This is from the book “Islamic Thought”
It dominates over the minds of the majority of Muslims nowadays a belief that Islam is flexible; and it adapts with the social, economical and political situations in every time and every place; and that it changes to comply with, in terms of its ahkam (rules), the needs of the recent situations, and with the requirements of what the people, nowadays, liked and used to.
They support this claim they advocated by a principle (qaa’idah) they describe as legal (shar’i) which says: “There is no obligation that the ahkam (rules) change as the time changes.” Based on that, you find them adjust their conduct with the reality (al-waaq’i) and adapt their behaviour in accordance with what is requires. If you reminded them with the ahkam of the Shar’, they said they (the ahkam) were for a specific time; and Islam obliges men to go along with his time; and to act in accordance with what suits his time and place!! So, they justify the presence of banks based on interest (usury) and the share companies and dealing with them as a practical interest (maslahah). So Islam must be twisted to as to agree on them, for it is flexible as they forge. Women’s show-off their charm, and their mixing with others without a need approved by Shar’, and their entertainment with the foreigner men in the (night) parties; all of these must be permitted and accepted, because they are the time necessities. How then Islam disagrees with the age when the divine principle says: Islam changes as the time and place change? That is what they claim. They also say polygamy has finished as a rule because the time no more finds it pleasant. Similarly amputating the thief ’s hand and stoning the adulterer or lashing him must not be discussed, because they do not suit the taste of our current time. Thus, the principle and its examples proceed so as to be concentrated in the minds of the Muslims. This is at the time they totally disagree with Islam; they rather destroy its principles and details, demolish its legislation and obliterate its features. These ideas appeared only at the end of the nineteenth century, at the time of the worst intellectual decline. Imperialism came later on to nurture this concept till it prevailed in this harsh form.
Ahkam shar’iyyah in Islam came as systems to treat man in regards the satisfaction of his organic needs and instincts. The Legislator has addressed us with these ahkam in the Kitab and the Sunnah, which are the only source in Islam for deducting the ahkam shar’iyyah. The hukm shar’i is the Legislator’s speech related to the action of men. This hukm shar’i must be proved by evidence (daleel) that it is the speech of the Legislator. In other words, it must be derived from the text, which is the ayah or the hadeeth; or what is proved by the test, such as ijmaa’ us-Sahabah and the qiyas (analogy) based on a divine reason (‘illah sharee’ah). Accordingly, there is only one source for the ahkam shar’iyyah, which is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace be upon him). From these two sources, the treatments are deduced for solving the problems of people and settling the disputes amongst them. So, are the time and place considered Book or Sunnah? On what basis man is allowed to treat his problems, and the Ummah to organise the relationships of her society, according to the time and place, when Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala has obliged that the reality be treated by the ahkam deduced from the Kitab of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace be upon him)?
When the Islamic sharee’ah treats man, it requires studying the reality of his problems, then discovering the hukm of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala on them, by deducing it from the Kitab and the Sunnah, or from what they alluded to. So it is a duty upon every Muslim, when he applies the sharee’ah on the society, to study the society accurately, and then treat it by the Shar’ of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala and change it radically based on the ideology of Islam, without giving any account to the circumstances and situations in disagreeing with the Shar’. So everything that disagrees with Islam must be removed; and everything Islam commanded of must be enforced and put in application. The reality of the society must be restricted with the orders and prohibitions of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. It is not allowed for Muslims to adjust in accordance with the reality of their time and place. It is rather duty upon them to treat that with the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger.
