Shariah
Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Karkhī was born in the year 260 A.H. and died in the year 340 A.H. Karkh is a town located on the western bank of the Tigris in Baghdad. He was a student of Abū Sa‘īd al-Barda‘ī (who was a student of Ismā‘īl ibn Ḥammād who was a student of Ḥammād ibn Abī Ḥanīfah). He had many students among whom Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ and al-Shāshī are better known. Karkhī’s influence is visible very clearly in the works of al-Jaṣṣāṣ.
A distinction is sometimes made between a republic and a democracy in the context of the American Constitution. It is maintained that the USA was established as a republic, but degenerated into a democracy. Does this have some implications for the Constitution of Pakistan?
The parliamentary system, embedded in the British model, has collapsed in this country. The British people waged a prolonged struggle for their rights and brought their parliament to a position of supremacy. For the people in Pakistan it is an alien system. The people do not understand it nor are they concerned with the conventions and traditions imported from Britain, as these too are alien. The parliamentarians themselves do not understand this system...
Many claims are made by jurists and scholars that Islam has its own form of democracy and political system; but when it comes to practical implementation there is very little to rely on. It is also claimed that Islam has its own system of distributive and social justice. In the light of such claims, what form will the Islamic democratic system have in the present times, and what political structures will be implemented? A ruling is required within the context of the current democratic and political system prevailing in Pakistan.