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| India-Pakistan |
| Justice – then and now |
| 2010-04-07 |
| By Dr A Q Khan In my column of Jan 28 I had written about Hazrat Umar (RA) who had informed his own son of the severe reprimand he got from Allah for the defective bridge built in Baghdad during his rule in which a goat had broken its leg. Hazrat Umar (RA) is reported to have said that even if a dog died of hunger on the bank of the Dajla (Tigris), he would be taken to task for it. Contrast this to the situation nowadays. People are without food, water and electricity hardly a kilometre from the palaces of the rulers. Lavish lifestyles and foreign tours cost the exchequer millions of rupees, with the rulers totally ignoring the literally starving masses in the country. Our Islamic history has many golden chapters of good governance and justice. It is all there as an example for us to act accordingly. We know that the USA has many Nobel laureates in economics, but that has not stopped the country from being almost bankrupt and asking other countries to bail it out. Were it not for its natural resources, the United States would have been totally bankrupt by now and perhaps disintegrated into individual states. Many other Muslim rulers are famous for justice. Hazrat Umar bin Abdul Aziz (RA), Haroon Al-Rashid, Mahmood Ghaznavi, Alauddin Khilji, etc., all left a treasure of good governance and justice. Were our present rulers to follow this age-old tradition, we would come out of the precarious situation we are facing. During the period of Haroon Al-Rashid, his Qazi was famous for his honest and quick decisions. His memoirs were so interesting that they were translated by the British and published as Reminiscences of a Mesopotamian Judge. One of the stories he told was related to an inspection tour to some far off place. The people there were very pleased and thanked him for having appointed a very honest Qazi. On hearing that, he held his head in both hands and thought: "Oh my Lord! Is it possible to have a dishonest Qazi?" I wish we could say the same today. In that same column I had written about an adjudicator of justice and a famous administrator – Nizamul Mulk Toosi and Chanakya. The latter was the prime minister of Raja Chandra Gupt Mauria, was very clever and a great planner. He managed to get the Nanda dynasty wiped out through his intrigues. Chanakya's treatise on state administration was known as Arth Shastra and was translated into Urdu by Shanul Haq Haqqee and printed by Mr Ismail Zabi. Chanakya's policies and tactics were mostly based on unethical principles. It is believed that the Italian statesman and author Nicolo Machiavelli's book The Prince (1532) was based on Chanakya's Arth Shastra. His name and tactics are synonymous with cunning, scheming and unscrupulous behaviour in politics and business. Nizamul Mulk Toosi was the prime minister first of Seljuk Sultan Alp Arsalan and then of his illustrious son, Sultan Malik Shah. He was a very competent, honest and efficient administrator. He wrote two treatises on administrative policies and methods for the benefit of Muslim rulers. These books, Siasat Nama and Dasturul Vuzara are internationally acclaimed as masterpieces. Both are based on truth, honesty, Quranic edicts, Hadiths and the Shariah. This noble person was murdered by a follower of Hasan bin Sabbah, who was out to destroy the stability and the very existence of Islamic dynasties. In his books, Nazimul Mulk Toosi mentioned many very interesting and eye-opening episodes regarding justice. Here I would like to tell the one related to Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi. Once Mahmood Ghaznavi and his companions listened to music and drank the whole night. Mahmood's commander-in-chief, Ali Noshtgin, and Muhammad Arabi drank excessively. Before dawn broke they were fast asleep and when they rose at about 10 a.m. Ali Noshtgin asked Mahmood for permission to go home. He was still drunk and his behaviour was erratic. Mahmood advised him to relax till Zuhar prayers and then go home, as by that time the influence of the alcohol would have worn off. If he went out in his present condition the Qazi might catch him and punish him according to Shariah. Noshtgin thought that since he was the commander-in-chief nobody would dare touch him. In his arrogance he left the palace, ignoring Mahmood's advice. He had only gone a short distance with his soldiers and servants when the Qazi, a former slave, came upon him and, seeing that he was drunk, intercepted him. He told his guards to take Noshtgin off his horse and he himself whipped a screaming Noshtgin black and blue. The Qazi left him lying there. His servants took him home and treated his wounds. After a few days, when Noshtgin went to see Mahmood, the Sultan asked him what happened. Noshtgin told him and showed him his back, which was still sore and bruised. Mahmood smiled and said that a just and honest punishment had been carried out with justice applicable to all without discrimination. He said that had even he been caught in that condition, he would have been treated in the same way. Alhamdulillah. The second story is about a fifth-generation descendent of Mahmood, the Sultan Ibrahim Ghaznavi, who was also famous for his justice and good governance. It so happened that all bakeries were closed and bread was scarce. People were facing hardships because of it and complained to the sultan. Upon enquiry he was informed by the bakers that all the wheat and flour that was being brought to the city by the farmers was being forcefully bought by the supervisors of the royal kitchen and bakers were not able to buy even small quantities. Ibrahim Ghaznavi became very angry and ordered his guards to fetch the supervisor, throw him in front of an elephant and then tie his mutilated body to the tusks of the elephant and allow it to roam the city for all to see. By evening there was an abundance of bread in the bakeries and flour in stock! These two stories have been told to illustrate how our rulers and judges of yore dispensed justice and practiced good governance. The system was applied without fear, discrimination or undue delay. Nowadays people have lost faith in receiving quick, fair justice and the words "good governance" no longer exist. The remedy lies in strict and severe laws to be promulgated by our lawmakers and their strict and exemplary application by our judiciary. Presently there is neither the will nor the application to do so. Recently, hoarders of sugar and flour caused unimaginable hardships to the poor public while allowing some to become billionaires overnight. Mill-owners from the ruling party and the opposition alike made profit. The judiciary was helpless in the absence of stringent measures that could be applied. It could deal with the menace only to a limited extent. Nazimul Mulk Toosi had warned that a heavenly curse and worldly problems are the forerunner of the decay and fall of a nation. The best period in any nation's history is when just, honest and efficient rulers are in charge. Since the demise of the Quaid-e-Azam we have not seen anyone without ulterior motives. There seems, for the time being anyway, no change forthcoming. |
| Posted by:john frum |