Democracy or Dictatorship, these are two sides of the same coin. Since the inception of Pakistan these two types of appoarches have been tried and both failed miserably.

One point needs to be noted here, the definition of Democracy is still not clear amongst some people. They confuse elections with Democracy and while ignoring the real aspect of Democracy ie man-made laws. In Islam the laws and legislation belongs to Allah(swt) not to any man. The responsibility of the ruler is to implement the laws of Allah(swt). Now the ruler can be selected by elections but the main issue is that he implements the Shariah.

Now that the reality of Democracy is clear lets move onto dictatorship. I would argue that in essence there is not much difference between the two. In both cases the laws are unislamic.

The vicious cycle of Democracy and Dictatorship has been reoccurring and the results are infront of us. Now when we want to compare the two we simply cannot use our own minds to pass judgements on one over the other. The yardstick for measurement is Islam because this is a matter of Governance and Islam has clear injunctions for running a state. Until and unless we work towards a comprehensive solution we will keep going around in circles and keep talking about patch-work- solutions. In Islam when we are told to do something then we are also given instructions on how to achieve it ie idea and method both comes from Islam. In the case of Governance, Allah(swt) said in the Quran; "Rule by Allah has revealed" and Rasul(saw) showed us how to materialise this commandment. He(saw) implemented the Khilafat system which was neither Democracy nor Dictatorship!

Haroon Bux

Haroon

Consider:

Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:

Once Allah's Apostle went out to the Musalla (to offer the prayer) o 'Id-al-Adha or Al-Fitr prayer. Then he passed by the women and said, "O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women)." They asked, "Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle ?" He replied, "You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you." The women asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Isn't it true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?" The women replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her religion."

Sahih Bukhari 1:6:301

And then there's the ever popular "Let's kill the Jews" hadith

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng4_VuxGVY4

Haroon,

It was these ahadith that finally convinced me of the reality of re-incarnation.

I realised that MUHAMMAD WAS AN EARLIER INCARNATION OF MONTY PYTHON.

The koran is really just an early version of "Life of Brian" with the ahadith as the playbook for a sequel

Haroon,

I respect your right to believe and say whatever you want. If the people of Pakistan choose to be governed by theocrats who claim they are implementing "God's law" good luck to them.

But I think in Australia you'll discover most of us know this is all taurine fertiliser.

Incidentally Haroon I am one of those people who questions the historicity of Jesus but I had always assumed that Muhammad actually existed. It turns out the evidence for his existence is quite weak. You may be revering a "prophet" who never existed.

I suspect that Pakistan is the first country to really go down the
gurgler in the coming energy depletion time.
There was a documentary on Pakistan on BBC World last week that was
pointing up the problems in the Punjab.
Power supplies are not just intermittently off but intermittently on !

Pakistan cannot afford to buy fuel for their power systems part of
which I have read is oil fired.
Farmers are suicidal as they cannot feed their families.
Imagine, farmers of all people cannot feed their families !

They throw away the intellectual and management abilities of the women
and wonder why they will not survive.
I have always been optimistic about the effect of energy descent and
how we will cope, but I am beginning to wonder if the apocalypse
writers are correct. Countries such as Pakistan could drag us all
into the disaster if we do not pull up the drawbridge