Politics, Islām

Research output

Complete citation

Poljarevic, Emin. “Politics, Islām.” In Islam, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, edited by Zayn R. Kassam, Yudit Kornberg Greenberg, and Jehan Bagli, 551–560. Dordrecht: Springer, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1267-3_859.

Status

Published (2018)

Publication type

Reference work entry

Overview

This reference entry examines Islamic politics as the effort to construct a morally guided social order through relationships of authority, public policy, legislation, and communal responsibility. It explains why Islamic religious doctrine and political thought have often been closely connected while avoiding the claim that they form a single, unchanging system. The entry moves between foundational norms, classical practices of rule, civil-society relations, and modern debates over the state, democracy, Islamism, and political legitimacy. Particular attention is given to the social contract implied by obedience to political authority: leadership is recognised conditionally, insofar as it remains answerable to divine and ethical constraints. The contribution is a historically grounded account of Islamic political thought that clarifies both its normative ambitions and the variety of institutional forms through which Muslims have interpreted them.

Research question or central concern

How have Islamic sources and traditions been used to define political authority, public order, legislation, and the ethical limits of obedience?

Main argument, approach, and contribution

The entry combines conceptual history with political-theological analysis. It argues that Islamic politics is oriented toward a morally regulated social order, but that this orientation has generated diverse historical institutions and modern programmes. Its contribution is to distinguish enduring normative questions from claims that Islam prescribes one fixed political system.

Keywords

Islamic politics; political theology; authority; sharīʿa; legitimacy; state; Islamism; civil society