Islamic Political Theory: a Preliminary Note

Islam is not merely a religion, in the Western sense of the word. The failure of comprehending the nature of Islam will bring about confusion of many concepts relating to it. One of the most misunderstood is the Islamic theory concerning political and govermental affair. To fully grasp it, we need to first understand Islam in general to capture to context within which we put the political theory. It is important by virtue of its unifying nature and pervasiveness extending to all aspect of human being, and public affair is one of human aspects regulated by Islam. Unlike Christianity, Islam does not ever recognize, both conceptually and historically, what is known in the West as separation between church and state. The Islamic teaching is all-pervading and this means that Islam has set principles to every aspect of human in relating with God, himself, society, and state. Some rules are clear, explicit, and unchangeable, such those relating with religious practice, while others only detemines general rules to follow, like those of social affair.
Through Quranic revelation and exemplary life of the Prophet saw., God Almighty has guided Muslims and provides them with creed, ritual and moral injunctions to direct Muslims’ life. The most central to Islamic teaching is the principle of tawhid, which originally means the oneness of God but has direct impact to the everything. It is this faith that makes up entire life of a Muslim as an individual as well as a part of community. This faith is also reflected in the whole principles of Islamic teaching known as shari’a, which no part of it can be comprehended or applied separately. It must be understood in its entirety and implemented totally. Therefore, it is not possible to conceptualize Islamic political idea and Islamic state apart from Islamic teaching as a whole.



There is no distinction in Islam between private and public affair, as experienced in Western history. All are connected each other and not to be differentiated. In contrast to what happen to Christian, to be a good Muslim does not mean to abstain from worldly concern; on the contrary it means to fully get involved in daily life and making good for human being.
In what follows, I will try to describe some aspect of Islamic political theory grounded on its two primary Sources, as other areas are. For the philosophical perspective, Islamic political theory is normative in the sense that it is essentially based on and aimed at ethical ends. Islamic ethical values, being the basis, the way, and the end, have shaped patterns in which Islamic govermental system have been built. The highest ethical ideal in Islam is to worship Him, for human being was created to do so. This means to be completely submissive to His will as revealed in the Holy Quran and exemplified by the Prophet saw. These Two Sources comprise the whole shari’a and later were, and still are, elaborated by the Muslim scholars. This ethical ideal is the foundation on which Muslim community builds its allegiance and emotional tie, unifying them into a single brotherhood sharing the same moral code which is ultimately established on the belief in one God, regardless of their tribal, ethnological, and geographical background.
Practically, Islam provides its adherents with certain laws and institutions in which to make sure the implementation of Islamic social order and moral development. These laws and institutions are largely influenced by the Islamic culture which is basically is inspired by Islamic ethical norms. Muslim society is closely related to religious ideal of Islam. Social order resulted from Muslim society then forms Islamic polity, which example are the Prophet and the first Islamic community. This social order is accomplished by contractual structure and, as in other Islamic aspect, built upon an ethical ideal.
As for as sovereignty in Islamic state, so to speak, is concerned, it is Almighty God who has the absolute and ultimate authority in every aspect of it. The faith in unity of God gives rise to the doctrine of the unity of human race, since all human beings belong to Him. And for Muslims is to act as His vicegerents and become leaders of the rest of humankind. For their guidance to do this task, they have been guided by the Quran, the verifier and guardian of previous scripture, and the Sunna of the Prophet saw. Teleogically speaking, the state of God is for the refinement of the world order and lifting humankind to the better condition in this world as well as in the hereafter. The shari’ah is the means by which Islamic state strives to reach this goal. This means that, in Islamic state, religion, i.e. Islam, plays central role touching all spheres of its citizens.
Since the real sovereignty is in God’s hand, no one in Islamic society, not the whole Community has right to assert sovereignty, unless under the sovereignty of God. This supreme sovereignty is granted to the consensus of the Community, which choose one of them to be their leader and have privilege to abolish him, since the leader is not excepted from being the subject of law to which all people have to obey. He is elected and adhered to as long as he perform what he should do according to the law of the shari’a, from which the Community and the leader are deprived. This kind of equal status and civil society is the characteristic of Islamic politics. Instead of making a set of law, the responsibility of the Community and the leader is to implement the Rule of God (the shari’a) according to the Book of God and the traditions of the Prophet. The terms of Islamic polity are taken from the Quran and the Sunna, and so are the management of doing affairs of the state. The leader must consult the Majlis Shura (consultative group of ulama) in running state affairs. The same is applied with regard to material wealth issue, which has to be circulated among all, not only among the rich.
The constitution in Islamic state can neither be amended nor modified, since it is the Quran and the Sunna. But, at the same time, it is adaptable to all conditions, by virtue of both Sources. To run this constitution, there must be people who have deep understanding of the Sources and, therefore, they must be Muslims. The non-Muslims in an Islamic state have the equal civil rights as their Muslim counterparts and enjoy the same protection from the state.
has right to make law in the name of God.