Islamic Ideology

 by: Ahmed Parvez

The question before us is "What is Islamic Ideology"? To me Ideology is a philosophical term meaning the ‘Science of Ideas’. Idea is again a subtle and very comprehensive term. It is unnecessary for our present purpose to go into the details of the term. But generally this means a basic concept or the basic concepts on which any ‘system’ is built constitutes its ‘Ideology’. Since Ideology pre supposes the existence of a system, the question arises whether Islam is a system?

Yes, Islam is a system. Islam is not like other conventional religions, in other words Religion is the English equivalent for the Arabic word Mazhah which does not occur even once in the whole of the Holy Quran. The Quran has used the word Ad deen for Islam which means a particular way of life. The Holy Quran points to this aspect in its own inimitable way. It says that the healthy concept of life Ideology or kaIema-e-tayyiba revealed by Quran which has the capacity to rise high towards God Almighty. In Quran’s dialect Ideology makes up what we call Faith (Imaan) and the means to give the Ideology a practical shape are termed Righteous Actions from humans. Ideology forms the objective of the Islamic Order and positive actions constitute the program for attaining the objectives of Islamic System. In the present context you can say that Ideology provides the ‘Objectives Resolution’ of an Islamic State, its constitution gives political form to the resolution and its laws prescribe the program for helping the people attain their destiny.

The final position in a nutshell is;Islamic Ideology is another name for Permanent Values or unbreakable Principles elaborated in the Holy Quran that an Islamic State is established for the sole purpose of introducing Permanent Values in life that the first and foremost duty of an Islamic State is to provide means for the growth and development of the human body as well as human personality.

The considerations set forth before you lead to the following three-fold conclusion:

1. Islamic Ideology connotes the sum total of Permanent Values or Inviolable Principles which have been preserved in their complete and final form in the Holy Quran.

2. Islamic State is a state which adopts Quranic Permanent Values as its ideal.

3. Islamic Constitution is the document which proclaims the above ideal and details the plan according to which the structure of the State will rise solid and firm on the basis of Quranic Principles.