On the contrary...

On the contrary, according to Islam, religion is universal in nature; encompassing all individual and social issues of man, including man’s relationship with God and his fellow creatures; and all domains of sociopolitical and international issues. The reason for this is that according to Islam, God is the Ruler of the world and mankind.

Thus, the political, economic, educational, and administrative spheres and other issues related to the life of man are within the totality of the laws and values of religion. Islamic Political Theory being “founded” by Islam After accepting that Islam has a viewpoint about governance and politics and attributing a specific theory about it to Islam, some questions regarding the nature of this theory can be raised. Is this political theory of Islam initiated, i.e.

“founded” [ ta’sisi ] by Islam, or something just approved and emulated by Islam? In other words, has Islam itself initiated this theory and presented it as a theory revealed by God like religious ordinances, “sent down by Allah”? Or, has Islam only approved a theory in this context? Replying to the above question, we have certain cases where the conduct and behavior of certain men of wisdom has been approved by Islam.

Technically, Islam’s approval here is called “approval of the way of the wise”. For example, there are transactions which people undertake—including buying and selling, renting, trading and others which are recognized as rational behavior conceived by the people and approved by religious law.

We need to know whether men of wisdom have compiled their views on governance and politics which Islam has approved and affirmed, or, presented and advanced its own theory formulated on divinely ordained Islamic rules vis-à-vis other theories and views. In reality, Islam has initiated and founded a theory in relation to politics and governance with a set of sociopolitical principles and modes of application, and not merely approved and affirmed the views and opinions of the wise.

Those who are familiar with the various problems related to government and political philosophy know that there are different opinions in this regard. One of them is called “theocracy”, which means “divine rule”. This theory was utilized during the Middle Ages in Europe by the Church. The Church, Roman Catholic in particular, claimed that it was ruling the people through authority granted by God.