Institutionalization of Positive Social Systems

            

We have already seen in my article ‘Institutionalization of amr bil maroof wa nahe anel munkar’ that obligation of ‘amr bil maroof wa nahe anel munkar’ is to be performed by men of authority/influence in respect of people under their influence/authority at three levels.  First at individual level; every individual having some influence is to perform this obligation in respect of persons under his influence. Second at group level; every non-state organization having some influence is to perform this obligation regarding persons under its influence. Thirdly at state level; state institutions having legal authority are to perform this obligation in their respective jurisdictions.

In the article ‘Fundamentals Principles of Positive Social Systems’, we have seen that four principles/conditions are essential to develop positive social systems/institutions. These principles/conditions are: i. to have faith, ii. to do righteous deeds and iii. to join together in mutual teaching of Truth and iv. to join together in mutual teaching  of Patience. The more a social system/ institution is based on these four principles, the greater it is reflected as a positive social system/institution; the more a social system/institution deviates from these four principles, the greater it is rated as a negative/harmful social system/institution. It may be noted that ‘amr bil maroof wa nahe anil munkar is essentially included in righteous deeds i.e. principle no. ii, but  ‘amr bil maroof wa nahe anil munkar’ is not essentially included in obligations/principles no. iii & iv; the reason is that one form of 'amr bil maroof wa nahe anil munkar' is that which is  performed at state level through state institutions (which are always vested with legal powers for decision-making on behalf of state) whereas  obligations/principles  no. iii & iv are to be performed by every person with and/or without using legal authority. But, of course, 'amr bil maroof wa nahe anil munkar' (whether performed at state level or non-state level) is essentially included in the 'righteous deeds'. In other words, a positive social system/institution has to be based on faith; 'amr bil maroof wa nahe anil munkar'; joining in mutual teaching of Truth (encouraging righteous deeds); and joining in mutual teaching of Patience (encouraging the righteous people to keep on doing righteous deeds).

In the succeeding lines, we would see how  positive social institutions’ three essential principles- i.e. i.  ‘amr bil maroof wa nahe anil munkar’-which is a form of righteous deeds; ii.  joining together in mutual teaching of Truth; iii. and joining together in mutual teaching of Patience-  may be institutionalized as state institutions.

As already mentioned, institutions to perform ‘amr bil maroof wa nahe anil munkar’ may be vested with legal powers; because this obligation is to be essentially performed by men of authority/influence in respect of people under their influence/authority, when this obligation is to be performed at state/national level, it has to be performed through state institutions vested with legal powers (plz see for details article ‘Institutionalization of amr bil maroof wa nahe anel munkar’ ). But the institutions to perform the obligations -joining together in mutual teaching of Truth; and joining together in mutual teaching of Patience- are not essentially to be vested with legal powers because these obligations are to be performed by every person. It means the institutions to perform the obligations -joining together in mutual teaching of Truth; and joining together in mutual teaching of Patience- are not essentially state institutions; in other words, these institutions may be such organizations which perform as non-state organizations.

From the foregoing, we may infer that state institutions vested with legal powers are performing the duty called ‘amr bil maroof wa nahe anil munkar’ so far as such state institutions are performing the job of enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong. Thus all state institutions vested with legal powers of state decision-making, like judiciary, civil administration, legislatures are performing the duty of ‘amr bil maroof wa nahe anil munkar’ so far as they are performing the job of enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong.  As already mentioned, a positive social system/institution has to be based not only on 'amr bil maroof wa nahe anil munkar' but also on 'joining in mutual teaching of Truth' (encouraging righteous deeds); and 'joining in mutual teaching of Patience' (encouraging the righteous people). As last two principles based institutions may not be essentially state institutions, therefore in order to devise a positive state institution,  every state institution ( which is vested with legal power of state decision-making) may be coupled with non-state organization(s). Such non-state organizations should be part and parcel of the working of respective state institution and should have access to all documents relating to working of that institution so that such non-state organizations may oversee the concerned officials and people interacting with such institution to ensure righteous deeds to be done by the concerned officials/ people. The performance and entitled level of funding of such non-state organizations should be assessed on the basis of transparency, fairness and output shown by the corresponding state institution. By no means, such non-state organizations should be allowed to become a part of decision-making done by the concerned state institution; however, such non-state organizations’ mandate should be, among other things, to contribute to the state institution’s working and make it known to people and other state authorities vested with powers to take corrective or rewarding measures.

    Such non-state organizations may play an effective role in identifying maladies found in state institutions and exposing such maladies to the authorities vested with powers to take corrective measures, and in this way may perform the job of enjoining the righteous deeds according to spirit of Islam. Such wide spread non-state organizations connected and working with respective state institutions pertaining to health, education, revenue, taxation, police, courts, legislatures etc. may perform a complementary job for the state institutions. 

We may conclude that a positive social system/institution has to be based on four principles i.e. to have faith, ii. to do righteous deeds  iii. to encourage/enjoin the righteous deeds iv. to encourage the righteous people. Every state institution fulfils the second principle so far as it enjoins the right and forbids the wrong. But, in order to be a more positive social institution, every state institution has to fulfil principles nos.iii & iv which are to be performed by not only state but also  non-state organizations. Thus every state institution is to be coupled/ associated with non-state organization(s) which should perform the third and fourth principles i.e. enjoining the righteous deeds on the concerned officials/people, and encouraging the righteous people/officials to keep on doing righteous deeds..