Islam_in_Focus_text

tenis and doctrines known to mankind, and the ruler is not to
govern the people according to their own desires. He is to
serve them by making justice a common lavv, by making
their genuine obedience to the Sovereign Lord of the uni-
verse a regular function of the State, and by making sound
morality a noble undertaking of the administration.
9. Although the Qur'an is the constitution of the Islamic
State, Muslims are ordained by God to handle their common
affairs through consultative methods. This makes room for
legislative councils and consultative bodies on the local as
vvell as on the national and International level s. Every citizen
in the Islamic State is enjoined to offer his best advice on
comrnon matters and must be entitled to do so. To insure fiil-
filment of this obligation in a practicable and useful way, the
rulers must seek the advice of the learned and experienced
people in the State. But this does not in any sense deny the
right of average citizens who must speak out whenever the
occasion arises.
In this way every citizen of the Islamic State has an obli-
gation, in one capacity or another, to fulfill and is deeply
concerned, directly or otherwise, about the eonduct of public
affairs. Islamic history provides authentic records of how the
chief rulers and Caliphs were questioned, advised and cor-
rected by common people, men and women alike. The prin-
ciple of mu tua I consultation is so fundamental in Islam that