracy which are not contradictory to Islam , such as the
practice of syura’ (QS. Ali Imran: 159), Ahl Al-Halli wa Aqdi (QS. Al-Nisa’:
59), reject the despotic ruler (Surat al-Baqara: 258, QS. Al-Syu'ara: 150-152),
following a majority vote (Surat al-Tawbah: 105, QS. al-Ghafir: 35).
In addition , from
the brief description above, we can see how Hizbut Tahrir with his mission wants
to bring Islam to the Islamic legal normativity . Islamic Legal normativity is
that an Islamic law is assumed to be unchanged until whenever. There
are two theories about the relation of Islamic law and social change namely normativity
and adaptability . The normativity is that a law that is believed will not
change eventhough the times have changed. The law is assumed cannot change at
any time since the law is being revealed . While the adaptibility is that a law
can be adapted to social change and require new ijtihad according to the
conditions that exist today. From the explanation above , Hizbut Tahrir adopted
the theory of normativity which according to Yusuf Qardlawi in his book , “the
law which does not see the aspect of time, place and conditions is being called
as legal syadz or broken law .”
In brief , from the explanation above , it can be said
that the formalization of Islamic law is not the command of Allah, nor the
advice of the Prophet. Then it becomes permissible to Indonesia to adopt the
democracy system in which it is thought as the most suitable system in
Indonesia compared to the Khilafah system .
CONCLUSION
It can be taken as the
conclusion that Al-Qur’an and Sunnah do not mention what the form of government
muslims must adopt . It is neither caliphate nor democracy . Since there is no
prohibition in Islam of implementing the democracy system within the country ,
then it becomes a must of implementing the democracy system as it is felt as
the most suit system to Indonesia . Not only that , eventhought , the democracy
system as the product of Western , but it doesn’t guarantee that both democracy
system and caliphate system are not interconnected to each other . There are
some concepts of democracy which are in line with Khilafah system such as such
as the practice of syura’ (QS. Ali Imran: 159), Ahl Al-Halli wa Aqdi (QS.
Al-Nisa’: 59), reject the despotic ruler (Surat al-Baqara: 258, QS. Al-Syu'ara:
150-152), following a majority vote (Surat al-Tawbah: 105, QS. al-Ghafir: 35).
Allahu a’lam .
REFERENCES
1.
Abdul Rashid Moten , Introduction To Political Science ,
Thomson
Learning : Singapore , 2005 .
2.
Anshori Thayyib , Sistem Politik Dalam Pemerintahan Islam , Anggota
IKAPI , Surabaya , Cetakan Pertama , 1983 .
3.
"utopian".
Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 11 March 2014.
<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/en
4.
S.Abdul
A’la Maududi , Khilafah Dan Kerajaan ,
Dewan Pustaka Fajar , Bandung , 1986 .
