http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/doctor-interrupts-camerons-nhs-photo-op/2gy5ymuc

People sometimes ask me why do I feel dissatisfied with this place and sometimes I wish I could just pack up and leave the country? It is difficult for me to explain as it is not one issue that I can pinpoint but rather it is a whole collection of issues, mentality, values, attitude and culture. It is like trying to describe the taste of durian. Where do you start?

The video above summarizes how I feel. In this video, the Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron and his side kick, Nick Clegg were taking a photo opportunity visiting one of the local hospitals and announcing his NHS reforms plan, and along came a doctor angrily telling off the PM for not abiding by the hospital rules on infection control. He storms off saying "I will not have this, GET OUT!".

Now, that is exactly my point! this is the reason why I'm dissatisfied with this country. Not that I want to shout 'GET OUT' to anyone but sometimes...if you have to, you should be able to.

The point is NOBODY should be above the law. Everyone must earn respect and no one gets any special treatment just by having a position or a title. It really doesn't matter who you are or what desert you have crawled across to get to that desired position.

The thing that frustrates me the MOST is this whole notion of kowtowing to leaders or people with positions, such thing is rife in Muslim countries, not so obvious in western countries. We should seriously ask ourselves this question...does Islam tell us to respect people for their positions? Doesn't Allah swt tells us that the highest person in the sight of Allah is the one with taqwa even if he be a slave or a pauper?

If we look at our GREAT leaders in the past such as Umar Al Khattab, he was strong and feared yet, when he wanted to restrict the women's mahr, a woman stood up and accounted him saying "Oh Umar, do you wish to make haraam a thing that Allah has made halaal" and Umar, with his might, position and honour stepped down with humility and said, "Umar is wrong and this woman is right". That, I believe is a true reflection of a leader.

I am not asking the Muslims to start becoming rude and disrespect their elders. Respecting the elders is a command from Allah but the point is we need to refer to Islam in all matters, on how leaders should behave and how the people should behave.

Allah swt says in surah 4:59 "O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority amongst you"

Hence, the issue of obedience to the ruler is linked to the obedience to Allah. We only obey the ruler when he implements the systems and rules of Islam. If he rules by anything other than Islam then, we should no longer obey him instead we should account him and speak out against him. I often tell my children that they should obey me because Allah wants them to obey their parents but if I were to ask them to commit haraam they should not obey me. The issue of obedience is NEVER personal.

Secondly, obedience in not synonymous with respect. Obeying the ruler does not mean agreeing with everything he says. This is similar to the wife's obedience to the husband, it does not mean that the wife cannot disagree, argue or gives her opinion to her husband. The obedience is for the Ahkam Shariah not to the husband per se.

The laws of Allah is sovereign and nobody is above that law. So, in actual fact it is under the Islamic rule that we can truly say all men are equal before the law. Can we say that with the current secular law when men with positions and connections confer favours from others?

We see today one by one of the Muslim rulers are being desposed by their people for reasons of treachery, exhorting the wealth of the ummah, abusing their powers and ruling by secular unjust rules; people such as Mubarak, Ben Ali, Ghaddafi and many more in the waste pipeline. These rulers should realize that the Muslim ummah have a standard and criteria of what rulers they ought to admire and respect. Our best example is the Prophet Muhammad (saw). Our role models are Abu Bakar as Siddiq, Umar Al Khattab, Umar Abdul Aziz, Muhammad Al Fateh and many more in our history books. These are true leaders who fulfill the hadith of the Prophet (saw) when he says "The Imam is a shield from behind where the Muslims fight and protect themselves."

The status of a ruler, first and foremost is not the title, the wealth, the palaces, the applause or the red carpet but rather, he is entrusted with the burden of responsibility placed by Allah on his shoulders to rule by Allah's rules, to protect the people and to spread the commands of Allah. When the ruler takes that position of leadership, he is by definition a servant to the people not the other way around.

Watching that video makes me remember how it was not to have a hierarchy, no egotistic people at the top expecting others to do their bidding. I know that not everyone is like that and I have come across many approachable and down to earth bosses...ironically, those are the ones who tend to get the most respect.