With the 2019 general election only a few weeks away, the campaigns, debates and promises are in full swing.
Muslims in Britain are therefore once again embroiled in the discussion around the permissibility of partaking in a non-Islamic, liberal political system. The textual evidences are clear-cut in their dismay for ruling by anything other than what Allah (swt) has revealed. As such, Muslims, in their zeal to seek real change, have sought to rationally justify the need to vote.
Reputable scholars issuing fatawa for voting being permissible have further added to the confusion around the reality of Western democracies.
This deep dive assesses the British political set-up and will demonstrate the fallacy and political hegemony of the democratic system. One will quickly realise elections have little difference in a system that caters for the ones who uphold it, let alone Muslims.
The British capitalist system was and remains in place to ultimately cater to its own principles and ideology. These are radically different to Islamic values. Any contribution to it therefore will simply support the establishment in maintaining power. Consider the current cohort of Muslim MPs, for example: not one could stand to hold the incumbent PM to account for his mockery of the niqab.
“Today’s establishment is made up – as it has always been – of powerful groups that need to protect their position in a democracy in which almost the entire adult population has the right to vote. The establishment represents an at tempt on behalf of these groups to ‘manage’ democracy, to make sure that it does not threaten their own interests.” [1]
Today’s Establishment are those groups who are bound together by common economic interests and a shared mentality: in particular a mentality that holds that those at the top deserve ever greater power and wealth. The countries large financial sector, big business, the media, a host of neoliberal think tanks and the westminster party political system all constitute the establishment in the UK.
