Question
In some of your answers you write “… the Shari`ah is silent on this subject …” Does this mean that Islam is not the complete way of life?
Reply
Islam has not given us extensive guidance regarding all issues and aspects of life. On the contrary, the nature of Islamic directives is solely in those spheres where a mistake on our part could have moral repercussions – whether at an individual or at a collective level – and that too to a very basic extent.
Thus, for instance, we see that there are only a handful of directives of the Shari`ah relating to economic and political issues, which, on their own, can by no means be termed as sufficient to form a complete economic or a political system. On the contrary, these directives only give us the bases upon which the detailed economic and/or political systems are to be built. It is clear that to be considered Islamic, these systems should be based on the principles laid down by the Shari`ah. However, except for the basic principles laid down by the Shari`ah all the other elements of these detailed systems are based on individual or collective Ijtehad – as the case may be. The following points, regarding these elements based on Ijtehad, should be kept in mind:
These detailed elements, based on Ijtehad, should not be confused with and should be kept separate from the permanent and unalterable directives of the Shari`ah;
-These detailed elements may vary over time and space;
-All the various (economic/political) systems based on the principles laid down by the Shari`ah would correctly deserve to be termed as ‘Islamic systems’.
-Keeping the foregoing explanation in perspective, it should be clear that the directives of the Shari`ah provide a basis for the formation of a code/way of life, yet, by themselves, they do not form a complete code of life.
Islam, it should be kept in mind,considers man as an intelligent being and, therefore, does not consider it necessary to teach him each and every step required to live a normal life. On the contrary, Islam only gives guidance to man, where he was more prone to making such errors which were likely to have serious repercussions on his moral and spiritual cleansing.
I hope the foregoing explanation would help answer your question sufficiently.
UIUK
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