Shari’a vs Democracy

By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi

Today, I have started my working holiday, like our workaholic President (Bola Ahmed Tinubu), since the competition will not also take their holiday at the same time as me. That is the reason why I have to pen something even if some people may take what I transcribed and bring below, with a pinch of salt.

They may take the man’s declaration as a case of GIGO, to such doubters, I can only say it is the truth. However, they are at liberty to find out this ‘truth’, in their own way and time.

The ‘LET’S TALK’ program is titled, ‘WHY MODERN DEMOCRACY FAILS WHERE SHARIA SUCCEEDS’, in which a white man by the name of STEVE took Democracy to the cleaners in a currently circulating video on TikTok, saying that: “They told you that Democracy gives you justice, freedom and fairness. But what if I told you the evidence shows otherwise, and SHARIA Law was centuries ahead.

“In Democracy today, CCTV footage is accepted as proof. But in the age of AI, how can you trust a video? Anyone can fake clip. SHARIA never relies on cameras, it requires human testimony: Two trustworthy witnesses, a standard that can’t be hacked.

“Under SHARIA, even rulers are accountable. Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the CALIPH, once found his armour in the hands of a Jewish man. Ali claimed it was his, but he had no witnesses. The Judge ruled against him.

“Imagine, the Head of State losing a case to a citizen, because evidence mattered more than Power. The Jewish man was so moved by Ali’s respect for justice that he confessed that the armour truly belonged to Ali, and even embraced Islam.

“Compare that to Democracy. Leaders STEALING BILLIONS with NO CONSEQUENCES. In 2022, Pakistan former PM, Nawaz Sherif, was exposed in the PANAMA PAPERS for offshore corruption. Yet he lives FREELY in London. Justice for the rich, different justice for the poor.

“Wealth and Inheritance. In the West, Inheritance and divorce laws constantly change. In the US it means half your wealth is often gone. Remember Jeff Bezos in 2019? The world’s richest man lost $38 billion to his wife in a DIVORCE SETTLEMENT. The biggest in history.

“SHARIA doesn’t play like that. Inheritance and division are fixed. A son, a daughter, a wife, each gets a share written in the Quran itself. Politicians can’t change it, no Judge can twist it. It is STABILITY over CHAOS.

“CORRUPTION versus ACCOUNTABILITY”. In Democracy corruption is expected. BILLIONS disappear in government contracts, wars, or bribes. Look at the US. In 2003, the Iraq reconstruction project lost over $7 billion to fraud and waste. Till today, nobody punished.

“Under SHARIA, history recorded leaders as the servants of the people. UMAR Ibn Al-Khattab once wore a new garment. A man stood up and questioned him publicly, ‘Where did you get the cloth? The state gave us each one piece, but yours looks longer. UMAR didn’t silence him, instead his son, Abdullah explained he gave his piece to his father so that UMAR could sew both together. That was accountability.

“So when you compare, one system that let rulers STEAL with IMPUNITY, the other made rulers answerable IN PUBLIC. One system MANIPULATES wealth, the other fixes it with DEVINE law. One system trusts MACHINE that can LIE, the other trusts witnesses who stand before God. MUSLIMS believe that SHARIA isn’t just LAW, it is JUSTICE.”

Therefore everyone can see that under Democracy one can lie their way to freedom, but under Sharia, only the truth can earn you freedom. Democracy believes one is innocent if they have the wherewithal to purchase justice, no matter their guilt. Sharia, on the other hand, does not give justice to the one who has money but to the one who is truthful.

I do not lie of possessing a lofty qualification, but many in the country do in order to obtain positions, so that they may amass the wealth which they cannot be able to finish in 1000 years, even if they stay alive and active during the period.

May God make the little that we earn be enough for us without reverting to dipping our fingers into the public coffers. Amin.

Malumfashi writes from Katsina