Government based on Islamic law
Not to be confused with Muslim countries, see
Muslim world
.
An
Islamic state
has a
form of government
based on
sharia law
. As a term, it has been used to describe various historical
polities
and theories of governance in the Islamic world.
[1]
As a translation of the Arabic term
dawlah isl?miyyah
(
Arabic
:
???? ???????
) it refers to a modern notion associated with
political Islam
(
Islamism
).
[2]
[3]
Notable examples of historical Islamic states include the state of
Medina
, established by the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
, and the Arab caliphate which continued under his successors and the
Umayyads
.
The concept of the modern Islamic state has been articulated and promoted by ideologues such as
Sayyid Rashid Rida
,
Mohammed Omar
,
Abul A'la Maududi
,
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
,
Israr Ahmed
,
Sayyid Qutb
and
Hassan al-Banna
. Implementation of Islamic law plays an important role in modern theories of the Islamic state, as it did in classical Islamic political theories. However, most of the modern theories also make use of notions that did not exist before the modern era.
[1]
Today, many
Muslim countries
have
incorporated Islamic law
, wholly or in part, into their
legal systems
. Certain Muslim states have declared Islam to be their
state religion
in their
constitutions
, but do not apply Islamic law in their courts. Islamic states that are not
Islamic monarchies
are mostly
Islamic republics
.
Historical Islamic states
[
edit
]
Majid Khadduri
gives six stages of history for the Islamic state:
[4]
- City-state (622?632)
- Imperial (632?750)
- Universal (
c.
750?900)
- Decentralization (
c.
900?1500)
- Fragmentation (
c.
1500?1918 )
- Nation states (1918?present)
Early Islamic governments
[
edit
]
The
first Islamic State
was the political entity established by Muhammad in Medina in 622 CE under the
Constitution of Medina
. It represented the political unity of the Muslim
Ummah
(nation). It was subsequently transformed into the
caliphate
by Muhammad's disciples, who were known as the Rightly Guided (
Rashidun
) Caliphs (632?661 CE). The Islamic State significantly expanded under the
Umayyad Caliphate
(661?750) and consequently the
Abbasid Caliphate
(750?1258).
Essence of Islamic governments
[
edit
]
The essence or guiding principles of an Islamic government or Islamic state is the concept of
al-
Shura
. Several scholars have different understandings or thoughts, with regard to the concept al-Shura. However, most Muslim scholars are of the opinion that Islamic
al-Shura
should consist of the following:
[5]
- Meeting or consultation that follows the teachings of Islam.
- Consultation following the guidelines of the
Quran
and the
Sunnah
.
- There is a leader elected among them to head the meeting.
- The discussion should be based on
mushawarah
and
mudhakarah
.
- All members are given fair opportunity to voice out their opinions.
- The issue should be of
maslahah ammah
or public interest.
- The voices of the majority are accepted, provided it does not violate the teachings of the Quran or Sunnah.
Muhammad himself respected the decision of the shura members. He is the champion of the notion of al-Shura, and this was illustrated in one of the many historical events, such as in the Battle of Khandaq (
Battle of the Trench
), where Muhammad was faced with two decisions, i.e. to fight the invading non-Muslim Arab armies outside of Medina or wait until they enter the city. After consultation with the
sahabah
(companions), it was suggested by
Salman al-Farsi
that it would be better if the Muslims fought the non-Muslim Arabs within Medina by building a big ditch on the northern periphery of Medina to prevent the enemies from entering Medina. This idea was later supported by the majority of the sahabah, and thereafter Muhammad also approved it.
Muhammad placed great emphasis on agreement about the decision of the shura because the majority opinion (by the
sahabah
) is better than a decision made by one individual.
Revival and abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate
[
edit
]
The Ottoman
Sultan
,
Selim I
(1512?1520) reclaimed the title of caliph which had been in dispute and asserted by a diversity of rulers and shadow caliphs in the centuries of the Abbasid-
Mamluk
Caliphate since the
Mongols' sacking of Baghdad
and the killing of the
last Abbasid Caliph
in Baghdad, Iraq 1258.
The
Ottoman Caliphate
as an office of the
Ottoman Empire
was abolished under
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
in 1924 as part of
Ataturk's Reforms
. This move was most vigorously protested in India, as
Mahatma Gandhi
and
Indian Muslims
united behind the symbolism of the Ottoman Caliph in the
Khilafat Movement
which sought to reinstate the caliph deposed by Ataturk. The movement leveraged the Ottoman resistance against political pressure from
Britain
to abolish the caliphate, connecting it with
Indian nationalism
and the
movement for independence from British rule
. However, the Khilafat found little support from the Muslims of the Middle East themselves who preferred to be independent nation states rather than being under the Ottoman Turkish rule. In the Indian sub-continent, although Gandhi tried to co-opt the Khilafat as a national movement, it soon degenerated into a jihad against non-Muslims, also known as Moplah riots, with thousands being killed in the
Malabar
region of Kerala.
[6]
Modern Islamic state
[
edit
]
Development of the notion of
dawla
[
edit
]
The Arabic word
dawla
comes from the root
d-w-l
, meaning "to turn, come around in a cyclical fashion". In the
Quran
, it is used to refer to the nature of human fortunes, alternating between victory and defeat (3:140). This use led Arab writers to apply the word to succession of dynasties, particularly to the overthrow of the
Umayyads
of Damascus by the
Abbasids
.
[7]
The first Abbasid caliphs themselves spoke of "our
dawla
" in the sense of "our turn/time of success".
[8]
As Abbasids maintained their power, the dynastic sense of
dawla
became conflated with their dynastic rule,
[7]
and in later times
al-Dawla
was used across the Islamic world as a honorific title for rulers and high officials.
[8]
Like their Christian contemporaries, pre-modern Muslims did not generally conceive of the state as an abstract entity distinct from the individual or group who held political power.
[7]
The word
dawla
and its derivatives began to acquire modern connotations in the
Ottoman Empire
and Iran in the 16th and 17th centuries in the course of diplomatic and commercial exchanges with Europe. During the 19th century, the Arabic
dawla
and Turkish
devlet
took on all the aspects of the modern notion of state while the Persian
davlat
can mean either state or government.
[8]
Development of Modern Conception of Islamic state
[
edit
]
According to Pakistani scholar of Islamic history Qamaruddin Khan, the term Islamic state "was never used in the theory or practice of Muslim political science, before the twentieth century".
[9]
[10]
Sohail H. Hashmi characterizes
dawla Islamiyya
as a neologism found in contemporary Islamist writings.
[7]
Islamic theories of the modern notion of state first emerged as a reaction to the abolition of the Ottoman caliphate in 1924. It was also in this context that the famous dictum that Islam is both a religion and a state (
al-Islam din wa dawla
) was first popularized.
[1]
The modern conception of Islamic state was first articulated by the Syrian-Egyptian Islamic theologian Mu?ammad Rash?d Ri?? (1865?1935). Rashid Rida condemned the
1922 Turkish Abolition of Sultanate
which reduced the
Khilafa
into a purely spiritual authority; soon after the
First World War
. In his book
al-Khilafa aw al-Imama al-Uzma
(The Caliphate or the Grand Imamate) published in 1922, Rida asserted that the Caliphate should have the combined powers of both spiritual and temporal authority. He called for the establishment of an Islamic state led by
Arabs
, functioning as a
khil?fat ?ur?rah
(caliphate of necessity) that upholds
Sharia
, and defend its Muslim and non-Muslim subjects.
[11]
Another important modern conceptualization of the Islamic state is attributed to
Abul A'la Maududi
(1903?1979), a Pakistani Muslim theologian who founded the political party
Jamaat-e-Islami
and inspired other Islamic revolutionaries such as
Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini
.
[12]
Abul A'la Maududi's early political career was influenced greatly by anti-colonial agitation in India, especially after the tumultuous abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 stoked anti-British sentiment.
[13]
The Islamic state was perceived as a third way between the rival political systems of democracy and socialism (see also
Islamic modernism
).
[14]
Maududi's seminal writings on
Islamic economics
argued as early as 1941 against
free-market capitalism
and
state intervention
in the economy, similar to
Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr
's later
Our Economics
written in 1961. Maududi envisioned the ideal Islamic state as combining the democratic principles of electoral politics with the socialist principles of concern for the poor.
[15]
Muslim world today
[
edit
]
Today, many Muslim countries have incorporated Islamic law in part into their legal systems. Certain Muslim states have declared Islam to be their state religion in their constitutions, but do not apply Islamic law in their courts. Islamic states which are not Islamic monarchies are usually referred to as Islamic republics,
[16]
such as the islamic republics of Iran,
[17]
Pakistan
and
Mauritania
. Pakistan adopted the title under the
constitution of 1956
;
Mauritania
adopted it on 28 November 1958; and Iran adopted it after the
1979 Revolution
that overthrew the
Pahlavi dynasty
. In Iran, the form of government is known as the
Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists
. Afghanistan was run as an Islamic state (
Islamic State of Afghanistan
) in the post-communist era since 1992, but then
de facto
by the
Taliban
(
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
) in areas controlled by them since 1996 and after the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban the country was still known as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan until 15 August 2021, when the
Taliban captured the country
.
Pan-Islamism
is a form of Internationalism and anti-nationalism within
political Islam
which advocates the unification of the Muslim world under a single Islamic state, often described as a caliphate or ummah. The most famous, powerful and aggressive modern pan-Islamic group that pursues the objective of unifying the Muslim world and establishing a worldwide caliphate is the Wahhabi/Salafi jihadist movement
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
.
The
Libyan interim Constitutional Declaration
as of 3 August 2011 declared Islam to be the official religion of Libya.
Brunei
is an absolute
Islamic monarchy
. With the constitution in 1959, Islam became the official religion of the country.
[18]
Leading up to the
Iranian Revolution of 1979
, many of the highest-ranking clergy in Shia Islam held to the standard doctrine of the
Imamate
, which allows political rule only by Muhammad or one of his true successors. They were opposed to creating an Islamic state (see Ayatollah
Ha'eri Yazdi
(Khomeini's own teacher), Ayatollah
Borujerdi
,
Grand Ayatollah
Shariatmadari
, and Grand Ayatollah
Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei
).
[19]
Contemporary theologians who were once part of the Iranian Revolution also became disenchanted and critical of the unity of religion and state in the Islamic Republic of Iran, are advocating
secularization
of the state to preserve the purity of the Islamic faith (see
Abdolkarim Soroush
and
Mohsen Kadivar
).
[20]
Per Supreme leader, Islamic state is the 3rd phase of Iranian Islamic Republic program and is in and of itself part of
New Islamic Civilization
.
[21]
Saudi Arabia
is an
Islamic absolute monarchy
. The
Basic Law of Saudi Arabia
contains many characteristics of what might be called a constitution in other countries. However, the
Qur'an
and the
Sunnah
is declared to be the official constitution of the country which is governed on the basis of
Islamic law (Shari'a)
. The
Allegiance Council
is responsible to determine the new King and the new Crown Prince. All citizens of full age have a right to attend, meet, and petition the king directly through the traditional tribal meeting known as the
majlis
.
[22]
The
Constitution of Yemen
declares that
Islam
is the
state religion
, and that
Shari'a
(Islamic law) is the source of all legislation.
The
Islamic Republic of Mauritania
is a country in the
Maghreb
region of western
North Africa
.
[23]
[24]
[25]
Mauritania was declared an independent state as the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, on November 28, 1960.
[26]
The Constitutional Charter of 1985 declares Islam as the state religion and
sharia
the law of the land.
Pakistan
was created as a separate state for Indian Muslims in
British India
in 1947, and followed the parliamentary form of democracy. In 1949, the first
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan
passed the
Objectives Resolution
which envisaged an official role for Islam as the state religion to make sure any future law should not violate its basic teachings. On the whole, the state retained most of the laws that were inherited from the British legal code that had been enforced by the British Raj since the 19th century. In 1956, the elected parliament formally adopted the name Islamic Republic of Pakistan, declaring Islam as the official religion.
After the fall of
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
(Soviet occupation), Afghanistan has gone through several attempts to set up an Islamic state:
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Ayubi, Nazih N.; Hashemi, Nader; Qureshi, Emran (2009).
"Islamic State"
. In Esposto, John L. (ed.).
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World
. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archived from
the original
on 2019-07-15
. Retrieved
2019-04-21
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- ^
Esposito, John L. (2014).
"Islamic State"
.
The Oxford Dictionary of Islam
. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archived from
the original
on 2021-04-26
. Retrieved
2019-04-21
.
[Islamic State] Modern ideological position associated with political Islam.
- ^
Hashmi, Sohail H. (2004). "Dawla". In Richard C. Martin (ed.).
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World
. MacMillan Reference.
One also finds in contemporary Islamist writings the neologism
dawla Islamiyya
, or
Islamic state
.
- ^
Khadduri, Majid
(1966). "Translator's Introduction".
The Islamic Law of Nations: Shaybani's Siyar
.
Johns Hopkins University Press
. p. 19-22.
- ^
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Principles of Public Administration: An Introduction
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ISBN
978-983-195-253-5
.
- ^
Gail Minault,
The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India
(1982).
- ^
a
b
c
d
Hashmi, Sohail H. (2004). "Dawla". In Richard C. Martin (ed.).
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World
. MacMillan Reference.
- ^
a
b
c
Akhavi, Shahrough (2009). "Dawlah". In Esposito, John L. (ed.).
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World
. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ^
Khan, Qamaruddin (1982).
Political Concepts in the Quran
. Lahore: Islamic Book Foundation. p. 74.
The claim that Islam is a harmonious blend of religion and politics is a modern slogan, of which no trace can be found in the past history of Islam. The very term, "Islamic State" was never used in the theory or practice of Muslim political science, before the twentieth century. Also if the first thirty years of Islam were excepted, the historical conduct of Muslim states could hardly be distinguished from that of other states in world history.
- ^
Eickelman, D. F.; Piscatori, J. (1996).
Muslim politics
. Princeton: Princeton University Press. p. 53.
The Pakistani writer Qamaruddin Khan, for example, has proposed that the political theory of Islam does not arise from the Qur'an but from circumstances and that the state is neither divinely sanctioned nor strictly necessary as a social institution.
- ^
Ayubi, Nazih N.; Hashemi, Nader; Qureshi, Emran (2009).
"Islamic State"
. In Esposto, John L. (ed.).
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World
. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archived from
the original
on 27 February 2021.
- ^
Nasr, S. V. R. (1996).
Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism
. Chapter 4. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^
Minault, G. (1982).
The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India
. New York: Columbia University Press.
- ^
Kurzman, Charles (2002). "Introduction".
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. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Khir, B. M. "The Islamic Quest for Sociopolitical Justice". In Cavanaugh, W. T.; Scott, P., eds. (2004).
The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology
. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 503?518.
- ^
Elliesie, Hatem.
"Rule of Law in Islamic Modeled States"
Archived
2019-06-10 at the
Wayback Machine
. In Koetter, Matthias; Shuppert, Gunnar Folke, eds. (2010).
Understanding of the Rule of Law in Various Legal Orders of the World: Working Paper Series Nr. 13 of SFB 700: Governance in Limited Areas of Statehood
. Berlin.
- ^
Moschtaghi, Ramin.
"Rule of Law in Iran"
Archived
2019-06-12 at the
Wayback Machine
. In Koetter, Matthias; Shuppert, Gunnar Folke, eds. (2010).
Understanding of the Rule of Law in Various Legal Orders of the World: Working Paper Series Nr. 13 of SFB 700: Governance in Limited Areas of Statehood
. Berlin.
- ^
"The golden history of Islam in Brunei | the Brunei Times"
. Archived from
the original
on 2015-10-03
. Retrieved
2015-10-02
.
- ^
Chehabi, H. E. (Summer 1991).
"Religion and Politics In Iran: How Theocratic is the Islamic Republic?"
Archived
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Daedalus
.
120
. (3). pp. 69-91.
- ^
Kurzman, Charles (Winter 2001).
"Critics Within: Islamic Scholars' Protest Against the Islamic State in Iran"
Archived
2017-08-08 at the
Wayback Machine
.
International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society
.
15
(2).
- ^
The Foundations and Indicators of the Islamic State from the Perspective of Majestic Ayatollah Khamenei
The State Studies Quarterly
Vol 9, No. 33, 2023, pp 195-222.
- ^
Marshall Cavendish (2007).
World and Its Peoples: the Arabian Peninsula
. pp. 92?93.
ISBN
978-0-7614-7571-2
.
- ^
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East
. Facts On File, Inc. 2009. p. 448.
ISBN
978-1438126760
.
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania, situated in western North Africa [...].
- ^
Seddon, David (2004).
A Political and Economic Dictionary of the Middle East
.
We have, by contrast, chosen to include the predominantly Arabic-speaking countries of western North Africa (the Maghreb), including Mauritania (which is a member of the Arab Maghreb Union) [...].
- ^
Branine, Mohamed (2011).
Managing Across Cultures: Concepts, Policies and Practices
. p. 437.
The Magrebian countries or the Arab countries of western North Africa (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia) [...].
- ^
"History of Mauritania"
.
Britannica
. Retrieved
23 July
2022
.
Further reading
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]