The question is, number one, the penal code which you are referring to is not a man-made penal code. You may have differences of opinion as far as the interpretation goes that some Muslim countries are not properly understanding the spirit of the penal code of Islam or the letter of the penal code of Islam and they are attributing wrong things to Islam. That is one way of considering this aspect. But apart from this, whatever conclusion you reach yourself, that would be in effect acceptance of God’s word. The conclusion may be yours, but the conclusion would be to the effect that I understand that Allah wants this to be done.
So where would be the room for human interference then? Unless you prove it from the Holy Quran that such and such injunction is not a permanent injunction, it is conditional to the developmental stage of a society. If a society is found to be at such and such stage, then this would be applicable. If not, then it will not be applicable and new laws are to be invented by human beings themselves. If you can find it from the Holy Quran that there is any room for such an approach, then perhaps I could answer that question, but not without it. Actually the human consciousness and development of human consciousness and awareness and education which we have mentioned in Europe is just theoretical. The realities of life speak exactly to the contrary.
For instance, the crime of murder has risen much sharply ever since the punishment of murder has been abolished, that is the capital punishment of the murder has been abolished. These are the facts which speak for themselves. And this is why in some countries there is repeated pressure on the governments to turn back to the old capital punishment because the murder is on the increase. So where is that consciousness? With the passage of time, consciousness grows, does not diminish. And these social measures or the so-called social measures have totally failed. The incidence of murder in the western societies, particularly America, is so high that the underdeveloped countries cannot come nearer it, despite the fact that the compulsion is the least, economic pressure is the minimum. Yet despite the social awareness and all these measures and the abolition of capital punishment and apparently moving towards humanitarianism is increasing crime.
Crime of every type is on the rampant and as compared to the crime in the so-called Islamic societies, I again call it the so-called because I do not agree they are Islamic societies, but taken as such on the face value, still in comparison the crime rate and the incidence of crime plus the nature of crime, its heinousness and hideousness is so great and terrible even in United Kingdom that when you read about people behaving to small girls and small children here in this society, there is such awareness, where one does reach, what does one draw the conclusion then? That this social awareness is enough? The fact is that this moral deterioration all over the world has the one single cause. People are turning away from God.
The same is applicable here as in the Eastern societies. In the so-called Muslim countries, there is no Islam. People in practical values are running away from Islamic morality and in fact they are running away from believing in a real existent God, they are just believing in a myth. The result is that comparatively both the societies are drifting away from moral values. Now looking at it from a different angle, you were here in London when I was here in 1955-56 and ever since the program of social awareness has made quite some progress and can you honestly say that the moral values have also risen in accordance with the social awareness or have they gone down the hill? There was a time when if you dropped 1000 pounds somewhere, it would reach the lost property office immediately.
If you left a packet somewhere, next day or the day after you just report to the lost property office and they will say this is your thing, you can take it away. I was in the habit of losing things. I still go on losing things but now people help me collect them but at that time nobody helped me collect. During my two and a half year stay, there was not a single incident where I lost something in the train or at a picnic spot anywhere which was not retrieved through the lost property office and today you try something, leave a few things here and there in five different places or in four different places as Sadat Ibrahim tried things and then see whether they come back to your call or not.
So this is just a mythical thing for somebody to claim that the social awareness is gaining us something. They are two completely different things. The crime is springing from a different cause. The roots of crime are embedded deeply in a sort of atheism which is either conscious atheism or unconscious atheism and due to the increase of atheism the crime is increasing everywhere in the world, in Japan. People think this is a very highly developed society and there is no crime yet the organized prostitution nowadays in Japan has reached such a stage that the entire government of Japan has totally failed to suppress it and it’s not just prostitution. It’s a combination of abduction plus prostitution.
Thousands of girls are abducted from Korea, from Philippines, from other places under false pretence they are taken to those places, to some places in Japan and against the contract their passports are taken away and then they are made to serve as prostitutes and this is an open secret, the government of Japan knows it, they try to remove this evil but they cannot. So is other crime as well. Shoplifting for a person who comes from an alien society to England is just a God sent to him because of the restrictions in which he finds himself there are suddenly or apparently suddenly are removed, those restrictions.
So it’s a law of nature when people are brought up under strict control suddenly you release them and even if they were not previously in the habit of doing something they begin to do things. Like we have seen some Pakistani ladies who are brought up under strict purdah, sometimes there are such poor things who when go out to the British society or some other western society they think oh no, nobody can stop us, so you must chuck away everything. And similarly girls brought up in harsh environments when they are married sometimes they show their reaction. So it has nothing to do with Islam, it’s just a common psychological reaction which occurs But crime of shoplifting belonging to these people here, he suppressed it when he mentioned this? You calculate the figures.
Although in this country there are two things which I would say we should bear in mind. The first thing is that press is free, so all these crime news are well broadcasted and advertised. Just a moment. If it was your question why did you try to put it in somebody else’s mouth, now you are defending the question as if it were your own. Just a minute. The press is free, that I understand, but the point is in this regard press is freer in our country. There is no suppression of bad news in our country, even imaginary news find its way in the press. You can’t find a single incident where somebody reported a crime in any press, in any paper in Pakistan and that paper was sued against. Show me one incident.
In fact imaginary things are being published there, the crime which is non-existent. So to say that because of the press all the facts do not come to the notice, this is wrong. Even imaginary facts are coming to the notice. Still when you compare the press reports of America and press reports of Pakistan and the comparative number of crimes per capita as in relation to the population of the country, American society and the British society in certain crimes outnumber Pakistanis. And this so-called social awareness is of no avail to them whatsoever.
As I told you the social awareness according to their own claim is increasing. Is it directly proportioned to the increase of crime or inversely proportioned? That is to be seen. It is in fact the more the social awareness is increasing, more the crime is also increasing. It is not inversely proportioned, it is directly proportioned. I don’t claim, I know this is wrong to say that it is because of social awareness. What I want to point out is that despite social awareness this is happening. It has different causes and the social awareness has totally failed to curb crime or to in any way influence it favorably. It is just a talk, nothing more. Now these western scholars despite the fact that they appear to be very fair, they know where to hit and how to hit. And sometimes consciously they mix things up, what is called in Arabic Talbis. And they are past masters at Talbis. This is what is described as Dajjaliyat.
They look like your friends, in some places they praise you highly without any restrictions or restraints. And suddenly like Mr. Muir, Sir William Muir, they say something out of a soft mouth which hits the very roots of the religion which they have been praising. So their technique is that they praise the people sometimes but hit the religion whenever they can. They praise Hazrat Umar, they praise Allah and then you think that they are your advocates. They are very fair minded people. In high rhetoric they are praising our Lord and so on and so forth. And suddenly they would say one or two things here and there with some apologies which will completely deflate the whole thing they had themselves inflated.
So this is, that style I can understand that. The fact is that this comparison is unscientific, unfounded. There should be no comparison of any society in the name of religion today because religion is neither playing its role there nor is playing its role here. Neither the Christianity is responsible for what is happening here nor Islam is responsible for what is happening there. Religion is being used as political instruments. When the punishment in the name of Islam is meted out, it is to suppress a society. Not for the purpose of ingratiating Islam into that society. When they speak of Islamic penal system, it is only to control the possibility of an uprising against the regime. So through these means they strike terror. While the measures which are taken to improve the morality which should precede the application of penal system, those measures are non-existent.
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam through a message of love and conviction first created that society in which theft had disappeared, stealing was seldom to be seen. If anybody did by chance do it, he was so truthful that whenever he was apprehended he would admit it. Sometimes his conscience pricked him so much that without anybody having noticed his having stolen anything, he would go and present himself for punishment. There are so many incidents of this nature that in every type of crime this was happening when the penal system of Islam was enforced. So that shows that penal system of Islam is not suitable for every society. First the standard of the society has to be raised as Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam raised that standard himself through a long effort and sacrifice. That society then became a fit recipient of that penal system which would not look strange at all in view of the high standard of morality there.
If that is the standard of morality in this society, then to punish a thief by cutting his hands is not at all strange. It would appear that he had absolutely no justification where his economic requirements were fully met by the state. That is an additional factor. Nobody was permitted to die of hunger. His minimum needs were provided by the state. Where is the room for stealing? Plus all that moral teaching which I have mentioned. So number one, it would be a rare occasion when you will find somebody steal in such a society and if he does, then he deserves his punishment because hands are provided for a purpose, to earn your bread and living, not to deprive others of their rights.
So it’s not only a punishment, it’s symbolic. It reminds the society what is the purpose of life and why Allah has provided you with certain things. So in all that atmosphere and background, Islam should be understood. But these people intentionally leave this all out and begin to compare a decayed in society of one region with a decayed in society of another region and begin to attribute things to imaginary things. This they call western civilization. That they call Islam. And neither it is here nor there. You would never notice them comparing Hinduism with this civilization. Why don’t they do it? Do you think crime is less in India? It is far more heinous in nature and in incidents, there is no comparison.
When they go rioting against the others, the crime they commit and the cruelty which is perpetrated by them has no comparison with what happens in Pakistan. They never pick Hinduism out because they are fundamentally full of hatred against Islam. So they wear some cloaks of polish and civilization and inside they are concealing daggers in their cloaks. The innocent Muslims, when they read the praise, they say what a fine man this one is. And then they are stabbed at an unconscious moment when they are not on guard against a possible attack and thrust.
