Zakir Naik – Making Constitutions above Sharia
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the history and cultural differences between India and other countries, including the strict personal laws of Islam. They also touch on the importance of living in non-keyve countries and the sharia and AD shoulder as reasons for not being able to do things like preaching. They suggest following the sharia and not trying to avoid rules of the constitution.
AI: Summary ©
Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu, good day Dr. Zakir
Naik.
My name is Abdul Hafeez from Nigeria.
I am a student.
Today, Muslims and non-Muslims all follow what
is known as Constitution and we all know
that Constitution is a book written by human
beings, Muslims, non-Muslims alike, indicating that the
Constitution is not from Allah the Almighty and
all countries rule and judge people with the
Constitution and they say it is the supreme
law of the land instead of Sharia and
that any law against the Constitution is null
and void including Sharia.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in
the Quran, in Surah Al-Maidah, chapter 5,
verse 45, and whosoever does not judge by
that which Allah has revealed, such are zalimun,
such are wrongdoers.
So, I would like to hear Dr. Zakir
Naik's point of view regarding Muslims following Constitution
and also I want to know if it's
against chapter 5, verse 45, may Allah make
our Deen prevail over all other religions.
The question posed is that today Muslims and
non-Muslims alike, they follow the Constitution and
we know that the Constitution is written by
human beings, whether they are Muslims or non
-Muslims and they consider Constitution to be something
on the top and all the countries they
follow the Constitution, even if it goes against
the Sharia and the Quran clearly states in
Surah Al-Maidah, chapter 5, verse 44 that
you have to judge by what Allah has
commanded and anyone who doesn't follow the commandment
of Allah and does not judge according to
the ruling of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
they are the wrongdoers.
So, what is my comment on the Constitution?
According to me, the greatest Quran is the
future world Constitution.
It is a proclamation to humanity.
It is the most positive book in the
world.
It is a fountain of mercy and wisdom.
It's a warning to the heedless.
It's a guide to the erring.
It's an assurance to those in doubt.
It's a hope to those in despair and
a solace to the suffering.
Now, I do agree with the questioner that
every country has a Constitution and if you
analyze the Constitution of almost all the non
-Muslim countries, they may not allow you to
follow Sharia completely.
There are few exceptions to the rule like
India, I'll come to it later on.
As far as the Muslim countries are concerned,
many Muslim countries claim, not all, some, they
claim that they follow Quran and Quran is
the Constitution, but practically, I don't know of
any country in the world which follow Quran
completely.
Some may follow a small percentage, some may
follow a larger percentage and there are many
Muslim countries who claim to be secular, they
claim to be democratic, etc.
Now, let us first deal with the non
-Muslim countries.
Allah says in the glorious Quran in Surah
Nisa chapter 4, verse number 97, that when
the angel of death comes to take the
soul and he asks, how were you in
the land?
And when they replied that we were subjugated
and we were persecuted.
So the angel replies, isn't the world of
Allah big enough for you to migrate?
So here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in
Surah Nisa chapter 4, verse 97, if you
don't know Zillul Qur'an, this was revealed
in Makkah.
When the majority of the people are in
Makkah, they were mushriks, giving them guidance for
the Muslim to hijra and the verse continues
that all those, isn't the world big enough
for you, vast enough for you to migrate?
And all those who do not sow, the
Quran continues, they will be going to *.
And the verse continues, verse number 98 of
Surah Nisa, except those who are weak, women,
men and children, and who do not have
the means to migrate.
So Allah says if you're living amongst the
kuffar, amongst the non-Muslims, Allah tells you
to migrate, except if you're weak among the
men, women and children, you cannot migrate, Allah
will forgive you.
So the ruling is you have to migrate,
you cannot stay in a country where majority
are non-Muslims.
And the verse then continues and verse number
100 says that ask for those who leave
their home for sake of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and if they die in a
land away from their home for sake of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allah will give
them a felicity, a great reward, they will
get chanda.
And there are various such verses.
So according to the ruling of the Sharia,
a Muslim is supposed to stay in a
majority Muslim country.
There may be exceptions and such exceptions, one
is India, because India earlier was ruled by
Muslims for about a thousand years, later on
the Britishers came and they made partition of
the United India, they made Pakistan, Bangladesh, India,
about one-third Muslim went to Pakistan, one
-third to Bangladesh, one-third remained in India
approximately.
If you're united, you know one-third of
the Muslim population lives in the Indian subcontinent.
So the Britishers came and divided and unfortunately
weakened the Muslim.
But one thing good mashaAllah that India is
one of the few non-Muslim countries in
the world which has a Muslim personal law.
That means every Muslim living in India has
as far as the personal law is concerned,
whether it be inheritance, whether it be marriage,
etc.
They are allowed to follow the Sharia, allowed
to follow Quran and Sayyidina.
The criminal law is common.
The most important is the personal law.
So India is one of the few countries
in the world which allows a Muslim, even
though it's a majority non-Muslim country, it
was first ruled by Muslims, we have a
Muslim personal law.
So I wouldn't put India in this category
of non-Muslim countries that a Muslim should
migrate from, because you know the Indian Muslims
they are about 210 million according to the
government.
Actually the numbers may be much more, 250
or 300 million, where will they go?
So the ruling here I feel it doesn't
apply and I've given this answer in my
earlier.
And India was one of the best or
the best non-Muslim country to live before
Modi came, before 2014.
And Modi came and ruled and he won
in the first election, then second election in
2019 he won.
So for 10 years he had absolute majority,
you know.
So because of that he tried to change
many things, but Alhamdulillah in the recent election
that took place a couple of months earlier,
the results were declared in June 2024, Modi
didn't win with majority, he came back with
a coalition to pray to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala that the situation of Muslims in
India becomes better.
But even at that time, of course, we
find that if you lived in those states
which weren't controlled by BJP and RSS, like
Kerala, like Hyderabad, like West Bengal, of course
Muslims were following very well, they were living
very peacefully.
And it's mentioned in the constitution of India
that every citizen of India can preach, propagate
and practice his religion.
Later on when Modi came he tried to
interfere with the constitution, but Alhamdulillah now that
he's no longer in the absolute majority, we
pray that the whole of India goes back
to normal.
But coming back to the other non-Muslim
country, whether it be the western countries, whether
it be USA, European countries, etc.
where Muslims are in majority, so the ruling
of the Quran, I told you, so I'm
not in favor of Muslims living in non
-Muslim countries and basically coming to the question,
the constitution.
There are things in the constitution, like in
India, there is not a single point in
the constitution or a single rule in the
constitution that forces any Muslim to do something
which is Hanaf, or prevents him from doing
something which is Fardh.
But in most of the other non-Muslim
country, of course, there are things that you
may be doing, Hanaf, or you may be
forced to do Hanaf.
And one common thing now in most of
the western country is that they are forcing
LGBT, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual and Plus and
Queer, they are forcing.
Now our children are being forced to learn
about * education, to know that ok there
is no problem if you have two mothers,
there is no problem if you have two
fathers, they are being forced.
Now this is Haram.
So, if you live in a non-Muslim
country, I do agree that many things of
the constitution, people are living in the western
country, they are paying tax and from the
tax money, many innocent Muslims are being killed.
With that tax money, America, for example, if
you pay tax money to America, with that
tax money, America is spending billions of dollars
and giving aid to Israel to kill tens
of thousands of Palestinians.
And this is happening since decades.
Even many European countries, whether it be UK,
whether it be France, they are giving aid
to Israel to kill innocent Muslims.
Imagine, with your tax money, if you are
a citizen, part of your money is going
in killing Muslim brothers and sisters.
And there are many things which either it's
impossible or whether it's very difficult for Muslim
to practice.
I know, I mean I have got many
friends, you know, many of my Da'i
friends, etc.
When we speak to them one-to-one,
most of them agree.
That Dr Zakir, you are right.
It's not right for Muslims.
But may be asked in public, they may
not be that vocal.
Yes, there are some who yet consider a
Western country to be a very good home
for them.
But the percentage is small.
Majority agree.
That's the reason many of the Da'is
that I know of, they want to migrate.
Many want to come to Malaysia.
And they say Malaysia is one of the
best countries for a Muslim to live or
the best of the worst, a best available
Muslim country to live.
And you can see my answer on that.
I have given that a couple of times
before.
I don't want to repeat it.
So, as far as following the constitution is
concerned, in the Muslim countries, as I said,
that some Muslim countries claim that Quran is
the constitution.
Of course, they will not force you to
do something which is haram.
But the government may do haram.
I think there is no country that I
know of in the world where there are
no riba banks.
Yes, I just heard that in Afghanistan they
want to close riba banks.
I don't know of any country in the
world, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, which doesn't
have riba banks.
Riba is the twelfth major sin in Islam.
Interest is the twelfth major sin.
And a prophet said, there are various levels
of riba.
And the lowest level is like doing zina
with your mother.
Imagine such a major sin.
Imam Ad-Dabi labels it as twelfth major
sin.
After the five pillars of shirk and murder
and black magic, and the four pillars of
salah, zakat, Ramadan, hajj, then obedience to your
parents, and taking care of the orphans, etc.
Then, number twelve, sin is dealing with riba.
Taking or giving riba, according to Imam Ad
-Dabi.
So, unfortunately, unfortunately, even the Muslim country, I
don't know of any country which is following
sharia totally.
Some are following to a better extent, some
medium, some very limited.
But at least in the Muslim country, people
will not force you to do something which
is haram.
So, living in a Muslim country is much
better than a non-Muslim country.
They may tell you options of doing haram.
They'll not force you to do haram.
They'll not prevent you from doing something which
is farid.
So, I don't know in any Muslim country
where they will prevent you.
Certain things are okay.
Like, dawah is difficult.
You know, many of the Muslim countries, they
prevent you from doing dawah.
But, as a whole, living in a Muslim
country is better.
Now, coming to the question.
That if the constitution is not based on
the Quran and the Hadith, so what should
we follow?
The answer is very clear.
Whether living in a non-Muslim country or
a Muslim country, if the constitution of the
country tells you to do something which is
against the Quran and say Hadith, no Muslim
should follow it.
Because for us, Allah and his Rasul is
far superior to the constitution of any country.
And if they force you to do something
haram, you should not do it.
Or if they prevent you to do something
which is farid, then you should do it.
So, if the constitution of the country contradicts
with the sharia, the Quran and say Hadith,
you should follow the Quran and say Hadith
and not the constitution.
But if there are certain things which are
optional in Islam and makes you compulsory by
the constitution, then no problem in doing it.
Or something the constitution prevents you from doing,
which is allowed in Islam, mubah, optional, no
problem, as long as you do not break
the rule of the sharia.
So, for us Muslims, our constitution is the
sharia, the glorious Quran and the say Hadith.
So, we should follow the constitution and I
agree with the verse of the Quran of
Surah Maida chapter 5, verse number 45, which
say that those who do not judge by
the ruling of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
they will be amongst the zalimun, they will
be amongst the wrongdoers.
And we pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala that may he not make us amongst
the zalimun and may he make us stand
for the truth, for the haqq and may
he make us follow the Quran and say
Hadith so that all the Muslims enter inshallah
Jannah.
Hope that answers your question.