West’s view on Shariah narrow-minded: Imran Thursday, March 01, 2007-->
Source ::: The Peninsula
2/28/2007
Khan interviewed onstage at the Forbes CEO Middle East Forum
Doha • Pakistan cricket legend and political crusader, Imran Khan, yesterday criticised the West for what he obliquely described was its narrow understanding of Islamic Shariah.
The West thinks Shariah is only about the penal code and cutting the hands (of a delinquent), he said.
An ideal Islamic country governed by Shariah ought to be a sovereign and welfare state where everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, Khan said during a lively onstage interview at the Forbes CEO Middle East Forum'. He was being interviewed by Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes magazine, the USA.
Khan, a former Pakistan cricket captain who led his country to a thrilling win in the 1992 World Cup against all odds, is also the chairman of Pakistan's only cancer hospital he built in the mid-1990s and dedicated to his mother's memory. She had died of cancer.
Touched by the sufferings of his poor compatriots in a political milieu he thought was undemocratic and exploitative, Khan entered politics and launched a political movement aimed at awakening and empowering people.
His Tehrik-e-Insaaf (Movement for Justice) party is planning to wage a mass awakening drive against the current regime in Pakistan ahead of national elections slated to be held by the year-end.
An outspoken Khan told the Forbes Forum that compassion and justice are the bases of Islamic Shariah.
The golden period of the Islamic rule was during the Caliphate after the Prophet's (peace be upon him) death. There were pension benefits for the retired and the state took full care of widows and the physically challenged.
The rule of law (in an Islamic state) was applicable to all. Khan said two of the four Caliphs even appeared in court and one of them lost a case against a Jew.
He was replying to a question about the contradictions between Shariah and democracy in the context of his own country.
A Shariah-governed country is not the one where the elite are above the law and all the policies are framed for them, he said.
About the Islamic penal code which the West views critically, Khan who is regarded as an Asian sporting icon, said it is an elected assembly which is required to decide the punishment for a delinquent.
So, one can see that democratic rule is fundamental to Islam. An ideal Islamic nation is no different from a western welfare state, noted Khan, ruing that down the history the rule of law had crumbled.
He said cricket and the captaincy of his country's team have taught him to struggle and not to be defeated. “I would only be defeated if I accept defeat.”
Educated at Oxford University in England, Khan said democracy does not only mean elections. You need well-entrenched democratic institutions like a free and fair judicial system and only then can you guarantee respect for democratic rule and principles. Democracy is all about freedom, he added.
Khan stunned his interviewer and the audience by describing Pakistan premier Shaukat Aziz as a puppet and in reply to a question, said he is not in the race for the hot seat.
“I was never interested in politics. I was a private person…My idea of entering politics is for change in Pakistan and help democratic institutions grow,” Khan said.
If making a political career was his only goal, he said he had been offered cabinet berths many times. “But I don't want to be part of a system (status quo) I wanted to change,” he said.
Editor,
Islam-watch.org