Illiberal Instituions

MOST OF THE INSTITUTIONS WITHIN WHICH WE LIVE OUR LIVES ARE MANIFESTLY ILLIBERAL

We all lives are governed by the institutions like law, government, religion, education, family, employment market and others. All these institutions tends to look towards the formation of a society. They do not say that society is made up of aggregated individuals but that individuals are the product of society. This is a conservative notion which is in conflict with the ideology of liberalism.

To look at all the institutions within which we live our lives and focus on their characteristics is beyond the scope of this essay. In this some of these institutions would be reviewed and their political approach would be examined. Where possible I would try and look at the whole institution on its own, but where the discussions about the whole institution is too broad, the focus would be on specific examples of the attitude of the institution. In case of law, I would emphasise would be on the laws treatment of women and how that shows the law approach to be illiberal. In religion I would be focusing on one kind of religion, Islam to show how all religions are conservative. In the same way focus in education would be on boarding schools. The rest of the institutions: family, employment, government and market economics are covered in singularity as institutions.

As I mentioned earlier the focus in respect to religion would be Islam. I intend to look all some of the basic rules and principles of Islam and examine their attitudes. Islam believes in the authority higher then humans. It believes in the sovereign power of God which is called Allah in the religion. He is suppose to be higher than all the other beings in the world. He is referred in Quran (Muslims' holy book) as the Creator and Sustainer of lives. This means that all the human are dependent on Him for their living. This is against the liberal theory, which believes in all beings, being equal. Thus, this concept of higher authority brings out the conservative attitude of the religion.

Allah is the ultimate authority in an Islamic society and all the rules and regulations emerge from him. There are two kinds of duties that a Muslim owes one to Allah and the others to his fellow beings. The duties owed to Allah are Tauheed (believe in oneness of God), Salat (five time prayers), Fasting and Haj (the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.) Those owed to his fellow human beings are numerous, as individuals have certain duties to fulfil in different relationships for the building of a society; but each individual has the basic duty to pay Zakat (a portion of their income to help the poor.) This goes towards the building of a homogenous society, where Muslim society as a group has to be supported so those individuals arising from that society are on as much of an equal scale as possible. In this way Islam realises the hierarchy in a society, where some individuals are more powerful than the rest. They have more resources and the others in the society, and the religion promotes the use of those extra resources for the use of the weaker ones in the society.

This is completely against the liberal idea, which says that all individuals are equal and have the same governing power. Islam does not believe in formal equality, which strips the individuals of their difference and puts them in the situations that are more adverse to their situations then the illiberal ideas. It recognises the difference that exists in the society and tries to help individuals those bases by making a stronger society, which would support them.

Zakat is an obligation, which every earning Muslim has to fulfil, but there are other duties, which are specific to the position one occupies in the society. A ruler is responsible for his subjects well being, he has the responsibility of making sure that all his empire have food and everyone is being treated fairly and justly. In the same way, people have the responsibility to choose the ruler who would abide by the Islamic principles. Parents have duty to take care of their children, and in return of this duties children owe complete obedience to their parents. There is Prophet Mohammed (P.B.U.H.) saying that:

'A child should obey all of his parents commands, unless they ask him to give up his religion.'

It appears to be a patriarchal relationship where Parents have complete control over their children because of the support they give him when they are growing up. There is no concept of equal bargaining powers or negotiations in this relationship. Parent and child are not acting as two individuals that can negotiate the terms of contract, one is automatically dominant over the other to his position in the society. These along with all the other rights and duties make an Islamic society, which is not only illiberal in its ideas but which tends to bend toward a conservative notion of society before individual. The essence of all the duties and obligations of a Muslim is explained in the following verse from Quran (Muslim's holy book)

'Verily, Allah enjoins Al-Adl (i.e. justice and worshipping none but Allah Alone - Islamic Monotheism) and Al-Ihsan [i.e. to be patient in performing your duties to Allah, totally for Allah's sake and in accordance with the Sunna (legal ways) of the Prophet p.b.u.h. in a perfect manner], and giving (help) to kith and kin (i.e. all what Allah has ordered you to give them e.g. wealth, visiting, looking after them, or any other kind of help, etc.): and forbids Al-Fahsha (i.e. all evil deeds, e.g. illegal sexual acts, disobedience to parents, polytheism, to tell lies, to give false witness, to kill life without right, etc.) and Al-Munkar (i.e. all that is prohibited by the Islamic law: polytheism of every kind, disbelief and every kind of evil deeds etc.) and Al-Baghy (i.e. all kind of oppression), He admonishes you, that you may take heed.'

This shows that the society comes before individual in the Islamic society. Islam is reflection of other religions in many ways. It promotes the idea of higher authority, doing good for the society and refraining from evil. Most the religions propagate the same principles, thus, it would not be wrong to conclude that the religion is an illiberal institute.

Law is the second most powerful institute that governs our lives as is apparent from the following words. "Not under Man, but under God and Law." These words reclaim that the law is the supreme authority after God. The question is if that is so, then who makes the laws and are these laws interceptive with all the existing ideas in the world. The origin of all the ideas in legal code has been 'The Rule of Law.' Then the questions we should be

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