Title: The Sovereignty of the Umma comes before the application of Sharî'a

"The sovereignty of the Umma (people/community) does not mean that the Umma is the criterion which must serve as the basis for the judgment we make on morality or on values, as some imagine. But the basic criterion, logically, is the authority (marji'iyya) to which man refers and in which he believes, whether this authority is religious, philosophical or secular. Thus, the knowledge of the lawful and of. What is illicit, in Islam, is not done through popular consultation, but through the sources of the Sharî'a, and first of all, through the Koran and the Sunnah.
The function of the Umma is to transform values ​​and ideas from simple moral principles into sovereign and enforceable constitutional laws.

In other words, the function of popular consultation is to rely on the will of the people when there is a conflict between values ​​and wills, in order to put an end to it by a peaceful and civilized means, and not by wars, killings, terror, oppression, exclusion, bloodshed and the violation of prohibitions, as was the case among ancient peoples, where the winner had the right to impose his will and its choices without having to refer to the will of the people.
This is why the sovereign will (siyâda) of the Umma comes before the application of sharî'a."

Author: ABD ALLÂH AL-MÂLIKÎ

Edition: Maison d’Ennour

Number of pages: 262