What Imran Khan Needs to Understand about International Law. It was never intended for Muslims

The status of the European countries remained as such till the Middle Ages i.e. till the end of the sixteenth century when the European countries started to assemble themselves to form one group capable of standing against the Islamic state. These countries were under the dominance of the church, and Christianity was the link between them. So these countries attempted to form a christian community and started to organise the relations between themselves. They agreed on a set of rules to organise relationships between themselves and this was the start of the establishment of the so-called international law.

Hence, the root of the establishment of international law was the assemblage of the European christian states on the basis of the christian bond to stand against the Islamic state. This attempt of assemblage led to the establishment of the international christian community which agreed on certain rules and measures. Included in these rules was the provision that all subjects of the countries belonging to this community should enjoy equal rights, and that these countries should have the same ideas and ideals, and that they should also accept to give to the Catholic Pope supreme spiritual authority over all countries, regardless of their school of thought. These rules became the nucleus of the international law. In actual fact the assemblage of these countries was ineffective and the rules agreed upon, failed to unite them. The feudal system was a real obstacle to the state in strengthening itself or in practising its foreign policy. The control of the church over the state, took away the authority and the independence of these states. Due to this situation a conflict took place in these countries which ended in the elimination of the feudal system.

At the time there was a collision between the state and the church which resulted in the removal of the church’s control over the domestic and foreign affairs of the state. The states remained christian however, and what occurred was an organisation and rearrangement of the relations between the state and the church, to secure the independence of the state. As a result of this, the states in Europe became strong, although, not strong enough to stand against the Islamic state. The situation remained as such, till the mid seventeenth century i.e. 1648 A.D. when in this year the European countries convened the conference of West-Valia ( West Phallia) . In this conference, the christian countries of Europe laid down fixed rules to organise the relations between themselves and formed the community of christian countries to stand against the Islamic state. The conference laid down the traditional basis of the so-called international law which was not a common international law, but a law concerning the christian countries of Europe. This law prohibited the admission of the Islamic state as part of the international community and excluded her from the international law. From this time, the so-called international community came into existence and consisted solely of European christian states regardless of them being monarchical or republican, Catholic or Protestant. Initially, the community consisted of the western European states, then it included all christian European states and then expanded more to encompass also, the non-European christian states. The Islamic state was deprived admission till the mid nineteenth century, when it became very weak to the extent that it was called the “sick man of Europe”. At that time, the Ottoman state asked to join the international community but her request was turned down.

She then persisted in demanding to be allowed admission until she was accepted, but with very harsh conditions, including the abandonment of Islam in her international relations and adopting some of the European laws. When the Ottoman state yielded to these conditions and accepted to abandon Islam in her international relations (i.e. accepted to act as a non-Islamic state) her request to join the international community was accepted, in 1856 A.D. After this, other non-christian countries like Japan joined the community. So the conference of West-Valia, convened in 1648 A.D., is considered to be the first conference that regulated the traditional basis of the international law. According to this basis, the political actions started to happen in a distinct shape, and collective international actions began to occur.

Taken from the publication Political Concepts by Taqiuddin an Nabhani issued in 1969.