Station of People’s Will in Liberalism and Islam

By: Ayatullah Professor Muhammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi
As neither religion nor science can get involved in the realm of moral issues and dos and don’ts, the question arises: Which reference authority should get involved in these domains? The reply given by Western culture today is that values and dos and don’ts are a set of extrinsic affairs which are not real and essential truths and should depend upon the will of the people. Thus, in their opinion the value-oriented dos and don’ts are extrinsic concepts; that is, they are not based an objective and external truths and are only dependent on the people’s tastes. In order to know what to do and what not to do, we should not refer to religion, science, or philosophy. Instead, we should consult the people only and see what the people want.
The foundation of Western democracy in the context of legislation is that there is no reality separate from the will of the people on the basis of which dos and don’ts should be discovered. In worldly affairs, dos and don’ts which belong to empirical affairs and are related to the empirical sciences must be proved in the laboratory. But in relation to God, dos and don’ts belong to the realm of religion, so religious orders must be followed. Do’s and don’ts related to social life are related to people themselves. Neither God nor science has any right to interfere therein.
In Western culture the emphasis is on people’s will and public vote. Now, if a person believes that religion encompasses all aspects of human life; all dos and don’ts related to our social behavior come from God, and we cannot follow the will of the people, then who should be obeyed if God enjoins a thing which the people oppose?
In all societies, more or less, there is this contradiction between what the people want and what is enjoined by religion. But we have nothing to do with other religions which have been distorted. In fact, our subject of discussion is a country whose majority of people are Muslims who have accepted a religion which has explicit and specific laws on all aspects of individual and social lives including family affairs like choosing a spouse and child upbringing, as well as social and international affairs, which have been presented in most verses of the Qur’an, the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (s), and the traditions and conduct of the Ahl al-Bayt (‘a).
Those who are people of insight, are not merely blind followers and want to consciously make a choice, have to settle their stand regarding the religion which claims to have programs for all aspects of man’s life, civil, legal and international. They cannot accept the said religion and at the same time claim the people’s vote as the criterion of credibility of law, especially in cases where there is contradiction between them?
Today, unfortunately, all the things highlighted in the West are published in our periodicals. Religion regards homosexuality as the worst and filthiest practice, can people’s will takes precedence over God if people voted in favor of its permissibility?! Can these two be reconciled?
The Western world has solved such problems and cases of conflict between religion and popular will, maintaining that religion has no right to interfere in such affairs and disregard the will of people. Accordingly, religion is related to the church in which the sins of individuals are forgiven through confession and performance of a set of rituals and then the church sends them to heaven!
However, religion has no responsibility or jurisdiction in the realm of social issues in which the deciding factor is the will and vote of the people. In Canada a religious leader who had founded a new Christian sect was asked in a television program about his opinion about homosexuality. He said, “Presently, I cannot express a definite view, but I tell you that the Bible must be interpreted anew!”