Islamic state

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

An Islamic state has a

Arabic: دولة إسلامية) 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

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

Majid Khadduri gives six stages of history for the Islamic state:[4]

  1. City-state (622–632)
  2. Imperial (632–750)
  3. Universal (c. 750–900)
  4. Decentralization (c. 900–1500)
  5. Fragmentation (c. 1500–1918 )
  6. Nation states (1918–present)

Early Islamic governments

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

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 (

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

The Ottoman

Mongols' sacking of Baghdad and the killing of the last Abbasid Caliph
in Baghdad, Iraq 1258.

The

Atatürk'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 Atatürk. 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

Development of the notion of dawla

The Arabic word dawla comes from the root d-w-l, meaning "to turn, come around in a cyclical fashion". In 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

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 Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā (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 khilāfat ḍurūrah (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

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

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

Government type among countries with a Muslim majority

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,

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
.

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

Brunei is an absolute Islamic monarchy. With the constitution in 1959, Islam became the official religion of the country.[18]

Iran

Leading up to the

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

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]

Yemen

The

Shari'a
(Islamic law) is the source of all legislation.

Mauritania

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

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.

Afghanistan

After the fall of Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (Soviet occupation), Afghanistan has gone through several attempts to set up an Islamic state:

See also

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Khadduri, Majid (1966). "Translator's Introduction". The Islamic Law of Nations: Shaybani's Siyar. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 19-22.
  5. .
  6. ^ Gail Minault, The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India (1982).
  7. ^ a b c d Hashmi, Sohail H. (2004). "Dawla". In Richard C. Martin (ed.). Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. MacMillan Reference.
  8. ^ a b c Akhavi, Shahrough (2009). "Dawlah". In Esposito, John L. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Nasr, S. V. R. (1996). Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism. Chapter 4. New York: Oxford University Press.
  13. ^ Minault, G. (1982). The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India. New York: Columbia University Press.
  14. ^ Kurzman, Charles (2002). "Introduction". Modernist Islam 1840-1940: A Sourcebook. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ "The golden history of Islam in Brunei | the Brunei Times". Archived from the original on 2015-10-03. Retrieved 2015-10-02.
  19. ^ Chehabi, H. E. (Summer 1991). "Religion and Politics In Iran: How Theocratic is the Islamic Republic?" Archived 2020-01-26 at the Wayback Machine Daedalus. 120. (3). pp. 69-91.
  20. ^ 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).
  21. ^ 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.
  22. .
  23. . The Islamic Republic of Mauritania, situated in western North Africa [...].
  24. ^ 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) [...].
  25. ^ 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) [...].
  26. ^ "History of Mauritania". Britannica. Retrieved 23 July 2022.

Further reading

External links