Community as Stakeholder

Islam emphasises the unity of Islamic nations and holds that all the nations constitute a single community, termed al-Ummah.^[891] Among the community members, all Muslims should be like brothers and they should live in tranquillity and be entitled to equal justice.^[892] This signifies that members of the community should be entitled to any legitimate rights religiously and under the law.

Narrated by Abu Hurairah r.a: ‘Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) gave a verdict regarding an aborted foetus of a woman from Bani Lihyan that the killer (of the foetus) should give a male or female slave (as a diyah). But the woman who was required to give the slave, died, so Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) gave the verdict that her inheritance be given to her children and her husband and the diyah be paid by her ‘asobah.^[894]

The concept of ‘aqilah continued until the reign of the first Caliph. During the reign of the second Caliph, Umar al-Khattab changed and extended the usage of ‘aqilah. He noticed a change in the structure of society during his reign in that Muslims were no longer attached to their tribe, but rather to the members of organised bodies.^[895] The members of such bodies may comprise of people who have a common interest, based on their work or minority to which they belong.^[896] Umar al-Khattab created registers (diwan) for members of the military in every district. Thus, the diwan would be the ‘aqilah, that is, the group of people who would be responsible for paying diyyah when a criminal who belonged to the same diwan committed Qisas and was unable to pay his/her diyyah.^[897] This revolutionised the concept of ‘aqilah to include not only the ‘asobah, but also extended families, residents in the same neighbour­hood, co-workers and members of the society.^[898]

C.