Question: With the
election already underway in parts of the world, we wondered, Is
democracy even possible in Iraq?
Do the religious teachings in Islam actually oppose the establishment
of a free democratic government and an open society? That is, what does
Islam teach its people regarding government leaders, the rule of law,
and religious freedom? In order to answer these important questions, Dr.
Ankerberg interviewed two former Muslims, Drs. Emir and Ergun Caner.
Here is what they said:
(From "Former Muslims Testify About Islam")
Dr. John Ankerberg: I found it interesting in your writings that
you were talking about the writings in the Qur’an actually say the
blessing of Allah is evident in those who rule. In other words, that’s
part of his blessing to people. If you get the position of power to
rule, Allah has blessed you. Is that correct?
Dr. Emir Caner: Absolutely.
Ankerberg: And then the second part of that is the fact is, if
you are given that position, Allah expects you to do things. What are
the things he’s expecting you to do as the ruler?
Emir: "For the sake of Allah," that is, to set up his laws, his
ways, his morals, his jurisprudence, and that’s your responsibility.
When we come to rule here, if you’re a Congressman of some sort, we are
to uphold the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If you
become a leader within a Muslim community, you are to uphold the laws of
Allah and the Prophet Muhammad in what he spoke.
Ankerberg: Yeah. Ergun, take us into Iraq for a moment, because
we’re trying to set up a democracy there and the fact is that in the
first few meetings of the leaders, they all wanted to join Islam with
the state. And tell the people why.
Dr. Ergun Caner: Well, what’s interesting about Iraq is this. It
has always been, since it was formed as a country out of the
Mesopotamias in 1921—Winston Churchill, head of the Admiralty, gave it
away—it has always been ruled by Sunnis. And this has been greatly
infuriating to the vast majority of the Muslims who live in Iraq who are
Shi’ite. You have about 20 percent are Kurds, maybe 20 percent are
Sunni, but 60 percent are Shi’ites.
As soon as Iraq fell, as soon as the regime of Saddam Hussein fell,
the first song, the first sound you heard were Muslims who are Shi’ite
who believe with all of their hearts that what Saddam Hussein had was a
secular government, not secular because he didn’t always wear his
headdress, but secular because he was a Sunni.
The Sunnis and the Shi’ites, immediately following the death of
Muhammad, you have that split. Muhammad did not know he was going to
die. He did not leave marching orders, so to speak. So now the fight is
on. Who will lead Islam? In 632 we have so many followers now.
Muhammad’s last words were, according to the Hadith, "Push the pagans
out of the Arabian Peninsula."
Well, how are we going to accomplish this? There was the group that
wanted it to be a genetic leader, a trail of blood, so to speak, and
they, the Shi’ites, believed that Ali needed to be the first leader, the
first caliph. There are no more prophets, but a caliph. The rest of them
said, "It has to be Muhammad’s best friend, the first convert, the
richest man, the wealthy merchant–Abu Bakr. The vast majority of the
people went with Abu Bakr and thus the vast majority of the people went
with the Sunni. The small group split off and they became known as the
Shi’ites.
From that time, there has been warfare between Sunni and Shi’ite. The
Shi’ite will never recognize any Uthman [e.g.], Umar. They will
recognize no caliph until Ali. And so you have this fight between the
two.
In Iraq, whether we set up an Islamic republic of Sunni or an Islamic
republic of Shi’ite, if we do not do as we did with Japan in World War
II–give them the opportunity for free voice, a democracy–I hate to say
it, but I think we’ll be back there in another ten years.
Ankerberg: Okay. Go back and tie the second caliph to some of the
things that are happening today. He defined the laws of mercy, that is,
the protection to be given to Christians, Jews, and to non-Muslims. What
was that all about and is it still in effect today?
Emir: Well, Umar said, How do you handle when they surrender?
This is something Muhammad didn’t have to deal with because it was all
within one Arabian Peninsula. But now you’re dealing with different
cultures and different people, and so the Pact of Umar, one of the
earliest documents that you see, he says, You cannot build churches,
rebuild churches, remodel churches. That when a Muslim wants to sit
down, you must get up. When you have these things, you are a
second-class citizen. And you must pay an extra tax, the Qur’an says.
Now the Pact of Umar really makes the salient points and practical
points of how to deal with these Christians, these Jews, or these
polytheists. Now, oddly enough, the Christians and Jews found
protection, but many times the polytheist had no right because they were
not "people of the Book." They were not people who had perverted the
gospel of Allah, but nonetheless, they were polytheists and had no right
to exist.
Ankerberg: So that when the caliph would come in and the troops
would conquer the people, they were given a choice, in essence. They had
to submit and they also had to pay a tax, didn’t they?
Emir: Jizyat, yes. You pay a tax, they say, because
you cannot fight in a Muslim army. You cannot fight jihad. You cannot
fight in a Muslim army. And so this is paying your conscription. That’s
what a jizyat is.
Ankerberg: And what if they didn’t pay the tax, and what if they
didn’t submit?
Ergun: You live under the Pact of Umar, you either submit or you
are "submitted."
Ankerberg: Yeah.
Emir: And that’s when surah 5:33 comes. That’s when you can
exile. That’s when you can imprison. That’s when you can crucify or
execute. And when you can do those things–in Morocco you have
imprisonment today. In Pakistan you have the "blasphemy law by
execution." And all of these things are what modern Muslim purist
countries, Islamic republics, adhere to today, and it comes straight
from the Pact of Umar.
Ergun: Islamic republics, by their very nature, cannot allow for
religious freedom. They must allow, at best, for religious toleration.
Religious toleration means you, as a Christian, you are allowed to live
in our country, the laws we just spoke of; but you cannot paint the
walls of your church. You cannot expand the land upon which your church
builds. You cannot do the very thing that Christianity calls us to do,
which is the Great Commission. If you win your child to Christ, fine.
They aren’t going to care. If your child becomes a Muslim, you cannot
prohibit him. If you win a Muslim to Christ, at best, you are
deported.
For more information about the teaching of Islam look for these
programs and books in our catalog:
Former Muslims
Testify About Islam
What Do Muslims
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