Now there is talk of a general election on every politician’s lips. With the country currently so divided, important decisions that make or break real people’s lives are being pushed to the rear to make way for the single issue that dominates all politics today in Britain: that of Europe.
The essence of democracy is supposed to centre on the people being the source of sovereignty, but the Brexit fiasco has utterly destroyed this myth in the “mother of parliaments.” Referendums as a way to solve disputes are rarely used, and when they have been, thoroughly regretted, precisely because the powers that be cannot precisely control the outcome, as they can with the normal parliamentary process.
Debate has raged about the people’s will and how to enact it, but one thing has been abundantly clear: neither side of the referendum campaign care about the real will of the people, only how to manipulate it, or undermine it, in order to support their own agenda. In the end, the only agenda that matters is the agenda of the powerful elite.
When groups of people are left to make important political and economic decisions according to their personal desires, there will always be losers. Sometimes the consequences can be very severe. Even the winners are only momentarily unified, as the next decision to be taken will inevitably divide them too, leading to a severely fractured society.
Brexit has exposed the lie of democracy, as collective leadership no more than a fantasy, but even its very idea should cease to be held up as an ideal model when it is so clearly dysfunctional at best.
Allah (ﷻ) sent His final Messenger with the true Islamic way of life, that does not lie to the people offering them only pseudo-accountability and participation in politics. Islam did not make the standard of right and wrong, law and order, good and bad according to what was popular on any given day. Islam did not leave people’s lives to be toyed with and easily manipulated by the greedy elite who only preach democracy as a way to keep people in-line with their selfish plan.
Decision making does in reality come to an individual, despite the pretence of the democratic theorists. Islam gave the citizens the right to elect who that decision-maker will be, but not the source of laws that he must rule by. In the Islamic Khilafah (Caliphate) the ruler is severely restricted in his power, as he can only make policies within the limits of the Islamic law, while having no power to write laws according to his or his backers’ interests. Here is the stark contrast with Islam and British and American democracies today: the Prime Minister and President cannot be trusted to act according to the interests of the people, or even the law. They constantly play with the law and legislative process; garnering support through making deals, with little or no regard for any recognisable standard of right and wrong.
The key issue in Britain for anyone with any sense of morality, and in particular the Muslim community, must be to be dissatisfied with anything less than real political accountability, not the sham accountability of a general election. Politicians come and go, but the capitalists elite continue to manipulate the country by manipulating the legislative process that is democracy. British democracy is hopelessly flawed, as it is the world over, so it is now time that it ceases to be held up as an ideal to aspire to, particularly in the Muslim countries where it is used as a carrot to entrap the people until they lose hope and stop working for any real change.
Muslims in Britain should not miss the opportunity to expose the failed and dangerous idea of democracy, particularly as there will be many attempts to buy votes for a paltry price over the coming months.
