On the Islamic theory of the state

Authors

• Helmer Ringgren

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67072

Keywords:

State and religion, Islam and state, Politics and Islam, Politics and religion, Leadership, Religious, Authority, Caliphate, Islam, Islamic law

Abstract

From the very beginning, Islam has devoted more interest to polities and political theory than most other religions. If it can be said with some right that Jesus was unpolitical, Muhammad was certainly not. Islam makes no distinction between religion and polities, but the two are intimately connected, and political theory has a religious and theological motivation. That implies that, in theory, it is based on the Koran and on Tradition (sunnah) in the same way as jurisprudence in general or as any other theological discipline.