What is an Islamic state? Islamic states: types, features

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

The history of the emergence of the Islamic state is inextricably linked with the religion of the same name. This religious trend appeared thanks to the activities of the Prophet Muhammad.

Origins

Islam emerged in the 6th-7th century. He proclaimed and approved the moral norms of society, equality among all Muslims, forbade bloodshed and violence between people. All power, according to this religious trend, was given into the hands of the Prophet.

Over time, the followers of Islam became more and more. Their number began to include the bulk of the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. In this regard, the problem of orderliness of relations and general control over the adherents of this religious direction arose. The Prophet Mohammed quickly coped with the solution of this problem. He became that single leader who led the faithful along the bright path of Allah.

After Muhammad's death, caliphs became his successors. These are the adherents of Islam who have taken the place of the prophet. Their duties included exercising the powers of government over all Muslims.

Aggressive intentions

Already after the death of Muhammad, the idea of maintaining a “sacredwar. And this despite the fact that jihad was initially used only for defensive purposes. Only later did it gradually transform into an instrument of subjugation and capture of the infidels. A long bloody construction of the Caliph began. Islam was the state-forming factor in this process.

Caliphate

United Arabia, the majority of whose population adhered to the Muslim faith, from the first half of the 7th century. began to wage war. Arabs captured Egypt and Syria, Palestine and Iran. They extended their power to the territories of North Africa, the southern regions of Spain, Central Asia and the Transcaucasus. As a result of aggressive wars, a huge Islamic state was formed, which is known as the Arab Caliphate. The capital of this great power was the city of Baghdad. A large number of Arabians settled on the occupied lands.

This Islamic state, in its political system, retained the features of a slaveholding, but at the same time, it quickly began to degenerate into a feudal one. Large areas of conquered lands were the property of the state. Peasants who worked on their land were forced to pay taxes, equating them to hereditary tenants.

Government

The Caliphate had a centralized form of monarchy. The state had a secular and spiritual head. They were the caliph. An important feature of the existing monarchy was the combination of spiritual and secular power in one person. That is why the Islamic state Caliphate can be attributed to the feudal-theocratic. The main role among the highest state officials was assigned to the vizier. Educated sofas gained great importance in the Caliphate.

Emirs were the heads of the regions of the state. They were appointed by the Caliph. After the emergence of feudal fragmentation, many emirs became independent rulers.

At the initial stage of development of such a state as the Caliphate, religion and law merged into one. The Koran was considered the main source of law. Its author is the Prophet Mohammed. Islamic law was called "Sharia", which means "straight path". It included not only religious dogmas. The Islamic Caliphate drew from this scripture the norms of civil, criminal, and procedural law.

There were collections of legends about Muhammad's judgments, as well as works that included interpretations of Muslim lawmakers. These letters served as an addition to the Koran. They are still used today when there are gaps in the existing law.

The Islamic Caliphate had another characteristic feature. There were no divisions between religious, legal and ethical norms in it. They formed a single complex.

The Islamic Caliphate for a long time maintained state ownership of the entire earth. However, the developing feudal relations changed this arrangement. Private property began to appear.

Which state can be considered Islamic?

Muslim has not lost its strength in many countries. What is an Islamic state today? This country, at the heart of the systemwhich lies Islam. This religious direction is a dogma for the whole society. Sharia is the main scripture that guides the Islamic state. This is a document containing elements of civil and constitutional, administrative and criminal, procedural and family law.

The Islamic concept of state building is different from the Western form. First of all, it is based on the laws drawn up by the prophet Muhammad. In addition, it is worth noting that in Islam it is very difficult to classify the forms of government.

The classical theory of Islam put forward its own dogmas. She believed that adherents of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad should not be divided by nations. According to this religion, Muslims are an inseparable ummah. The federations on the political map of the world, for example, Malaysia or the United Arab Emirates, according to Islam, are associations not of peoples, but of states. This is also the fundamental difference between these countries and how the federation is understood in Western Europe.

Types of Islamic states

This concept is close to the Western legal regime. Islamic countries can be sultanates and emirates, caliphates and imamates. All these types of Muslim states are characterized by their own means and methods of government. So, the countries of the sultanate are those in which the power belongs to the dynasty of the sultan. Such a rule has developed historically. The sultanates of the world on the modern political map are Oman, which is located in Arabia, as well as Brunei,located in southeast Asia.

A very ancient Islamic state is the Sultanate of Oman. It was created in the third century, and in the middle of the seventh it became part of the Arab Caliphate. The territory of Oman is located in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. This state borders Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. In 1970, Sultan Qaboos bin Said became the head of Oman.

The Sultanate of Brunei is a tiny Islamic state. A map of Southeast Asia will show us its location. Brunei is located in the northern region of the island of Borneo. This state was formed in the sixth century. In the old days, it was considered the center of Muslim culture. Today, this state is one of the richest in the world, and its sultan is on the list of the richest people on Earth.

There are small Islamic countries in which the power belongs to the dynasty of the emir or an elected leader. They are called emirates. The peculiarity of such states is their small size. They are considered a kind of steps that serve to revive the Caliphate.

Since September 1919, the North Caucasus Emirate existed on the territory of Western Dagestan and Chechnya. Since March 1920, this Islamic state became part of the RSFSR.

But the UAE is ruled by a president. But at the same time, the United Arab Emirates is a federation that includes seven emirates. They are ruled by emirs.

The next type of Islamic state is the imam. Here the spiritual leader is the leader. They call him imam. This type of political and social structure is characterized by adherence to Shiite doctrines. At the same time, state power is given a global character (similar to the Caliphate).

On the political map of the world from 1829 to 1859 there was a state of Imamat Shamil. It was located on the territory of present-day Chechnya and Dagestan. This Islamic state was abolished by the Russian Empire. This country reached its greatest prosperity during the reign of Imam Shamil, which lasted from 1834 to 1859.

In the 19th century. there was another similar Islamic state. The map of Yemen from 1918 to 1962 pointed to the Yemeni Mutawakkil Kingdom located on its territory. This country ceased to exist after the anti-monarchist revolution.

What is the Islamic State Caliphate? According to the legal doctrine of Islam, this is a single country. In the past, the core of the Caliphate was the Arab-Muslim country created by Muhammad in the 7th century. After it became a huge state, located on the territory of the countries conquered by the Arabs. Caliphs were the rulers.

Islamic republics

There is a separate form of theocratic structure, which is common in the Middle East. This is an Islamic republic. Here, the main role in governance is given to the Muslim clergy.

The Islamic Republic is a kind of compromise. It exists between the European principles of building statehood and the dogmas of the traditional Muslim monarchy.

On the listIslamic republics are Afghanistan and Mauritania, Pakistan and Iraq. The laws in these states are created taking into account the dogmas of Sharia.

Main Concept

The Quran does not prescribe any particular form of government. Islamic law does not have its own constitutional theory. However, the basic concept of any kind of Islamic state is compliance with the requirements of Muslim teachings. This allows us to say with confidence that Islam is endowed with a “supranational” property. In addition, this doctrine consolidates the very foundations of the entire existing system. At the same time, it is Islam that plays the leading role in the activities and principles of organizing the state mechanism.

A vivid example of the embodiment of the basic concept of the Islamic state is the society that the Prophet Muhammad created. He secured in his hands the judicial, executive and control power. Moreover, the prophet made the final decisions only after consulting with authoritative Muslims. Muhammad in his teachings claimed that the idea of creating such a state was sent down to him by Allah himself.

Islamic law gradually developed. The basic concept of the state also changed. It took on an increasingly secular form and came into conflict with traditional Islamic teachings, which asserted the immutability of divine dogmas. There was a continuous process of legislative reforms. As a result, those relations that were previously regulated only by Islamic law began to be regulated by other normative sources that hadEuropean origin.

This process began in the middle of the 19th century. First of all, he touched upon those areas in which the conflict with classical Islam was not particularly acute. As a result, separate Islamic states were recognized as an alternative to a single Caliphate.

Features of the concept

The Islamic State has its own characteristics. The main feature is the subordination of all its activities to the dominant principles of Islam. It also assumes control of the people over the activities of state bodies. It is prescribed by Islamic law. Thus, the state is responsible to its citizens.

Features of the concept of building an Islamic society lie in the need to create a number of institutions. The Muslim principle of "consultation" is respected in those countries where an advisory body is at the head. An example of this is Qatar. In this state there is a Consultative Council, which is appointed by the emir. What are its main functions? He gives advice to the ruler of the state. Laws in Qatar are adopted only after consultations with this body.

The main constitutional concept of Muslim countries is the recognition of Islam as the state religion, which is preached in almost forty countries. This principle is a vivid reflection of the influence of the dogmas contained in the Qur'an on the legislative right. These provisions are reflected in the constitutions of the UAE, Jordan, Pakistan, etc.

The basic concept of many Islamic states is to consolidate the highestlegal force behind the Quran. Here, in addition to the norms prescribing secular law, Muslim law operates in parallel. At the same time, both of them have a vast scope, affecting not only personal relations, but also those that are within the framework of administrative, criminal and civil status. This concept is typical for countries located on the Arabian Peninsula, as well as for Pakistan.

It is worth saying that, despite the secular path of development, Muslim states do not abandon Islamic law as the most important factor shaping the legal consciousness, the mentality of the people, as well as the behavior of Muslims.

Basic Doctrines

The Caliphate emerged as a theocratic state. From the very beginning of its existence, its main principle was the unity of secular and spiritual power. All control was concentrated in the hands of the caliph.

The normative prescriptions given in the Koran do not indicate the need to use a specific form when building a state. The principles of the mechanisms of power are not indicated in them either. However, some worshipers of the Koran have interpreted the scripture in their own way. They created works that reflected the Islamic concept of the state. The idea on which they relied is found in the Koran. It says that the only source of power is Allah. Muhammad was only his messenger, who was assigned the function of controlling the will of the deity.

The Islamic concept of the state of steeldevelop in the 10th and 11th centuries. This was the period when the Abbasid dynasty ruled the Caliphate and the country fell into decay.

For a long time, the construction of an Islamic state was based on two approaches. The position of the first of them was based on the principle of the unity of religion and law. In contrast to this, there was an opinion that it was not necessary for Muslims to maintain a single caliphate. However, both of them saw the decisive role of Islam in regulating all aspects of society.

Today Muslim countries recognize the right to create any system of power. The main thing is that they comply with the conditions of the country.

Already at the beginning of the 20th century. most Islamic states have switched to a secular model of society. However, in the second half of the same century, there was a trend leading to the strengthening of the role of Islam in the life of these countries. This was especially evident in Iran, Pakistan, Sudan.