Liberty, an important component of human life and one that greatly enhances its quality, is only possible when the idea of democracy prevails. Because democracy is a form of government under which everyone enjoys social justice, equality, rights and freedoms, it is a blessing that Almighty Allah has revealed to His servants in the Divine Books by way of the prophets. A climate of liberty, love, compassion and justice, in which everyone can live freely and speak their own minds and live together in peace, is commanded in all the Divine Books. That is why ancient Greece, regarded as the birthplace of democracy, or Europe, regarded as the center of democracy today, learned about it from the true faiths. However, the most highly developed form of democracy will come with the global dominion of Islamic moral values.
Some people who are unacquainted with Islamic moral values, or have only just begun learning about it, may harbor false opinions and prejudices about it because they have turned to incorrect sources of information. These people fall prey to an error of thinking, despite the fact that it is completelyuntrue, that Islam will restrict their living space, obstruct their freedoms, control their thoughts and put limitations on art and science. The truth is that Islam is a faith that provides for freedom of worship and expression, places rights of all kinds under protection and offers people true liberty. In the Qur’an, verse 41 of Surah Yunus, “If they deny you, say, ‘I have my actions and you have your actions. You are not responsible for what I do and I am not responsible for what you do’,” is one of those verses in which Almighty Allah enjoins democracy for His servants. In this verse Allah clearly reveals the importance of everyone enjoying freedom of ideas and belief, free of any pressure or compulsion.
All the Conditions of Democracy Can Only Be Met When People Live by Islamic Moral Values
1-SOCIAL JUSTICE: Almighty Allah Commands Social Justice and Sharing
Social justice is one of the basic principles of democracy in true democracies. People learned social justice from the Prophet Noah (pbuh) and the Prophet Abraham (pbuh). According to religious sources, when the Ark came to dry land after the flood, the Prophet Noah (pbuh) boiled together the small quantities of remaining chickpeas, lentils, raisins, figs, wheat and the like to make a kind of sweet broth. Everyone on the Ark then ate it together. That is social justice, because by this example Prophet Noah (pbuh) teaches everyone equality, solidarity and generosity and the importance of distributing food to all:
As revealed in verse 69 of Surah Hud, “Our messengers brought the good news to Abraham. They said, ‘Peace!’ and he too said, ‘Peace!’ and brought in a roasted calf without delay” the Prophet Abraham (pbuh) immediately killed a calf when guests arrived and had it prepared for them to eat. Almighty Allah notes that by offering food to people whom he had never met, the Prophet Abraham (pbuh) was behaving in the best way, and wisely stresses the importance of feeding the poor and of social justice.
2-EQUALITY: Almighty Allah Reveals in the Qur’an That No Race Is Superior to Any Other
As Almighty Allah reveals in one verse of the Qur’an, superiority lies in piety alone. In this verse Allah tells us:
Mankind! We created you from a male and female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you might come to know each other. The noblest among you in Allah’s Sight is the one with the most piety. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (Surat al-Hujurat, 13)
Our Prophet (saas) expresses this truth commanded by Allah as follows in the hadiths:
"You are sons of Adam, and Adam came from dust. Let the people cease to boast about their ancestors." (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 41, Number 5097)
"These genealogies of yours are not a reason to revile anyone. You are all children of Adam. No one has any superiority over another except in religion and taqwa (godliness)." (Ahmad, 158/4)
During his final sermon, the Prophet (saas) called on Muslims in these terms:
"There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an Arab; nor for white over the black nor for the black over the white except in piety. Verily the noblest among you is he who is the most pious." (The Prophet Muhammad's Last Sermon; http://www.stanford.edu/~jamila/Sermon.html)
3-JUSTICE: Almighty Allah Commands Justice
Allah issues this commandment to believers in the Qur’an: “...You who have faith! Be upholders of justice, bearing witness for Allah alone, even against yourselves or your parents and relatives. Whether they are rich or poor, Allah is well able to look after them. Do not follow your own desires and deviate from the truth. If you twist or turn away, Allah is aware of what you do.” (Surat al-Nisa’, 135)
The commands that our Prophet (saas) issued among Muslims and his just and affectionate attitude toward people of different religions, languages, races and tribes, as well as the way he treated everyone equally, making no distinction between rich and poor as Allah revealed in the Qur’an, represents an excellent example of the conception of democracy.
In one verse, Allah tells our Prophet (saas):
They are people who listen to lies and consume ill-gotten gains. If they come to you, you can either judge between them or turn away from them. If you turn away from them, they cannot harm you in any way. But if you do judge, judge between them justly. Allah loves the just. (Surat al-Ma’ida, 42)
Our Prophet (saas) adhered to Allah’s commandment, even among difficult people, and never made any concessions on justice. As revealed, he always said, “My Lord has commanded justice...” (Surat al-A’raf, 29), thus serving as a role model for all times.
Democracy Will Come about When People Are Living by the Moral Values Commanded by Allah
As we have seen, in the essence of Islam, there is intellectual freedom, freedom of faith and expression. Some people assume that democracy entered the history of humanity with the ancient Greeks. However, it is Allah Who teaches democracy to people. From the time of the Prophet Adam (pbuh), all prophets have been the genuine representatives of intellectual freedom and respect to views. The essence of all the primary concepts – freedom of justice, not putting any pressure upon anyone, treating everyone as a first class citizens, respecting and trusting people, not judging anyone due to his views- which are associated with democracy are present in the morality of religion. Throughout history, people have learned these concepts from the righteous religions revealed by Allah and witnessed its most beautiful examples during the times when people lived by the righteous religions.
When we look at the times when people were oppressed due to their opinions and their different ideologies, members of various religions were humiliated, while the arts, science and architecture died out; times when people lost their joy in living and almost turned into robots, or when book burnings, murders, massacres, genocides became widespread, we see the influence of irreligious, atheist ideologies or those who misinterpreted religious morality with a radical mindset by distancing it from its essence.
Once Allah’s righteous religion is lived in the form it is commanded by Allah, the true justice, democracy, respect and love, that people have been longing for, can be experienced. Very soon, democracy, brotherhood, love, friendship and peace will, by Allah’s leave, dominate the world and people will experience the joy, bliss and abundance of faith as much as they can. As one can clearly see from the signs of the verses, hadiths of our Prophet (saas) and words of great Islamic scholars, the time in which we live is the End Times. The difficult and troublesome days of the End Times will, in this century, come to end with the Prophet Jesus’ (pbuh) and Hazrat Mahdi’s (pbuh) being instrumental, and the world will enter a brand new, bright era. Communicating the Oneness and Unity of Allah in the most beautiful and wise manner, and introducing people to Islam as described in the Qur’an and lived in Age of Felicity lays a very important foundation for the bright days that we will attain in the near future. Our wish is that Allah will also render this article instrumental in attaining the beauties in question. We sincerely hope that the days when we see “people entering Allah’s religion in droves” come at once. Allah reveals these glad tidings as follows in the Qur’an:
When Allah’s help and victory have arrived and you have seen people entering Allah’s religion in droves, then glorify your Lord’s praise and ask His forgiveness. He is the Ever-Returning. (Surat an-Nasr, 1-3)
Freedom Is Important in Islam, and Compulsion and Pressure Are Prohibited
Every Muslim, as a requisite of the morality of the Qur’an, is responsible for showing people the true path, enjoining the good and forbidding that which is evil. But this never means to oblige others to think, live, act and dress like oneself. A Muslim shows the truth and leaves the choice to the person himself. This is the commandment Allah informs us in the Qur’an in the verse, “There is no compulsion in the religion...” (Surat al-Baqara: 256).
In line with Almighty Allah’s commandment, our Prophet (saas) made a contract with the Christians of Najran, who lived in the south of Arabia. This makes it clear that Islam is the true source of freedom of thought and belief in democracies. The contract included the following article:
“The lives of the people of Najran and its surrounding area, their religion, their land, property, cattle and those of them who are present or absent, their messengers and their places of worship are under the protection of Allah and guardianship of His Prophet.” (The Pact of Najran, Article 6, http://www.islamicresources.com/Pact_of_Najran.htm.)
The Compact of Medina, signed by the Muslim immigrants from Mecca, the indigenous Muslims of Medina, the Christians and the Jews of Medina is one of the finest examples of the conception of democracy in Islam. As a result of this constitution, which established justice between communities with differing beliefs and ensured the protection of their various interests, long years of enmity were brought to an end. One of the most outstanding features of the treaty is the freedom of belief it established. The relevant article reads:
“The Jews of Banu 'Awf are one nation with the Muslims; the Jews have their religion and the Muslims have theirs…” (The Constitution of Madina, http://www.islamic-study.org/jews-prophet-p.-2.htm)
Article 16 of the treaty reads: "The Jew who follows us is surely entitled to our support and the same equal rights as any one of us. He shall not be wronged nor his enemy be assisted.” (The Constitution of Madina, http://www.islamic-study.org/jews-prophet-p.-2.htm)
The Prophet’s (saas) companions remained true to that article in the treaty, even after his death, and even practiced it with regard to Berbers, Buddhists, Brahmans and people of other beliefs.
Like all the other prophets, many events took place during the course of Rasulullah’s (saas) prophethood that manifested his conception of democracy. Peoples of various races, religions, languages and tribes lived together in the lands in which our Prophet (saas) lived. It was not easy for these communities to live together in peace and harmony and for those who wished to create strife to be neutralized. One group could be angered and attack another as the result of the slightest word or action. But our Prophet’s (saas) conception of justice, his just rule, represented a source of peace and security for these communities as much as for Muslims. During the Age of Felicity, everyone on the Arabian Peninsula, Christians, Jews, pagans and everyone, without distinction, was treated justly. In line with Almighty Allah’s commandment, “there is no compulsion in the religion...” our Prophet (saas) told everyone of true religious moral values but left the final decision up to them.
In an interview on Kaçkar TV on 1 March 2011, Mr. Adnan Oktar described how the true faiths are the true source of democracy and how a true climate of democracy, peace and security will come about in the time of Hazrat Mahdi (as):
ADNAN OKTAR: When did democracy first appear? The timing is clear. How long has religion been around? For a very, very long time. It was Democritus who came up with democracy. Where did he learn it from? He had a source, a book. The holy scriptures are the true source of democracy. What does democracy mean? People having freedom of ideas, in other words a peace and calm in the heart, nobody being oppressed. That is what Allah wants from us. A climate of liberty and joy. That is true democracy. The books and tablets of the Prophet Noah (pbuh) and the Prophet Abraham (pbuh) taught democracy to the world. Marx learned about social justice from the detailed statements about Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) in the Torah. He sought to convert Hazrat Mahdi’s (pbuh) conception of social justice, the King Messiah’s conception of social justice, into irreligious social justice. He thus sought to implement what he learned from the Torah, and he did not just invent it himself. They learned about democracy from the scriptures. Allah wants us to be free. For example, I am a democrat, but I learned democracy from the Qur’an. I speak of democracy so people can understand, and because no other word means the same. You can define a chair by using other words. But that free thinking is known as democracy. The word democracy does not appear in the Qur’an, but the Qur’an describes it for us. The Qur’an wants us to be happy, to be full of joy, to be at ease and to be under no psychological pressure. And that is called democracy.
The communists also brought democracy to Russia. But what kind of democracy? A total disgrace, a system of pain and violence, a system of panic and terror. Communists were the most passionate devotees of democracy. They always had their democratic republics of this and that. But where was the democracy in those? People were wretched. Look at China, their eyes are just like mirrors, they are exhausted. What kind of democracy is that? The true measure of democracy is people’s faces. If there is joy and happiness in people’s faces, then they have democracy. But if they look depressed, then there is no democracy there. That is the criterion, the rest is unimportant. So the important thing is a climate where people love and are loved, of friendship and brotherhood, of freedom, where there is no suffering or oppression. And it is Islam that brings that system about.
Look at the way of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh), at all its details. It offers us a delightful, ideal environment. That is real democracy. We do not want a communist model of democracy. People are not happy in European-type democracy, either. Nobody is anyone's friend in Europe. For example, boys and girls leave home at 18. They forget their parents and everyone, never even speak to them or show them any respect. Their elderly uncles and grandparents live in old folks’ homes. They never even speak to them. That is what their democracy brings. And there is not the slightest sign of joy on their faces, no sign of happiness. I sometimes turn on the television and people are pretending to be happy, pointing to bottles and glasses. But they are pointing to poison. What is there to be happy about in that? Do you think those young girls would want to spend time with you if you did not pay them?
I never see true joy anywhere. There is no joy anywhere. Everywhere is artificial and frightening. Nobody knows who anyone is and everyone is really tense. How can anyone be happy like that? What good is democracy if people are like that?
Democracy should really bestow a deep joy, a deep sense of security, a healthy mind and an easy heart. But one does not see that here. So what good is that democracy? Islam bestows the good and positive elements I have been discussing. And that will come with the system of the Mahdi (pbuh).