31 October 2004	Sunday	16 Ramazan 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 30: Noted scholar Dr Manzoor Ahmed has stressed the need for reinterpreting the centuries-old laws which were devised to serve requirements of monarchs, to cater to needs of people in the light of Shariat.

Speaking on the 'Enforcement of Shariat in an uneven and changing society', here at the Peshawar Press Club on Friday, he said the deconstruction of the Muslim legal system in terms of its new interpretation had become imperative for the Muslim world confronting the new challenges at the societal structure.

He was of the view that the Muslims might create a new identity by coming out of their old mind-set, 'which dissuade them from evolving a new identity being discoverers of a new society'.

He said in old times, the utterance of a monarch was taken as law and this practice continued throughout the history till the advent of democracy, a new system based on tolerance and justice. During the rein of Caliph Hazarat Umar (RA), he said, the Muslim state had influenced the vast conquered land and consolidated its political power even beyond the Arab peninsula. Hazrat Umar (RA), a companion of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), had to issue 35 edicts to solve the problems created by the clash of cultural mix, he added.

Dr Manzoor said that the religion was a multi-dimensional, but a dynamic phenomenon. The Islam is the last in the series of God-sent laws, which governed the lives of their followers in various periods of history, he added. There would be no new messenger after the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and there is no new religion after the completion of Islam, but the Muslims were to find new ways to run their mundane affairs in the light of present day needs, he said.

He said if a specific law or set of laws had become redundant, it was the duty of the lawmakers (parliament) to devise new laws to keep the cycle of life running. He said this was the only way (innovation) left with the Muslims to protect their faith and life in a rapidly changing and uneven world.

"Islam does not tolerate theocracy as the wicked papal class imposed it on the Christian world during the dark ages. Neither it divides itself in religious or secular terms. This division is the product of the Muslim kingdoms run by Muslim monarchs. The will of a person paints the system as religious or secular," he added.