Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has achieved an extra ordinary success in the recent national elections. Their leaders have claimed that the masses voted for the Holy Quran which was the election symbol of the MMA as they wanted the enforcement of the Islamic system in the country. They have been able to form governments in two provinces and are in a position to translate their slogan of Islamisation into a reality.

To give the impression that the MMA is serious to implement its agenda, their chief ministers have taken a number of steps to Islamise the society but unfortunately these could not be justified in the light of the teachings of Islam. Instead, as will be shown in the following lines, these were based on the defective knowledge of Islam which gave the impression that they have no idea of the methodology for enforcing the Islamic system.

It was expected from them to present a blue-print of the Islamic system which they wanted to enforce. But instead of doing so they declared to implement the recommendations of the Council of Islamic Ideology which were ignored by the previous governments. The present scribe had tried his best to get a copy of these recommendations but was told that these were secret documents. It is not known how the MMA came to know of it.

The Council had earlier tried to pamper the Ulema in the case of Muslim Family laws and family planning. These were totally against the clear teachings of Islam and I challenged the then chairman of the Council to have a public debate with me on these issues but they avoided. The Council was also associated with the codification of the Hudood Ordinances promulgated by the military dictator General Zia. These were welcomed by all the Ulema which agitated my mind and in a number of articles in the national Press established that these were based on defective knowledge of Islamic law. Now the MMA by placing a fresh ban on drinking have supported my viewpoint. It is imperative that before implementing these recommendations, these should be made public so that they could be judged in the light of Islamic teachings.

The MMA instead of solving the acute problems faced by the nation is wasting its energies on trivial issues. The attitude of its women MPs at the time of oath-taking, exposed their knowledge of Islam. They took their oaths while covering their full faces while gold ornaments glittered on their wrists.

The Holy Prophet (PBUH) in the light of the Quranic injunction had exempted the women from covering their faces, hands up to wrists and feet. All the great Muslim jurists held the same view. But the MMA is compelling women to cover their faces. They not only rejected this Quranic injunction but also ignored the stern warning of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) about wearing of gold ornaments by Muslim women which were declared as 'haraam'. He warned the believers that those who dared to provide gold ornaments to womenfolk, they would all be chastised with these ornaments on Judgment Day.

The MMA by ignoring the teachings of Islam about these issues, have converted Halaal (uncovering of faces) into Haraam and Haraam (gold ornaments) into Halaal. Keeping in view this attitude of MMA, fears are being expressed that it believes in a different version of Islam. The Islamisation steps taken so far have established that the programme was a fraud. They have placed a fresh ban on drinking wine while the Hudood Ordinance promulgated by General Zia some twenty-three years ago for this purpose has been practically rejected by them as un-Islamic.

Their ban on music which prompted them to raid video shops and attack on a circus in Quetta was more funny. Had they cared to have a look on the chapter 'Taqlees' in Seerat-un-Nabi by Allama Shibli, acknowledged by them as an authentic document, would not have provided a chance to their opponents to laugh on them. Similarly their insistence on replacing Friday instead of Sunday as a weekly holiday has amused the nation as no injunction in this respect is available in the Holy Quran or any other book of Islamic teachings. It is hoped that instead of wasting their energies the leaders of MMA will adopt the proper methodology for the enforcement of Islam.

This methodology insists on first enforcing those Islamic laws on which the jurists of all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence including those of the Jafriah school totally agree. Our previous rulers who were not reluctant to enforce the Islamic system, always argued that different Muslim sects have different interpretations of Islam and it was not possible to satisfy all of them. But they ignored the fact that there were some basic issues on which the jurists of all the schools totally agreed. The enforcement of these agreed basic issues would have helped in enforcing the complete Islamic system long time ago.

Financial system of Islam on which the foundation of Islamic Welfare State is laid, is one of these issues. Its major source of revenue is Kharaj on lands which are treated as the joint property of the whole nation managed by the State on its behalf. These lands can neither be purchased nor sold so the question of feudalism does not arise. Today feudalism is condemned by all the political parties. They at the time of recent elections promised to eliminate this evil from the country. So there will be no hindrance in the enforcement of the Islamic law of land management.

It may be mentioned here that it is one of those basic Islamic laws that even those Ulema who had adopted soft attitude towards monarchy, refused to compromise on it. They had issued a strong edict that if any Muslim ruler dared to tamper with it, he should be put to death. (Ahkam-ul-Quran by Qazi Abu Bakr Jassas vol: III, p-32).

As a result this Islamic law remained enforced in all Muslim countries throughout history. Its details are available in every book of jurisprudence including its primer 'Ma-La-Bud-Minho' which is taught to the students of Dars-i-Nizami in the very beginning.

This Islamic law will eliminate feudalism and immediately solve fifty percent of the nation's problems which are corollaries of this evil. The political system will be freed from their clutches. Agricultural lands will be handed over to the actual tillers who as a result of use of agricultural machinery were compelled to migrate to big cities. Their return will solve the problem of kachi abadis automatically. Ghost schools, which deprive the poor of their basic right of education, will be revived. There will be no honour killings which have brought bad name to the country. Last but not the least, the construction of Kalabagh Dam will become a reality as it is being opposed by feudals for their ulterior motives.

Further, the Zakat & Ushr Ordinance which had struck at the very roots of Islamic law in Pakistan will have to be repealed at once, and the deduction of Zakat from the Haraam in bank-interest be stopped forthwith. Mufti Mahmood, the father of the Secretary General of MMA, had condemned this deduction on various counts dubbing it Haraam Riba. Unfortunately today a large number of Deeni Madaris are being run on this money. MMA will have to save them from this Haraam by restoring the Islamic status of Zakat.

There are many other issues on which the jurists of all sects totally agree such as providing shelter to the shelterless, ban on smoking and a unified education system. The enforcement of these agreed Islamic laws will pave the way for the enforcement of complete Islamic system. It is hoped that if the MMA is honest in its slogan of Islamisation, it will adopt this effective methodology and not waste its energies on trivial issues which have no relevance in the present day Muslim society.

Prof RafiUllah Shehab passed away on Sunday, January 5.