Democracy, Secularism, Capitalism All Need Reform

Democracy, Secularism, Capitalism All Need Reform

The governance of a country or area, along with the contest between different parties or groups for power, is what we generally take as the meaning of politics. In the history of politics we have seen many forms in which power has been captured, exercised and transferred. For a long time this power was transferred to a legal heir, particularly from father to son, be it in the Roman Empire, the Sassanid Empire, the medieval Muslim empires, the pre-modern western monarchies, or even in contemporary monarchies in some parts of the world. Amid the Renaissance in the west, concepts like democracy and secularism were modernised and the world embraced these modernised concepts wholeheartedly. Economic systems like Capitalism and Socialism also emerged to pave the way for new governments that promised their implementation. There have been many flaws in these modernised concepts that critics have pointed out and evaluated. Let me quote the great 20th-century poet, philosopher and reformer, Dr Muhammad Iqbal, who criticised Capitalism by saying, “There is no doubt that when the power of capitalism exceeds the middle course, it becomes a curse for mankind.”
One of the flaws in the modern western concept of democracy, which is the working model in the majority of the countries in the contemporary world, is that it doesn’t bother about a suitable person for a particular job. There is an Arabic phrase, “Li Kulle Fanni Rijal” (For every field there are qualified men) which is an ideal for countries to follow while governing their respective territories. How can we expect a nation to proposer when its education minister has not even been to university? How can a nation be scientifically advanced when the department of science is being run by a person with no training in science?
It is pertinent to mention here that the qualification of those who govern us has remained a hot topic for many years. Recently, one of the famous religious scholars from Pakistan, Syed Jawad Naqvi, in a sermon raised very important questions on this matter and argued that when we have rules for educational institutions where an illiterate person or under-qualified teacher cannot be appointed, then why are there no such rules for politics? One can argue that the system which has been given to us and which has made us believe that it has all the solutions has failed us miserably. Even the great political philosophers like Plato propounded the theory that only philosophers should be given the authority to rule, in the form of ‘Philosopher-King’.
As for secularism, there is selective implementation of it and arguably it is being used as a tool against the minorities in general and against Muslims in particular throughout the world. Looking at the growing hatred for minorities in the world, it can safely be argued that no country in the world is purely secular, although the word is enshrined in the constitutions of the majority of countries.
The need of the hour is for reforms to be made in the structure of governance, so that the highest offices are used for the welfare of mankind and not for its destruction. The practice of secularism should be such that no specific community or section of population is made a soft target. The cruel and extreme economic structure of capitalism, which has divided society into rich and poor with the gap widening by the day, has wreaked havoc. If indeed governments are concerned about the welfare of the masses, then economic justice or equity is a must, which can only be achieved by a fair economic system.

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