An interesting historical parallel is that there was an aversion to
When Christianity spread in Rome, people were not willing to relinquish their national constitution. They considered Roman law superior to every other law, in fact, European governments still benefit from Roman law. On the one hand, they were attracted by the alluring teachings of Christianity, but on the other hand, their superiority complex concerning Roman law prevented them from bowing before Judaic law. Nevertheless, the Romans found an excuse, and they misinterpreted these verses to mean that religion should be followed only in matters of prayer and fasting, but not in worldly matters, for religion has no authority over these matters. It is up to people to draft the law of their choice.
The present interpretation of “separation of church and state” in the West is originally based on misguided Christian ideology. Hadrat Musleh Mau‘ud ra explained:
In short, they detest such commands of religion as are related to the organization, and thus, they declare the
(Khilafat-e-Rashidah, p. 14–18).shari‘ah to be a curse… To them, religion has no control over affairs of the world; rather, a country can itself come up with rules and regulations of its own choice
However, this is not the Islamic interpretation of “separation of mosque and state.” Misguidance found its way into Christians because they did not have Khilafat. However, the difference in Ahmadiyyat is that we have Khilafat to prevent such misguidance from entering Islam.
Hadrat Musleh Mau‘ud ra was once asked, “Concerning the punishments for crimes in the
There is no such law that needs to be abrogated and no commands of any new
(Fatawa Hadrat Musleh Mau‘ud, vol. 2, p. 104).shari‘ah need to be brought in its place. This is the perspective of those people who are afraid to speak against Western thought. These people are opportunists, whoever has greater worldly influence, they bow their heads before them. Ask such people and write to me as to which commands need to be changed and cannot be acted on at this time.
However, according toQuranic principle, ignorance does lighten or abolish a punishment. Thus, ifa people have recently entered Islam or are in an age of ignorance, then until their education is complete, the Islamic ruler can be lenient in punishments. And this is not changing theshari‘ah ; rather, it is a stage in the progress of education
Laws about governance were revealed through the Holy Quran because humanity is in need of
The Muslims, who are bound by Islamic directives in a purely religious organization,
(Khilafat-e-Rashidah, p. 20, 21–22)are also not free in the matter of the organization ofand are under obligation to submit to the organization of the state established by Islamic state ,shari‘ah . Even one glance at the Holy Quran and sayings of the Holy Prophetsas shows manifestly that Islam is not among the religions of the first category mentioned above but is of the second category. Islam issued commandments not only for certain beliefs and individualbut also for government and law… This is because the God Who commands us to pray, fast, perform Hajj, and pay Zakat has also given guidelines for the political affairs and organization of a country. It cannot be said that every nation and every country is at liberty to invent an organization of its own choice; rather, it has to follow Islamic rules in all spheres of life. behavior ,
The objective of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is to establish the shari‘ah of Islam, but with persuasion, with democracy, and without infringing on the inalienable religious freedom of any people.