Pre-Islamic Arabic Prose Literature & Its Growth

PG PROGRAMME
ISLAMIC STUDIES
Semester—II
IS18203CR
(ISLAMIC SOCIAL SCIENCES: CONCEPTS AND DEVELOPMENT)
DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR
Course Prepared by:
Unit I, II & III

Dr. Mehraj-ud-Din Bhat
Department of Islamic Studies
Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipora
Unit IV
Sajad Rashid
Department of Islamic Studies
Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
Content Editing by:

Dr. Tauseef Ahmed Parray
Head, Department of Islamic Studies
Govt. Degree College, Damhal, Kulgam
Coordinated by:
1. Dr. Mohammad Altaf Ahanger
Sr. Assistant Professor (Urdu)
Directorate of Distance Education, University of Kashmir
2. Dr. Mohammad Dawood Sofi
Assistant Professor Islamic Studies (Contractual)
Format Editing by:

Dr. Mohammad Dawood Sofi
Assistant Professor Islamic Studies (Contractual)
Published by:
Prof. (Dr.) Tariq Ahmad Chisti
Director
Directorate of Distance Education
University of Kashmir
Srinagar
2
Table of Contents Page No
Unit I Political Science

i) Early Development of Islamic Political Thought 6-16
ii) Al-Farabi, Al-Mawardi and Shah Wali ul Allah 17-52

iii) Nature and Scope of Khilafah, Ummah 53-83
iv) International Relations in Islam 84-97
Unit II Economics
i) Economic of System of Islam: Guiding Principles 100-122
ii) Interest Free Banking in Islam 123-138
iii) Sources of Islamic Economy: Zakah, Kharaj, Khums 139-151

and Jizya
Unit III Economics and Historiography
i) The Economic Role of State 154-170
ii) Islamic Concept of History 171-180

iii) Muslim Contribution to Historiography: Ibn Ishaq 181-192
and Ibn Khaldun
Unit IV Sociology and Psychology

i) Islamic Sociology: An Introduction 194-202
ii) Islamic Institution of Family and its Social Role 203-208
iii) Islamic Psychology: An Introduction 209-219
iv) Concept of Psyche in Islam 220-224
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Unit I
Political Science
i) Early Development of Islamic Political Thought
ii) Al-Farabi, Al-Mawardi and Shah Wali ul Allah
iii) Nature and Scope of Khilafah, Ummah
iv) International Relations in Islam
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UNIT I: Political Science
Lesson 1.1: Early Development of Islamic Political Thought: An Overview
Lesson Structure
1.1.1 Introduction
1.1.2 Objectives
1.1.3 Foundations of Islamic Political Thought (from Muhammad [SAW] to 750)
1.1.4 Islamic Political Thought in the Early Middle Ages (750–1055)
1.1.5 Islamic Political Thought in the High Middle Ages (1055–1258)
1.1.6 Islamic Political Thought in the Late Middle Ages (1258–1500)
1.1.7 Islamic Political Thought in the Early Modern Period (1500–1800)
1.1.8 Let Us Sum Up
1.1.9 Check Your Progress
1.1.10 Suggested Readings
1.1.1 Introduction
Muslims are required to commit to a structure and framework of law and governance that fits
within the teachings of the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Underpinning this
requirement is the understanding that political leadership needs to be undertaken “pursuing
justice through social cooperation and mutual assistance”. Therefore, it is important to
recognize that politics is not subsidiary to Islamic thought and law; rather it is a central
component. It is important to understand the context within which Islamic political thought
has developed. Divisions among Muslims occurred immediately after the death of the
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in 11 AH/632 CE, over the issue of who should become his
political successor. In other words, the issue of “succession” had begun the topic of
discussion immediately after 632 CE. Islamic political thought has found numerous
expressions from its very beginnings down through modern times. As such, presenting an
overview of its development and essence is not an easy task. One must include not only the
contributions of key Islamic political philosophers (e.g., al-Farabi, Ibn-Khaldun, and
Avicenna) but also the religio-political perspectives of main “Islamic” schools of thought
(i.e., the Sunni, the Shi‘a, and the Kharijites), as well as an overview of main Islamic political
concepts (i.e., the question of succession and leadership, or the khilafah versus the imamah
concepts). Although some have argued that Islamic political thought has been neglected by
all but a few specialists, several scholars have undertaken the arduous task of exploring,
discussing, and summarizing the milieu, meaning, and significance of Islamic political
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thinkers, ideas, and developments. Through philosophers, concepts, and religious
movements, Islamic political thought has influenced religious, secular, and academic
domains. Thus, given its intellectual and practical significance, to comprehend the dynamics
and development of Islamic political thought warrants and justifies our examination in this
lesson. It surveys the classical period of Islamic political thought, including its origins, the
religious–political schism within Islam, and the contributions of key classical Islamic
political philosophers.
1.1.2 Objectives
 To understand the basics of Politics in Islam
 To have an overview of Political thought in Islam
1.1.3 Foundations of Islamic Political Thought (from Muhammad [SAW] to 750)
The development of Islamic political thought tracks the differing positions Muslims have
occupied during its political expansion over the course of 14 centuries. Just as Islamic history
both preserved its tradition and reshaped its internal culture consistently over this period of
expansion, so did Islamic political thought maintain certain principal foundations while
undergoing successive stages of evolution. The foundations of Islam neither allow for
distinctions between spiritual and temporal, ecclesiastical and civil, or religious and secular
categories, nor envisage the same duality of authority accepted in Western political thought
as standard, such as God and Caesar, church and state, and clergy and laity. Over the
centuries, Islamic forms of state and government, power and authority, and rule and loyalty
have exhibited great diversity. Although they were all based on the premise of a unity of
religion and state, it has nonetheless been impossible for Islam to formulate a norm of
political thought that would stand above and apart from its various cultural permutations.
Both Islamic history and Islamic political thought began in the twilight of Late Antiquity
with the hijra, the emigration of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) from Makkah to Madina in
622. During his prophetic career in Makkah, Muhammad (SAW) preached focusing his
listeners on their future in the hereafter and reminding them of their individual accountability
before God. In Madina, the circumstances demanded change, dominated by the urge to
establish the collective religious unity of a community that would enter history here and now,
and shape a polity in this world. Once the proclamation of the Qur’an came to an end with the
death of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), eschatological concerns faded; Muslims focused on
the victories of the Arab conquest and the resulting exigencies of empire-building and the
shaping of polity. Khalifah took charge in their succession to the Prophet as leaders of the
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community. Later the crisis (fitna) of wars of succession within the ranks of the believers
pitted insiders against outsiders, early Arab Muslims against new client converts, orthodox
against heterodox, tribes against tribes, regions against regions, and dynasties against
dynasties. It gave rise to sects and parties but, did not dismantle the body politic, even
though, from the ninth century onward, it allowed for the separation of political functions
between khalifa, military amirs, and viziers administering the state. Neither the bifurcation of
the khilafah in the middle of the tenth century into the Muslim East under the Buyid Amirs in
Baghdad and the Muslim West of the Fatimid caliphs in Cairo (and the Umayyad caliphs in
Cordoba) nor the influx of Turks and Mongols, respectively, in the middle of the 11th and 13th
centuries destroyed the cohesive but highly flexible structure of the Islamic polity.
Early medieval Islamic political thought proved able to build on the rudimentary foundations
of the earliest phase of Islam. Although the Qur’an was not designed to be a book of political
thought, it included guidance that Muslim political thinkers adopted in their formulation of
essential concepts. In addition, Muhammad’s organization of Madinan society, through a
document known as the Constitution of Medina, ordered a model of applied political thought
and a glimpse into the Prophet’s pragmatic approach toward the creation of a new polity. The
first four caliphs conquered and quickly established themselves as administrators of the core
lands of the future empire and encapsulated their political vision in short directives and
instructions. In Umayyad times, the caliphs defended Muslim interests, regarding the state as
their family’s beneficiary people, most of whom were non-Muslim, were regarded as clients
under the caliph’s patronage, providing the tax revenue needed by the state. As deputy
(khalīfa) of the Prophet, the ruler oversaw the rule of law and demanded unconditional
obedience on the part of his subjects. Differing views about government and society were put
down decisively as manifested by the neutralization of the Shi‘is and the suppression of the
Kharijis.
1.1.4 Islamic Political Thought in the Early Middle Ages (750–1055)
Upon the accession of the Abbasids as rulers of the empire in 750, the caliph acted as the
protector of religion and state (dīn wa-dawla). His government was God’s shadow on Earth,
under whose sheltering protection everyone could find refuge. Clerical class (kuttāb)
undertook impressive Arabic translations of Persian treatises on Iranian political institutions,
a movement spearheaded by its principal proponent, Ibn al-Muqaffa (d. 756), the champion
of the courtly ideal of government (adab). Book of the Land-tax (Kitab al-Kharaj) written by
the chief judge Abu Yusuf (d. 798) at the behest of caliph Harun al-Rashid, set a precedent
for treatises on government and fiscal matters written by ‘ulama’. In it, he covered not only
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the rules of taxation but also legal and ethical principles as applied to social groups. He
defined the role of the caliph as the shepherd of his flock and stressed his obligation to
establish divine order among the small and the great. Caliph Ma’mun (r. 813–33) attempted
to establish a high imperial ideal with the primacy of the caliph over the clerical class and the
learned elite produced a nourishing high culture infused with the Hellenistic heritage. Neo-
platonism, in particular, entered into Islamic political thought through a translation movement
of Greek (via Syriac) into Arabic. After the failure of the mihna (trial), the inquisition
enforced by an edict of the caliph to impose the theological doctrines of the Mu’tazilites as
state creed, however, the clerical and learned classes found a way to resist Caliphal authority
in matters of religious doctrine and law.
The seat of the caliphs in the center city of Baghdad, conceived as an ideal city, did not
become a throne for a pope-like authority. Rather, the caliphate had to acknowledge that the
‘ulama’, inspired by Shafa’i (d. 820) and Ibn Hanbal (d. 855), held the allegiance of the
masses and would exclusively and collectively represent the teaching authority in Sunni
Islam on a consensual basis. Situation was very different with the Shia‘, who emphasized the
teaching/final authority of their ideal leader. They advocated a theory in which overriding
authority was vested in the infallible imam, the gate (bāb) through whom God is approached
and the guarantee (hujjah) without whom the world would collapse. The Shia’s, a minority
weakened by internal dissensions and schisms, were unable to establish their own political
theology as normative which allowed them to endure the injustice of Sunni ruling institutions
by embracing the principle of cautious dissimulation (taqiyya). They were sustained by their
belief in the hidden presence of the imam and their projection into the future of the Mahdi’s
apocalyptic return.
The articulate political thought developed by the Muslim philosophers argued for a political
society (madīna) that evoked the Greek ideal city (polis), whence derived the name of
madīnat al-salām (City of Peace) that the Abbasids adopted for Baghdad, their capital. Farabi
(870–950) and Ibn Sina (980–1037), both hailing from Transoxiana, focused on the center of
the empire and supported the ideal of the philosopher-king, an ethically perfect individual, as
head of a virtuous polity. Farabi’s ideal of “the virtuous city” (al-madīna al-fādila) offered a
systematic thesis on the state as the perfect society, in which rational integrity and right
conduct are the means for achieving supreme felicity (sa‘āda). Just as the human body has
different parts doing different work in a harmonious manner, so too does the body politic
require efficient division of labor. Just as the body has a head to rule it, so too society has a
chief to rule it, guiding society toward becoming an ideal community of the virtuous. Ibn
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Sina’s chapter on governance (siyāsa) in his encyclopaedic work, The Healing of the Soul
(al-Shifa’), stressed the principle of human interdependence and promoted the ideal of the
lawgiver who is both philosopher and prophet. Responding to the need for human
government in a religious polity and reminding believers of God and the afterlife, the ruler
guarantees the observance of the civil (nāmūs) and religious (shari‘a) law.
Anchored in reason (‘aql) as its ultimate principle and worked out across boundaries of
religious affiliations between Muslims and Christians, the political theory of the Islamic
philosophers charted an intellectual trajectory that the majority of the Sunni population was
unprepared or unwilling to follow. Unlike the philosophical elite, the Sunni masses needed a
political thought system established on the platform of tradition, not abstract reason. Islamic
philosophy lacked the institutional basis that an academy would have provided. and It did not
manage to attract the popularity of important scholars of law and religion with their deep
roots in the literature of the traditions of the Prophet and his Companions (hadith) and their
codices of jurisprudence detailing the stipulations of shari‘a and amassing a myriad of
opinions on legal points (fatwa).
1.1.5 Islamic Political Thought in the High Middle Ages (1055–1258)
The political vision of Sunni Islam can be traced in two classical works on public law:
Principles of Power (al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya) of Mawardi (974–1058)—the honorary chief
judge of the Abbasid caliphs, who defined the standard theory of the Sunni caliphate and its
institutions from the perspective of the ‘ulama’; and the Siyasatnama, the famous Persian
work on statecraft by Nizam al-Mulk (1018–92)—the chief vizier of the Saljuqs—that gives
expression to the views of the clerical class. Nizam al-Mulk also created the foundations of a
network of educational institutions (madrasas) that ordered scholars of law and religion and
listeners for the dissemination of their works for many centuries. The Siyasatnama, together
with the Qabusnama, written in 1082 by Kay Ka’us, represents the apogee of the literary
genre of nasīhat al-mulūk (Advice for Rulers), that is, Mirrors for Princes literature that
counselled political leaders on statecraft and diplomacy. Diving for more than a millennium,
the genre continued with treatises of Sufis and courtiers on ethical conduct in political life,
and reached its final flourishing during the Mughal and Ottoman empires.
The impact of medieval Islamic political thought is best exemplified by the classical work of
Ghazali (1058–1111), presented with great didactic clarity in his encyclopaedic Revival of the
Religious Sciences (Ihya’‘Ulum al-Din), which relied on the legal tradition of the Shafa‘i
school of law and the theological tradition of Baqillani (d. 1013) and Juwayni (1028–85). The
major achievement of Ghazali’s magisterial work, however, was the theological and ethical
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platform he laid for Islamic political institutions, a platform that enabled the moral and
religious renewal of Islamic society. Offering a Sunni theological interpretation of political
thought, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209) tried to combine dialectical theology with a
modified version of Ibn Sina’s philosophy in order to support the doctrine that the existence
of the king-emperor, namely, the caliph, is necessary to maintain the order of the world. On
the far Western periphery of the Islamic world in the Iberian Peninsula, Ghazali’s books were
burned in public by order of the ruling dynasty, bowing to the agitation of Maliki legal
scholars. Significant contributions to Islamic political thought, however, were made in Spain
through the insightful analysis of state and society by Ibn Rushd (1126–98), one of the most
original minds in all of Islam.
1.1.6 Islamic Political Thought in the Late Middle Ages (1258–1500)
Two writers on Islamic political thought stand out in the late Middle Ages during the period
of fragmentation and before the establishment of the three empires: Ibn Taymiyya (1263–
1328) and Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406). Ibn Taymiyya, a Hanbali scholar of law and theology,
who was active in Damascus and Cairo, engaged in bitter controversies with rationalism,
Sufism, Shi‘ism, and Christianity. He championed the legal method of individual reasoning
(ijtihād) to discern the consensus of the believers and chose the middle ground between
reason and tradition, as well as between violence and piety. He proclaimed that religion and
state need one another because perfect spiritual and temporal prosperity is achieved only
when religion is put into practice by religious law that is enforced by a leader who accepts the
duty of commanding good and forbidding evil. Ibn Taymiyya maintained that the principles
of the state’s power ought to be applied rigorously through the use of the shari‘a enforced by
the ruler—an ideal that the Wahhabi movement adopted in the 18th century.
Ibn Khaldun was active in North Africa, Spain, and Egypt during periods of dynastic
declines. Although he studied broadly in philosophy, law, and theology, he presented an
empirical analysis gleaned from the history of the Berbers and Arabs in North Africa. His
study of the history of civilization revealed a cyclical pattern: the rule of nomadic chieftains
would gradually evolve into kingship in a civilized society that, in turn, would be overthrown
by another nomadic group. In order to break the cycle, authority of leadership had to emerge
from natural dominion, pass through the stage of government by men of intelligence and
insight, and stabilize itself in a polity based on the principles of religion laid down by God, as
exemplified ideally by the rule of the Prophet and his successors, the caliphs. Little research
has been done on the considerable role women played in the medieval Islamic polity.
According to the Qur’an, women are equal to men before God and have similar religious
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obligations. Though subordinate to men in the public sphere and unequal in many sectors of
Islamic law, many women played significant roles in the transmission of hadith, beginning
with Muhammad’s wives ‘A’isha and Umm Salama, and in the organization of court life, the
education of scholars, and the welfare of Islamic families and children in medieval times.
Against this backdrop, however, Muslim women now writing on Islam in the contemporary
world have begun their own active line of feminist inquiry, which promises to open new
vistas on Islamic political thought from a previously neglected sector of Islamic culture.
Since the end of Late Antiquity and through most of the millennium of the early and late
Middle Ages, the Islamic world was the leading culture on the globe. It excelled in
philosophy and the natural sciences, logic and metaphysics, mathematics, astronomy, optics,
alchemy, geography, medicine, and architecture. Its transition from vellum to paper in the
eighth century propelled it onto a great curve of literary production in both religious and
nonreligious literature. is enormous cultural achievement was accomplished in medieval
Islam because the Muslim scholars of medicine and science, the philosophers, and the
historians avidly inquired into the roots of world cultures antecedent or surrounding them in
India, ancient Iran, and the Hellenistic world. Islamic political thought drew on the classics of
Greco-Roman and Irano-Indian antiquity. It also antedated and influenced the appearance of
works of political thought in medieval Europe, building a bridge between antiquity and
modernity. Islamic political thought developed in a cosmopolitan medieval environment of
wide-ranging information about other cultures, with all their riches and restrictions. A
significant disruption in this development, however, came about from the 15th to the 16th
century, when the Western world of Europe entered upon a course of profound changes in its
vision of the world, religion, society, and politics.
1.1.7 Islamic Political Thought in the Early Modern Period (1500–1800)
The Ottomans, a group of Turkic tribesmen, established a small principality in north-western
Anatolia, crossed into Europe in 1357, and took control of the Balkans, moving their capital
from Bursa to Edirne in 1366. Although defeated by Timur (known to the West as
Tamerlane) at Ankara in 1402, they conquered Constantinople in 1453, making it their new
capital of Istanbul. With the conquest of Egypt and Syria in 1517, the Ottomans established a
large Sunni empire over Anatolia, the Balkans, and the regions of the eastern and southern
Mediterranean. Constantly engaged in warfare with European powers, they suffered a
decisive defeat at Lepanto in 1571 and failed to take Vienna in 1683. Increasingly weakened
during the 18th and 19th centuries, they acceded to the rule of Muhammad ‘Ali (r. 1805– 48)
as governor of Egypt in 1805. The Ottoman Empire officially disappeared from the
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geopolitical map when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk abolished the sultanate in 1922 and founded
modern Turkey in 1923. Ruled by pragmatic sultans, the Ottomans created a strong and loyal
military force in the Janissaries, who were recruited as children from the Christian subject
populations and raised as Muslims. Organizing themselves around the sultan, the Ottomans
integrated the military, the learned, and the bureaucracy into their patrimonial state and gave
room to the influences of Sufi orders and folk Islam. Seeing the implementation of justice as
their right and duty, the sultans conferred upon judges (qadi) the authority to administer both
shari‘a and their innovative and parallel civil law (qānūn).
Ottoman rule excelled in practical politics; its range of political theories, however, was
modest. Abu al-Su‘ud (1490–1574), a famous commentator of the Qur’an appointed as
Shaykh al-Islam, worked to strengthen the absolute rule of the sultan as the ultimate religious
and civil authority. His fatwas brought the qānūn into agreement with the shari‘a and
established the principle that the qadis derived their competence from the appointment of the
sultan and were obliged to go along with his directives in legal matters. In contrast,
Kinalizade (1510–72) followed the philosophical tradition of ethics advocating the ideal of
the philosopher-king who ruled the Virtuous City. His delineation of four status groups—men
of the pen, men of the sword, traders, and craftsmen—became the foundation of an ideal
social order known as the “right world order” (nizām al-‘ālam). In practice, however,
Ottoman society was organized according to a rougher bipartite order. Ruling class of
‘askarīs (warriors) encompassed the military, the learned, and the bureaucrats; its members
were supported by taxes levied on the ri‘āya (flock), the class of ruled subjects composed of
tradesmen, labourers, and minorities. Katib Celebi (1609–57), the most productive scholar of
the Ottoman Empire, advocated the rule of a strong and just sultan and analyzed the financial
state of the sultanate. He formulated his thought in medical terms, analogizing the body
politic to the human body and its stages of growth and decline. In addition to arguing for a
balanced budget, an increase in agricultural production, and a reduction of the armed forces,
he also exposed rampant corruption and exploitation of the peasants.
The Safavids, of Kurdish origin and Turkic-speaking, arose from the Sunni fraternity of the
Safawis organized in Azerbaijan by Saifu al-Din (d. 1334)and in the neighbouring regions of
eastern Anatolia, the movement became militantly Shia‘ under their leader Junayd (1446–60).
Led by Shah Isma‘il (1487–1524), they brought the whole of Iran under their control after
overpowering the regional rule of the Timurid Qara Quyunlu and Aq Quyunlu in 1501. In
these military endeavours, they relied on the support of Turkic tribesmen called “Redheads”
(Qizil-bash) for their distinctive red headgear. Adopting Persian as the language of their
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monarchy, the Safavid shahs set themselves in opposition to the Sunni Ottomans based at the
western flank of their territory. Claiming to be living emanations of the godhead and
representatives on Earth of the Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam of Shi‘ism, they combined supreme
secular and spiritual authority into the office of a single omnipotent ruler. The Safavids
imposed Shi‘ism as the state religion upon all of Iran and moved their capital to Isfahan
where Shia‘ Safavid power reached its apex in the reign of Shah ‘Abbas (r. 1587–1629). The
Safavid dynasty came to an end with the rise of Nadir Shah (r. 1729–47), a chieftain of
Turkic tribesmen, who consolidated his rule over all of Iran, and the subsequent Qajar
dynasty (1779–1925), a clan that had served in the Qizilbash army under the Safavids.
In the 16th century, the Safavids imposed Imami Shi‘a beliefs on a largely Sunni population,
although the distinction between the two groups was marked by significant ambiguity at the
time. Shi‘a political thought came vigorously alive in the work of Karaki (1466–1534), a
Lebanese scholar who made the provocative claim to be speaking as the general
representative (al-nā’ib al-‘āmm) of the absent imam. Karaki’s theory of authority has been
accepted and extended from his own time until the present by those scholars known as usūlīs,
that is, those who held that religious authority is derived from the study of jurisprudence
(usūl al- fiqh). In accordance with this view, the scholars of the Safavid realm recognized the
leading jurist as mujtahid al-zamān (the independent jurist of the age), and treated his
authority as absolute.
The usūlīs were challenged in the 17th century by Muhammad Amin al- Astarabadi (d. 1626–
27), whose work inaugurated what came to be known as the akhbārī or traditionalist school
of thought. The usūlīs favoured rational elaboration of the law (ijtihād) and the acquiescence
of lay Shi‘a to the opinions of qualified jurists (taqlīd). The akhbārīs saw in revelation the
sole source of the law and furthermore claimed that it was most reliably preserved in the
akhbār, the reports of the imams’ words and deeds recorded in the Four Books of Traditions
accepted by the Shi‘a. Even the Qur’an, in their view, should properly be understood through
the commentary of the imams preserved in these reports. In the later 17th century, the main
spokesman for the akhbārīs was Muhsin Fayz Kashani (1598–1680), who popularized the
political thought of his period by integrating Sufi ideas. The usūlīs, on the other hand, found
their most illustrious proponent in Majlisi (1627–1700), who developed orthodox Imami
Shi‘ism and brought the state under the direction of the legal scholars, launching attacks
against Sufis and philosophers. In the view of Majlisi and similar theorists, the king (shāh)
was but the instrument of the clerical class and dependent on the leading mujtahid.
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During three centuries (1200–1500), Muslim rule in India was organized by Afghan and
Turkic sultanates ruling mainly from Delhi. Control of the Mughal emperors over the entire
subcontinent began with Babur (1483–1530), a descendant of both Chengiz Khan and Timur,
who invaded India from the northwest. After Babur’s victory at Panipat in 1526, the Sunni
Mughal monarchy was extended over almost all of India during the long rule of Akbar the
Great (r. 1556–1605). Akbar, a superb though illiterate administrator, abolished the poll tax
levied on Hindus, favored a syncretistic religion, called dīn-i ilāhī (divine religion), and
created a ruling class of appointees (mansabdārīs) consisting of Turks, Afghans, Persians,
and Hindus. Dara Shikuh (1615–59), inclined toward the Qadiri Sufi order, inspired the
translation of the Upanishads into Persian and championed religious assimilation with
Hinduism. His program of religious openness was not to last long, as he was executed on the
orders of Aurangzeb (r. 1658–1707), his brother and rival. Aurangzeb stood up against the
eclectic traditions of his predecessors, breaking the renewed vigour of Hinduism with a
reform centered on Islamic values and supported by the Naqshbandi Sufi order. The Mughal
Empire lost its glory after Delhi was sacked by Nadir Shah in 1739 and gradually lost all its
power under the rule of British colonialism.
The open-minded innovations of the Mughal emperor Akbar broke with traditional patterns
of Islamic political thought in an attempt to build a single political community that granted
India’s majority Hindu population religious toleration and equal status with their Sunni and
Shi‘a Muslim neighbours. He also tried to reconcile Muslim sectarian groups with one
another. Claiming infallible monarchical authority and according himself supreme power as
the “perfect man” (insān al-kāmil, originally a Sufi concept), Akbar combined the role of
king with that of spiritual teacher. Proclaiming himself the highest authority in matters of
religious law as well as secular law, he set aside key stipulations of the shari‘a and embraced
religious tolerance and political equality. Akbar’s vision did not survive in India. Shaikh
Ahmad Sirhindi (1564–1624), who stood in the spiritual line of the Naqshbandis, perceived
Akbar’s ideology as destructive to Islamic law and religion. He came to be called the
“renewer” (mujaddid) as Islam entered its second millennium because he wished to restore
Islamic values in public and political life, albeit in a form inspired by Sufi piety rather than
legalistic rigidity. ‘Abd al-Haqq Dihlawi (1551–1642) went a step further and stressed the
precedence of religious law over the Sufi path and limited the king’s function to upholding
the shari‘a. Emperor Aurangzeb (1650–1707) repudiated Akbar’s tolerance toward
Hinduism; he reintroduced a unified legal system of Sunni orthodoxy based on Hanafi law
and reimposed the poll tax on non-Muslims. Shah Waliullah (1703–62), a man of
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encyclopaedic learning with roots in the Naqshbandi Sufi affiliation, strove to establish a
polity based on the shari‘a in India.
1.1.8 Let Us Sum Up
In this lesson, we learnt that from its very inception Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his life
as a religious and political leader of the Muslim ummah to modern day Islamic movements,
Islamic political thought has undergone tremendous change and development. What started
with and from a single individual transformed to a myriad of thinkers, philosophers,
movements, and schools of thought, each of which interpreted the relation between Islam and
politics in a unique and often contradictory or controversial way. This lesson has outlined the
many expressions that Islamic political thought has found from its very origins. The
questions of “succession” and “political authority” remained hot topics of discussion down to
the modern times. It suffices to say, therefore, that Islamic political thought has come a long
way, and one can only wonder what the next stages of its development may be.
Answer the following questions in about 1000 words
1. Discuss the evolution of Islamic political thought
2. Elaborate the political theories of three Muslim political theorists
3. How is Islamic political thought different from the conventional Politics?
4. Write a brief note on the idea of politics in Islam
5. Describe briefly the political life of Prophet Muhammad
6. Write a brief note on the earliest treatises written on Islamic political thought
Black, Antony, ‘Islamic Political Thought: From Past up to the Present,’ Edinburg
University Press, London.
Rosenthal, E. J, ‘Political Thought in Medieval Islam,’ Edinburg University Press, London
Sharif, M. M., ‘History of Muslim Philosophy’, Vol. 1, Adam Publishers, India
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Lesson No. 1.2: Political Thought of Abu Nasr al-Farabi
Structure
1.2.1 Introduction
1.2.2 Objectives
1.2.3 Life and Works of al-Farabi
1.2.4 Al-Farabi’s Political Philosophy
1.2.5 Qualities of the Ruler
1.2.6 The Excellent City Against the Ignorant City
1.2.7 The Road to Happiness
1.2.8 Let Us Sum Up
1.2.1 Introduction
This lesson focuses on Al-Farabi’s political philosophy. It addresses specifically his thoughts
on the following issues: first, the qualities of the ruler, second, the difference between
Excellent City and the Ignorant City; and last, his concept on how to attain happiness. During
Al-Farabi’s time, a perfect city was just a vision, and the wisdom of perfectly achieving it
was close to impossible. Even this is perfectly true in today’s society. However, today, Al-
Farabi’s political thought, especially his analysis of a ruler who should lead the community
would inspire Muslim leaders to live and lead nobly. Of course, attaining the philosopher-
king state of leadership is also impossible even today.
1.2.2 Objectives
 To explore the life and works of al-Farabi
 To understand the political philosophy of Abu Nasr al-Farabi
 To critically evaluate Al-Farabi’s analysis of political philosophy
1.2.3 Life and Works of al-Farabi
Al-Farabi’s full name was Abu Nasr ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan ibn Uzlag
Al-Farabi; and he is referred to as Farabi, Al-Farabi, Ibn Abi Rabi and Abu Nasr by the
writers of the 20th century. He was born towards the end of the ninth century, between 870
C.E. (257 AH) in the small town of Wasidj in Farab, now Otrar in Kazakhstan, in Turkish
Transoxiana, and died in December 950 C.E. (339 AH) in Damascus at the age of eighty. He
grew up during the reign of Nasr I Ibn Ahmad of the Samanid dynasty which considered
itself as Persian and has been associated in Islamic history with learning. In Bukhara, he
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pursued his advanced study of fiqh, music and later religious sciences. Upon completing his
studies, he became a qadi (judge), but he abandoned his job and left for Baghdad in his early
forties to study philosophy and logic. At that time, Baghdad was the center of Greek
philosophy. Al-Farabi studied with Nestorian Christian scientist Abu Bishr Matta ibn Yunus,
a translator of many works of Plato and other Greek philosophers. During the government of
“Abbasid Khalifah”, Al-Farabi studied again with another Christian scientist Yuhana ibn
Haylan at Harran, Southeast of Turkey. But, Majid Fakhry wrote that Yuhana ibn Haylan
initiated Al-Farabi to study logic in Baghdad, and Fakhry believed that Al-Farabi grew up in
Damascus, not in Farab. He based his account on Al-Farabi’s lost treatise Rise of Philosophy
that contains his additional autobiographical information.
T.J. de Boer, described Al-Farabi as a quiet man with his Sufi dress, and a man devoted to
life of philosophy and contemplation. M. Saeed Sheikh named Al-Farabi as the first Turkish
philosopher to make a name for being called, “al-mu’allim al-thani” or the second teacher
after Aristotle because he was a great expositor of Aristotle’s logic; and continued the
harmonization of Greek philosophy with Islam, which was begun by al-Kindi. Joshua Parens,
described Al-Farabi as a cosmopolitan man and his life provided him with firsthand
experience on the kind of diversity a ruler might face in attempting to establish a regime.
However, as Parens wrote, Al-Farabi was a “little-studied” philosopher and his influence
only lasted in the tenth century and not to have lasted beyond the thirteenth century. Al-
Farabi was barely known in the West because most medieval Christian thinkers were
interested in Muslim thinkers primarily as transmitters and modifiers of the metaphysical
doctrines of Plato and Aristotle. Yet, Parens concluded that later thinkers such as Avicenna
and Averroes who made more extensive and more novel contributions in metaphysics
acknowledged Al-Farabi’s pre-eminence among political philosophers in and of Islam.
His political theory which was written in his major works in “Ara’ ahl al-Madinah al-Fadila”
or the Opinions of the Inhabitants of the Virtuous City; “al-Siyasah al-Madaniyyah” or the
Civil Polity; and “Tahsil al-Sa’adah” or his treatise on the Attainment of Happiness.
According to Fakhry, Al-Farabi wrote a vast series of commentaries such as “Sharh Kitabal-
‘Ibarah” or On Interpretation, which is the only commentary to survive. His lost
commentaries were his commentaries on Analytica Posteriora, Analytica Priora, the
Categories, Isagoge and Rhetorica. His other writings, which consisted of a series of
analytical treatises that all had survived were “Risalah fi’l-Tawti’ah” or the Introductory
Treatise; “al-Fusul al- Khamsah” or the Five Sections; “al-Alfaz al-Musta’malah fi’l-
Mantiq” or the Terms Used in Logic; and Kitab al-Huruf or the Book of Letters.
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Al-Farabi also wrote “al-Sama al-Tabi’i,” or his commentary on Physics; “al-Athar al-
Ulawiyah” on Metereology; “Fi Mahiyat al-Nafs” on the Perpetuity of Motion and the
essence of the Soul; “Fil-Mawjudat al-Mutaghayrah” on Changing Entities and his “al-
Samawa’l-Alam” or his commentary on Heavens and the World. But, the most important
treatise he wrote was “Fi ma Yasuhwa la Yasuh min ‘Ilm Ahkam al-Najum” or “On Valid
and Invalid Astrological Inferences,” which had survived. Al-Farabi’s other major works
were “Risalafi’l-‘aql” or the Epistle on the Intellect; “Kitab ihsa’ al’ulum” or The Book of
the Enumeration of the Sciences; and his best known-work in music “Kitab al-musiqa al-
kabir” or The Large Music, which had survived. Others were “Fi’l–‘Ilm al-Illahi” or Treatise
on Metaphysics; “al-fam ‘Bayn Ra‘yay al-Hakimayn” or Treatise on the Harmony of the
Opinions of Plato and Aristotle; “Fi Ism al-Falsafah” or a treatise on the Name of
Philosophy; and “Fil-Falsafah wa Sabab Zuburiha” on Philosophy and It’s Genesis.
1.2.4 Al-Farabi’s Political Philosophy
Farabi’s premise in his political treatises was that humans cannot attain the perfection they
are destined to outside the framework of political association or in al-Farabi’s words
“societies of people”. It is because humans in their very nature cannot live alone, but need
constant help from other people to provide them their needs. This brings them together in a
community where everybody needs each other to preserve themselves and attain perfection.
This political association is directed towards attainment of true happiness or towards contrary
goals such as pleasure and acquisition of wealth. Thus, Al-Farabi arises with his virtuous city
against the non-virtuous city.
A perfect or a virtuous city was compared by Al-Farabi to a perfect and healthy body whose
organs differed in their natural functions. The heart is the master organ and is in the first rank,
while the lower organs or in the second rank functions according to the aim of perfecting the
first rank; and the lower organs being served by much lower organs perform their functions
for the perfection of the second rank. It is similar to a city where a human master is being
served by his subordinates, and the former in turn is being served by the lowest category of
subordinates who are not being served by anybody. Al-Farabi compared the relation of the
ruler of the city to its other parts into the relation of the First Cause to the other existents. He
said that the ranks of the immaterial existents were close to the First Cause, and beneath them
were the heavenly bodies, and beneath the heavenly bodies were the material bodies. And all
these existents in order of rank were in conformity with the First Cause. This al-Farabi’s
theory of preferring a first head of state existing pattern or political situation during his time,
but he indeed imagined creating a totally new virtuous state.
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1.2.5 Qualities of the Ruler
Like the First Cause, the ruler should possess full intellectual perfection. The First Cause
relates to God, and God is the ruler of the universe. Al- Farabi’s comparison between God
and the ruler through his First Cause means that God is the end-life of everything, and that
God can govern the world and universe equally and can bring happiness. God is wise and
God is everything. If the ruler can be like God, the ruler can bring genuine happiness to the
people because, like God, the ruler has an intellectual mind and he can understand and grasp
directly the problem of the community and its people.
Al-Farabi required two conditions for ruler-ship, namely: (a) he should be predisposed for it
by his inborn nature; and (b) he should have acquired the attitude and habit of will for ruler-
ship. The first condition refers to the full intellectual perfection, which is acquiring the Active
Intellect; and in between the natural receptive disposition of a man and Active Intellect is the
Passive Intellect, which has become actually intellect after perfecting apprehension of all
intelligible. Then, a man will have the Acquired Intellect that is in the middle position
between the Passive Intellect and the Active Intellect. When this Active Intellect achieved in
his theoretical, practical and representative faculties, he will receive Divine Revelation
through the mediation of his Active Intellect. And through emanation from his Active
Intellect to his Passive Intellect, he becomes a wise man and philosopher who employs an
intellect of divine quality; and through emanation from his Active Intellect to his faculty of
representation, he becomes a prophet who warns of things to come and tells things about the
present. For Al-Farabi, this man holds the most perfect rank of humanity and has reached the
highest degree of great happiness; and he knows every action by which great happiness can
be reached. The second condition requires the man to be a good orator. He should be able to
rouse people’s imagination by his well-chosen words. He should be able to lead people well
along the right path to happiness and to the actions by which happiness was to be reached.
Also, he should be of tough physique to shoulder the tasks of war. Upon completion of these
conditions, Al-Farabi calls him Imam, the sovereign of the excellent and universal city.
Then, he laid out twelve natural qualities for a ruler to finally establish the ideal city. These
are the following: (1) One of them is that he should have limbs and organs which are free
from deficiency and strong, and that they will make him fit for the actions that depend on
them; when he intends to perform an action with one of them, he accomplishes it with ease;
(2) he should by nature be good at understanding and perceiving everything said to him, and
grasp it in his mind according to what the speaker intends and what the thing itself demands;
(3) he should be good at retaining what he comes to know and see and hear and apprehend in
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general, and forget almost nothing; (4) he should be well provided with ready intelligence
and very bright; when he sees the slightest indication of a thing, he should grasp it in the way
indicated; (5) he should have a fine diction, his tongue enabling him to explain to perfection
all that is in the recesses of his mind; (6) he should be fond of learning and acquiring
knowledge, be devoted to it and grasp things easily, without finding the effort painful, nor
feeling discomfort about the toil which it entails; (7) he should by nature be fond of truth and
truthful men, and hate falsehood and liars; (8) he should by nature not crave for food and
drink and sexual intercourse, and have a natural aversion to gambling and hatred of the
pleasures with these pursuits provided; (9) he should be proud of spirit and fond of honor, his
soul being by his nature above everything ugly and base, and rising naturally to the most lofty
things; (10) Money, dirham and dinar and the other worldly pursuits should be of little
amount in his view; (11) he should by nature be fond of justice and of just people, and hate
oppression and injustice and those who practice them, giving himself and others their due,
and urging people to act justly and showing pity to those who are oppressed by injustice; he
should lend his support to what he considers to be beautiful and noble and just; he should not
be reluctant to give in nor should he be stubborn and obstinate if he is asked to do justice; but
he should be reluctant to give in if he is asked to do injustice and evil altogether; and (12) he
should be strong in setting his mind firmly upon the thing which, in his view, ought to be
done, and daringly and bravely carry it out without fear and weak-mindedness.
Al-Farabi did not base his thinking on acceptance of the power system existing during his
time. Instead of suggesting rules and policies that fit to the political dynasty, Al-Farabi rather
developed a completely alternative, different yet fresh and perfect political theory that was
impossible to implement by any men. By enumerating the qualities of the ruler and
describing the excellent city from the ignorant city, it is obvious that Al-Farabi idealized all
aspects of life within a state. However, it was impossible to realize Al-Farabi’s concept of a
state because it was heavily influenced by the Greek way of thinking, especially of Plato’s
thinking, that the Islamic view was almost blurred. This was supported by Fakhry, and says
that indeed Al-Farabi unquestionably adopted Plato’s Republic and had followed Plato in
characterizing philosophical traits of the ruler. But Al-Farabi expanded Plato’s thought by
adding prophetic qualities, which showed Al-Farabi’s influence of his religious conviction as
a Muslim.
Fakhry further stated Plato’s philosophic traits as found in al- Farabi’s twelve qualities: First,
Plato asserts that the philosopher-king should have a constant passion for any knowledge that
will reveal to him that endures forever. This is what Plato called “Word of Ideas” which
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corresponds to Al- Farabi’s “Intelligible”, which is to a large extent Al-Farabi’s sixth quality
of a ruler. Second, the philosopher-king should be a lover of truth and a hater of falsehood,
which is Al-Farabi’s eighth quality of a ruler. Third, the philosopher-king should be
temperate and no lover of money; this is Al-Farabi’s tenth quality of a ruler. Fourth, the
philosopher-king should be brave, or as Plato puts it, “death has no terrors”, this is Al-
Farabi’s twelfth quality of a ruler. Fifth, the philosopher-king should be fair minded, gentle
and easy to deal with; this is Al-Farabi’s eleventh quality of a ruler. Sixth, the philosopher-
king should be quick to learn and possess a vivid memory; this is Al-Farabi’s third quality of
a ruler. But there are three traits that appear to be missing in Plato’s list. These are eloquence,
which is Al-Farabi’s fifth quality of a ruler; sound bodily constitution, which is Al-Farabi’s
first quality; and love of justice, Al- Farabi’s eleventh quality of a ruler.
Learning these qualities of a ruler by Al-Farabi makes the heart bleed because finding these
qualities in one man is impossible. To find a philosopher- king is impossible. However, it
seems that Al-Farabi enumerated these qualities of a ruler because he always thought of the
First Cause or the God as the definite description of a person to rule. It may be assumed that,
for Al-Farabi, the philosopher-king as the best ruler is only in his mind, in his imagination or,
better to say, the ideal ruler that the kings and dynasties should possess.
Even Al-Farabi recognized that it is difficult to find all these qualities united in one man. He
came up with an alternative that is if there were two men who share half of each quality, both
of them should be considered sovereigns of the city. If all qualities are found in different
men, when all of them are in agreement, they should altogether share the rule. But again, it is
another impossible circumstance for two or more men ruling the city. This leads to the
description that Al-Farabi was called the “al-mua’allim al-thani” or the second teacher after
Aristotle. Aristotle believed that monarchy or a rule by one is the best possible state in
principle, which is similarly referring to the philosopher-king as the only ruler. If the state
comes to worst, Aristotle has another social structure which is aristocracy, which is ruled by
several rulers.
Robert Hammond added that the political philosophy of Al-Farabi is a mixture of Platonic
and Aristotelian elements. The main Platonic element in Al-Farabi’s political theory is to put
all humanity in one universal state which is an organized humanity without national
boundaries; and not ruled by a particular king but God. The Aristotelian elements are seen in
the form of government from monarchy to a sudden change to aristocracy if the required
intellectual and moral traits of the ruler cannot be found but in a few or several persons.
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1.2.6 The Excellent City Against the Ignorant City
Like Plato, Al-Farabi was also of the opinion that man is social creature with natural
tendencies for forming a community. Al-Farabi’s objective of having a community was not
just to meet basic living needs, but also to give man a complete life with happiness not only
in this world but in the hereafter.
Al-Farabi was referring to an excellent or perfect city when he discussed the conditions for
the ruler and his qualities. The other two are Complete and Incomplete Communities. There
are three types of Complete Communities, large, medium and small. A large complete
community is a merger of many groups of people who agree to merge to help each other and
cooperate, am idea of united nations. A medium complete community consists of one group
of people living in an area on this earth, a national state. A small complete community
consists of residents of a city, a city-state. The Incomplete Communities constitutes a social
life at the level of a village, street and family. A family is part of a street community; a street
community is a part of a village community; and a village community is part of a city-state
community. These were imperfect to be self- sufficient and independent in economic, social,
cultural and spiritual fields of their community members.
In opposition to the excellent city is the ignorant city, the wicked city, the city which has
deliberately changed its character, and the city which has missed the right path through faulty
judgment. The ignorant city is the city whose inhabitants do not know true happiness and the
thought of it never occurred to them. Even if they were rightly guided to happiness, they
would either not understand it or not believe it. Happiness for them is the total bodily health,
wealth, enjoyment of pleasures, freedom to follow one’s desires and being held in honor and
esteem. The ignorant city is divided into six. These are the following: (1) city of necessity;
(2) city of wealth and riches; (3) city of depravity and baseness; (4) city of honor; (5) city of
power; and (6) democratic city. The city of necessity is the city whose people will cooperate
to attain more food, drink, clothes, housing and sexual intercourse. The city of wealth and
riches is the city whose people will regard wealth as the sole aim in life. The people of the
city of depravity and baseness will give preference to food, drink and sexual intercourse or in
general the pleasures of the senses and of imagination in every form and in every way. The
people at the city of honor will cooperate to attain honor and distinction and fame, to be
treated with respect and to attain glory and splendor in the eyes of other people. The city of
power is the city whose people aim in life it to prevail over others and their enjoyment in life
is what they get from power. Lastly is the democratic city whose aim of its people is to be
free, and each of them doing what he wishes without restraining his passions in the least.
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The wicked city has the same views with those of the excellent city but the actions of its
people are the same with those of the ignorant city. The city which has deliberately changed
has taken different views and actions from that of the excellent city. And the city which
misses the right path has the same views with those of the excellent city, but their first ruler is
a hoax pretending to be receiving revelation. Al-Farabi’s description of excellent and
ignorant cities is obviously a shadow of Plato’s Republic that develops an account of a
virtuous city and a virtuous human being and contrasts it with several defective constitutions.
Comparing the excellent and ignorant cities, the main difference is the presence and qualities
of the ruler. In an excellent city, the ruler will lead the city into happiness because the ruler
himself attains happiness and he himself is happiness, thus the city itself is happiness. In an
ignorant and wicked city, the ruler will lead the city into pleasures which they believed to be
real happiness. After this comparison, a flash of pictures comes to mind—what is it like to
live in an excellent city or rather in an ignorant city? Is the excellent city of Al-Farabi is
attainable in the world? Al-Farabi might be referring to a kingdom of God, while the reality
we live in this world is the description of an ignorant city.
Just like Plato and Aristotle, Al-Farabi considered the city-state as the best and superior
system among the three types of complete communities. Several observers of the Islamic
history of political science considered Al- Farabi’s opinion strange, because at that time, the
Muslim world was divided into kinds of national states, each consisting of many cities and
villages with a wide territory. On the other hand, during the time of Aristotle, the city-state
was considered as the best political unit for Greece, although that time Greece was a colony
of Macedonia and the city-state did not function any longer. This particular thought of Al-
Farabi is evident that in the idealization of political patterns, Al-Farabi indeed ignored the
political realities in which he lived. Thus, if we look back at the political situation during Al-
Farabi’s time, Bakar was correct in saying that Al-Farabi’s political science was concerned
with social change, transformation and decadence.
Even the classification and composition of citizens were adopted by Al- Farabi from Plato.
The ranking of citizens can be seen such that Plato divided the citizens into three: the first
and highest class consisting of a head of state with authority and power to govern and
manage the state; the second class consisting of the armed forces responsible for the state’s
safety and security, and against any undermining action, internal as well as external; the third
and lowest class consisting of blacksmiths, merchants and farmers or the common people
with the task of producing all the material requirements of the state. On the other hand, Bakar
emphasized that the central theme of Al-Farabi’s political science is happiness. This theme
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determines the nature, scope, functions and aims of political science. Finally, Al-Farabi
explains that true happiness is attainable only through the virtues and the good and noble
things. Such things as wealth, honor, and sensual pleasures do not constitute true happiness
but are only presumed to be so.
1.2.7 The Road to Happiness
For Al-Farabi, happiness is the highest degree of human perfection. Once we attain
happiness, we are in need of nothing else to accompany it. Just like the rank, happiness is the
preferred good, the greatest and the most perfect end that man has ever desired. Al-Farabi’s
conclusion was that, we attain happiness only when we come to possess the noble
dispositions through the discipline of philosophy; and philosophy comes about through
excellent discernment; and excellent discernment comes about through potentiality of the
mind to perceive what is correct; and the potentiality of the mind belongs to us prior to all of
this.
Al-Farabi emphasized that it is only through a city that a person achieves happiness. This is
through actions which requires the use of the body and senses; through accidents of the soul
such as appetite, pleasure, joy, anger, fear, desire, mercy, jealousy and other feelings; and
through discernment by use of the mind.
If the actions are ignorable, it is grounds for blame, while praise if the actions are noble. If
the accident of the soul is when they are not what they should be, it is a ground for blame,
while the ground for praise is whenever they are what they should be. The division in which
one’s actions and the accidents of one’s soul are either noble or ignoble is called disposition.
It is blame whenever the discernment is poor, and it is praise whenever it is excellent. A poor
discernment is when a man has neither a true nor false conviction about what he would like to
pursue. A poor discernment is simply called stupidity or weak mind. An excellent
discernment is the powerful mind and has a true conviction and is capable of distinguishing
with regards to what he receives.
Al-Farabi clarified that when both noble disposition and the powerful mind are present, we
have goodness and perfection in our being and action. This constitutes human excellence. It
is through them that the way we behave in our lives becomes virtuous and that our modes of
comportment become praiseworthy. For Al-Farabi, our actions always follow two courses –
either pleasure or pain. It is easy to perform an ignoble action because of the pleasure we
experience in doing it. A noble action seems to bring pain, but only because of the
assumption that pleasure is the ultimate end of every action. Pleasures result from sensory
perception, in which it is thought that indulging into those pleasures is the ultimate
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perfection. Therefore, sensory pleasures cause the neglect of a noble action.
He wrote about two disciplines that man can afford to do and is capable of doing. One is the
discipline which people learned to comfort themselves in cities that include medicine,
commerce, navigation and others. The other is the discipline which people learned to comfort
themselves in ways of individual behavior. These disciplines have three human aims, and
these are the following: (1) the pleasurable; (2) the beneficial; and (3) the noble. However,
for Al-Farabi, there are only two types, one in which the aim is to obtain the noble and
another is to obtain the beneficial. What both the beneficial and the noble exactly pertain to is
when people comfort themselves in a social group and through this social group, they acquire
the ability to do what is good for them. But it is the noble that produces certainty of the truth,
knowledge of the truth and certainty being undeniably noble. This discipline is philosophy –
either theoretical philosophy or practical and social philosophy. Contrary to Aristotle, Al-
Farabi said that practical and social philosophy is the most noble compared to theoretical
because this philosophy comprises both ethics or the knowledge of noble actions and politics
or the knowledge of the factors that produce noble dispositions for city-dwelling people. On
the other hand, Aristotle preferred the theoretical knowledge because it involves the study of
truth, and it is knowledge about things that are unchanging and eternal like mathematics,
natural science, and metaphysics that will bring people closest to the Divine. Al-Farabi is
right because perfection of knowledge can only be perfected through a cycle, which is a
combination of theory and its application and vice versa. A great knowledge, no matter how
true and noble, is forfeited and useless without converting them into noble actions. This
process is a repetition until a final thought becomes true to both theoretical and practical
philosophy.
Al-Farabi’s objective in presenting his own virtuous city is to attain happiness which is only
attainable by man living in an excellent city. What is the purpose of happiness? His virtuous
city might be the kingdom of God, and a genuine happiness is attainable only with God’s
rule. This makes happiness an unrealistic aim for human beings. Therefore, happiness for a
man will remain a desire and not an absolute truth, because if a ruler cannot be like the First
Cause and if the Philosopher-king never exists in the real world, then happiness is not
attainable by man. The ignorant and the wicked city and its people will find their happiness
according to what they thought is genuine happiness. But it is a false truth and it will never
become an absolute truth because this world will never ever attain a genuine happiness.
Because of this, the purpose of happiness is to create ideal norms and characters for virtuous
individual and virtuous citizens living in a virtuous or excellent city.
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1.2.8 Let Us Sum Up
In this lesson, we discussed the life and works of Al-Farabi with special focus on his political
philosophy. What we understood is that the political philosophy of Al-Farabi is not new. It is
a re-statement of both Plato and Aristotle; he adopted Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s
monarchic and aristocratic governments. However, Al-Farabi presented his theory afresh and
innovative to the Islamic world by adding Prophetic traits to the qualities of the ruler.
Furthermore, it is evident that Al-Farabi envisioned a perfect city, not just a city-state, but
also nation-state and a united nation to be under a philosopher-king for mankind to attain
happiness through living in a perfectly guided city. Moreover, the idea of a virtuous city is a
manifestation that a philosopher like Al-Farabi aimed not to reform the existing political
system and structure of his time, but he envisioned a revolutionized system that was perfect
and noble both in the world and in the hereafter. In today’s Islamic society, it is not important
whether Al-Farabi’s perfect city is attainable or not. What is important is the inference to act
justly, especially for a ruler to do his job and practice the qualities that Al-Farabi enumerated.
It is not necessarily a philosopher-king, perfect in all fields and in all qualities. But, to rule
the city with goodness is what makes leadership noble in the eyes of the people today and in
the eyes of God and at the hereafter–-and that is perfect and noble in attaining happiness for
mankind.
1. Elaborate on the political philosophy of al-Farabi
2. Explain al-Farabi’s concept of excellent city
3. Discuss and debate on the concept of al-Farabi’s Philosopher-King
4. Write a short note on neo-platonic philosophy and its influence on al-Farabi
5. Describe the life and works of al-Farabi
Mahdi, Muhsin, ‘Alfarabi and the foundations of Islamic Political Philosophy’, University of
Chicago Press, London.
Nelly, Lahoud, ‘Political Thought in Islam: A Study in Intellectual Boundaries,’ Cambridge
University Press, London
Rosenthall, E. I. J., ‘Political Thought in Medieval Islam: An Introductory Outline’, Edinburg
University Press, London.
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Lesson 1.2: Political Thought of Imam Mawardi
Structure
1.2.1 Introduction
1.2.2 Objectives
1.2.3 A Brief Introduction of Mawardi’s Life
1.2.4 Historical Context
1.2.5 Introduction to Political Treatises
1.2.6 Imam Mawardi’s Political Thought
1.2.7 Several Perspectives on Al-Mawardi
1.2.8 Let Us Sum Up
1.2.1 Introduction
This lesson is a brief introduction to one of the well-known figures of Islamic political
history—Imam al-Mawardi. Al-Mawardi was a great jurist, sociologist and an expert in
political science. His book “On the Ordinances of Government” is held in high regard in
academics. It is recognised as a classic work in the field of Islamic political thought, much
discussed by Arab authors and Orientalists, as well as being quoted in courses on Islamic law
and government. He wrote on many subjects, including Qur’anic interpretation, religion,
government, public and constitutional law, language and ethics.
Abu al-Hasan Ali Al-Mawardi was born in Basra, Iraq, in 972 CE. The son of a rose-water
merchant, he was educated first in Basrah, where after completion of his basic education, he
learned Islamic jurisprudence from the jurist Abu al-Wahid al-Simari. He then went to
Baghdad for advanced studies under Sheikh Abd al-Hamid and Abdallah al-Baqi. He proved
himself to be skilled in jurisprudence, as well as in philosophy, political science and
literature. He was appointed as a judge (qadi) and was gradually promoted to the highly
prestigious position of Chief Judge at Baghdad. The Abbasid Caliph al-Qaim bi-Amr Allah
appointed him as his itinerant ambassador and sent him to a number of countries as the head
of special missions. In this capacity, he played a key role in establishing harmonious relations
between the declining Abbasid Caliphate and the rising powers of Shi’a Buyids and Saljuq
Turks. He was still in Baghdad when it was taken over by Buyids. Al-Mawardi died in 1058.
1.2.2 Objectives
 To examine and understand Mawardi’s contribution to political thought
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 To place Mawardi and his political treaties in the socio-political context
1.2.3 A Brief Introduction of Mawardi’s Life
The life of the famous Shafi jurist, Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali al-Mawardi has been surveyed in
many books. It is worth drawing brief attention to the main events in al-Mawardi’s life. He
was given the name Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Habib and the Kunya, Abu al-Hasan al-Mawardi,
in all historical sources. The shafi’i scholar al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463/1072) said his
father sold rose water. Growing up he was able to learn Fiqh (Islamic Comprehension) from
Abu al-Wahid al-Simari and subsequently took up his residence in Baghdad. Al-Mawardi
died at the age of eighty-six in 450/1058. He died in Baghdad, where he had spent most of his
life, and was buried in the cemetery at the Gate of War (Bab Harb). His funeral prayer was
led by his pupil, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, at the Friday mosque of Madinat al-Mansur.
Al-Mawardi was around twenty-two years of age when he first came to Baghdad. This
opinion is based on the fact that al-Mawardi, studied jurisprudence there under the Shafite
jurist Abu al-Qasim al-Saimari who died in 996. On this man’s death it would have been
natural for al-Mawardi to pursue his studies with another celebrated Shafite jurist either at
Baghdad or somewhere else. It seems most likely that he went to Baghdad, the intellectual
centre of that time. Al-Mawardi lived in an age when the science of Hadith was of prime
importance for pious Muslims. Such a study was considered, along with the Qur'an, to be one
of the two essential foundations of Islamic law, and was thus indispensable to the study of
jurisprudence. Consequently, al-Mawardi sought to complete his legal studies by receiving
instruction in these sciences from a number of masters: al-Hasan b. Ali al-Jaball, Muhammad
b. Sahr al-Minqarl, Jafar b. Muhammad b. al-Fadi al-Baghdadi, known as al-Maristani, and
Abu Hamid al-Isfara’ini who had a great impact on al-Mawardi's behaviour towards the
Buyid Prince JaIal al-Daula in 1037. Throughout the first three or four decades of his
professional life, al-Mawardi served the Abbasid Caliph al-Qadir as a judge in many towns.
In his article on al-Miwardi, Brockelmann mentioned that al-Mawardi was elevated to the
post of chief judge at Ustwa, which is a rural district in the northern section of the province of
Khurasan.
His success in various diplomatic missions showed his ability to deal with contemporary
issues in an astute manner. In the year 1030, the Caliph Qa’im bi Amr Allah, on his accession
to the throne, sent him to Abu Kalijar (d.440/1048) and he was successful in securing the
oath of allegiance to the Caliph as well as persuading him to be content with the title of Malik
al-Dawla instead of the title Sultan al-Mu'agam Malik al-Umam. Similarly, in 428/1036, on
Caliph’s instructions, he was able to bring about reconciliation between the prince Jalal al-
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Dawla and his nephew AbU Kalijar. The Caliph, Qa'im bi Amr Allah sent him as an emissary
in 433/1041, and again in 435/1043 to the Seljuq prince, Tughril Beg, who gave him a warm
welcome, acknowledged supremacy of the Caliph, and promised to treat the subjects in a
kind manner. In 434/1042, he managed to convince Prince Jalal al-Dawla not to unjustly
deprive the Caliph of his income from poll tax. Prince Jalal al-Dawla agreed to restore it from
next year.
While both Basrah and Baghdad were centers of the Mu'tazila school of thought, the great
(orthodox) Shafi'i jurist al-Subki (d. 756/1355) would later condemn al-Mawardi for his
Mu'tazila sympathies. Other biographical anecdotes remember al-Mawardi as a humble man,
eloquent and enthusiastic in his speech. Regardless of theological polemics, in his day al-
Mawardi was a "high-profile figure." He was eventually appointed chief qadi of Baghdad,
and subsequently was entrusted with various responsibilities on behalf of the Caliphate. On
four occasions he served as a diplomat on behalf of Caliph al-Qa'im (422-1031, 428/1037,
434/1042 and 435/1043; his successor al-Qadir also entrusted al-Mawardi as a diplomat in a
negotiation with the Buyid emirs and charged him with the task of writing his treatise on The
Ordinances of the Government. Among many of his various other work he is also credited
with the creation of darura, a doctrine of necessity.
Ibn Kathir in his famous al-bidaya wal-nihaya holds that he was a gentle, dignified and polite
man. The same qualities were earlier attributed to him by ibn al-jawzi (d 597/1200) and Ibn
Hajr Asqalani (d 852/1449). Al-Mawardi was acclaimed as one of the ablest men of his age.
He was not only a distinguished judge but also a distinguished author. He wrote mostly on
law and politics. His well-known extant works are Kitab al-Hawi, al-Iqna', Siyasat al-Mulk,
Qawanin al- Wizarah, Adah al-Dunya w-al-Din, and al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyyah. But it is the
last work on which his fame chiefly rests. In Muslim history, it is one of the first scientific
treatises on political science and State administration. A detailed discussion of this will be
taken up in the following pages He has mostly written on religion, language, literature,
politics, government, statecraft and social sciences.
His active engagement in political affairs won him praise from the authorities and made him
a popular figure of his age. But what made him a great figure after his death was his
contribution as a jurist. al-Mawardi occupies a prominent place among the medieval jurists
due to his contribution in the field of Islamic politics. As a jurist, he dealt with the problems
of authority at length both to clarify their standard solutions under favourable conditions and
the minimum requirements in existing circumstances. Hence, he did not merely propose an
outline for an ideal Islamic state but was very much concerned with proposing solutions to
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contemporary issues of politics. Most of the jurists after him recognized the value of his work
as fundamental in the field of Islamic politics. Even the great Ibn Khaldun acknowledged the
soundness of his opinions and recognized their validity in his own time.
In dealing with contemporary issues of politics, al-Mawardi was guided by the Qur'an, the
Sunnah, and the practices of the Rashidun period. He also critically examined past Islamic
history during the Umayyad and the Abbasid periods and benefited from the experiences of
his predecessors. In the light of these sources, he proposed a flexible framework for the
Caliphate, which along with incorporating a programme to be enforced under a strong Caliph
offered good prospects for the continuation of the existing set up under a strong Amir.
1.2.4 Historical Context
The most striking feature about this period in 11th century was the impressive decline of the
Caliphal power i.e., the Abbasid Caliphate and the concomitant rise of the power of the
sultans, local rulers, and Governors. The Buyid empire and Fatimids (shi’ites) which led to an
awkward situation in which the Muslim caliph who was supposed to balance between both
the spiritual and temporal aspect of Islamic societies, found himself increasingly unable to
assert his authority beyond posing as a figurehead or a legitimate device, with the military
commanders assuming greater de facto power in the area of government. In such
circumstances, the task of sunni jurists was not to formulate and interpret the doctrines of
Khilafa, but to harmonize an existing historical-political situation with the Sharia in the light
of political reality so as to preserve the unity of the Muslim community. This kind of
compromise did help to save and preserve the Caliphate as an institution long after the
extinction of the Abbasids in 1258. However, being contingent on accidental factors, the
theory of the Caliphate could not possibly resolve the more basic problem of the nature of
Islamic government in the theoretical and general sense. The resolution of this problem
would require a more objective approach than the one undertaken by the Caliphate theorists.
Mawardi (974/1058) occupies a prominent place among the medieval jurists due to his
contribution in the field of Islamic politics. As a jurist, he dealt with the problems of
authority at length both to clarify their standard solutions under favorable conditions and the
minimum requirements in existing circumstances. Hence, he did not merely propose an
outline for an ideal Caliphate but was very much concerned with proposing solutions to
contemporary issues of politics. He was willing to adapt law wherever possible to
circumstances.
It is well documented that Al-Mawardi came into prominence during the period in which the
Abbasid Caliphs were increasingly losing their effective political power. Political challenge
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came from several quarters, but it came primarily from the aspiring Buyid Emirs who were
then controlling Baghdad and most of the Abbasid territories. In practice, the Abbasid
Caliphs were nearly puppets of the politically strong Buyids. Other challengers include the
warring Sunni and Shi’a factions and the more distant Seljuk forces which ultimately took
Baghdad in the final months of Al-Mawardi’s life.
The power relationship between the Abbasid Caliph and the Buyid Emirs can be represented
by a ‘symbiotic’ relation. The Abbasids were striving towards more political authority after
they were relegated to mere symbols and humiliated for some time. The reign of caliph Al-
Qādir (991-1031 CE) marked a new era in which the Abbasids began to regain some of their
political power which “draws the line between a subservient caliph and an assertive one”.
The Abbasid’s quest of reassertion was also boosted by the new-found allegiance and loyalty
from the Sunni Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna (who conquered Khurasan and put an end to
Samanid rule in 998 CE). This show of loyalty was manifested in the forms of letters and
mentioning the Caliph’s name in Friday Khutbas (Sermons).
The Buyid Emirs on the other hand strove to gain more legitimacy in their own provinces in
which the Sunni majority and Shi’a minority witnessed civil unrest. Poverty and increasing
civil unrest in the capital was causing a period of weakness for the Buyid Emirs. The
economic gap between the rich and poor was sharp and continued to widen rapidly, causing
the social situation of the masses to deteriorate. Raids and robberies were rampant, organized
crime took hold, and Sunni-Shi’a strife heightened. It also did not help that the Buyid Emirs
themselves were often absent from the city due to threats and low levels of security.
Paying ‘official’ homage to the Caliphs is seen as the most expedient way, since the Caliph
was seen as the iconic religious leader of the Muslim ummah. Gaining support via the Caliph
was not the only option. Alternatively, Mu’izz Al-Daula—a Buyid Emir and Shi’a himself—
did once considered to overthrow the Sunni Abbasids and give allegiance to a Shi’a Alid
(Those claiming to be descendants of Ali and Fatimah). However, this move was halted after
consultation with his friends and advisors, out of fear that the Buyid’s legitimacy would then
be affected. Acknowledging the Alids would give credence to their authority as the rightful
rulers as proposed in Shi’a theology, and this in turn could destroy the Buyid power. It is
concluded then that the more politically expedient move is to ceremoniously give allegiance
to the Abbasid Caliphs, who they saw as weak and could easily be dealt with while boosting
their own legitimacy. It is in these specific and complex circumstances between the two
distinct powers (Abbasids versus Buyids) that Al-Mawardi works should be contextualized
including the well-known Al-Ahkām handbook.
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1.2.5 Introduction to Political Treatises
Al-Ahkām Al-Ṣulṭāniyyah is considered the first fiqhi (Islamic jurisprudence) book
exclusively dedicated to political implementation and governance. Although other Islamic
scholars had produced works that touched upon the matter of governance, but Al-Mawardi
was “the first Muslim scholar to bother to collect all the ordinances relating to public law and
arrange them in one volume.” It is regarded as the key document that influenced fifth century
Hijra (11th century CE) jurists, which saw little advances throughout the centuries. There are
several opinions on the actual year of its publication, and one scholar deduced that it was
most probably during the time of Al-Qāim (the second caliph Al-Mawardi served), in which
Al-Mawardi was thought to have fully reached his prominence, for him to be requested such
an important task.
Since then, Al-Ahkām has been the standard reference in traditional Sunni political thought as
well as modern studies of Islamic medieval political thought. However, it is important to note
that Al- Ahkām was written specifically as a handbook for the Caliph, and for busy officials
and military leaders. In the preface, it is clear that Al-Ahkām did not intend to provide a
detailed exposition of Islamic law and ethics, but rather to briefly touch upon the core
components in the political structure and provide quick guidance. Below is an excerpt of Al-
Mawardi’s introduction:
As the laws of governance are more applicable to those in authority but
because these latter, being occupied with politics and management, are
prevented from examining these laws as they are mixed with all the other
laws, I have devoted a special book to them.
1.2.6 Imam Mawardi’s Political Thought
Al-Mawardi’s political writings can be divided into two periods or styles: The first is the
‘Mirrors of Princes’ format which focuses on the king (or ruler) as a social figure, his ideal
conducts and lessons from previous rulers. The second style is the more structured and
government oriented in which the theory of imāmah (Caliphate) was put forth. Works that
belong in the first group includes Nasihat Al- Muluk (Advice to Kings), Tashil Al-Naẓar Wa
Ta’jil Al-Zafar (Facilitating Judgement and Hastening Victory), and Kitab Al-Wizara’ (Book
of Vizierate). Works that belong to the latter are Kitab Adab Ad- Dunya Wa Ad-Din (Ethics
of this World and in Religion), and the famous Al-Ahkām As-Ṣulṭāniyyah.
In his works, Al-Mawardi exhibited high levels of academic rigor, as well as openness to
opposite views. In many of his chapters, he began by laying out the main dialectics on the
subject matter. In discussing the necessity of imāmah, Al-Mawardi opened the discussion by
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offering two opposing standpoints: The necessity of imāmah based on reason, and the
necessity based on shari‘ah (he chose the latter). In another example, Al-Mawardi discusses
openly and fairly the different opinions of jurists in the matter of Caliph’s succession (i.e.
heirdom, elections, designation).
Among Al-Mawardi’s major legal expositions in Islamic political theory was the theory of
the Caliphate. In Al-Ahkām, Al-Mawardi made groundbreaking legal guidelines in
positioning the Caliph within the Islamic legal framework; it entails (among others) the
contract (aqd) of imāmah, the source of its necessity, the delimitations of the Caliph’s power,
and the process of appointment. This formalization of governance theory based on Islamic
theology is deemed as the first of its kind whereas previously no formal restrictions were put
on the Caliph. In effect, Al-Ahkām puts or reinforces the position of the caliph as “under the
law” and that “his authority subordinate to that of the law.” This, in the author’s opinion, is
some form of ‘reform’ which Al-Mawardi undertook within his capacity as a high official
and top advisor. Below are some examples of Al-Mawardi’s political theory.
He began his chapter of imāmah, or Caliphate by positioning the Caliph as a vicegerency to
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) rather than vicegerency to God directly. This was contrary to the
general norms of rulers in that period—mostly inclining towards absolute monarchy or some
form of authoritarianism, which is influenced by pre-Islamic Arabian, Byzantine, Persian and
Roman practices. Al-Mawardi advances his discussion by presenting a dialectic between two
opposing opinions on the necessity of the imāmah. The two poles were ‘rationality or reason’
and the sharī‘ah (divine laws)—where Al-Mawardi opted for the latter due to the religious
position in which the Caliph fulfils, and which Al-Mawardi claims to be supported by the
Quranic verse “O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in
authority among you.” (Quran 4:59) and the hadith “listen to them and obey them in
everything compatible with truth...”
In terms of the appointment of the cCliph, Al-Mawardi outlined several requirements to both
the electors (ahl al-ikhtiyār) and the potential caliphs (ahl al-imāmah). The criteria of
electors are, the ability to be just; have good knowledge of the sharī‘ah to evaluate the
Caliph’s religious education; and lastly having “insight and wisdom” to choose a leader best
suited to contemporary situation and the needs of the ummah. On the other hand, there are
seven requirements to be a Caliph: he must be just; must have knowledge of the sharī‘ah for
the purpose of ijtiḥād (independent interpretation); good overall health including hearing,
sight and speech; physically sound and not disabled from normal movement; good
administrative capabilities; courage and bravery to wage war against an enemy; and finally
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the (controversial) lineage requirement belonging to the family of Quraysh.
Other important key areas that Al-Mawardi expounded upon includes the concept of wizara’
(vizierate). In this regard, Al-Mawardi contributed a new perspective by treating it as a
separate subject in fiqh, part of the larger theory of Islamic government. Al-Mawardi’s
theoretical contribution to key concepts such as imāmah, wizara’ and other aspects of
governance continued to be referred to by future scholars. For example, Ibnu Khaldun derives
a lot from Al-Mawardi’s theory of imāmah in his own theory of state.
1.2.7 Several Perspectives on Al-Mawardi
Al-Mawardi’s high rank and close relationship with the Abbasid Caliphs often draw much
speculation about his works. Numerous writers about Al-Mawardi have already made several
remarks on how his political theories although based on the Islamic corpus, conveniently
served the interest of the Abbasids in their quest to assert power against the Buyid Emirs.
One writer describes how Al-Mawardi was many times being depicted as a stereotypical,
“conformist, Abbasid-patronized writer”. This is not a totally unfounded claim; a survey of
his work in Al-Ahkām quickly reveals that most of the laws prescribed are in tandem to the
interest of the Abbasids in their ‘soft’ power struggle against the Buyids. Below is a quoted
summary of how Al-Mawardi purportedly ‘harmonize’ the existing political culture based on
pre-Islamic Arabian into his interpretation of the Islamic sources:
Al-Mawardi legitimized the Abbasid tribal and monarchic system, which he found
most excellent at his time, through his book Al-Ahkām Al-Sulṭāniyya.... Al-Mawardi
‘interpreted’ the scripts to imply ‘protecting people with noble lineage’ [such as
Abbasids] from having a governor over them unless he comes from more noble roots,
‘legitimizing a caliph who is appointed by another of his own’, ‘giving people money
from the trust according to their tribal lineages’, and giving the caliph the right to
‘have a monopoly over decision making’ (al-istibdād bi al-amr).”
On the side of Buyid Emirs (but also includes Abbasid auxiliaries), who mostly relies on
military power to gain control, Al-Ahkām did not deal substantively with the matter of
usurpation. Al-Ahkām in a way also preserved some of the status quo of Buyid dominance. It
is observed that in this matter, “theory is made to suit an existing political emergency which
can only be terminated by legalizing usurpation”. As long as the Buyid Emirs are showing
some sort of ‘loyalty’ (e.g. mentioning the name of the caliph in Friday prayers, sending
official letters, sending envoys, etc.), their independent political powers are fully legitimized.
Also, in the case that caliphs did not meet the basic requirements underlined in Al-Ahkām or
been corrupted, there are no mentions of ‘impeachment’ procedures.
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As illustrated by the examples above, it is inferred that his analysis is too intimately linked
with the historical-political context of the 11thcentury, and it failed to provide an uncontested
view from the Islamic sources themselves. Perhaps the main weakness of Al-Mawardi’s
theory of government is that it touches very little about the Caliph’s (or king’s)
accountability. This is best exemplified by the abovementioned absence of any
‘impeachment’ measures. The nature of his theories and its glaring absence of legal checks
and balances causes many scholars to describe Al-Mawardi as being heavily constrained by
“necessity and expediency”—and that he was merely conducting reconciliation or
harmonization with some aspects of the Islamic texts, even to the point of disregarding the
shari‘ah in other matters.
A countervailing argument is that this ‘harmonization’ between an existing historical-
political realities with the Islamic corpus is necessary to preserve the interest and unity of the
Muslim ummah. It is important to note that the Caliphate system in which Al-Mawardi
inherited have already been established for centuries. The empire/monarchic system had been
deeply entrenched within the political system, and deeply rooted in the psychology of the
masses. Although many of Al-Ahkām’s political theories may seem unacceptable by current
contemporary standards, it was perhaps seen as the only foreseeable political system by Al-
Mawardi: a ‘given’ reality. Understandably, it is only ‘instinctive’ for him to interpret the
Islamic corpus within that model, especially in the absence of viable alternatives.
Another counter balance to this ‘conformist’ issue is the need to study holistically all of Al-
Mawardi’s works aside from Al-Ahkām. An article by Eltigani Abdul Qaaḍir Hamid posits
that current scholarly works did not fully appreciate Al-Mawardi’s works beyond the typical
assumption of being a ‘conformist’, apologetic, and politically expedient. In fact, he
continued that based on a published research paper on “Sources of the Islamic Political
Heritage”, all material known and studied by scholars in Islamic medieval political thought
doesn’t even constitute more than 18% of the material deposited as manuscripts all around
the world! Also, in the case of Al-Mawardi, Al-Ahkām should be regarded as his best
‘known’ work, not his best work. In addition, it is worth to note that Al-Ahkām itself was
specifically designed for brevity and convenience to busy political officers who do not have
much time to formally study political philosophy. To fully appreciate the totality of Al-
Mawardi’s political theory, it is claimed that his other work, the Tashil An-Naẓar houses Al-
Mawardi’s more intricate political philosophies that was often overlooked by other scholars.
1.2.8 Let Us Sum Up
In this lesson, we tried to unpack and unravel one of the prominent political theorist of
36
Muslim world. Within the complex power relations between the Caliph and the Buyid Emirs,
Al-Mawardi had proven to make the best out of the circumstances. His authority and his
ability to command high respect with key persons—especially the Caliph and the Buyid
Emirs—was utilized to further the role of the religion and better protect the interest of the
ummah in the legal sphere. Scholars suggest that he was the first to compile fiqhi matters
dedicated to governance into one comprehensive volume. The way he treats the subject as a
separate discipline also greatly influence the development of ideas by future Islamic scholars.
Although it is clear that the 11thcentury Caliphate system heavily influenced Al-Mawardi, he
did make some important original contributions to the Islamic political theory. His work in
Al-Ahkām managed to theoretically and legally reposition the imāmah and the status of the
Caliph within the boundaries of shar’iah. It formally delimits the powers of the Caliph,
introduced strict requirements and demands religious and secular accountability. This legal
repositioning and limitations of power was unprecedented in the 11thcentury political norm of
despotic emperors and absolute monarchy—prevalent in that region. Al-Mawardi’s works
marks the juncture in Islamic political thought that requires re-interpretation of the scriptural
sources and extracting original political theories for contemporary needs. It signals the start
of a process to formulate concrete policies and political laws from the broad and relatively
vague constitutional framework that sharī‘ah offers—as opposed to taking the text at face
value. In this case, Al-Mawardi had provided many useful examples on how to reinterpret
historical events in the time of the ṣahaba and ‘the Rightfully Guided Caliphs’ (Khulafa’ Ar-
Rāshidīn) to be applied in the more complex and expanded political system of the Abbasid
Caliphate empire—beyond the more simple and tribal nature of the early Muslims. His
diplomatic skills, acute awareness of the contemporary politics (the 11thcentury Abbasid
caliphate), and his ability to make practical legal improvements through academic rigor and
creative thinking is what contemporary Islamic thinkers now should strive to emulate.
1. Explain and discuss the Theory of Caliphate of Al-Mawardi
2. Mawardi’s political thought was conditioned in his religio-political context. Elaborate
3. Write a brief note on the life of Imam Mawardi
4. Explain Mawardi’s theory of Imamate
5. Discuss the main contribution of Mawardi to Islamic Political Thought
37
Lambton, A. K. S. (1981). State and Government in Medieval Islam: An Introduction to the
Study of Islamic Political Theory: the Jurists. Oxford University Press.
Rosenthal, E. I. J. (1958). Political Thought in Medieval Islam: An Introductory Outline.
Cambridge University Press.
Hamid, E. A. (2001). “Al-Mawardi’s Theory of State-Some Ignored Dimensions”. American
Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 18(4), 1–18.
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Lesson 1.2: Political Thought of Shah Waliullah
Structure
1.2.1 Introduction
1.2.2 Objectives
1.2.3 Shah Walilluah and the Concept of Khilafah
1.2.4 Qualifications of the Caliph
1.2.5 Shāh Waliullah in the Contemporary Politics
1.2.6 Significance of the Political Domination
1.2.7 Revolution
1.2.8 Shah Waliullah’s Concept of Jihad
1.2.9 Let Us Sum Up
1.2.1 Introduction
Shah Waliullah was one of the most outstanding religious scholars of Muslim South Asia. He
was a prolific writer in Arabic and Persian. His political theory is largely found in two
comprehensive works—Hujjat Allah al-Baligah (The conclusive argument from God) and al-
Budur al-Bazigah (Full moon appearing on the horizon)—and in a third book about the
Caliphate, Izalat al-Khafa’ ‘an Khilafat al-Khulafa’ (Removing rancor in issues concerning
the Caliphate), written near the end of his career. Waliullah was a synthetic thinker, and his
political ideas reflect the Islamic tradition of idealistic works, such as Farabi’s Virtuous City,
and are based on Platonic ideas of the ideal state as well as classical Islamic works on
government, such as Mawardi’s rules for the Caliph. One occasion, he offers practical
observations and critiques of existing policy and governance in response to circumstances of
later Mughal rule in India. Since, he flourished during the decline of the Mughal Empire of
India, an era when the Muslim community in India was facing a grave crisis in every walk of
life: socio- political, religious or economic. This crisis provided Shah Walĭullah with an
intellectual irritant and prompted him to discuss the Muslims’ problems. Based on the
teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW), he urged the ‘Ulama’, Sufis,
Muslim rulers and Ummah at large to come back to the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah
rejecting all kinds of exaggerations and negligence in religious matters. Shah Waliullah,
employing his research in to the depths of the Islamic tradition, came forward with many
pragmatic and bold ideas and, thereby, revived the intellectual life of his community and
39
enriched its cumulative store of ideas. On account of his creative thinking, he put forth a
great and lasting influence on the Muslim society of the Indian subcontinent, which can still
be perceived among the academic circles of the country. Today, almost all of the ‘Ulama’ of
Indo-Pak subcontinent, despite their different religious affiliations, claim to be belonged to
his intellectual lineage. The respect and influence commanded by Shah Waliullah prompted
the followers of various schools of thought to invoke his authority in support of their
respective standpoints and attitudes.
1.2.2 Objectives
 To understand the importance of Shah Waliullah’s thought
 To explicate different dimensions of his political thought
 To explore the impact of Shah Waliullah on the scholars of Indian sub-continent
1.2.3 Shah Walilluah and the Concept of Khilafah
Shāh Walīullah did not see religion and politics separately. As a scholar of Islamic sciences
he conceived religion as a way of life, and in his Hujjatullah al-Baligah he successfully
strived to present Islam as a code of human life, spiritual as well as temporal. Matter and
spirit do not make any contrast in his system of thought. Khilafah. relates to both of these
aspects, and as man is the Khalifah (vicegerent) of Allah on earth, he is duty-bound to carry
out the demands of Khilafah. According to Shāh Walīullah, it is collectively incumbent (Fard
kifaya) upon Muslims at all times to elect and install a Khalifah possessing the requisite
qualifications and preconditions. To support this contention, he gave several arguments that
can be summed up here. First, the collective reason of mankind requires that a Khalifah
should be there to look after interests which otherwise cannot be protected. Secondly, the
Khalifah is appointed to achieve the two categories of objectives. The Prophet (SAW) was
also sent to achieve them. Therefore, after the Prophet (SAW) passed away, a Khalifah or
Imam was needed to succeed him and implement his inunctions and commandments. That is
why obedience to the Amir or Khalifah is equal to obedience to the Prophet of Allah and his
disobedience amounts to disobedience to Allah. This fact has also been stated in a few
Ahadith quoted by Shāh Walīullah in this context:
“Whosoever obeys the Amir (commander of the faithful) verily he has
obeyed me; and whosoever disobeyed the Amir, verily he disobeyed me”.
(Sahih al-Muslim)
Commenting on this Hadith, Shāh Walīullah says that it is the distinction of Islam that it
provides two categories of objectives for the achievement of which the Khalifah is appointed
40
as the successor of the Prophet: otherwise the system would resemble the Jaahiliyya. In
’Izālat al-Khafā’, he has also mentioned another Hadith which considers to be the clear
textual commandment (al-Nass) in this regard, Prophet (SAW) said: “Whosoever dies and
there is no oath of allegiance (bay‘ah) in his neck he dies a Jahili (anti Islamic) death”. Apart
from these Ahadith, Shāh Walīullah argued that the establishment of Khalifah was due to
given the importance to appoint immediately after the death of the Prophet (SAW) and even
before the funeral of the Prophet (SAW). Upon the Khilafah develops the following: Jihad,
the administration of justice, the revival of Islamic science, the establishment of the pillars of
Islam, the defense of the Darul Islam, and such other things which have been collectively
enjoined upon the Muslim Ummah. These are the arguments advanced by Shāh Walīullah, to
justify the institution of the Khilafah. Unlike the early political thinkers of Islam, Shāh
Walīullah makes a distinction between Khilafah Zahiriyyah (succession to the Prophet
(SAW) in the spiritual matters). This distinction is absent in the political discussions of as
late a political thinker as even Ibn Khaldun. Shāh Walīullah is, perhaps, the first Muslim
political scientist who has so elaborately dwelt upon making a distinction between the two
kinds of Khilafahs. For a clear idea of Shāh Walīullah’s conception in this regard a passage
may be quoted here:
“In the life of the Prophet (SAW) there is a noble model for all his followers. For
those who are his successors in the affairs of state they have these duties: the
enforcement of Islamic law: making arrangements for jihad; the fortification and
security of frontiers; granting gifts; sending embassies; the recovery and allocation of
Sadaqat; taxes and revenues; the adjudication of disputes; the protection of orphans;
the supervision of Waqf properties of the Muslims; the construction of road, mosques
and other buildings and similar matters. Those who are engaged in these services and
occupations are successors of the Prophet (SAW) in matters of this world. The
successor in spiritual matters and those entrusted with teachings of Islamic law, the
Holy Qur’an, and the traditions or with enjoining what is lawful and forbidden,;
those whose words strengthen the true religion, either through polemics and
discussions as was done by the Mutakallimun or through preaching their company
and spiritual guidance and training serve Islam and Muslims as is the case with the
Sufi-saint; or those who arrange for prayers or pilgrimage or guide the people
towards piety. These we call spiritual successors of the Prophet (SAW)”.
Hence, it shows that the outer Caliphate relates to the temporal and the inner Caliphate to the
spiritual aspects of life. The Khalifah (ruler) as the head of the Muslim state, in true sense, is
41
the man who embodies in his personality the virtues of Khilafah as a whole. He says, the
outer Caliphate would be responsible for securing order and stability, whereas, the inner
Caliphate would guide the ruler spiritually and instruct the community accordingly. In a
flawed political order, Shāh Walīullah sought an important role for the religious leadership,
the kind of role he himself exemplified in advising rulers, guiding the community, and
safeguarding the intellectual heritage. Shāh Walīullah did not believe in monarchical rule.
From the study of his works, such as Izalat al-Khafa and Hujjatullah al-Baligha etc., it is
established that, in spite of his living in the age of monarchical government he had no faith in
monarchies. To him the empires of the Sassanid’s of Persia and the Roman of seventh
century A.D. were analogous to the Mughal Empire of his days in corruption and social
ailments. While describing the socio-political evils that had crept into the body politic of
those ancient empires he remarked, “In the presence of all that you see in the lives of the
Kings of your times there remains no need of telling the stories of your”.
Shāh Waliullah defined the Khilafa in the following words:
It is the general authority exercised on behalf of the Prophet (SAW) for the
establishment of the Din through the revival of religious sciences,
establishment of the pillars of Islam, carrying out the jihad and what pertains to
it of organizing the armies and paying the soldiers and allocating to them the
fay’. Administration of justice, implementation of Hudud (or capital
punishments), elimination of injustices, enjoining the good and forbidding the
evil”.
Shāh Walīullah viewed that the Muslim political leader is the Khalifah (vicegerent), elected
or selected. And again, he divided the Khalifah into two categories: The Khalifah-i-khassah
(special vicegerent) and the khalifah-i-‘ammah (common vicegerent). To all intents and
purpose, argued Shāh Walīullah that elevated to the khalifah-i-khassah, was sent to fulfill the
functions of messengers (rusul). He tried to prove that the khalifah-i-khassah had been
confined to the first two successors of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). However, the
khalifah-i-‘ammah was dependent on traditional conditions outlined by orthodox Sunni
jurists and political theories.
Shāh Walīullah had given procedures for the appointment of a khalifah. According to him
khilafah is established by one of the following four ways:
1. Through the Bay‘ah (oath of allegiance) by the people of loosing and binding from
amongst the ‘Ulama’, quadis, leaders, army commanders and eminent people having opinion
and well-wishing for the Muslims as was established the khilafah of Abu Bakr (RA).
42
2. Thorough the will of the outgoing or departing khalifah. The khalifah has to nominate the
most highly qualified person among all the possible candidates as successor. He has to
declare this choice to an injunction in this connection. This was how ‘Umar, the second
khalifah was chosen.
3. Through the Shura (mutual consultation) of a certain group as was established the khilafah
of ‘Uthman and even ‘Ali.
4. Through the successful assumption of power by a man possessing the requisite qualities
and qualifications as applicable to the Caliphs succeeding the Prophet (SAW).
However, it seems that Shāh Walīullah does not consider these four means as being inflexible
and the method of electing a Khalifah is not confined to these four methods. He argued that
the most important consideration in this regard is the pleasure of the masses with the person
concerned as their Caliph, their consensus on him and their respect and honor towards him. If
he enjoys the confidence of the masses and establishes the Hudud, defends the Millat (nation)
and implements the commandment of Islam, he is the Khalifah in whatever way he might
have become Khalifa. Shāh Walīullah opined that Khalifah-i-‘Amma and the Sultan (king)
were interchangeable terms. He agreed with the Ahadith relating to the prohibition of
rebellion mentioned in the works of hadith, such as Sahih of Muslim, but stressed the
following three conditions under which rebellion was permissible:
1. If the Caliph refuse to obey the rules of the faith and turn apostate, rebellion against him is
the best form of jihad.
2. If the Caliph killing his people, plunder their property and rape their women, he and his
followers then come under the category of robbers and as such it was imperative to defend
the people and annihilate such tyranny.
3. The war against the Caliph who clearly violated Islamic laws permissible in order to
establish the law of Shari‘ah.
Shāh Walīullah has given some basic guidelines for a Caliph to be observed such as:
i) Should not involve himself in problems, purely for worldly motives, nor should he destroy
his followers through war in order to collect riches ii) Should please the majority of his
supporters try to benefit each individual iii) Should not expect from a person more than his
natural ability could fulfil iv) Should also use both persuasion and threats to prepare them to
fight the enemy.
1.2.4 Qualifications of the Caliph
According to Shāh Walīullah the state affaires will not be put in order unless the majority of
the influential people agree to obey a person who has his own supporters and is able to
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compel them to follow the prescribed law. Shāh Walīullah discussed under his third heading
irtifaq about the qualifications of Caliph and listed a number of virtues, which he should
possess. According to Shāh Walīullah, Khalifah should be brave in the face of opposition
from his rivals and forcefully assert his prestige among his subjects. However, a Khalifah, if
not affable (halim) and wise would be unable to carry out his policies, and would ruin his
Khilafah by reckless administration. Moreover, Shāh Walīullah added, he should have highly
developed senses of sight and hearing and should be well known and of such distinction as to
arouse universal respect. Shāh Walīullah urged that unless the Khalifah was endowed with
such virtues the rationale behind his appointment was meaningless; however, if he possess
them and failed to nurture them his subjects would still became alienated. Every action of a
Khalifah should be directed towards enhancing his dignity. In regard to state affairs, no hasty
step should be taken until the offender is clearly proved. He should be very kind and
encouraging to the selfless and sincere government officials. In short, the ruler should be of
an enlightened nature and foresighted, possessing of insight as to understand the inner self of
a man at his very sight, and at the same time able to know the result of state affairs before
their actual happening and so on. Besides, there are some other necessary requirements in the
system of the government of the state in work for the safety and progress of the state.
1. Judiciary: Dispute and disagreement among the people of a state is unavoidable. Their
unity jeopardizes when stinginess, envy and disregard of rights enter into social life. Hence,
the state is in great need of an acknowledged institution available, to which one may resort
for an equitable settlement of disputes.
2. Executive: When people of perverted disposition and destructive activities predominate
over other people and begin to influence them, the state becomes depraved and disordered.
There should, therefore, be a strong body to take deterrent and punitive measures against
such people.
3. Military or Defence: People may take to violent activities such as murder, rebellion, and
robbery, and may desperately try to disturb the peace and order in a state. In order to tackle
such violent situations and preserve the state from their danger, a defence force is essential in
the form of an army of brave people.
4. Public welfare and public works: The state is in the need of some sort of institution to
look after the welfare of the people as: a) To find out ways and means of doing the work
which people are unable to do themselves like marrying orphans, protection of their
properties, the distribution of alms among the needy, the division of an inheritance among
heirs etc.; b) Construct public buildings and public works, for example, the construction of
44
fortresses, walls, markets and bridges etc. this institution off the government is called
Nuqaba’, and the head of the institution is Naqib, or Wali, according to Shāh Walīullah.
1.2.5 Shāh Waliullah in the Contemporary Politics
Shāh Walīullah as a great socio-politico religious reformer could not remain mum to the
politics of his times. He seemed to have been dismayed by the intellectual and moral
degeneration of the Indian Muslims, which ultimately brought the downfall of their political
power and caused socio-economic backwardness. To bring about an intellectual revolution he
devoted pages of his works towards suggesting his community to return to the glorious days
of the Khulafa’-i-Rashidin and also to save the Muslim rule in India. He earnestly wished to
see the political power in the hands of Muslims. Hence, he was very concern to prevent the
decay of the Mughal Empire. However, it should not be construed that he was a supporter of
Mughal dynasty. He had no hope of the revival of the Mughal imperialism. He neither was
linked with it nor desired it. He simply wanted to arrest its decay till a better substitute could
be found for it. In his political thinking he was a realist. According to him the state of
political well being of a country could only be attained when ethics, politics and economics
stood in complete intimacy with one another. Similarly, political decay could not happen only
because of the government errors, rather held each section responsible for it. We can find in
his book Tafhimat lengthy addresses made to the people representing almost each and every
section of his community.
In those addresses he rendered constructive criticism of their errors and for gross negligence
of their respective duties enjoined on them by ethics and the law of the land and earnestly
hoped for a change. Shāh Walīullah’s interest in the socio-political affairs of his country was
the result of this own aptitude as well as the influence of his family surroundings. He had
studied the history of human society with special reference to the history of the Muslim
world. Al-Budūrul Bāzighah, Hujjatullahal-Bāligah, and especially ’Izālat al-Khafā’ were
the outcome of his life-long studies of the socio-political history of the Muslims. His study of
man and matter was not confined to India. He had had an opportunity of travelling abroad.
During his visit to Arabia he studied the socio-political conditions of the land. He had met
people from various parts of the Muslim world and discussed the affairs of their countries.
Referring to his experience of the socio-political conditions of the Muslim world he wrote:
“The affairs of the people of India are not hidden to me, for this country is my birth place and
my abode. I have also heard about the affairs of the people of other Muslim countries from
trustworthy men”.
Shāh Walīullah belonged to a family that had a profound knowledge of political affairs of the
45
country. His great grandfather, Shaykh Mu‘azzam was a Mansabdar (officer in charge) at the
Mughal court and became the lord (Jagir) of Shikohpur. His grandfather, Shah Wajihuddin
was an army officer of Emperor Shāh Jahan, who sided with the Prince Aurangzeb ’Alamgir
in the squabble of succession among the sons of Shāh Jahan. Even after his retirement he
took an active part in the political affairs of the country. His father, Shaykh ‘Abdur Rahim
was a compiler of Fatwa-i-‘Alamgiri. Though he kept himself away from the court; yet it is
reported that he had a great insight into the political development and trends of the country.
Some of his political predictions recorded by Shāh Walīullah bear ample testimony to this
effect.
Shāh Walīullah’s knowledge of socio-political conditions of India and his family background
of long political experience could not hindered him to react to the rapid changes that were
taking place on the political arena of the country. He was an eyewitness of the decay of
Mughal Empire and rising of the rival forces of Muslim India such as the Jats, Shikhs and
Marathas. It was under these disturbing conditions that Shāh Walīullah took a keen interest in
the politics of his day and decided that he should have a mission to bring about changes in the
socio-political set up. He was inspired with the conviction that Allah had made him the
spokesman (nātiq), the guide (hādi), the philosopher (hākim) and the ‘pivot of his age’
(qaiyyūmal-zamān). Aided and strengthened with this conviction he believed that it was his
duty to remove the abuses of his time.
It is worthy to mention here that it had been a common practice of the past among the
prominent scholars and spiritual guides, to communicate through letters with their students,
disciples and leaders in their country. They used this medium to educate and guide their
addresses on various issues of current significance, and also to maintain personal liaison with
them. In this connection, Maktubat (letters) of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, Maktubat of Sayyid
Ahmad Shahid, Maulana Ashraf ‘Ali Thanavi’s letters to Quaid-i-A‘zam Muhammad ‘Ali
Jinnah, ‘Allama Iqbal’s letters to Sayyid Abul A‘la Mawdudi, and Sayyid Abul A‘la
Mawdudi’s letters to Maryam Jamilah are some examples out of several others.
Shāh Walīullah also frequently wrote letter to his students, friends and notables of his time.
Out of a large number of these letters some were preserved in the two volumes of collection
prepared by Shāh Muhammad ‘Ashiq, a cousin brother in law and close friend of Shāh
Walīullah. This collection was further enlarged and edited by the former’s son Shāh ‘Abdur
Rahman who was also a student of Shāh Walīullah. The letter brought the number of these
letters to 352. A useful selection of political letters had been made from them by Professor
Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, which he first published in 1951 from Aligarh, India. His later
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brought out another enlarged and edited version of his collection, containing some forty
letters, with his introduction and Urdu translation in 1969. These letters of political
significance were addressed by Shāh Walīullah to the compiler Shāh Muhammad ‘Ashiq and
some other notables, rulers and kings of his time. They along with other works of Shāh
Walīullah, provide an important source for the study of his political ideas, in the context of
the socio-cultural environment of India at the time of their writing. It would be useful to
notice here some important features of the political statements, contained in these letters, how
far Shāh Walīullah’s response to the political life of his country was in harmony with the
ideas he expressed in his writings.
From Shāh Walīullah’s works it is evident that he regarded the entire Muslim world as a
single entity, even though it may have been under the regime of different political set-ups,
independent and exclusive of each other. This is explained by the fact that Shāh Walīullah
invited the rulers of other countries to the political and military intervention in the affairs of
India to reform its deteriorating conditions. This attitude of Shāh Walīullah appears most
pronounced in his letter to Ahmad Shāh Abdali (d. 1772 A.D.), the founder of modern
Afghanistan, informing him about deplorable decay in the state of India. Shāh Walīullah
appealed to this dreadful military commander and ruler of the neighboring Muslim country to
bring his armies into India, in order to subdue the forces of anarchy and disorder created by
Jats, Sikhs and Marathas, who organized the militant ethnic communities among Hindus.
The letter written to Ahmad Shāh Abdali was the ever-longest letter of Shāh Walīullah
among the letters, which he wrote to the political figures of the eighteenth century. This letter
not only appears to us as the great political insight of him, but it also furnishes with an
interesting study of his knowledge of the geography and politics. At the outset of the letter he
narrated very briefly the history of the establishment of Muslim rule in the country. In the
beginning of his letter, Shāh Walīullah briefly described geographical and political condition
of India in such a way as could be useful only to an invader coming from outside the country.
A native ruler hardly needed such information. He then pointed out in his address that this
large country has been ruled by the Muslim kings with their capital Delhi over many years by
appointing their governors in the provinces. The provinces are Gujarat, Ahmadabad, Thatta,
Bengal, Oudh, Malwa and the Deccan had separate governors. And again, this Deccan
consists of five states, which governed by the separate governors. Besides, there was another
country in the subcontinent, which had never been governed by the Muslim kings, was
Rajputana. The Muslim rulers only contented themselves by reducing it to their slavery.
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1.2.6 Significance of the Political Domination
In the political spheres, Shāh Walīullah’s main concern was to restore Muslim dominance in
the government of India. To that end, he outlined a three-point programme: First, the
Muslims must rely on the military force to overcome their political adversaries, such as Jats
and Marathas and others. Secondly, the Muslim society in India must be structured in
accordance with the early Islamic ideals. Thirdly, the Muslims of the subcontinent must
explore the possibility of inviting Muslim intervention from outside, if necessary.
Shāh Walīullah pointed out that one of the crucial conditions that led to the Muslim decline
was that the real control of the government was in the hands of the Hindus. All the
accountants and clerks were Hindus. The Hindus controlled the country’s wealth, while the
Muslims were destitute. In a letter written to Ahmad Shah Abdali, Shāh Walīullah mentioned
that, he was the only king with sufficient manliness, gallantry and foresight for the task of
annihilating polytheism. It was therefore his religious duty to declare a Jihad and liberate the
enslaved Muslims. Unless this was done, the Muslims would forget their religion and would
be reduced to a state, which was half- Islamic and half-idolatrous. The letter concluded with
the remark:
We beseech you (Abdali) in the name of the Prophet to fight a Jihad against the
infidels of this religion. This would entitle you to great rewards before Allah the
Most High and your name would be included in the list of those who fought Jihad
for His sake. As far as worldly gains are concerned, incalculable booty would fall
into the hands of the Islamic Ghazis (triumphant) and the Muslims would be
liberated from their bonds. The invasion of Nadir Shah who destroyed the
Muslims left the Marathas and Jats secure and prosperous. This resulted in the
infidels regaining their strength and in the reduction of the Muslim leaders of
Delhi to mere puppets.
Shāh Walīullah’spolitical thought is a very systematic and rational. He tried to present Islam
as a complete code of life, and hence, his utmost effort he had exhorted in reconciling
religion and politics as well as labored to establish a philosophy, which is neither dogmatic
nor strict. As Saeeda Iqbal remarks: “The mixture of the Sufistic with the orthodox, lends
color to the one and discipline to the other.
1.2.7 Revolution
Shāh Walīullah circumstance though he remarked it as a very distressful and hard job. In
fact, he thought that when the socio-political climate of the country goes corrupt to an extent
48
that the development is debarred and the reformation by evolution is not possible, it becomes
necessary to bring about a revolution. Shāh Walīullah remarked it as a cancer of the body,
which needed to be removed. Shāh Walīullah said:
A social institution, under which people are deprived of their primary needs of life, is
like an abscess in the body which the sooner removed the better it would be. The
persons who know wherein lies the general welfare feel it as their bounded duty to
bring about revolution. But it should be kept in mind that the bringing of revolution is
a very distressful and hard job, as in addition to the sacrifice of life and property one
has at times to part with his beloved country. Such sacrifices can be made by those
who are very sincere, self-confident and have the ability and courage to face the
situations, however, serious, with patience and endurance. For the working of such a
revolution, sometimes, one has to struggle through protests, at times through raising
slogans, etc., and on certain occasions he has to put up an actual fight. Whatever
sacrifice is mad in this direction in reckoned the best of actions.
About the significance of revolution Shāh Walīullah’s view was very clear. As a reformist
and revivalist he could not overlook it. He was revolutionary first and then something else. In
this regard he opined that “it must be borne in mind that mere talks, prayers and pious hopes
cannot bring the revolution”. For that he said, people have to work ceaselessly and sometimes
to undergo the hardship of exilement. But by revolution, Shāh Walīullah did not mean any
untoward condition in the country; instead he meant what is a process to establish peach and
prosperity in the country. He said: “From of revolution which may bring peace and prosperity
and not the one which may bring in its wake insecurity and chaos in the country”.
The substance of his teachings and philosophy is to break the old order and replace it by the
new one, which may satisfy the requirements of the changing times. Until and unless the old
order is substituted by the new progressive one, there will be no proper development in the
various fields of life. Shāh Walīullah said:
......The Prophets who were sent by Allah the Almighty were revolutionaries. Had
they not been revolutionaries,” he urged, “there would have been no opposition to
them. But, because they wanted to introduce the law, their people did not like this
and they thus rose against them. The Prophet ‘Isa, for instance, who was an emblem
of mercy and kindness, had also enjoined upon his followers always to keep their
swords sharp and ready for fight in self defense.
1.2.8 Shah Waliullah Concept of Jihad
According to Shāh Walīullah, the mark of the perfect implementation of the Shari’ah, is the
49
performance of Jihad. It is for this reason that he emphasized the necessity of the
continuation of Jihad, and by Jihad he generally meant revolution (inqilab). He strongly
recommended the retention of the spirit of Jihad for all times to come. So long as this spirit,
he said, was present in the Muslims, they remained victorious and were honoured
everywhere, but the moment it disappeared from them, they were humiliated and hated
wherever they were. He was of the opinion that in the existing times, the Muslims should in
no way neglect the sacred duty of Jihad as such neglect in turn amounts to the loss of
abundant good.
In order to show the superiority of Jihad and its excellence, Shāh Walīullah, used to quote the
Qur’anic verses and the Ahadith one after another. The perfect law, to him, is the one which
commands its followers to perform Jihad. Because, he argued, a law which does not make
binding for its followers the Jihad for the sake of Allah and the raising of His word will
ultimately fail to bring the desired good and benefit for men. Bearing this in mind, he
recommended that the Muslims should make their worldly life strong and prosperous and
appealed to them to make themselves so strong military that the enemy’s sudden and
unexpected attack be effectively repelled and its power completely crushed. For that he had
been repeatedly advising in his works that full and adequate preparations for both defense
and offence against aggression be made without loss of time. People should be given military
training and made acquainted with the modern technique of warfare. They should be armed
with the latest and the most sophisticated weapons of fight available in the world. The spirit
of jihad should be infused in them, as without it such a nation could not survive for long.
The modern interpretation of Jihad ever emphasized its defensive character. To Shāh
Walīullah, it does not only mean the actual fight with the enemy, but also making
preparations in advance against all evils whether they are be social, economic, moral or
political. This is the reason that he had been always encouraging people to launch a vigorous
fight against the corrupt order and rotten society till the rule of justice is established. Shāh
Walīullah believes that the universal domination of Islam was not possible without jihad and
by holding onto the tails of cows. Not only would this be humiliating but also it would make
other religion more powerful.
Shāh Walīullah, however, did not mean by Jihad that all the non-Muslims should be
converted to Islam by sword. He was pessimistic about the real depth of faith of those
converted by the sword. Such converts were hypocrites and on the Day of Judgment they
would be thrown to the very deepest part of Hell, together with the infidels. Islamisation by
the sword, added Shāh Walīullah, did not remove doubts from the mind of newly converted
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Muslims and it was always possible that they might return to infidelity. He believed that
Imam (here meaning rulers) should convince the people through rational argument. The
superiority of Islam should be explained in positive terms and it should be brought home to
converts that Islamic laws were perfectly clear and easy to follow. By the time of Shāh
Walīullah’s death no power in the disintegrating Mughal Empire had been left to convert
Hindus to Islam, but it would seem that the rising Baluch and Afghan Zamindars and the
military adventures converted Hindus to Islam in their respective areas of influence. Shāh
Walīullah’s son Shāh ‘Abdul ‘Aziz claims to have Islamized hundreds of Hindus. They might
have been Hindus living between Palith and Delhi. However, the proselytism programme of
Shāh W alīullah was confined to the leaders of the Hindu community, but it was not extended
to the low class of the infidels.
1.2.9 Let Us Sum Up
In this lesson, we attempted to understand one of the luminaries of South Asia—Shah
waliullah and his role in shaping the political narrative of Islam. We discussed his
contribution to the political theory and his subsequent response to the challenges of his times.
Waliullah was confronted with the problem of division and dissension among the Muslim
rulers. He wanted to bridge the sectarian gap within the community for restoration of the
political glory of Islam and interpreted his faith accordingly. Shah Waliullah lived during a
time of political and moral decline, chaos and destruction in the Mughal empire. His vantage
point near the centre of the Muslim state gave him a clear view of the situation. He did his
best to bring stability to the tottering empire and protect the Indian Muslims from disaster.
Through his writings, especially his letters, he appealed to the Muslim rulers, nobles and
intelligentsia to be aware of the dreadful situation and its possible consequences. His
correspondence reveals many factors of Indian politics in the eighteenth century. His detailed
letter to Ahmad Shah Abdali, the founder and ruler of Afghanistan, contained a
comprehensive picture of the political situation in India. Ahmad Shah Abdali heeded Shah
Waliullah's call to invade India and restore Muslim power to the country, culminating in the
defeat of the Marathas and their allies at the battle of Panipat in 1761. Shah Waliullah himself
left a rich intellectual legacy in the form of literary works, well-trained disciples including his
four sons-who also became eminent scholars-and one of the greatest educational institutions
of the time.
1. Elaborate Shah Waliullah’s concept of Khilafah
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2. Discuss Shah Waliullah’s contribution to political thought
3. Explain Shah Waliullah’s concept of jihad
4. Write a brief note on the life of Shah Waliullah
5. What is the contemporary significance of Shah Waliullah’s thought?
6. Shah Waliullah’s contribution in the Indian sub-continent is commendable!Comment.
Baljon, Religion and Thought of Shah Wali Allah Dihlavi, Edinburg University Press
Muhammad al-Ghazali, The Socio-Political Thought of Shah Wali Allah, Adam Publishers
Waliullah, Shah, Urdu translation—Izalat al-Khafa al-Khilafat al-Khulafa, Markaza
Makatba Islami
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Lesson 1.3: Nature and Scope of Khilafah
Structure
1.3.1 Introduction
1.3.2 Objectives
1.3.3 The Caliphate in the Qur’an
1.3.4 Etymology of Khalifah
1.3.5 Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Succession
1.3.6 The Remit of the Caliphs and How Did it Develop
1.3.7 Justification of Caliphate Islamic political Theory
1.3.8 Right to Succession Developed and Legitimized
1.3.9 Let Us Sum Up
1.3.1 Introduction
The caliphate (al-khilāfa) is the term denoting the form of government that came into
existence in Islamic world after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and survived
until the first decades of the 20th century. It derives from the title caliph (khalīfa, pl. khulafā’
or khalā’if), referring to Muslim sovereigns who claimed authority over all Muslims. The
caliphate refers not only to the office of the caliph but also to the period of his reign and to
his dominion—in other words, the territory and peoples over whom he ruled. The office itself
soon developed into a form of hereditary monarchy, although it lacked fixed rules on the
order of succession and based its legitimacy on claims of political succession to Prophet
Muhammad (SAW). The caliphate was constrained by neither any fixed geographical
location or boundaries nor particular institutions; rather, it was coterminous with the reign of
a monarch or a dynasty.
1.3.2 Objectives
 To understand the concept of Khilafah in Islam
 To have an overview of different aspects of the institution of Khilafah
1.3.3 The Caliphate in the Qur’an
According to the Concordance of the Qur’an, there are nine uses of the masculine noun
khalifah in the Qur’an, of which two, verses 2:30 and 38:26, are cited most often when
discussing the nature of the Caliphate. This is because these two verses are the only two of
the nine in which the term could be said to be applying to an individual, rather than a group.
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However, of these two it has been suggested that verse 2:30 might also be talking generally
about the human race, leaving the verse 38:26 as the sole mention where the term is applied
specifically to one person. Given that the verses, 2:30 and Q38:26 are so frequently cited in
analysis concerning the Caliphate, it is important to analyse their interpretation to ascertain
what light the Qur’an itself throws onto the nature and remit of the Caliphate. Of the various
translations and exegetical works on each of these two verses, opinion is broadly agreed that
in the verse, 2:30, the reference to Adam paints a negative picture of him and his successors
insofar as the Angels fear the character and impact of God’s choice as His vicegerent on
Earth:
Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: “I will create a vicegerent on earth.” They
said: “Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed
blood?—whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?” He
said: “I know what ye know not.”
According to al-Tabari, who usefully bases his exegesis on the collected opinions of Ibn
Abbas, Ibn Ishaq, al-Rabi, Ibn-Sabit, and Ibn Zaid, the general belief was not that Adam
himself was corrupted, but that his successors would be. Al-Tabari himself finds this
viewpoint hard to maintain, choosing to take the view that in creating Adam as His
vicegerent Allah knew the possibility of either Adam or his successors would be corrupted
existed. This interpretation leaves open the possibility of both individual Caliphs, as well as
having the whole of humanity being Caliphs.
In the modern era, both Muhammad Asad and Sayyid Qutb have also sought to explain the
verse in the same terms, deploying the concept that Allah is handing over the headship of the
earth to mankind in general, rather than to Adam in a specific line in particular. So from the
exegesis outlined above, it seems that the verse, 2:30 would be better placed with the other
seven verses that also talk about mankind collectively as Caliphs as opposed to applying it as
the doctrinal foundation for the legitimate headship of a single leader of the ummah. Indeed,
the picture of Adam’s descendants and the integrity of their vicegerency as understood from
this verse appears rather poor. The last remaining reference to a Caliph in the Qur’an
however does appear to point to a special, divinely appointed post with a specific function at
the head of the community;
O David! We did indeed make thee a vicegerent on earth: so judge thou between men in
truth (and justice): Nor follow thou the lusts (of thy heart), for they will mislead thee from the
Path of Allah: for those who wander astray from the Path of Allah, is a Penalty Grievous, for
that they forget the Day of Account.
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More than any other Qur’anic reference, this verse specifies the Caliphate not as a headship
over nature for mankind in general, but rather as a post at the head of a human community
with the specific task of acting as judge. It is important to note that there is no mention of the
vicegerent having either military or administrative functions. There is general agreement
amongst the more modern commentators and translators that this verse concerns prophet
Dawud (AS) alone. This verse is part of a passage in which prophet Dawud (AS) is being
admonished for not performing the duties of a Caliph as a judge. So while the Caliph’s role
as judge is divinely ordained by implication, those seeking to justify an explicitly articulated,
divinely ordained geopolitical remit for the Caliphate will be disappointed as the verse gives
no further clues as to his functions. The omission of other functions such as defence of the
faith and administrative issues does not imply absence of the function, rather, irrelevance to
the situation that the verse is speaking into. Therefore, those seeking to justify theocratic
authority in the functions of the Caliph would need to look in different parts of Islamic
scripture.
While this modern interpretation is not unreasonable, the medieval exegete Ibn Kathir
suggests a slightly different understanding. He argues this verse is general advice to all
Muslim rulers to rule with justice for fear of what will happen to them on the Day of
Reckoning. That argument becomes the basis for his claim that the Caliph has a “higher
calling by Allah,” thereby implying that the Caliph could not be judged by other men for his
actions. In this hypothesis lie early hints at a doctrine of Caliphal infallibility.
This brief survey seems to suggest therefore that the Qur’an does not give clear guidance on
the position of the Caliph as the supreme leader of the ummah. What can be understood is
that, when the Caliphate is being discussed in terms of single leadership, the role of judge is
certainly involved. Within the context of the discussion of the verse, 4:59, these verses do not
seem to offer any discernible link between “those in authority” and the Caliphate itself, nor
do they offer any general guidance upon how the role of headship over the ummah is to be
carried out. Thus, there is no discernable link in the Qur’an between the chain of command
seen in the verse 4:59 and the specific role of the Caliph. Therefore, in the light of the paucity
of scriptural foundation for the Caliphate in the Qur’an itself, it is necessary to examine other
sources of evidence in order to fully understand the role of the Caliph. The first source is the
etymology of the title itself, the analysis of which helps to develop an understanding of how
early Muslims came to see the Caliphate as a legitimate source of leadership following the
demise of Muhammad.
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1.3.4 Etymology of Khalifah
In his seminal Arabic dictionary published in the late nineteenth century, Edward Lane
defines the meaning of the word “khalifah” (given in his dictionary as “khaliyfatun”) as
“successor and vice-agent, vice-gerent, lieutenant, substitute, proxy, or deputy” before going
on to list all the possible interpretations of the word based upon Arab grammatical, poetic,
and exegetical sources. He also explains why the meaning of the word must be masculine,
even though it has a feminine ending. The fact that Lane arrives at no definite conclusion
between the possibilities of either “successor” or “deputy,” even after his exhaustive
research, is useful to bear in mind given the Crone and Hinds versus Goldziher and Paret
discussions on the term outlined further on in this chapter.
Turning to other notable Arabic dictionaries, Penrice and Wehr agree in their definitions for
each of the verbal root forms although the variations between them perhaps show the
changing cultural climates in which they were written. Penrice offers a freer translation of his
Form I root: “To be behind, come after, to succeed” (although the final translation can only
be made if “fî” is present). Wehr applies a narrower initial definition: “To be the successor,”
which he follows with broader, cultural translations. This more modern and perhaps more
directly political interpretation highlights the dynamic that can be seen in the translations of
the verse, 4:59, where tighter, politically oriented definitions are used in modern Arabic
translation in a way that earlier scholars were content to leave more open to individual
interpretation. Having explained the Form I root, Wehr and Penrice then move on to define
the other seven derived verb forms, attaching definitions for each which fundamentally agree
although only Wehr includes “deputy” amongst his possible translations. Why Penrice omits
this interpretation is unknown.
In contrast to these grammarians and translators, Crone and Hinds have attempted to show
that the only legitimate theological translation of the title must be “deputy” based upon the
assertion that the earliest recorded use of the title in Arab culture is pre-Islamic, where the
term “khilafa” denoted a “representative” or “deputy” of the sayyid. Their evidence, based
upon historical record as well as Qur’anic references (Q2:30 and Q38:26 given earlier), is
impressive and is in line with the views of Watt, who bases much of his evidence upon pre-
Islamic Arab poetry. However, Crone and Hinds go further than Watt appears prepared to do,
concluding that the title was “Deputy of God,” right from the outset. Their evidence is based
upon three main points: firstly, that the title is documented for all Umayyad Caliphs who
ruled for more than one year; secondly, that it was the official designation for the Umayyad
head of state; and thirdly, that it was well known what the title stood for, even when the word
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“Caliph” was used on its own. They further suggest that the title “Deputy of the Prophet of
God” also begins to appear at this time.
Rather than underlining the confidence they portray, the picture that emerges on the basis of
their evidence is a loose understanding of “leadership” but with little real sense of whether
that authority is derived from Allah or the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Crone and Hinds
conclude that the Caliph inherited both the spiritual and temporal power of Muhammad
(SAW). This conclusion is also in line with Tyan, who quotes from Ibn Khaldun and could be
seen to be evidenced in Binder’s assertion that early Muslim writers did not engage with the
question of power because the spiritual and temporal were interwoven so closely. The fact
that the Sunni Caliphs later lost their spiritual power to the ‘ulamā and their temporal power
to the Sultans does not, for Crone and Hinds, change the fact that this was not the way that
the office began.
1.3.5 Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Succession
Having pointed out some assertions through etymological and Qur’anic investigations; it is
time to turn to the central questions surrounding the Caliphate: did prophet Muhammad
(SAW) intend to have a successor as head of the new community? Secondly, what parts of
Muhammad’s role would the Caliph assume? These central questions have remained topics
of great discussion down to the modern times. The first of these questions can be examined
by reference to the Hadith. Many of the traditions which deal with the Caliphate are recorded
conversations with Rashidūn Caliphs such as ‘Umar and Abu Bakr, leaving only one or two
reports in the canonical collections that could be traced back to Prophet Muhammad (SAW)
himself. Given that we are trying to ascertain Muhammad’s personal feelings on the
Caliphate, it is therefore only those reports that can be considered relevant as far as this study
is concerned.
This paucity of references on this subject seems somewhat surprising in light of the
significance of the office. What is perhaps even more surprising, within that same context, is
that Muhammad’s statements concerning the Caliphate are fascinatingly ambiguous; for in
each of the Hadith quoted below, there is no theological justification provided for the creation
of the Caliphate. It appears from the wording that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is simply
assuming that the Caliphate will come into existence and is giving direction as to its form:
Narrated by Ibn ‘Umar, “Allah’s Apostle said, ‘This matter (Caliphate) will
remain with the Quraish even if only two of them are existing.’” Narrated by Abu
Sa’id Al-Khudri, “The Prophet said, ‘Allah never sends a prophet or gives the
Caliphate to the Caliph but that he (the prophet or Caliph) has two groups of
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advisors: A group advising him to do good . . . and the other group advising him
to do evil. . . . But the protected person is the one protected by Allah.’”
These Hadith are fascinating both because of what they say and what they leave out. For, on
the one hand, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) sees the need for a continuing leadership of the
ummah, but he is apparently very careful to exclude from them the authority of prophethood,
even though he suggests that the Caliph will be carrying on some form of leadership. No
powers are defined, and no specification is made concerning who his successors might be,
other than naming one source of legitimization for the Caliph: the need to be of the Quraishi
line. The whole tone of these reports suggests that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has accepted
that they will exist rather than deciding to create the institution in an Islamic context, setting
out a remit and then enthusiastically endorsing the post.
In the light of the difficulties encountered in trying to establish the Islamic origins of the post,
many historians and scholars of Islam have chosen to avoid this question altogether. For
example, in her part of the entry for “khilafa” in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, Dominique
Sourdel begins her article with the fact of Abu Bakr’s succession after the death of Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) in 632CE, adding the title which he took: “khilafat rasul allah” (Deputy
of the Prophet of God) and noting the conventional Muslim account that he was acclaimed in
the Great Mosque following his election by the other leading companions. She therefore
chooses to avoid the issue of whether Prophet Muhammad (SAW) ever named, or intended to
name, a successor at all.
Whatever the truth may be, it is quite clear that the early Caliphs came to power in differing
ways, although the common elements of acclamation and taking of the oath of fealty appear
to be present in every account. This fact in itself would point to a lack of direction by Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) in regard to what would happen after his death, although could not be
taken as conclusive proof as it could be argued that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) did set out
instructions which were either lost, ignored, or subsumed under the factional struggles that
dogged the early Caliphate. However, one could gauge from the instances the Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) had with, to be the khalifah, Abu Bakr. It provided ample clues for the
Muslims, especially Umar, that Abu Bakr was the best to lead the community.
The answer to the second question concerning what powers the Caliph is deemed to have
inherited from Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was the subject of extraordinary tension between
the religious scholars and the Caliphs for several hundred years, an overview of which is
examined below.
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1.3.6 The Remit of the Caliphs and How Did it Develop
In order to be able to answer the question, it is necessary to briefly mention what the role of
the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself was. This is difficult due to the paucity of evidence,
however, the following aspects of his leadership are broadly agreed upon by scholars, based
upon evidence from the Constitution of Medina, Hadiths, and the Qur’an itself. He was a
Judge, Military Commander, Prophet, Spiritual Guide and “Head.” It should be noted,
however that it is by no means clear what aspects of these roles he took on at any given time.
Some clues outside of sayings by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself do provide a few
insights upon how the earliest Caliphs saw their role.
There are many instances in the Hadith of the Rashidūn Caliphs fighting physically both
against the infidel and apostasy thereby indicating that the Prophet Muhammad’s leadership
in battle and the right to declare war on behalf of the ummah appear to have been inherited by
the Caliphs. Similarly, the fact that there are instances of Caliphs administrating justice and
distributing land indicates that they inherited the administrative functions of running the
‘ummah from Prophet Muhammad (SAW) (a right which has never been disputed by the
‘ulamā). It is also interesting to note that they appear to have been able to interpret and even
add to some of the religious ritual that was instituted by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). A
prime example of this would be the addition of sacrifices to the Hajj ritual that were not
included in Prophet Muhammad’s rites.
These instances seem to suggest that the early Caliphs inherited Prophet Muhammad’s
administrative and military functions as well as being able to develop religious practice in
relation to ritual. However, whether this ability to develop ritual could be said to constitute
“religious authority” is hard to say. What is certain is that the Caliphs did not take any
notions of prophethood to themselves.
1.3.7 Justification of Caliphate Islamic Political Theory
Lambton’s central argument is that the political doctrine of the Caliphate was developed in
relation to opposition to it, either internal or external. The writings of those Muslim scholars
Lambton cites are of fundamental importance in understanding how the Caliphate developed
over the course of the centuries, both for their own sake and in terms of the British
documents that follow, so it is worthwhile spending some time on them. The first name given
is Ibn Muqaffa (d.756): according to Lambton his book kitab al-Sahaba represents the first
political treatise written in an Islamic context, although it could be argued that Hasan al-
Basri’s qadar is in fact the first. However, scholars have dismissed al-Basri’s work on the
grounds that it is almost exclusively theological, whereas Muqaffa writes to explore a
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contextualized approach within the parameters of the developing doctrines of the new
religion.
In Muqaffa’s book, written against the background of growing Abbasid power, he argues that
the Caliph has the right to be obeyed even if he contradicts the Qur’an. The justification for
this line of argument is hard to find, but Lambton suggests that Muqaffa’s argument was
borne out of a need to create stability through strong leadership at the top. Given the fact that
the Islamic Empire had been through a period of civil war, Lambton’s argument here
certainly makes sense. However, in relation to the discussion by British officials analysed
later, it is important to see that even at this early stage of Abbasid authority, the word of the
Caliph begins to supersede the authority even of the Revealed Word.
Many commentators who have noticed this dynamic attribute it to the influence of Persian
culture, which was the geographical base of Abbasid power. This theory is not unreasonable
given the obvious impact that was seen on dress, court etiquette, and administrative structure.
Their argument, as detailed by Lambton and Watt, amongst others, is that, with the conquest
of Persia, the strong pre-existent imperial culture of the conquered provided a place for the
Caliphate to develop from the primarily Arabian tribal model under the Umayyads, which
was unable to cope with the administrative requirements of an empire, to a Persian model,
that was already developed and sophisticated in the art of imperial administration. In this
context, so the argument goes the noticeable increase in the “Islamization” of the Empire that
the scholars also see happening is viewed as a replacement of Zoroastrian Cosmological
Kingship, with a new Muslim style of headship in the style of a monarchy.
Whether one accepts this very plausible theory as an explanation for the changing court
culture or not, there can be little doubt that this era saw the Caliphate move into a period of
“sovereign regalia” as it was endowed with a weighty imperial symbolism that, perhaps more
than anything else, signified the fusion between Islamic leadership and Persian sovereignty.
Arnold describes how the Sceptre and the Seal, along with the “Mantle of the Prophet,”
became part of the Caliph’s official regalia. Sourdel adds in her historical section that the
Caliphs began to wear and carry other symbolic regalia; principal amongst them were the
first chains of office, the mantle, sceptre, high bonnet, and a copy of the ‘Uthmanic Qur’an.
At the same time, the practice of kissing the carpet when in audience with the Caliph was
also brought in and the chief of police began to carry the “Lance of the Prophet.”
Lambton suggests that the Caliph still retained spiritual authority through the reciting of the
prayers in the Great Mosque and going on the Pilgrimage (going on pilgrimage was later
delegated), and Sourdel ascribes him the title “guardian of dogma” which brought with it a
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leading role in the construction of doctrine as well as continuing to conduct campaigns
against the infidel and rebels. However, he increasingly delegated these areas of authority to
his Qadis (judges). Thus, the neat picture of an end to Caliphal input into doctrine with the
demise of the “rightly-guided Caliphs” supplied by the ‘ulamā seems somewhat at odds with
the picture painted by the scholars here.
It is against this background that the work of the next name on Lambton’s list is written: Abu
Yusuf (d. 798). Her inclusion of his work kitab al-kharaj is presumably upon the basis that it
is the first known book by a religious jurist. Two noteworthy points come out of this: the first
is that it was commissioned by Harun al-Rashid. The very fact that the Caliph is asking for
advice from a religious jurist is fascinating, for, as was mentioned earlier, the Caliphate and
religious scholars had been in an almost continuous battle for control of dogma and
theological control from the very earliest years of the Caliphate. The second interesting point
feeds into the previous point, for Abu Yusuf uses the opportunity that his Caliph presents him
to emphasize that the Caliph was accountable to Allah. At the same time, however, Yusuf
dispenses with the need for election as one of the qualifications for the Caliphate, choosing to
highlight instead the concept of “Divine Appointment.” Lambton suggests that this notion of
divine appointment was one of the early catalysts for the later perception of the Caliph as
“the Shadow of God on Earth.”
Abu Yusuf’s discussion focuses upon questions of taxation and justice, linking the correct
administration of both to the well-being of the Islamic state as a whole. The subtext to such a
discussion clearly carries the notion that administration is the purview of the Caliph, while
religious questions are for the jurists. This appears to be the first time that such an explicit
defining of the relationship between Caliph and ‘ulamā is made. It is clear that later Abbasid
Caliphs such as al-Ma’mun (d. 833) continued to take a very active role in ensuring the
religious orthodoxy, setting up a state inquisition whose job it was to ensure the Caliph’s
authority in religious ritual and doctrine. Therefore, to some extent, the Caliph’s role as head
of the ummah must have continued in the ninth century at least in order for him to have been
able to order a state inquisition to safeguard doctrine.
In the general line of Lambton’s argument toward the adjustment of theory to adverse
circumstances, the inclusion of al-Mawardi (d. 1058) seems questionable; for he was not
writing at a time of crisis. That having been said, al-Mawardi was writing at a time when the
Abbasid rulers were attempting to take back more power for themselves, struggling against
the influence of the ‘ulamā and the growing power of individual Muslim ministers and
princes. His argument in “al-ahkam al-Sultaniyya w’al-wilayat al-Diniyya” centers around
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the premise that authority was delegated by God to the Caliph and only he has the power to
delegate it further. Thus the inclusion of al- Mawardi is not tangential, but rather another
important facet in understanding Lambton’s core theme in this entry: the notion that Islamic
political theory was developed in response to the geopolitical circumstance of the time. As
for al-Mawardi himself, the importance of his work is reflected in the way this same theme
recurs in Muslim political theory thereafter, a clear example of which is seen in the work of
al-Ghazali (d. 1111). Al-Ghazali’s work is interesting insofar as he both echoes al-Marwardi,
but adapts it for the altered circumstances he was writing in, for he deals with the existence of
the Sultans as the new holders of supreme power through the concept that the Caliph was
now the ultimate expression of the supremacy of the shari’ah, whereas the Sultan was now
the holder of “coercive power.” This is important for it shows clearly the pattern of reactive
philosophy that Lambton described at the beginning of her article: the power of the Sultans
could not be ignored and therefore the theorists sought to justify the reality rather than
reiterating the ideal. At the same time, al-Ghazali highlights the need for Muslim rulers,
including the Sultan to acknowledge the symbolic headship of the Caliph. This reflected the
need for Muslim rulers to be able to receive their legitimization in a clear line direct from
Allah, through Prophet Muhammad (SAW), to his representative. This position is consistent
with the concepts that are drawn out of the discussion in the verse, 4:59.
The final two names that Lambton lists, Ibn Jama’a (d. 1333) and Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328),
both wrote after Baghdad had fallen and their chief importance lies in the way that they
sought to continue to justify the notion of Muslim obedience to non-Muslim authority, not
through a reinterpretation of the verse 4:59, but through the adaptation of the “Doctrine of
the Sword.” This change is significant insofar as they assert the right of non-Muslims to be
obeyed by Muslims if the non-Muslim is the most powerful group and permit religious
freedom, an ideological standpoint later used by David Lloyd- George as shall be seen later.
Lambton’s history of Muslim political theory as outlined here seems both plausible and
rigorous; however, any approach to the development of political theory that charts an
intellectual history of ideas needs also to demonstrate that the theoretical impacted the actual.
In the case of Muqaffa for example, if Goitein’s supposition is correct, it had the opposite
effect to the one desired insofar as the advice was rejected and the author was executed. Does
that therefore render Muqaffa’s inclusion void? Especially when the entire theory that
Lambton is proposing is based upon the concept of justification after the fact, rather than the
influencing of the way forward. This criticism is not unjustified, yet, at the same time, Ignaz
Goldziher is able to cite specific instances of Caliph’s taking actions as a direct result of the
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theories outlined by the scholars outlined above. It seems therefore that Lambton’s
intellectual history can be justified through the work of Goldziher.
The Caliph was therefore not seen as being above the law, but rather, the leader of the
community who was also bound by it; a philosophy which allowed for rebellion and
overthrow if he was not obedient to it. This notion of contract could be seen in the bay’a, the
oath of obedience between Caliph and community, but as time and circumstance moved on,
the relationship between Caliph and community was developed in the light of events. The
classic defence of Abbasid authority, al-Mawardi’s Ordinances of Government, is a prime
example of this dynamic. Frequently, the events through which the political theory was being
worked out were adverse rather than positive, leading the critical observer to suggest that the
theories were simply justifications after the fact, rather than theorist, theologians and jurists
attempting to grapple with developing doctrine on its own terms. This accusation, while not
perhaps inaccurate, ignores the other side of the same argument which is the practical
understanding of any relationship and the interpretation of it being re-examined in the light of
circumstances which were not part of the original scenario.
The primary tension over the whole period up to the fall of Baghdad focused around the
extent to which the Caliph was sovereign and/or spiritual leader, an issue over which they
competed with the jurists and scholars for many centuries.
1.3.8 Right to Succession Developed and Legitimized
In the early stage, other than the requirement for Quraishi lineage and the tradition of
“election” and “acclamation,” legitimization of the Caliph’s rule seems to have been based
upon the character of the candidate. There appears to have been little or no use of symbolic
regalia. However, there are also tantalizing allusions in a few Hadith to the presence of a ring
of office passed from Caliph to Caliph until it was lost down a well in the reign of ‘Uthman.
Such symbols of office even at this early stage perhaps speak of an institution that was
quickly passing from a caretaker leadership to a powerful office in its own right. Under that
growing power, the murder of ‘Uthman posed a fundamental question for the new and
increasingly powerful religio-political institution: could a Caliph be deposed for neglect of
duty? For the Khawarij Sect, the argument was very straightforward: the Caliph was
responsible for his actions and must not deviate from ordinances of divine origin.
However, Mu’awiya argued that arbitration was a legitimate tool of succession and
validation. His precedent was followed by his Umayyad successors, who, once they were in
power, sought to eradicate the notion of “moral justification” as the right to rule and
succeeded in replacing it with a hereditary succession that incorporated the bay’a. Under this
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system, the successor was named by the Caliph, either a son or close male relative, who was
then acclaimed by the nobility who then swore an oath to him. This later developed under
Abd al-Malik, who replaced the bay’a with an ‘ali ‘l-‘ahd or electoral contract between the
ruler and community.
At the same time, the Umayyads began to increasingly legitimize their rule through familial
connection to ‘Uthman and, ultimately, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself. This attempt at
legitimization through familial right fitted with their increasing move toward hereditary
succession discussed above. However, at the same time, they moved to increase their
theological authority, claiming direct connection to God himself and removing Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) as a link in the chain, for as the deputy or successor to Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) they could only work within the limits created after prophecy died.
However, as leaders appointed by God, they were free to do the will of God as they saw fit.
Sourdel translates a khutba of Hajj as an example of this: The amir of Believers, “Abd al-
Malik is a leader whom God has chosen as his viceroy on earth and appointed imam for his
creatures.”The Umayyad Caliphs were therefore successfully able to shorten the title to
“khilafat allah,” removing “rasul” as a vital component for legitimization within the title, yet,
at the same time, creating a link to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) through hereditary right. This
move effectively sidelined the potential power of the scholars and throughout the period of
direct political rule by the Caliphs, the intellectual arguments raged back and forth between
the two camps, both of which had the potential to lead the Islamic world. Sourdel suggests
that the ‘ulamā attempted to counter Mu’awiya and his successors by drawing a distinction
between the earlier period of the Rashidūn Caliphs and the later Caliphs, whom they
characterised as monarchs. According to Sourdel, they were largely successful in this. With
the advent of the Abbasids and the overthrow of the Umayyads in 750CE, the nature of
legitimization was developed theologically under the influence of the Persian culture where
the majority of its power was based. At the same time the Greek influence, brought into
Muslim culture through their contact with the Byzantines and the translations of ancient
Greek texts housed in Baghdad, became increasingly apparent in the nature of Muslim
headship.
However, while there is considerable argument over the extent of Greek influence upon the
Caliph’s court, there is little doubt over the impact of the Persian influence, both in court
etiquette and political theory. Sourdel suggests that the Abbasids also presented themselves
as members of Prophet Muhammad’s family as a source of legitimacy, although controversy
raged over whether descendants of Prophet Muhammad’s nephew al-Abbas or sons of
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Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatima had the better claim. Thus, the dynastic principle,
begun under the Umayyads, continued under the Abbasids, usually involving naming a son as
successor, and a second son as a backup. In some cases, if the first choice was deemed
unsuitable, and in the absence of any formal mechanism for deposing lawfully due to the
lapse in the bay’a and the notion of a contract, attempts were made to force him to abdicate in
favour of the other successor with the result that violence frequently occurred. It was against
this background that the notion of “right of the sword” was developed: the concept that God
favoured the claim of the victor insofar as this was proved by virtue of his victory. This
doctrine itself was fascinating insofar as it had its roots in the theology of jihād.
Whatever the motives for the changes and developments, Sourdel notes that the Caliph began
to increasingly rule through ministers, chief amongst whom was the vizier. He took over
many of the administrative functions and policy work, eventually including foreign affairs as
well. To some extent this was inevitable given the size of the government. However, it was
this voluntary separation of the Caliphate from his direct involvement in the lives of the
ummah that allowed the rise of the Sultans, and the gradual decline in the status of the
Caliphs. Thus, from the tenth century onwards, the relative power of the Caliph was
dependent on his relationship with the Sultan: this varied enormously depending upon both
incumbents. However, even though their actual power was eroded away, their theoretical
status as head of the ummah continued far longer; indeed, it is impossible to say for certain
whether it ever disappeared, even under the breakup of the Abbasid Empire and the
increasing power of the independent Muslim rulers. Sourdel notes that, even in the Sultanate
period, the Caliph retained the right to appoint and all power officially flowed from him. In
such circumstances, it would not be unreasonable to describe his status as a constitutional
head with the symbolic regalia of a sovereign. Such an analogy would be incomplete,
however, without reference to the fact that he retained a wider, Pan-Islamic authority, which,
although ignored by many rulers for a few centuries, never completely died.
The final phase of the Caliphate is covered very briefly by Sourdel, as she reviews their
relationship with the Seljuks and the eventual capture of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258.
Her summary of the situation reiterates that, although real power had disappeared from the
Caliphate many years ago, many Muslim rulers still stressed that their authority was derived
from the Caliph. In this she is at odds with Lambton, who argues instead: “when the
Caliphate was destroyed in the thirteenth century, the temporal rulers did not have to adjust
their theories since the Caliphate had almost become a redundant institution. Its destruction
changed little or nothing for the temporal rulers in the other Muslim kingdoms.
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On the surface, Lambton would appear to be correct: scholars have argued that the
resurrection of the Caliphate by the Fatimids in Cairo saw the end of any real power and even
Pan-Islamic status in the office. There were brief periods of increased power, frequently in
times of dynastic squabbling and stalemate when the Caliph became a pawn to legitimize the
power of the Sultans. During this time, it seems that even the Caliph’s right to khutba ended
and the sultan frequently carried the insignia of the Caliph. The Caliph was not universally
recognized and many rulers refused to seek legitimization from him, although many
influential sultans, such as those in Delhi and Iraq, did. The Ottomans particularly began to
use the title for themselves, Sourdel describing them as “repositories” of the Caliphate,
although it was never mentioned in their official titles. At this time Ibn Khaldun declared that
the Caliphate had ended after the first four Caliphs and that both the Umayyads and the
Abbasids were merely sovereigns. This was endorsed by the Hanafi school and the Persians,
such as Dawwani (d.1502), developed the theory that a Caliph was any sovereign defender of
Islam. As such, it was a subtle shift from the implications of the leader of the ummah as
“Commander of the Faithful” to “Defender of the Faith.”
The period surrounding and following the capture of Cairo by the Ottomans in the sixteenth
century is an important one in the light of the British discussions that follow: Sourdel
suggests that when the Ottomans captured Cairo, the then Caliph was sent to Constantinople
and treated without respect, further asserting that the eighteenth century view that the
Caliphate was transferred from Cairo to Constantinople is false as there is no documentation
to prove it. Indeed, Sourdel is confident that the only title that the Ottomans adopted
following their capture of Cairo was that of the Mamluk Sultans. Even so, the Ottomans still
attempted to claim sovereignty over the whole Islamic world, but the Mughals in India
continued to call themselves “Caliph” and Delhi itself became known as “dar al-khalifa” until
the death of Shah Alam II in 1760. It was shortly after this that the title appears in Ottoman
documentation, notably in the treaty of Kucuk Kanyarca in 1774 which is cited by many
Western scholars as the basis for the resurgence of Pan-Islamic idealism in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries.
The final development prior to British involvement was the adoption of articles three and
four in the 1876 Ottoman constitution, which saw the specific separation of the spiritual and
temporal elements within the Caliph’s remit. Sourdel notes that the European powers, even
after this cleaving, recognized the spiritual authority of the Ottoman Caliph. However, they
failed to define what each of the terms, such as “spiritual authority,” actually meant to the
framers, the wider Ottoman population, and to the Europeans who were engaged with the
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Ottoman Empire by this time. This was an important omission as will be seen in the
discussion of the British Lausanne correspondence in chapters three and four.
Thus, by the period in which the British become involved in the Caliphate question, the
Caliphate had the distinct appearance of sovereignty, with the vague notion of Pan-Islamic
spiritual authority lingering in the background. The position is neatly summarized in
MacDonald’s assessment of the constitutional position of the Ottoman Caliphs in the early
years of the twentieth century, for he consistently uses the term “sovereign” for the Caliph,
citing the following marks of sovereignty and legitimacy: name on the coinage, prayers said
for him in the Friday khutba, the right of the sword, election, nomination, possession of the
sacred places, and possession of the sacred relics. MacDonald also noted the Ottoman
Caliph’s lack of Quraishi lineage, but felt that this particular aspect of legitimization should
not be a stumbling block to the Caliphate’s continued existence which, he felt, was necessary
for the well-being of the ummah.
So the picture of an institution in decay and decline even from the ninth century onwards,
having lost its Pan-Islamic appeal, is compelling. However, it does not tell the whole story,
for an investigation of the Delhi Sultanate in the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries reveals
that the first Sultan of the new dynasty, Iltutmish, went to great lengths to have his rule
validated by the Caliph, who, if historians are correct, would have only been a puppet of the
Sultans by the early thirteenth century. An explanation for Iltutmish’s actions can be found in
Pande, for he argues that the new Sultan, as the successor to Qutbuddin (who was still a slave
when he began his rule in India and received his insignia of royalty not from the Caliph, but
from Mahmud of Ghur his master), wanted investiture from the Caliph to validate the new
kingdom’s status as an independent ruler in its own right. This theory fits with the idea of
Iltutmish as an astute politician, who, on the back of a swift rise to power, wishes to validate
not just himself, but his kingdom, under the direct rule of the Caliph, rather than as a client of
Mahmud of Ghur.
This need for validation appears to have continued on into the later dynasty, for Mujeeb
shows later in his book that, when there was no apparent legitimate Caliph, it also
undermined their own rule. For example, when Baghdad was destroyed in 1258 and the last
Caliph was killed, the Delhi Sultan of the time, Muhammad bin Tughlaq, both suspended
Friday prayers and had the title “Amir al-Mu’minin” stamped on his coins until an Abbasid
claimant was found in Cairo, at which point the Friday prayers were resumed and the title
“Sultan” was stamped on the coins. It is interesting to note that Tughlaq also had the opening
of the verse, 4:59 stamped on his coins, which Mujeeb interprets as showing the Sultan’s
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position. If this is true, then this would appear to reduce the Sultan’s dependence upon the
Caliph for the source of his authority as he places himself directly in the chain under Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) without reference to the Caliph. However, Jackson states that the title
“Auxiliary of the Commander of the Faithful” was employed both by Iltutmish and his
successors, which, contrary to Mujeeb and far more in line with the other evidence given
above, shows the acknowledged fealty of a client ruler toward the source of his authority.
So the evidence provided by the actions of the Delhi Sultans seems to point toward the
conclusions drawn by Alam, who suggests that the Sultan had “constituent authority” but that
his reign could only be legitimized by the Caliph. This in turn points to the fact that even
though the temporal power of the Baghdad Caliphs was just a distant memory, their “spiritual
prestige” remained and that it is this prestige which helps to maintain the notion of a single,
global ummah. As such, although the Caliph was not always referred to for investiture, the
notion appears to have persisted that the concept of the Caliph as the leader of the Islamic
world was the ultimate, God-given authority that gave the disparate kingdoms of the ummah
their source of legitimization. This is what drove the Muslim rulers to find a successor to the
Caliphs of Baghdad when they were destroyed. A similar concept is found in the distant lands
of Southeast Asia in the seventeenth century. For, even though there is evidence that the
“Muslim Rulers” in the Malay Archipelago paid only lip service to their adopted Islamic
religion, it is also clear that rulers in Java and in Aceh sought validation from a central
Islamic authority. While it is true that there was some confusion evident as to who they
should be addressing their requests to, the very fact that they were seeking legitimization
from a centralized Islamic authority they understood to be the Caliph shows that the notion of
a Pan-Islamic authority existed even after an easily recognizable Caliphate had disappeared.
Anthony Reid’s working paper for the Southeast Asia Research Institute provides a useful
insight into how the Malay rulers saw the Ottomans, for he proposes that it was a relationship
of feudal over-lordship and protection at a time when the Muslim Malay rulers were under
pressure from growing European power.
Whatever the reason for their desire to engage with the Ottomans, even though they were so
far away, it does point to the fact that, even in this period of otherwise independent Muslim
kingdoms, some notion of a broad Islamic community with the Caliph at its head remained.
Thus, when the concept of a Pan-Islamic Caliphate was actively revived and encouraged in
the nineteenth century, a fertile soil already existed into which these seeds of more active
globalized “spiritual authority” could be sown.
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1.3.9 Let Us Sum Up
In this lesson, we looked into the essential questions, conclusions, and dynamics concerning
the nature of Caliphal authority. Firstly, that given the importance attached to the office in
both its earliest and latest incarnations, the scriptural basis for the Caliphate seems
remarkably small. This is seen in the surprisingly few references concerning its establishment
and functions in the Qur’an and in the sketchy information to be found in the Hadith
concerning both its role and qualifications for candidature. However, whether Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) desired a successor or not it is clear that the fledgling Islamic community
desired a leader following Prophet Muhammad’s death. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) left
the election and selection of the Caliph to the Muslim community whom would choose a best
qualified person as a successor.
The second conclusion to be drawn from this section is that the title “Caliph” itself is perhaps
best translated as both “deputy” and “successor.” The reason for this apparent indecision is
based upon the fact that the title was used on the Arabian Peninsula before the advent of
Islam in the context of a “second” negotiating or ruling on behalf of an absent leader. The
question is what the context of that “absence” was? In pre-Islamic Arabia it seems to have
been used for someone who deputised for a leader who was alive. However, the speed at
which the title was adopted into the ummah following Prophet Muhammad’s death suggests
that the use of the title in relation to a succession of power was also sufficiently well known
to be accepted without alternatives being offered. Whether one could conversely argue for a
supernatural doctrine of “deputy-ship” in regard to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) being alive in
Paradise and therefore the current leader of the community simply exercising authority on his
behalf until Muhammad himself returned is perhaps stretching doctrinal debate to breaking
point, but it does feed into the question concerning who the “deputy” or “successor” was
“deputy” or “successor” to. This issue is given shape by Crone and Hinds’ evidence relating
to the use of the titles “khilafat allah” and “khilafat rasul allah.” Clearly a definitive answer
to this question would also help to provide illumination concerning the foundations of the
office in relation to scripture and historical record.
Thirdly, aside from these foundational questions and concerns, the qualifications and remit of
the Caliph appear to have been defined with reasonable clarity in the Hadith. It is from the
Traditions that we can glean that the candidate must be of the Quraishi tribe and of pious and
worthy character, (although this second qualification appears to have been ignored from a
reasonably early stage). His undisputed remit was the leadership of the community in
worship as well as the defence of the ummah and the declaration of jihad. Of course, a long-
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running battle was fought over the question of religio-legal interpretation and there seems
little doubt that the early Rashidūn Caliphs as well as the Abbasids, for a brief period, held
onto this aspect of the Caliph’s portfolio until the ‘ulamā eventually subsumed this to
themselves over the course of several centuries.
Answer the following questions in about 1000 words.
1. Explain the concept of Khilafah in the Quran
2. Elaborate the justification of Caliphate in Islamic political theory
3. Explain the role and importance of Khilafah in Islam
Answer the following question in about 250 words.
4. Write a note on the concept of Succession
5. Critically examine the current debate on the future of Khilafah in the contemporary
Modern world.
6. Write an essay of the Khilafah al-Rashidun
Ahmad, Manzoorudin, Islamic Political Thought in the Modern Age, Adam Publishers
Pankhurst, Reza, The Inevitable Caliphate, Oxford University Press
Rosenthall, E. J, Political Thought in Medieval Islam: An Introductory Outline, Edinburg
Univeristy Press.
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Lesson 1.3: Concept of Ummah
Structure
1.3.1 Introduction
1.3.2 Objectives
1.3.3 A Brief Historical Overview
1.3.4 The Quranic Concept of Ummah
1.3.5 Sociology of the Ummah
1.3.6 Modernization and the Ummah
1.3.7 The Real Challenge to Ummah
1.3.8 Let Us Sum Up
1.3.1 Introduction
In this lesson, we intend to present the brief overview of the concept of Ummah in Islam and
the impact of modernization and social change on the Islamic ummah (community of
believers) and how they are shaping the emerging struggle between ‘hybridity’ and
‘authenticity’ among Muslims and Islamic movements. This lesson will explore the
challenges of this struggle and its sociological implications for the ‘de-centering’ of the
Muslim world into multiple autonomous regions. The future of Muslim ummah may gain
strength not as a unified and unitary community, but as a differentiated community consisting
of ummahs representing different Islamic regions, each regional ummah possessing and
embodying a unique character moulded by the history and temperament of its people.
1.3.2 Objectives
 To understand the concept of Ummah in Islam
 To examine and explicate different challenges to Muslim Ummah
1.3.3 A Brief Historical Overview
The concept of ummah has inspired the imagination of Muslims, especially Muslim
intellectuals, from the very early days of Islamic beginning. The term ummah appears over
sixty times in the Quran, where it has multiple and diverse meanings ranging from followers
of a prophet, or of a divine plan of salvation, to a religious group, a small group within a
larger community of believers, misguided people and an order of being. However, from its
numerous and, sometimes, vague meanings in the early days of Islam, it came to symbolize
and embody the very notion of an Islamic community, gradually acquiring socio-legal and
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religious connotations. Sociologically, ummah became a transformative concept in the sense
that it played a significant role changing, first, the Arab tribes into an Arab community and,
later, as Islam began to expand to non-Arab lands, different groups of Muslims into a
community of believers.
Ummah as a community of believers entailed a consciousness of belonging to a community
whose membership was open equally and without any qualification or restriction, except that
of the faith, to all believers. In this sense, it embodied the universalism of Islam. It became a
means of establishing a religious and cultural identity that was independent of the Muslim
state. This means of constructing a religious and cultural identity made the spiritual
development and sense of cohesion independent of the transitory territorial states. The life of
the new ummah was marked by a pervasive new moral tone, derived from the individual
relationship to God and not by old primordial loyalties and maintained by the expectations
prevalent in the group as a whole and given form in their corporate life. Over time, ummah
became a state of mind, a form of social consciousness, or an imagined community which
united the faithful in order to lead a virtuous life and to safeguard and even to expand the
boundaries of the autonomous ummah.
Ummah became a framework for maintaining the religious unity and accommodating the
cultural diversity of the believers. This generated a strong sense of unity, which permeated
the Muslim world and was instrumental in submerging, or overriding, the significant ethnic
and cultural differences on the level of the ideal. It thus became a critical basis for expansion
that allowed for a certain disregard of the realities of life. Psychologically speaking, the term
ummah provided for an existence on two levels, an existence in a tension that, never
completely to be relieved is still an important element in the inner unrest besetting significant
parts of the Muslim world. In the modern Muslim world the notion of ummah is an integral
part of religious, political and ideological discourses on Islam. Its foundation is constructed
on the basis of the Quranic revelations and on the collective memories of the political
grandeur of Islamic history. In the Muslim imagination, the ummah lives under a divine law
whose protector is the ummah itself. The temporal political authority is neither a source nor a
guarantee of the law. Its legitimacy is recognized so long as it guarantees the preservation
and expansion of religion. While this type of volitional orientation is very much in tune with
the contemporary globalization trends, it is also an inherent source of political instability and
unrest in the modern Muslim world. This is reflected in the ideologies of several major
modern Muslim social and political movements, like the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Muslim
Brotherhood.
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For organizations like the Muhmmadiyah, Jamaat-i-Islami and Muslim Brotherhood, the
Muslim ummah is a transnational geographical entity with its heart lying in the modern
Arabic Middle East. According to their ideologues, the dignity and political authority of the
ummah have been severely undermined by the last five centuries of Western political and
military domination. The Western attempts at keeping the ummah ineffective forever are now
being resisted by the new signs of Islamic revival. This illustrates the fact that, for many
Islamic activists, the notion of ummah is an important and integral part of the contemporary
Muslim consciousness that originated in Quranic revelations, but has evolved in meaning and
usage in conjunction with developments in the Islamic world. Ummah manifests itself at the
ideological, cognitive, behavioral and ethical levels. For Muslims, and especially Muslim
activists and intellectuals, it is a sociological reality. It is a unique principle of social identity
in Islam which acts as a basis of collective consciousness and community organization. There
is a consensus among Muslim scholars that the ummah refers to a spiritual, non-territorial
community distinguished by the shared beliefs of its members.
However, the Islamic world is not immune from the ideology of nationalism. In Muslim
countries nationalism has often incorporated the concept of the ummah. While most of the
Muslim countries, like their counterparts elsewhere, have been strongly influenced by
nationalism, the Islamic revivalist movements invariably make the existence of Muslim
ummah an important part of their political platform. These movements argue that loyalty to
the Islamic ummah overrides any other ethnic, linguistic and geographical loyalties. The
political reality, however, is that while most Muslims regard the idea of ummah as an
important source of their collective identity, nationalism and nationalist movements are also
an important part and parcel of most Muslim countries. As such, Muslims tend to have dual
or multiple social identities comprised of national, or ethnic, and Islamic identities. In a
sociological sense, the concept of ummah refers to an ideal state—an all-encompassing unity
of the Muslims that is often invoked but never completely realised.
1.3.4 The Quranic Concept of Ummah
The Arabic word “ummah” is often translated as “community” or “nation”. In fact, this word
appears in the Qur’an with numerous meanings which can be summarised into five general
categories as follows:
1) A leader or role-model: We find this meaning in the verse: “Abraham was indeed a role-
model (ummah), devoutly obedient to Allah, and true in faith.” [Sūrah al-Nahl: 120] This
conforms with how most commentators on the Qur’an understand the verse. Another
interpretation of the verse is that Abraham was indeed a community unto himself. This
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interpretation was suggested by the Prophet’s Companion Ibn ‘Abbās, and by the Successor
Sa’id Ibn Jubayr, as well as others. Farwah b. Nawfal relates the following conversation he
had with another eminent Companion, Ibn Mas`ūd: Ibn Mas`ūd once said about his fellow
Companion: “Mu`ādh was indeed a role-model (ummah), devoutly obedient to Allah, and
true in faith.” When I heard this, I said to myself: “Ibn Mas`ūd has made a mistake. Allah sad
that Abraham ‘was indeed a role-model, devoutly obedient...’” Ibn Mas`ūd turned to me and
said: “Do you know what an ummah is. Do you know what it means to be devoutly
obedient? I said: “Allah knows best.” He said: “An ummah is someone who teaches people
what is good. A devoutly obedient person is one who obeys Allah and His Messenger. This is
Mu`ādh b. Jabal. He used to teach people what is good, and he used to obey Allah and His
Messenger.”
2. A specific historical period: We find this usage in the Qur’an in the verse: “But the man
who had been released, one of the two who had been in prison, and who now recalled after so
long a space of time (ummah)...” [Sūrah Yūsuf: 45].We find this usage again in: “And if We
were to withhold the punishment from them until a stated period of time (ummah), they
would certainly say: ‘What prevents it?’ Now surely on the day when it will come to them, it
shall not be averted from them and that which they scoffed at shall beset them.” [Sūrah Hūd:
8] We can discern a strong connection between the idea of an ummah as a nation and that of a
specific historical timeframe, since a nation persists for a period of time and then comes to an
end. As Allah says: “To every nation (ummah) is a term appointed: when their term is
reached, not an hour can they cause delay...” [Sūrah al-A`rāf: 34]
3. A way of thinking or a school of thought, whether correct or misguided. Allah says:
“Nay! they say: We found our fathers on a path (ummah), and surely we are guided by their
footsteps.” [Sūrah al-Zukhruf: 22-23] Though they were clearly misguided, they were
steadfast in their adherence to the ways of their forefathers. Therefore, this usage of the
word ummah is appropriate here.
4. A faction or grouping of people, whether large or small. Allah says: “And when he
arrived at the watering place in Madyan, he found there a group (ummah) of men watering
their flocks...” [Sūrah al-Qasas: 23] We also find: “Every time a new group (ummah) enters
the Fire, it curses its sibling group that went before, until they all follow each other therein.”
[Sūrah al-A`rāf: 38]
5. People united by a common faith. This is the usage that is most commonly found in the
Qur’an, like where it says: “Humanity was a single community (ummah), and Allah sent
Messengers with glad tidings and warnings...” [Sūrah al-Baqarah: 213] Ibn Àbbās and
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others among the Companions and Successors relate to us that all humanity had at one time
been united upon right guidance. For ten generations after the time of Adam, humanity
remained united in religious belief and were steadfast in monotheism. Then, devilish
elements lured them from their faith, so Allah sent prophets to humanity to warn them and
give them glad tidings. We need to give this some thought. We know that even among
Adam’s own children, there were those who were disobedient and sinful. We see this in the
story of Cain and Abel. Indeed, humanity has been tried and tested ever since Adam and Eve
were sent out from Paradise. Therefore, it might be possible that the verse stating humanity
was united in faith refers to the state of the overwhelming majority of people during those
first ten generations, and not to every single person. And Allah knows best.
The Best Community: Allah says: “You have been the best of communities brought forth
for humankind: commanding good, forbidding evil, and believing in Allah.” [Sūrah Āl
Ìmrān: 110] What this verse is saying is that this is the community wherein the best of
humanity is to be found. They are those who are not concerned with themselves alone. They
do not simply fulfil their own needs. They exist for all humanity, to teach them guide them,
and show them the way to Paradise. Ibn Àbbās said: “They are the people who emigrated
with Allah’s Messenger from Mecca to Madinah.” Ùmar pointed out: “Had Allah wished, he
could have said; ‘You are the best of communities...’ Instead, he said: ‘You have been the
best of communities...’ This shows that the verse is speaking particularly about the Prophet’s
Companions and those who follow their example.” Ùmar also said: “This verse refers to the
first of us and not to the last of us.”
He bases this interpretation on the verse’s use of the past tense verb. The Muslims, at the
beginning, were as the verse describes them to be. They commanded what was right and
forbade what was wrong on the strength of their faith. As for those Muslims who neglect
these duties or who come together as a community on a basis other than faith, they are not
proper witnesses for humanity and the verse does not apply to them. It is wrong to think that
this honour of being the best of communities comes from merely identifying with Islam. It is
not an ascribed status that the community inherits from its historical background.
Qatādah relates that ‘Umar saw some people behaving badly during the Hajj pilgrimage. He
recited the verse: ““You have been the best of communities brought forth for humankind...”,
then he said: “If you wish to be part of this community, then fulfil the condition Allah has
placed on it.” He meant that they must command what is good and forbid evil, united in their
faith. We should realize that even during the Prophet’s lifetime, his Companions read the
verse with the past tense: “You have been the best of communities...” They understood from
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it that the past tense referred to Allah’s prior knowledge of their state as a community. It is
more likely that Ùmar’s understanding is based less on the past tense verb in this verse, but
rather on another group of verses altogether: “And those foremost in faith will be foremost in
the Hereafter... a large number of people from the earliest times and a few from those of later
times.” [Sūrah al-Wāqiàh: 10-14]
In any case, the condition that Ùmar points out is a true qualifier for anyone wishing to be
counted among the best of communities: “...commanding good, forbidding evil, and believing
in Allah.”
1.3.5 Sociology of the Ummah
Like Christianity, Islam is a transnational, global religion. It is also the world’s second largest
(behind Christianity) and fastest growing religion. But what is of particular interest here is
not Islam’s rise and size, but its transnational, civilization-making potential. Many scholars,
Muslim and non-Muslim alike, have ascribed to Islam a transnational capacity that other
religions lack. In other words, Muslims are said to be more likely than, say, Christians or
Buddhists, to identify themselves in religious terms than as members of particular national
political communities. This is because, as Bernard Lewis explains, “Islam is not only a matter
of faith and practice; it is also an identity and a loyalty.” Islam, it is said, requires Muslims to
make their common faith the highest marker of identity and the ummah Islamiyah (Islamic
community of believers) the most important collective to which one can – and ought to –
belong. As the Qur’an states: “You are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining
what is right, forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah” (3:110). Or, as Frederick
Denny writes: “The ummah itself is the tribe, a supertribe, with God and Muhammad as final
arbiters and authorities”.
By implication, then, Islam is a transnational religion and the ummah is a transnational
community bound by ties of faith, rather than by ties of blood. “Know that every Muslim is a
Muslim’s brother, and that the Muslims are brethren.” Therefore, intranational and national
identities are assumed to be subordinated to, if not rejected in favor of, a pan-Islamic identity
that, ideally, will culminate in a world of peace when “all people come under the protection
of an Islamic state” – when the whole world is dar al-Islam (house or territory of submission
[to God]). Mir Zohair Husain writes: “The primary loyalty of Muslim citizens is to the
ummah, rather than the [non-Islamic] state, and to the Shariah [Islamic law], rather than the
ruler.” Nonetheless, the ruler did foster ummatic ties. For many centuries, according to
Lewis, many Muslims lived under the earthly protection and authority of a single ruler, such
as the Ottoman sultan, who was viewed as the legitimate successor (khalifah) to Prophet
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Muhammad, “the commander of the faithful” (amir al-mu’minin), and “a potent symbol of
Muslim unity, even identity.” If there is an “Islamic exceptionalism,” Islamic
transnationalism, rooted in the concept of ummah, may be one of its cornerstones.
The ummah’s purpose is said to be twofold: to reflect God’s oneness and indivisibility
(tawhid) on Earth, and to serve as “the vehicle for realizing God’s will on earth.” Both
instances are ostensibly religious. Not surprisingly, many Islamic religious practices are
intended to reinforce such ummatic ties, among them reading and memorizing the Qur’an in
Arabic, praying five times a day in Arabic while facing Makkah, attending the Friday
congregational prayer services, celebrating the annual eids (holidays), and performing the
hajj (pilgrimage) to Makkah at least once in a lifetime, if able to do so. For instance, Malcolm
X once said that what impressed him most about the hajj was its transnational character: “The
brotherhood! The people of all races, colors, from all over the world coming together as one!
It has proved to me the power of the One God.”
But is the ummah merely a religious ideal? The notions of God’s oneness and the ummah as a
“vehicle for realizing God’s will on earth” could be interpreted as having political
implications. Several experts contend that even more than the religious rituals that promote
the ummatic ideal, Islam indeed promotes a comprehensive, organic unity. Unlike the
Christian tendency to separate the sacred and the profane, the religious and the political,
Islam is said to bring such realms together. In Islam, as originally established by the Prophet
Muhammad (SAW), there is to be no separation of mosque and state, God and Caesar, laity
and citizenry. Lewis writes: “From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the
identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of
the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.” In effect, Bassam Tibi
states, Islam delegitimizes the secular, or “religiousless,” state. Thus, ummah is as much “a
political society” as it is “a religious community.” In other words, Islam is frequently
envisioned as a transnational religio-political project for which individual Muslims, wherever
they may be, must strive to realize.
As a sociological phenomenon, the ummah can be viewed as a collective identity. Collective
identity is grounded in the socialization process in human societies. Individuals develop it by
first identifying with the values, goals and purposes of their society and by internalizing
them. This process, besides constructing the individual identity, also constructs the collective
identity. Rituals and ritualized behaviors of the society further reinforce it and give the
members a sense of similarity, especially against the ‘Others’ whose collective identities are
different.
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The key role in the construction of collective identity is played by symbolic systems of
shared religion, language and culture, which act as boundary defining mechanisms of the
collective identity. The boundaries can be crossed, or changed through incorporation, or
shedding of symbolic domains such as those that are entailed in religious conversion or
excommunication. Collective identity is constructed through major ‘codes’ of primordiality,
civility and transcendence or sacredness. These codes are ideal types as real coding
invariably combines different elements of these ideal types. The construction of collective
identity is not purely a symbolic affair unrelated to the division of labour, to the control of
resources and to social differentiation. Collective identity and social solidarity entail
consequences for the allocation of resources and for structuring entitlements to members of
the collectivity as against the outsider. From this perspective ummah would constitute a
collective identity of Muslims in the sense that it refers to Muslim’s identification with the
sacred domain of Islam and its incorporation in their individual consciousness. The
implication of viewing ummah as a frame for collective identity of Muslims is that, since it is
a result of social construction in which social structure and social processes play critical
roles, as these framing devices change, they also produce changes in the nature of collective
identity. In other words, since Muslims, besides partaking in common faith, also live their
lives in the contexts of their respective societies, as these societies change under the impact
of modernization and globalization that also will impact on Muslim collective identity.
1.3.6 Modernization and the Ummah
Modern technology has resulted in rapid communication over unlimited space. This
technology is now in existence nearly all over the world. The potential for worldwide rapid
communication has been translated into actual practice. We now live in a globalizing social
reality in which previous effective barriers to communication no longer exist. The world is
fast becoming a global village and ‘a single place’. Therefore, in order to understand the
major features of social life and emerging religious and political trends in contemporary
Muslim societies, we need to go beyond local and national factors and situate the analysis in
the global context. In the pre-globalized world, ‘knowing’ of all Islamized people was
seriously constrained or even rendered impossible by the limitations of technology. At best,
only a small number of people were able to travel to other cultures and societies. The
legendary travels of Ibn Batutta and Vasco de Gama are now a reality experienced by
thousands of business and recreational travellers every year.
In the pre-modern and globalized world ummah consciousness was largely determined by the
observance of the practice of the ‘five pillars’ of Islam (oath of belief, payment of zakat,
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performance of hajj, daily prayers and fasting) and certain other key beliefs. The existence of
these beliefs and practices was seen by many believers everywhere as evidence that the entire
culture of the Muslim societies was Islamized, that is, had come to resemble the Arabian
culture where Islam had originated. This transformation of all Islamized people was
considered to be an integral part of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAW) social and religious
mission. It was naively assumed by many Islamic intellectuals in the Middle East that such
cultural trajectory was the common destiny of all Islamized people. The difficulties of
communication and contact with people in far off regions fed this belief. But the reality was
that Islamized cultures invariably added the Islamic layers on top of the various other cultural
layers. The work of Clifford Geertz (1968) on Islam in Java and Morocco provides an
excellent illustration of this. Similar conclusions can be drawn from the study of the
customary laws of Muslim countries, which still continue to play a significant role in social
and cultural affairs of Muslim communities. It can be argued that modernization is prompting
a reformulation of the common Muslim belief that Islam is not only a religion but also a
complete way of life, which, in Islamic discourse. Instantaneous and worldwide
communication links are now allowing Muslims and non-Muslims to experience the reality
of different Islamic cultures. Such experiences reveal not only what is common among
Muslims but also what is different. For example, gender relations and dress codes for Muslim
women are structured in different ways in Muslim countries like Malaysia, Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Turkey and Kazakhstan.
While the first consequence makes us conscious of the social and cultural diversity of the
Muslim ummah, the second consequence produces a reaction of rejection of this cultural and
social hybridity and a desire to replace it with the authentic ‘Islamic way’. The struggle
between ‘hybridity’ and ‘authenticity’ perhaps constitutes the most important challenge of
globalization for the Muslim ummah and is one of the underlying causes of the emergence of
Islamic fundamentalist movements. Islamic fundamentalism refers to a strategy by which
Islamic 'purists' attempt to reassert their construction of religious identity and social order as
the exclusive basis for a re-created political and social order. They feel this identity is at risk
and is being eroded by cultural and religious hybridity. They try to fortify their interpretation
of religious ways of being through selective retrieval of doctrines, beliefs and practices from
a ‘sacred’ past.
Religious fundamentalism thus is a problem produced by the encounter between
modernization and Muslim ummah in all its diversity and cultural hybridity. Its strength
varies according to the intensity of attitudes towards diversity and cultural hybridity. For
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example, in the context of Indonesia, Islamic scholar Azyumardi Azra has observed that
Islamic radicalism in Indonesia is predicated on the perception that indigenous Indonesian
Islam is syncretic and hybrid, and needs to be purified and transformed into ‘authentic’ Islam
through the application of the radicals’ interpretations of the sacred texts. According to Azra,
this ‘literalist’ interpretation is the root of the radical Islamic fundamentalism in Indonesia.
This observation is applicable not only in the case of Indonesia but also in the context of
other Islamic countries as well.
In the modern globalized world diversity and cultural crossovers will become a matter of
routine. Instead of eliminating hybridity, this may in fact transform different Islamic
countries and regions into autonomous cultural systems thus posing a challenge to the
conventional categorical oppositions of ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘Muslim’ and ‘other’. This type of
development would have far reaching implications for the Muslim ummah. Islamic countries
in different parts of the world could be transformed into unique religious and cultural
systems, each claiming acceptance and recognition as authentic traditions of Islam. This
transformation may lead to the ‘de-centering’ of the Muslim world from its supposed cultural
and religious center in the Arabic Middle East to a multi-centered world. Five such centers of
the Islamic world can be readily identified, namely, Arabic Middle Eastern Islam, African
Islam, Central Asian Islam, Southeast Asian Islam and Islam of the Muslim minorities in the
West. The demographic characteristics such as size, diversity and age structure of the
populations in the Muslim countries will further accentuate the movement towards de-
centering. Over time, these traditions may find strength and consolidate with the support of
their followers.
Drawing from the insights of Professor Al-Atas’s work one can argue that modernization,
while corroding and challenging the inherited or constructed cultural identities, also
encourages the creation and revitalization of particular identities as a way of competing for
power and influence in the global system. This will be aided by a unique affinity of religion
for particularistic identities. And because religion in a globalizing, modernizing world is
marginalized, it uses new opportunities and ways to gain public influence and legitimacy.
Thus, far from losing public influence, religion may gain public influence under conditions of
globalization. This influence, nevertheless, will be mediated by a sub-global religious
tradition that can adapt and encourage the applied role of religion with greater success than
the inherited global tradition can.
In the light of the above, the future Islamic ummah will gain strength not as a unified and
unitary community but as a differentiated community consisting of ummahs representing
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different Islamic regions. This de-centering of the Muslim ummah may also be beneficial for
the intellectual revitalization in the Muslim world
1.3.7 The Real Challenge to Ummah
The looming challenge for the Muslim world is not religious, but intellectual. At present,
Islamic ummah is in the doldrums not because of the weakness of commitment to the faith
but because of its intellectual stagnation brought about by political, social and cultural
conditions generated by colonialism, neo-colonialism and economic underdevelopment, poor
governance some of which can be attributed to the real or imagined influence of increasing
devotional religiosity of the masses. This stagnation is most dramatically manifested in the
scientific and technological backwardness of the Muslim world.
In the 2008 ranking of the world’s top 200 universities by the Times Higher Education
Supplement (THES) 2008, 49 Muslim majority countries did not list a single university.
Likewise, the research contribution of Muslim countries is negligible and there are few
writings or translations from other languages. Several factors account for these intellectual
conditions: One of these being the meagre resources allocated by Muslim countries to
research and development. However, this is not only a cause, this itself is an effect of the
legacy of the colonial history which was experienced by most Muslim countries for an
extended period in the past two centuries, during which they endured some of the worst
excesses of racial and economic exploitation that stalled their development which has been
brilliantly detailed by Professor Al-Atas in his book The Myth of Lazy Native. But the causes
of their present predicament can also be attributed to the prevailing cultural and political
practices and poor governance.
Muslim countries are increasingly coming under intense pressure from religious
fundamentalist movements to impose epistemologies compatible with their versions of
Islamic doctrines that are generally hostile to critical rational thought. This is stifling the
development of conditions conducive to the development and growth of vibrant institutions
of higher learning. In the recent studies of contemporary Islamic consciousness in a number
of Middle Eastern Muslim countries, scholars were struck by an all-pervasive sense of
humiliation arising from the inability of the Arab countries to match the military and
technological superiority of Israel. This sense was further reinforced by the economic power
and absolute technological superiority of the West vis-à-vis Muslim countries. This sense of
humiliation is a major underlying cause of Islamic militancy and terrorism.
A robust civil society is a prerequisite for the development of a society based not on the
tyranny of strongly held convictions and beliefs but on a social order based on doubt and
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compromise. Science and technology prosper only under conditions which privilege the rule
of reason and nature. The intellectual stagnation of Muslim countries threatens to imprison a
significant proportion of humanity into permanent servitude. There is a great urgency to
create and nurture conditions promoting academic excellence and to develop strategies to
arrest the decline of the institutions of higher learning to ensure an honourable survival of
future generations of Muslims. This is probably the greatest and growing challenge facing the
governments of the Muslim countries today.
The real challenge for the differentiated Muslim ummah will be to find political, social and
cultural ways to fuse a high degree of piety and a high degree of intellectual activity for
scientific advancement. The Algerian–French anthropologist Muhammad Arkoun has
proposed three categories of thought. He labels these categories as ‘thinkable’, ‘unthinkable’
and ‘unthought’. The cultural conditioning emanating from the dogmatic religiosity and
traditionalistic self-image appear to encourage the majority of Muslim masses and
intellectuals to think only in terms of the ‘thinkable’ and the ‘unthinkable’ and discourage
cognitive processes leading to the ‘unthought’. The conditions which prevent the realm of the
‘unthought’ from flourishing and which now prevail in most Muslim countries constitute
perhaps the most significant barriers to the development of science and technology. Muslims,
like non-Muslims, will be called upon to address and solve modern problems not only related
to the development of science and technology but also other problems like equality of
citizenship for women and children, the management of human sexuality, environmental
degradation, the rule of law, political and cultural freedoms. A proper understanding and
resolution of these and other problems would require a common understanding based on
rational scientific knowledge.
1.3.8 Let Us Sum Up
In this lesson, we tried to acquaint ourselves with the basic framework of Ummah. The role
of Ummah being an important component of Muslim civilizational discourse and its role in
harbouring a mutual feeling of servitude towards the Islamic belief system. We also tried to
understand the sociological underpinnings to this important component of Islam and how it
plays a key role to in shaping the Muslim identity. This lesson also helped us to understand
that Ummah is capable of accommodating a number of different social collectives and
identities, “community” is useful in describing a vast array of overlapping yet sufficiently
distinct groups that nevertheless might belong to and participate in a larger collective identity
or “community.” It is important to note, however, that communities are neither radically
independent nor discrete; rather, they form, overlap, intersect, and coalesce in ways that
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generate still more ways of conceptualizing community both as an abstract analytical
category and as observable phenomena of social organization and identity construction.
Different orders of criteria particularize, contextualize, and add greater complexity to the
concept of community and its application. Thus age, gender, race, nationality, language,
class, social status, and historical era—to name only a few—easily frustrate any notion of
community as a single, simple, or static entity immune to change and lacking internal
differentiation. Ordinary Muslims around the world who have concerns, questions and
considerable moral dilemmas about the current state of affairs of Islam must reclaim the basic
concepts of Islam and implement them in a broader context. As Anwar Ibrahim has argued,
the Ummah is not merely the community of all those who profess to be Muslims; rather, it is
a moral conception of how Muslims should become a community in relation to each other,
other communities and the natural world.
1. Explain in detail the idea of Muslim Ummah
2. Discuss the meaning of Ummah from the Quranic perspective
3. Evaluate the debate on the question of Challenges to Muslim Ummah
4. Write a note on the Modernization challenges to Muslim Ummah
5. Give a detailed overview of the sociology of Ummah
6. Muslim Ummah is transnational. Comment.
Ahsan, Abdullah, Ummah or Nation: Identity Crisis in contemporary Muslim society, Islamic
Foundation, London
Moten, Abdul Rashid, Ummah: The Islamic Social Order, Springer
Roy, Oliver, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah, Columbia University Press
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Lesson 1.4: International Relations in Islam
Structure
1.4.1 Introduction
1.4.2 Objectives
1.4.3 Epistemic and Cognitive Fundamentals
1.4.4 Respectful Attitudes Towards all Human Beings
1.4.5 Authenticity of Human Beings; Free Fill and free Choice
1.4.6 Original Equality of Human Beings
1.4.7 Recognition of the Plurality of Religions as a Reality
1.4.8 Rational and Ethical Fundamentals
1.4.9 Peaceful Coexistence
1.4.10 Avoiding Violence
1.4.11 War and Jihad in Islam
1.4.12 Adherence to Moral Principles
1.4.13 Practical and Behavioral Fundamentals
1.4.14 Dialogue
1.4.15 Agreements and Treaties
1.4.16 Justice and Rights
1.4.17 Retaliation
1.4.18 Renewal of Forces for Preventive Purposes
1.4.19 Let Us Sum Up
1.4.1 Introduction
Human beings are dissimilar in their tastes and attitudes, as a result of which their outlook,
ways of thinking, and their understanding of issues and phenomena can be completely
different. On the other hand, according to Muslim philosophers, all human beings are
essentially social. Due to these characteristics, different societies have emerged and each
society has developed its own beliefs, then different political systems, each consistent with a
given society’s beliefs, attitudes and structure. Historical and geographical factors have also
played a significant part in the form and structure of societies. What is important in this
process is that human beings’ interests and demands grow in different and even conflicting
ways. If we, in light of these characteristics, consider the differences in interests and demands
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as normal, we can try to address and solve them constructively. As substantial differences
exist in human beings’ interests and demands, the international system is a forum for many
conflicts and disagreements. Nowadays there are nearly 50 Muslim countries. They form an
important part of the international arena. Their beliefs and attitudes are, more or less, rooted
in Islam. However, it should be noted that the depth and nature of each country’s adherence
to Islam and how each interprets it in the political arena can be quite different.
The main question in this lesson is what are the fundamentals of Islam pertaining to the
establishment of relations between nations and countries? By fundamentals, I we mean the
unchangeable teachings and beliefs that form the intellectual and doctrinal substructures for
Muslims. These beliefs, about which Muslims share a relative consensus, have remained
fixed and unchanged since the advent of Islam and will continue to remain so. However, they
can be interpreted in different ways. Principles can be based on these fundamentals and
theories can be developed based on those principles. The term international relations refer to
the relations of Muslim countries with each other and with non-Muslim countries. Naturally,
political relations, which govern other relations, are given priority. By Islam,we mean the
Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad’s sunnah.
1.4.2 Objectives
 To understand the basic idea of International Relations and Islam
 To trace out the key features of International Relations in Islam
 To examine the importance of International Relations in the contemporary world
1.4.3 Epistemic and Cognitive Fundamentals
By epistemic and cognitive fundamentals we mean the intellectual and doctrinal principles of
human beings that form their attitudes and behaviors. Every person sees and interprets other
people and phenomena based on their own epistemic and cognitive fundamentals. It follows
therefore that interactions between nations will be based on these same attitudes, behaviors,
and interpretations. The epistemic and cognitive fundamentals of political leaders and
systems form the substructures of policy-making in international relations: a respectful
attitude towards all human beings; the authenticity and original equality of human beings;
and the recognition of the plurality of religions as a reality.
1.4.4 Respectful Attitudes Towards all Human Beings
People are the main actors in states and international relations. Every actor’s attitude towards
other people has a direct effect on their relationship behaviors. The Qur’an expressly states
that God has bestowed dignity on all human beings and given them superiority over many
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other creatures. The verses about the breathing of His soul into the human body, the selection
of human beings as God’s successor on earth, and the creation of all that is on earth for
human beings, all highlight the inherent dignity of human beings in this world. Prophet
Muhammad’s standing up for the dead body of a Jewish person, as a sign of respect for his
human soul, indicates that by God breathing His spirit into the human body He has given
considerable dignity and stature to all human beings. Human dignity is a right that mankind
cannot be deprived of in this world. Depriving someone, in any way, would change their
nature and entity. Javadi Amoli, a prominent Muslim religious scholar (‘alim), believes that
human dignity cannot be grouped under i‘tibariyat (subjective notions), but is an undeniable
reality, like the dignity of angels and the Qur’an, and all these are manifestations of divine
dignity. Human beings who interact with each other in the arena of international relations are
the same human beings who have been given dignity by God; they are simply divided into
different nations.
1.4.5 Authenticity of Human Beings; Free Will and Free Choice
It is the principle of the authenticity of the human being that causes the Qur’an to pay
attention to the diversity of religions and ideologies as a reality, and engage in dialogue with
them and open up new ways for interactions and relations. From the Islamic point of view,
human beings are authentic in essence and will not lose their inherent essence regardless of
the society or situation in which they live. The Qur’an expressly states that if God had
wished, He could have placed all human beings in the form of a single nation and created
them similar to each other and with shared beliefs and perspectives, and thereby with similar
interests, but God intentionally refrained from doing so. The Qur’an also explicitly states that
if God had wanted, He could have created all human beings as pious believers or Muslim, but
God wished to leave them free to choose their own path and face the consequences. This is
one of the origins of the appearance of different nations in the arena of international relations.
Based on this Islamic viewpoint, no state has the right to force other states or nations to
follow the path it prefers.
1.4.6 Original Equality of Human Beings
There are four groups of reasons to demonstrate that from the viewpoint of Islam all human
beings are originally equal. In the first group it is argued that human beings are from a single
origin. According to the Qur’an all human beings were originally a single community. In
another verse it is maintained that God created all human beings from a single man and a
single woman, and divided them into different races and tribes so that they could recognize
each other. Elsewhere in the Qur’an it is mentioned that if God had wanted, he could have
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created all human beings in the form of a single nation and created them similar to each other
and with shared beliefs and attitudes, but he chose not to do so. The second group of reasons
shows that if God wanted he could have made all human beings pious believers or Muslims,
but God wished to create them differently and let them choose their own path freely and
naturally face the results of their choice in the afterlife. Therefore, everyone is responsible for
his or her own actions and conduct. If someone chooses the right path and true religion, it
will be to their advantage, and likewise, anybody who turns a blind eye to the path of truth,
will suffer a loss.
In the third group of reasons it is argued that acting in a right and humane manner, and being
righteous are of great value and importance irrespective of what one’s religion is. The Qur’an
regards Islam as the true religion in God’s eyes. The Qur’an also considers all other revealed
books as torch-bearers of guidance and asks their followers to adhere to them and follow
them. These verses confer an exceptional right on human beings and provide an unparalleled
opportunity for interactions among people and countries in international relations; these
verses, along with the previous one, which highlighted the freedom to choose one’s religion,
pave the way for a peaceful socio-political path for all human beings.
The fourth group includes reasons demonstrating the inherent dignity of human beings.
According to the Qur’an, God breathed his soul into the human body and bestowed dignity
on him and made him superior to other creatures. This divine spirit and dignity belongs to
humankind and encompasses absolutely all human beings. There are no specific races, or
adherents to particular religions, or political and social ideologies who are the sole receivers
of the spirit of God. During his farewell pilgrimage, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) emphasized
that everyone’s God and everyone’s father is none but one; that the ancestor of all human
beings is Adam and that he in turn was created from clay, and that no human being is
superior to other human beings. This equality of human beings can be generalized to nations
and states including in the field of international relations.
1.4.7 Recognition of the Plurality of Religions as a Reality
Every phenomenon can be studied and analyzed from two different perspectives. From one
perspective we can address the right and wrong, or just and unjust nature, of the phenomenon
and, from another perspective, we can examine each phenomenon as a reality with an
objective and external existence. In relations between states, the presence of religions, sects,
and different interests and perspectives as external realities is an undeniable fact, and it is
from them that the challenges in international relations arise. A number of Qur’anic verses
deal with this in a realistic manner, recognizing and acknowledging the presence of other
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religions as a reality. The Qur’an expressly maintains that Islam is the perfect and greatest
among all other religions: if such a belief did not exist, followers would question the
existence of Islam. Likewise, the followers of other religions consider their own religion to
be the best. However, the important point is that the Qur’an’s stipulation about the perfect
and most excellent nature of Islam do not prevent it from respecting other religions and
ideologies, and human beings generally. What is important here is that, even though human
beings may consider their own beliefs, attitudes, and religions as the perfect and just in
nature, they must still respect other attitudes and nations, and seek to establish relations with
them while protecting their own interests.
1.4.8 Rational and Ethical Fundamentals
What we mean by rational fundamentals. They are the behavioral rules and the kind of
interaction that human reason calls for, and without which social systems cannot be
established and maintained: peaceful coexistence, avoiding violence, and adherence to moral
principles. Ethical fundamentals are rooted in rationality and strengthen and improve socio-
political systems.
1.4.9 Peaceful Coexistence
The Qur’an expressly commands Muslims to talk to people kindly and benevolently. Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) spread his cloak under the feet of Najran Christians and greatly respected
all people, including non- Muslim groups who entered Madina. In Prophet Muhammad’s
treaty with the Sinai Christians was stipulated that none of them should be put under pressure
and that Muslims should be tolerant with them, protect them from harm or coercion, and
respect them wherever they were. Thus, according to this treaty, their religion and rituals had
to be respected by Muslims. The Qur’an calls Prophet Muhammad (SAW) a blessing for
people all over the world, a point he referred to himself. Thus Islam is a religion of blessing
and affection. The Qur’an favors friendship between Muslims and Christians who are not
arrogant and oppressive, and even supports the establishment of friendship between Muslims
and their enemies. Therefore, moving to international relations, it can be concluded that non-
Muslim nations are not considered enemies by the Qur’an, and that establishing relations
with them is easy and, even more importantly, necessary.
1.4.10 Avoiding Violence
Islamic political thought is essentially irreconcilable with violence and bloodshed for several
important reasons. First, the main objective of power and governance in Islam is to educate
people and help them on their path towards perfection and transcendence in order to attain
happiness both in this world and in the afterlife. The idea of improving human beings’ insight
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is an epistemic matter, best achieved in a peaceful and rational environment. Second, Islamic
political thought is based on moral issues and values, and aims to actualize the moral,
humane, and divine values in society. Violence is essentially immoral; and an ideology
whose objectives are moral and based on human values cannot employ immoral methods to
fulfill them. Third, the main features of Islamic political thought, and its most important
objectives in the political arena are the promotion of justice and the protection of rights, both
at domestic and international levels. The fulfilment of these two goals depends on people in
local societies and international actors. Both local people and international actors should be
willing to promote justice, they cannot be forced to obtain justice and protect rights in
society. Moreover, the act of employing force and violence is in contrast with justice and can
be considered a kind of corruption. Hazrat Ali (RA), who had failed to carry out the reforms
he had in mind because people were uncooperative, said to the people, “I know how to make
you accept the reforms; the only way is to use sword, but I will not get involved in corruption
to make you accept reforms.”
Fourth, according to Islam, power and governance are not objectives, but only the means to
achieve goals that are more important: Justice and rights can be regarded as the most
important bases of Islamic political thought. Power and governance are simply the means to
fulfil these objectives and have no value per se, and are worthless when there is no chance of
fulfilling rights, justice, divine, moral, and humane values through them.
1.4.11 War and Jihad in Islam
Research has shown that all verses in the Qur’an concerning war and jihad are intended for
defensive purposes and none of them encourages violence and war. Those verses concerning
war and jihad can be divided into three categories. The first category contains verses that
restrict jihad to certain terms and conditions, according to which Muslims are prohibited from
initiating any battle and from any kind of oppression during battles, and are obliged to adhere
to moral and humanitarian laws and rights. These verses only give permission to take
preventive actions that do not go beyond the limits of retaliation. The second category
contains verses that encourage Muslims to jihad unconditionally. Two points should be noted
here with regard to these verses. Firstly, based on the rules and principles of Qur’anic
sciences, unconditional verses are subordinate to the terms and conditions of conditional
verses and should be interpreted and followed in compliance with those terms and conditions.
Secondly, it should be noted that these verses, based on the context and the occasion of the
revelation, give a command, explain a situation, or encourage Muslims towards a certain
action that has already been prescribed under certain circumstances. The third category
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includes verses that explain and clarify different aspects of jihad, or refer to the rewards for
combatants and martyrs. These verses do not command Muslims to carry out jihad; they only
clarify its different aspects. The overriding matter to note here is that jihad should comply
with particular terms and conditions.
1.4.12 Adherence to Moral Principles
God only sent prophets on a mission to deal with issues and achieve objectives of vital
importance for human society. One of the most important aims of Prophet Muhammad’s
mission, as he highlighted himself, was perfecting and completing moral values and qualities.
One reason for following the moral instructions of Islam in the political arena and
international relations is that adherence to moral values and promoting them in society are
among the most important objectives of Islam. Power and governance are means to goals and
means can be sacrificed to reach an objective, however Islam does not allow the reverse.
According to Islamic teachings, all moral and humane principles should be upheld in the
political arena and international relations, even at times of war. Early Islamic texts point out
that enemies at war must not prevent each other from having access to water, food, and
similar needs, and should not contaminate food or water, or make them unusable. Muslims
are commanded to comply with this principle even when fighting pagans. The most important
argument in this regard is based on a verse from the Qur’an that allows Muslim to defend
themselves only to the degree they have been violated, and warns them not to go to extremes
or to violate or oppress their enemies. During his battles, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) warned
his followers against breaching trust or killing women and children. There are many
examples of his own conduct showing the prohibition on killing women and children. He also
disapproved of any breach of trust during war and told his combatants to fight but not to
commit any deception, breach of trust or betrayal against their enemies.
1.4.13 Practical and Behavioral Fundamentals
By practical and behavioral fundamentals, I we mean methods that facilitate and move
forward relations in bilateral and multilateral interactions in international relations.
Recommended methods and codes of conducts that can be extracted from the Qur’an and
sunnah. As discussed below: dialogue, agreements and treaties, justice and rights, retaliation,
and renewal of forces for preventive purposes.
1.4.14 Dialogue
Dialogue is given precedence as one of the most important strategies to consider in Islam.
The Qur’an emphasizes that dialogue should take place with due regard for mutual respect
and using a desirable negotiating manner based upon logical reasoning. The first condition
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for good and reasonable dialogue is that it should be free of any kind of intolerance,
extremism, prejudice, or bias, and without underestimating or undervaluing the opposite side.
In a reasonable dialogue, parties look forward to a better understanding, and to identifying
new ways and more accurate perspectives, and they do not engage in any kind of argument or
defensive action. Dialogue may take place at four levels and with four objectives. The first
level of dialogue could take place with the objective of recognizing and gaining a better
understanding of the opposite side in order to achieve a more accurate solution. God has
pointed towards various instances of dialogue between the divine prophets and their
opponents in the Qur’an, and it is logical reasoning that is clearly prominent in all such
dialogues. God commanded Prophet Muhammad (SWA) himself to choose the path of
dialogue with regard to idolaters and his enemies. In accordance with God’s will, he first
invited these parties to dialogue and logical reasoning. However, when they rejected his
invitation and eliminated any possibility of reasoning or dialogue by their acts of violence, he
left Makkah and went to another city, which had more appropriate conditions and where the
possibility of dialogue with the local inhabitants existed.
In this new city, Madina, and the areas surrounding it, which were inhabited by various tribes
with different religions, the second level of dialogue was achieved, to reach an agreement
about basic and fundamental principles. A short while after Prophet Muhammad (SAW)
entered Madina, this second level of dialogue served as the basis for his actions and progress;
the peak of this dialogue was a written agreement in the form of a constitution, which was
agreed upon and implemented. The peaceful coexistence of all people of different religions
was formally recognized and their security was ensured as the basis of this agreement.
The third level of dialogue seeks to identify common ground for cooperation, and the fourth
level aims to resolve and settle political and social differences with a view to achieving better
cooperation. After Prophet Muhammad (SAW) settled in Madina, some groups and tribes
broke their promises and agreements and started hostile actions against him. One of these
tribes was Bani Qaynuqa’. He tried his best through dialogue and discussion to convince
them to stop their hostile activities. For example, before the battle of Badr, he sent ‘Umar ibn
al-Khattab to the opposition to convince them to withdraw from an imminent battle and
instead to engage in dialogue and negotiation. However, they refused to negotiate with him.
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Hazrat Ali’s numerous negotiations with non-Muslims are
well known to historians.
1.4.15 Agreements and Treaties
The concepts of agreement and treaty appear 50 times in the Qur’an in different contexts.
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There are different forms of agreements and treaties in personal and social life and a great
deal of them concern the political arena and international relations. The Qur’an strongly
emphasizes the importance of adhering to agreements and treaties, and considers violating
them unacceptable and a sin. Agreements have often been used as a fundamental strategy to
solve issues and discord, and to establish peaceful relations. The first socio-political
agreement or treaty that ensured systematic relations in the form of a political system were
the treaties concluded between Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and other tribes and religious
minorities in the city of Madina upon the Prophet’s entrance into this city. Agreements and
treaties can be concluded between different parties, in accordance with the conditions of time
and place of the day, as a practical mechanism to ensure interaction and cooperation, and the
consequent benefits. The agreements and treaties recounted in Islamic jurisprudential texts
are great examples of agreements and treaties between Muslims and minorities in different
periods and with respect to the relatively simple societies of those times, but there is no limit
or prescription for the ideal model or type of agreement. Historical agreements and treaties
were intended to support coexistence and inter actions between Muslims and non-Muslim
minorities, whether they living in Islamic or non-Islamic societies. These agreements and
treaties, which have their roots in the Qur’an and the tradition of Prophet Muhammad
(SAW), were followed throughout the history of Islam, and were explained and interpreted
by religious jurisprudents in later centuries. Adhering to agreements is an absolute necessity,
and it is an issue of even greater importance in the social and political arena. As already
pointed out, the Qur’an has repeatedly and strongly stressed the necessity of adhering to
agreements and treaties and never permits them to be broken. They are given such
importance due to the necessity of their presence as a basis for the formation of social and
political systems and institutions. The Prophet Muhammad’s agreements and treaties with
non-Muslims and minorities, after his entrance into Madina, served as the basis for the
formation of Islamic society and the Islamic state—a formula that gradually spread to other
regions.. By implementing and adhering to them, human beings can enjoy a coexistence and
cooperation that ensures peace and social security.
1.4.16 Justice and Rights
The word haq (right), signifying the rights of individuals, also referred to as haq ul-nas
(human rights) in a broader sense in Islamic culture, is among the deepest and most complex
socio-political concepts of Islam. The parties enjoying a right can be individuals, groups,
nations, or governments. The word haq appears 247 times in the Qur’an, about 40 of which
directly mean rights. This is a comprehensive and pervasive concept, which includes all the
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material, and non-material, individual, social, national, and international aspects of human
life. Muslims believe that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was the most eminent and
distinguished human being and that no other human being can ever reach his high standing in
relation to any given characteristic. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) always paid great attention
to protecting the rights of others and tried not to violate anyone’s rights.
One of the most important aims of politics and governance in Islam is to protect the rights of
individuals. According to Islam, every person, party, and state has to protect the rights of
others, even if the interested parties are unaware of their rights and do not claim them.
Recognizing and protecting the rights of human beings is a necessity at individual, national,
and international levels. Hazrat Ali RA), as an Islamic ruler, said, “If all that this earth and
the heavens hold in them is given to me and I am asked to unreasonably and unjustifiably
take a barley husk from the mouth of an ant, I will not do so.” In the lives of human beings in
general, and in the peaceful relations between human beings of various religions and
ideologies in particular, no one should violate the rights of others, and everybody should pay
due regard to the rights of others. there are numerous other examples throughout Islamic
history of due importance being given to the rights of minorities.
Justice is regarded as an important practical mechanism in the relations between human
beings and nations that helps protect rights and resolve problems efficiently. Although justice
is a collective issue, it does not necessarily require the action and agreement of several
parties. Rather, it is possible that only one side may observe and pay due regard to this
concept and put it into practice, while other individuals concerned could benefit from the
ultimate results. Justice has two core features in the Qur’an: one concerning friends and
relatives, and the other regarding with the enemies. The Qur’an stresses that one should act
with justice even if the consequences of such acts are contrary to the interests of themselves
or their close and dear ones. The Qur’an commands Muslims to show kindness and
compassion to those people who have not fought battles against them, or driven them out of
their cities and homelands; and encourages Muslims to treat such people with equality and
justice. The occasion of the revelation of this verse concerns people other than ahl al-kitab;
that is, the idolaters and non-believers. Apart from the application of fair and equal treatment,
these verses also show that such individuals lived in Islamic society and may continue to live
in Islamic societies in the future, and thus Muslims would interact with them and are
obligated to treat them with justice and equality. The necessity of paying due regard to justice
in every situation, and with regard to every person, is one of the most distinctive features of
Islam. Various verses of the Qur’an command Muslims to observe and pay due regard to
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justice in every situation. Acting on the basis of justice, gains more importance and value in
situations where it is carried out with regard to the people who are the followers of other
religions. The clear commandment of the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is that if you
ever wish to pass judgment on non-Muslims and religious minorities, act and judge with
complete justice and equality.
The Qur’an clearly states that during confrontations with enemies, then any sense of enmity,
hatred, or violence must not become an obstacle to the fair and just treatment of others.
Moreover, it commands Muslims to pay due regard to justice and equality, even in battles,
and requires them to refrain completely from any unjust behavior towards their enemies. It is
clear that when Muslims are obligated to administer justice and equality in dealing with their
enemies, they must also act with justice and equality with regard to all other people and
groups who are living and interacting with them.
1.4.17 Retaliation
Retaliation is counted among the Islamic principles in international relations, but the
important point is that this principle is not absolute and should be implemented within a
moral framework. It is restricted to certain conditions determined in accordance with justice
and moral principles, therefore, retaliation is not allowed under all circumstances. As the
Qur’an has stressed, Muslims should observe justice even in retaliation. Further, the Qur’an
clearly states that if a group, oppressively and vengefully, prevents Muslims from going to
the Masjid al-Haram, they are not allowed to treat them oppressively in return, but should try
to show kindness and benevolence and avoid hatred, enmity, and oppression, and that they
should fear God. Thus, retaliation is not always allowed, and in many cases a person who
tries to retaliate will be as sinful as one who has committed the original act. Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) recommended that Muslims do not betray one who has betrayed them,
because then Muslims would be in the same position.
However, there are verses in the Qur’an that prescribe retaliation as a preventive act. One
case in which retaliation is allowed concerns the issue of retribution, and another case which
is related to international relations, is aggression. However, it has been stressed that
retaliation should be limited and proportionate to the original act and that exceeding that limit
is considered unacceptable and is disapproved of by God. The principle of retaliation in Islam
can be interpreted as an important strategy that emphasizes one should never oppress others
nor allow themselves to be oppressed by others.
1.4.18 Renewal of Forces for Preventive Purposes
Islam’s emphasis on peace, friendship, and peaceful coexistence, and observing moral
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principles and rules under all circumstances is so strong that it can make it seem idealistic, to
the extent that one may think that the bitter reality of societies suffering from injustice and
crime have been ignored. It is true that Islam’s emphasis on peace, coexistence, and the
observance of moral principles is so strong that the significance of these values cannot be
compared to that of military issues. However, a verse in the Qur’an clearly states that
Muslims should strengthen their forces for preventive purposes. The same verse stresses that
such strengthening is merely for frightening enemies and has defensive purposes. It can be
considered in line with the Islamic strategy of never oppressing others nor allowing oneself to
be oppressed by others. From this perspective it can be argued that the production of military
materiel as a precautionary measure, making use of the latest advances and technologies, is
reasonable and acceptable from an Islamic perspective. However, the ideal situation would be
a time when human beings’ intellectual and spiritual perfection caused all countries to cease
militarism altogether.
In this lesson, we learnt different important dimensions regarding International Relations vis-
à-vis Islam. Starting from a discussion on whether do modern Muslim countries foreign
policy is n line with the Islamic fundamentals and viewpoints? Is there a clear theorized
Islamic basis for conducting international relations? The answers to these two questions are
to a significant extent negative, which has caused Muslims to be inactive in international
relations. However, they are also to a lesser extent positive, and this has enabled them to
provide some active input in the international arena. Non-Muslim actors in international
relations can be regarded as active inactive actors and Muslim actors can be considered
inactive active actors. Active inactive actors are mainly Western countries that create the
fundamentals and frameworks of international relations; this can be regarded as their creative
input. However, as they develop the fundamentals and frameworks of international relations
for all countries and want to interact with them, they must also pay attention to the demands
and situations of other countries; this is their inactive characteristic. Inactive active actors,
mainly comprised of Muslim countries, have to comply with the rules and frameworks
designed and developed by the active actors; this is their inactive characteristic. However,
these countries try to adapt these frameworks to their own situation, interests, and needs and
to influence the international processes as much as possible; this can be regarded as their
active input. Muslim countries have accepted the frameworks and rules governing the
international system for two reasons. First, they have not been among the developed countries
in recent years and have had no active role in recent global and international developments.
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During the formation of international systems and rules in the last 100 years, these countries
have been mainly on the sidelines and thus inactive. Second, Muslims consider some of these
fundamentals, rules, and frameworks to be right and rational. In terms of the parts they
consider wrong and unfair, these countries could do nothing but attempt to accept and comply
with them, seeking their own benefit where possible. In early Islamic texts, such as the
Qur’an and sunnah, and consequently in the writings of Muslim scholars throughout history,
there are themes, discussions, and rules for relations and interactions with other states and
nations, however, Muslims have not yet undertaken the difficult task of presenting them in
the form of more widely acceptable theories.
The right and fair parts of the fundamentals and rules of the international system in the
modern world are rooted in the rationality and intellectual maturity of those who have
developed them, while and the wrongs and unfair parts are based on the whims and desires
for superiority on the part of certain people, states, and pressure groups. By introducing the
fundamentals and rules of Islam, that is, the Qur’an and sunnah, into these rules and
framework, it seems there will be more rationality and harmony in these frameworks, and
that they will result in more justice and peace in the world. Islam’s attitude towards different
issues and subjects, including political and international ones, is essentially humanistic and
moral, and is also more compatible with human essence. The differences in the rituals, laws,
and legal rules of Muslims and non-Muslims will not cause any problem or discord, because
Islam has not imposed its laws and rules on non-Muslims. Moreover, it should be noted that
there is no difference between Muslims and non-Muslims in issues such as human dignity,
protecting rights, promoting justice, and adhering to moral and human principles.
1. Discuss how International Relations and Islam are related to each other.
2. What do you understand by International Relations? Evaluate the debate on dialogue and
peaceful co-existence as important elements of International Relations in Islam.
3. Write a brief note on the concept of Justice in Islam
4. Discuss briefly the importance of International Relations in Islam
5. Write an essay on the treaties and agreements in Islamic history
6. Comment on the following in about 250 words each.
a) Plurality of religions
b) The basis of equality of human beings
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Madilong, Naseef, Islam and International Relations: Contributions to Theory and Practice,
Palgrave Macmillan, London
Pasha, Mustafa Kamal, Islam and International Relations: Fractured Worlds, Routledge,
London
Shaikh, Faiz, Islam and International Relations: Exploring Community and the Limits of
Universalism, Rowman and Littfield International Publishers, London
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Unit II
Economics
i) Economic of System of Islam: Guiding Principles
ii) Interest Free Banking in Islam
iii) Sources of Islamic Economy: Zakah, Kharaj, Khums and Jizya
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Unit II: Economics
Lesson 2.1: Economic System of Islam: Guiding Principles
Structure
2.1.1. Introduction
2.1.2 Objectives
2.1.3 Significance of Economic System in Islam
2.1.4 Development of Economic Thought in Islam
2.1.5 Guiding Principles
2.1.6 Property
2.1.7 Contracts and Contractual Obligations
2.1.8 Trust
2.1.9 Markets: The Code of Conduct
2.1.10 Risk Sharing
2.1.11 Wealth Accumulation and Utilization
2.1.12 Wealth Distribution and Redistribution
2.1.13 Work and Work Ethics
2.1.14 Competition and Cooperation
2.1.1 Introduction
Islam is a rules-based system with a prescribed method for humans and society to achieve
material and nonmaterial progress and development grounded in rule compliance and
effective institutions. The foundations of the Islamic economic system were laid down
centuries ago in the Qur’an and practiced by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Medina
during his brief time. These rules laid down by the Almighty Allah (swt) are at the foundation
of the Islamic system and provide the required effective institutions. The institutional
scaffolding of the Islamic economic system is thus formed by the rules of behaviour defined
by the Qur’an. As a result, the content and blueprint of Islamic economics is derived by: (1)
extracting the rules that define an ideal Islamic economy and their economic implications
from the Qur’an and the Sunnah (the teachings and the practice of the Prophet Muhammad
[SAW]); (2) studying these institutions in the contemporary economy and determining the
degree and extent of deviation between institutional scaffolding and that of the ideal Islamic
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economy; and (3) prescribing policy recommendations to bridge the gap between the two.
This lesson tries to understand the basic framework of Islamic economics and its underlying
principles to achieve the maqasid (goals) of creating an effective of Islamic economic
structure.
2.1.2 Objectives
The objectives of this lesson are:
 To understand the basic framework of economic system in Islam
 Explore the fundamental guiding principles of Islamic economic system
2.1.3 Significance of Economic System in Islam
The Islamic economic system is a market-based system, where markets are seen as the best
and most efficient mechanism for resource allocation (production and consumption). But
efficiency of the market system must not be confused with markets as an ideology, whereby
unfettered markets are seen as philosophy or the basis of the economic system, something to
be revered, untouched, and placed on a pedestal. To be efficient, markets must have rules
(such as information disclosure) to protect market participants (workers, producers, investors,
and consumers) and must be supervised with strict rule enforcement. Private property that is
legally acquired is held sacred in Islam, and property rights are fully protected. However,
according to Islam, Allah (swt) is the Creator of all things on this earth and His creation has
been given to humans of all generations in trust. Thus land and other natural resources must
be developed in ways that benefit all humans of all generations equitably. It is imperative that
the rights of the disabled and those of future generations are fully honoured.
A major feature of the Almighty’s rules, conveyed in the Qur’an and practiced by the Prophet
(SAW)), is justice. Thus the Islamic institutional scaffolding and the ideal Islamic economy
convey justice. As a result, the promotion of social and human development on this plane of
existence is founded on the rules that promote justice. The Prophet (SAW) understood the
essential objective of the message to encourage and insert justice in human societies as
emphasized in the Qur’an. The Prophet (SAW) taught the responsibility of the individual, the
collectivity, and the state. He particularly emphasized the equality of individuals before the
law and that all rules that are incumbent on individuals and the collectivity must be more
strictly observed by those in positions of authority, as illustrated by his famous saying:
“Authority may survive disbelief but not injustice.” Insistence on justice became the hallmark
of the institutional scaffolding of governance, a structure with full transparency and
accountability. Rule compliance that embraces the pursuit of social justice is a requirement of
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each and every Muslim during every day of his or her life on this earth. Justice is essential in
all endeavours, as the pursuit of justice leads to spiritual fulfilment and brings humans closer
to their Creator. Rule compliance and justice cannot be compromised. In Islam, social and
human development is multidimensional and goes well beyond the highest level of GDP and
GDP per capita. Human spiritual pursuits on this earth cannot be compromised for material
ends.
In Islam, conventionally measured GDP per capita and GDP growth are not society’s only
economic goals. There are overriding spiritual, moral, and human dimensions to all economic
endeavours. Humans need bread to live but do not live by bread alone. The goal of progress
and development is the overall well-being of humans and society. While this has been the
goal in Islam, it began to be recognized through the works of Mahbub ul-Haq, Amartya Sen,
and numerous other economists in conventional economics only in the late 1970s. Moreover,
in Islam, institutions have been seen as an essential element and the foundation of achieving
human and economic development. This idea became popular in conventional economics
only about 30 or so years ago; it had been almost forgotten from the writings of Adam Smith
with the emergence of neoclassical economics. Institutions are the formal and informal laws
and rules that shape political and economic structures of society to reduce risk and increase
trust. Risk reduction and trust enhancement in turn support economic progress and prosperity.
2.1.4 Development of Economic Thought in Islam
The last section provided a general description of Islamic teachings on economics, but we
cannot sidestep a number of inescapable questions. Namely, given our claim that Islamic
teachings on the economic system are based on the morality and ethics of centuries ago, why
have the contributions of Islamic economics not entered into mainstream economics? Why is
it that apparently none of the concepts of conventional economics is based on Islamic
economics? And why is it that Islamic economics is not more developed as a social science
so that it could be at least taught in Muslim countries as a stand-alone economic system?
While space limitations preclude a full discussion, brief references may begin to address the
issues.
Mirakhor made one of the early attempts to point to the neglect of Muslim contributions to
modern economics. It is disheartening that after discussing Greco-Roman economics, Joseph
Schumpeter in his magnum opus, History of Economic Analysis, states: “So far as our subject
is concerned we may safely leap over 500 years to the epoch of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–
1274) whose Summa Theologica is in the history of thought what the south-western spire of
the Cathedral of Chartres is in the history of architecture.”
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This statement is the reason he titles this section of Chapter 2 of his book “The Great Gap.”
The implications of this statement, as well as the rest of the material in this section of
Schumpeter’s book, is that for 500 years nothing was said, written, or practiced that had any
relevance to economics. In this respect, Schumpeter was merely reflecting an attitude in the
coverage of the history of economic thought existing since the late 1800s. The fact that his
book became the locus classicus of all works on the history of economic thought only means
that this idea would continue from that time on. It is a demonstrable fact that almost all books
about the history of economic thought to present-day text books echo Schumpeter’s
sentiments about economic thought prior to the Scholastics (the philosophers who were
responsible for the economic thinking in the medieval period, which lasted from 500 to
1500).
Whatever may have been Schumpeter’s reason for not recognizing and acknowledging the
influence of Muslim scholars, the results were unfortunate for the history of economic
thought. The fact that his book became such a celebrated reference in the discipline helped
perpetuate what we may call a blind spot in the field that has continued to the present. Even if
scholars wish to ignore the research in the history of philosophy, theology, ethics, and
science, the mere fact that anyone who consults original writings of medieval scholars can
see references to names such as Alfarabius (al-Farābi), Avicenna, Averroes, and Algazal (al-
Ghazali) should raise questions regarding their roles in the development of economic thought.
A number of early Muslim contributions included discussion of ideas on taxation, market
regulation, usury, permissible economic behaviour, wages, prices, division of labour, money
as medium of exchange and as unit of account, admonition against debasement of money,
coinage, price fluctuations, and, finally, ethical prescriptions regarding observance of the
mean. These works have shown that during the first two and a half centuries of Islam, ideas
were developed regarding fiscal policy, monetary policy and institutions, credit and credit
instruments, price determination and price policy, market and market regulation, commodity
exchange, usury, government budgets, use of taxation as a tool to encourage production and
discourage accumulation of wealth, public treasury, deficit financing, methods of balancing
governmental budgets, supply and demand, checking and savings accounts, rudiments of
banking institutions and procedures on formation of partnerships and commend a contracts,
and monopoly.
By the ninth century, many of these ideas had appeared in writing in the form of Islamic legal
(fiqh) manuals. Udovitch’s studies on commercial techniques, credit, and credit instruments
existing in the world of Islam by the ninth century was based on analysis of these types of
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manuals as well as mercantile manuals of early periods of Islam. Based on his studies,
Udovitch suggests: “The earliest Muslim legal sources now justify the assertion that already
in the late eighth century, and possibly earlier, credit arrangements of various types
constituted an important feature of both trade and industry” in the Islamic world. Similarly,
the works of Abul-Fadl Ad-Dimashqi, a 9th scholar, show advanced ideas regarding value
theory, cost and price determination.
As discussed in Chapra, historical records reveal a number of important early contributions
by Muslim scholars to the development of Western economic thought and the Enlightenment
movement in Europe. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, these contributions were either
forgotten or attributed to others. Chapra similarly identifies a number of important Muslim
contributions from secondary sources centuries before they were identified and incorporated
in conventional economics, including:
interdisciplinary approach; property rights; division of labour and specialization; the
importance of saving and investment for development; the role that both demand and
supply play in the determination of prices and the factors that influence demand and
supply; role of money, exchange, and market mechanism; characteristics of money,
counterfeiting, currency debasement, and Gresham’s law; the development of
checks], letters of credit and banking; labour supply and population; the role of the
state, justice, peace, and stability in development; and principles of taxation.
Chapra discusses some of these contributions in more detail and goes on to describe how
these and other contributions of Muslim scholars were ignored:
to remove the concept of the “Great Gap” of “over 500 years” that exists in the
history of conventional economic thought as a result of the false assumption by
Joseph Schumpeter in his book, History of Economic Analysis (1954), that the
intervening period between the Greeks and the Scholastics was sterile and
unproductive. This concept has become well embedded in the conventional
economics literature as may be seen from the reference to this even by the Nobel
Laureate, Douglas North, in his December 1993 Nobel lecture (1994, p. 365). Even
the Scholastics themselves had been greatly influenced by the contributions made by
Muslim scholars. The names of Ibn Sina (Avicenna, d. 1037), Ibn Rushd (Aver- roes,
d. 1198) and Maimonides (d. 1204) (a Jewish philosopher, scientist, and physician
who flourished in Muslim Spain), appear on almost every page of the thirteenth
century summa (treatises written by scholastic philosophers) (Pifer, 1978, p. 356)
And Chapra goes on to explain the reason for the decline of Muslim economic progress:
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The trigger mechanism for this decline was, according to Ibn Khaldun, the failure of
political authority to provide good governance. Political illegitimacy, which started
after the end of khilafah in 661 gradually led to increased corruption and the use of
state resources for private benefit at the neglect of education and other [n]ation-
building functions of the state. This gradually triggered the decline of all other
sectors of the society and economy.
Even a cursory reading of the writings of the last century by Muslim scholars, social critics,
and pamphleteers—beginning perhaps with Jamaluddin Asadabadi (better known as Afghani)
and his students, such as Muhammad ‘Abduh, Hassan al Banna, Sayed Qutb, Allamah Dr.
Muhammad Iqbal, Sayyid Abul A’la Mawdudi, Shaheed M.B. Sadr, and Fazlur Rahman to
social critics such as Malik Ben Nabi and Ali Shari’ati, and to contemporary scholars reveals
a conviction that Islam has solutions to people’s contemporary problems.
The second important conviction articulated in these writings is a deep belief that Islam has
prescribed rules of behaviour for individuals and societies to comply with that assures felicity
on this earth and in the hereafter. The third conviction expressed, in one form or another, is
that the malaise of Muslim societies stems from general noncompliance with the rules of
behaviour prescribed by the Lawgiver.
Systematic focus on economic issues, however, began in earnest in the 1950s with Sayed
Qutb’s book, Social Justice in Islam. The challenge of the two dominant systems—capitalism
and socialism—and their attraction for Muslim youth during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s
made the task of articulating an Islamic response ever more urgent. The first to respond to the
challenge, positioning Islam’s view on economic matters between capitalism and socialism,
was Sayyid Abul A’la Mawdudi. His writings and those of his students, especially Professor
(Senator) Khurshid Ahmad, became a major source of thought and the standard bearer of
ideas for Islamic economics.
The 1960s represent a watershed in the progress to articulating a vision of the Islamic
economic system firmly grounded on the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The publication in 1968 of
Shaheed M. B. al Sadr’s book, Iqtisaduna (Our Economics), initiated a new approach in
articulating Islam’s vision of an economy that serves society’s needs. Monzer Kahf suggests
that Iqtisaduna became a shining beacon that began a new era in Islamic studies and marked
the birth of Islamic economics. The central focus of the book is identifying the architecture of
the Islamic economic system and then examining and understanding the behavior of its
constituent elements. These are then the tasks of the discipline of Islamic economics. It is
noteworthy that Iqtisaduna was written after al Sadr had already published Falsafatuna (Our
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Philosophy), a book that established the ethico-philosophical framework in which Iqtisaduna
was later envisioned.
2.1.5 Guiding Principles
The institutional framework of the ideal economy is composed of a collection of
institutions—rules of conduct and their enforcement characteristics—designed by the
Lawgiver, prescribed in the meta-framework, and operationalized by the archetype model to
deal with allocation of resources, production and exchange of goods and services, and
distribution-redistribution of resulting income and wealth. The objective of these institutions
is to achieve social justice. Important among their functions is reduction in uncertainty for
members of the society to allow them to overcome the obstacles to decision making caused
by paucity of information. Rules specify what kind of conduct is most appropriate to
achieving just results when individuals face alternative choices and must take action. They
impose restrictions on what society’s members can do without upsetting the social order,
while all members rely on the social order in forming their own actions and their expectations
of the responses of others.
Central among the rules that constitute the institutional structure of the ideal economy are
rules governing property; contracts and contractual obligations; trust; markets and the code of
conduct; risk sharing; wealth accumulation and utilization; wealth distribution and
redistribution; work and work ethics; and competition and cooperation.
2.1.6 Property
While the individual’s right to property affirms the natural tendency in man to possess—
particularly something resulting from his own creative labor—the concomitant private
property obligations, from the point of view of justice, are designed to give effect to the
interdependence of members of the community, with a view to recognizing explicitly that
they cannot live in isolation. The private property obligations, therefore, reject the notion that
a person does no harm to members of his group if as a result of his effort he is better off and
others are no worse off than they would otherwise be. These obligations write the principle of
sharing into the delineation of interests in property and consider private ownership to be
subject to a trust, or duty, in order to effect sharing. Hence, private initiative, choice, and
reward are recognized in Islam’s conception of property rights, but such recognition is not
allowed to subvert the principle of sharing or to lead to violations of the rights of the
community. If, as a result of the growth of society, division of labor, or increasing
complexities of markets, either the obligation to share is shirked or the rights of the society
and the cohesion of the community are undermined, an intervention by the legitimate
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authority to take corrective measures would be deemed justified.
The word “property” is defined as a bundle of rights, duties, powers, and liabilities with
respect to an asset. In the Western concept, it is considered the right of an individual to use
and dispose of a private property, along with the right to exclude others from the use of that
property. Even in the evolution of Western economies, this is a rather new conception of
property that is thought to have accompanied the emergence of the market economy. Before
that, however, a grant of the property rights in land and other assets included the right to use
and enjoy the asset, but it did not include the right to dispose of it or exclude others from its
use. For example, the right to use the revenues from a parcel of land, a corporate charter, or a
monopoly granted by the state did not carry the right of disposing of the property. It is
thought that the development of the market economy necessitated a revision of this
conception of property since the right not to be excluded from the use of assets owned by
another individual was not marketable; it was deemed impossible to reconcile this particular
right with a market economy. Hence, of the two earlier property rights principles—the right
to exclude others and the right not to be excluded by others—the latter was abandoned, and
the new conception of property rights was narrowed to cover only the right to exclude others.
In Islam, however, this right is retained without diminishing the role of the market as a
mechanism for resource allocation and impulse transmission.
There are eight key principles of Islamic property rights:
1. Acknowledge the permanent, constant, and invariant ownership of all property by Allah
(swt). The Supreme Creator is the ultimate owner of all properties and assets. In order that
humans become materially able to perform duties and obligations prescribed by the
Lawgiver, they have been granted a conditional right of possession of property. This right
is granted to the collectivity of humans.  
2. Acknowledge transfer by Allah (swt) of the right of possession to all of humankind, which
establishes the right of collectivity to the created resources.  
3. Provide equal opportunity of access by all to the natural resources provided by the Creator,
to be combined with their labor to produce goods and services.  
4. Individuals appropriate the products resulting from the combination of their labor with
these resources, without the collectivity losing its original rights either to the resources or
to the goods and services by individuals.  
5. Recognize only two ways in which individuals accrue rights to property:
a) Through their own creative labor; and/or  
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b) Through transfers—via exchange, contracts, grants, or inheritance—from others who have
gained title to a property or an asset through their labor. Fundamentally, therefore, work
is the basis of acquisition of rights to property. However, work is performed not only for
the purpose of satisfaction of wants or needs but is considered a duty and obligation
required of everyone. This rule forbids gaining instantaneous property rights without
working to earn them. The exception is lawful transfer. This rule also prohibits property
rights gained through gambling, theft, earning interest on money lent, bribery, or
generally from sources considered unlawful. Just as work is a right and obligation of all
humans, access to and use of natural-physical resources provided by the Creator for
producing goods and services are also every human’s right and obligation. All humans
are ordained to apply their creative labor to these resources to produce what society
needs. If an individual, for whatever reason, lacks the ability to work, it does not deprive
him or her of the original right to resources granted to every human by the Creator.  
6. Sanctify, through the “immutability of property rights,” the duty of sharing by
transferring it into the principles of property rights and obligations. Before any work is
performed on natural-physical resources, all humans have an equal right and
opportunity to access these resources. When individuals apply their creative labor to
resources, they gain a right to priority in the possession, use, and exchange of the
resulting product without nullifying the original property rights of the Creator or the
rights He granted to all humans in the final product or the proceeds from its sale.
7. Acknowledge the duty of sharing the product or the income and wealth proceeding
from its sale, which relates to property ownership rights as a trust. This rule is made
operational through the ordained duties imposed on income and wealth, which must be
paid to cleanse income and wealth from the rights of others. This is perhaps the reason
the Western economists have long addressed the issue of natural resource depletion and
intergenerational equity. Robert Solow (1974, p. 41) reached the conclusion that “the
finite pool of resources (I have excluded full recycling) should be used up optimally
according to the general rules that govern the optimal use of reproducible assets. In
particular, earlier generations are entitled to draw down the pool (optimally, of course!)
so long as they add (optimally, of course!) to the stock of reproducible capital.” This is
essentially the Islamic prescription.
8. Acknowledge the limitations on the right of disposing of property—a right that is
absolute in the Western concept of property rights. In Islam, individuals have an
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obligation not to waste, squander, or destroy property, or to use property for opulence
or unlawful purposes. Once the specified property obligations are appropriately
discharged, including that of sharing in the prescribed amount and manner, property
rights on the remaining part of income, wealth, and assets are held sacred and inviolate,
and no one can force their appropriation or expropriation.
While these rules strongly affirm humankind’s natural tendency to possess—particularly
products resulting from individual labor—the concomitant property obligations promote
interdependence and cohesion among the members of society. Private initiative, choice, and
reward are recognized as legitimate and protected but are not allowed to subvert the
obligation of sharing.
2.1.7 Contracts and Contractual Obligations
The next set of rules to be understood and internalized by individuals is those governing
contracts. In any economic system, individuals not only make choices for themselves, but
they also interact with other members of the society through transactions facilitated by
explicit and implicit contracts entered into within the bounds specified by the institutional
setting of the society. A contract is a time-bound instrument with an objective that stipulates
the obligations that each party is expected to fulfil in order to achieve the objectives of the
contract.
The concept of contracts in Islam is not only important in the legal aspect of exchange, as an
institution necessary for the satisfaction of legitimate human needs, but it is also a concept
upon which Shariah is based. The whole fabric of the Divine Law is contractual in its
conception, content, and application. Its very foundation is the primordial covenant between
Allah (swt) and humans—the meethaq. That covenant imposes on humans the duty of
remaining faithful to the affirmation of humanity: Humans recognize the Supreme Creator as
their Cherished Lord and their wali (protector/guardian). That recognition, in turn, is an
affirmation of the duty of rule compliance, which serves the best interests of humans and is a
contractual obligation linking humans to their Creator and to one another. Justice demands
rule compliance as a demonstration of faithfulness to the terms of the primordial covenant.
The contractual foundation of the law in human behaviour is with respect not only to the
Creator but also toward other humans. Performance will be judged not only in the carrying
out of contractual obligations but also in the essential attributes of intending with which a
party enters into a contract. These attributes are sincerity, truthfulness, and the strength and
rigor of the loyalty of the fulfillment of obligations a person is intending to take on by
entering into the contractual relationship. The foundation of Shariah is the covenant between
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Allah (swt) and man, which imposes on man the duty of being faithful to his word. The
Qur’an reiterates, “Allah (swt) will not fail in His Promise.”
As Habachy suggests, Islam’s strong emphasis on the strictly binding nature of contracts
covers private and public law contracts as well as international treaties. Moreover, “every
public office in Islam, even the Imamate (temporal and spiritual leadership) is regarded as a
contract, an agreement (áqd) that defines the rights and obligations of the parties. Every
contract entered into by the faithful must include a forthright intention to remain loyal to
performing the obligations specified by the terms of contract.” The highest office of the
leadership of the society, imamate or khilafat, is inaugurated by mubayaá (from the word
bay’ah), which is a contract between the ruler and the community stating that the leader will
be rule compliant in discharging the duties of the office. This provides a strong accountable
basis for governance.
Throughout the legal and intellectual history of Islam, a body of rules constituting a general
theory of contracts—with explicit emphasis on specific contracts, such as sales, lease, hire,
and partnerships—was formulated on the basis of Shariah. Contracts are considered binding,
and Shariah protects their terms, no less securely than the institution of property. This body
of rules established the principle that, in matters of civil and economic dealings, any
agreement not specifically prohibited by Shariah is valid and binding on the parties and can
be enforced by the courts, which treat the parties to a contract as complete equals.
2.1.8 Trust
Trust is considered the most important element of social capital in Islam and the cornerstone
of the relationship of individuals with Allah (swt) and with others in society. Islam places a
strong emphasis on trust and considers being trustworthy as an obligatory personality trait.
The root of the word for “trust” (amanah) is the same as that for “belief” (iman). The Qur’an
insists that a strong signal of true belief is faithfulness to contracts and promises. It makes
clear that performing contractual obligations or promises is an important and mandatory
characteristic of a true believer.
In short, Islam has made trust and trustworthiness obligatory and has rendered them
inviolable, except in the event of an explicitly permissible justification. The life of the
Prophet (SAW) is a shining illustration of the implementation of the guidance of Allah (swt)
in maintaining trust and remaining trustworthy. Regarded as eminently trustworthy even
before His divine appointment (the community conferred upon him the title of Al-Ameen—
“Trustworthy”), the Prophet (SAW) expended a great deal of effort in modifying when
possible and changing when necessary the behavior of the community in respect to
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trustworthiness. Numerous statements, actions, and circumstances are attributed to Him in
which trust was the preeminent concern.
In Shariah, the concepts of justice, faithfulness, reward, and punishment are linked with the
fulfillment of obligations incurred under the stipulations of the contract. Justice links man to
Allah (swt) and to his fellow men. It is this bond that forms the contractual foundation of
Shariah, which judges the virtue of justice in man not only by his material performance but
also by the essential attribute of the intention (niyyah) with which he enters into every
contract. This intention consists of sincerity, truthfulness, and insistence on rigorous and
loyal fulfilment of what he has consented to do (or not to do). This faithfulness to contractual
obligations is so central to Islamic belief that the Prophet (SAW) defined a believer as “a
person in whom the people can trust their person and possessions.” He is also reported to
have said that “a person without trustworthiness is a person without religion.” So basic is the
notion of contracts in Islam that every public office is regarded primarily as a contract and an
agreement that defines the rights and obligations of the parties. The highest temporal office,
that of khalifa, is inaugurated by mubayaá, which is a contract between the ruler and the
community that ensures the ruler will be faithful in discharging his duties.
Trustworthiness and remaining faithful to promises and contracts are absolute, regardless of
the costs involved or whether the other party is a friend or a foe (Qur’an 9:4). There is also a
network of micro-level rules that ensure transparency and the unhindered flow of
information. This includes, inter alia, the requirement incumbent upon sellers that they must
inform buyers of goods the prices, quantities, and qualities of what they are buying; a body of
rules governing the consumer’s option to, under various circumstances, annul a transaction;
the rule of non-interference with market supplies; the rule against hoarding; and the rule
against collusion among market participants.
It should be noted that there is a strong interdependence between contract and trust; without
trust, contracts become difficult to negotiate and conclude and costly to monitor and enforce.
When and where trust is weak, complex and expensive administrative devices are needed to
enforce contracts. Moreover, it is generally recognized that unambiguous contracts—ones
that foresee all contingencies—do not exist, as not all contingencies can be foreseen. As
McMillan suggests, trust is an important element of a well-designed market. “For a market to
function well, you must be able to trust most of the people most of the time. . . . Your trust in
your trading partner rests on both the formal devices of the law and the informal device of
reputation.” When and where property rights are poorly defined and protected, the cost of
gathering and analyzing information is high, and trust is weak, it is difficult to clearly specify
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the terms of contracts and enforce them. In these cases, transaction costs—that is, search and
information costs, bargaining and decision costs, contract negotiation and enforcement
costs—are high. Where and when transaction costs are high, there is less trade, fewer market
participants, less long-term investment, lower productivity, and slower economic growth. As
North has pointed out, when and where there is rule compliance and enforcement, there is an
increase in the likelihood that property rights will be protected and contracts honored. Under
such conditions, individuals are more willing to specialize, invest in long-term projects,
undertake complex transactions, and accumulate and share technical knowledge.
2.1.9 Markets: The Code of Conduct
In the realm of conventional economics, reliance on markets is an ideology to some
economists; this is not so in Islam. This is because markets and competition do not by
themselves guarantee that social and economic justices will be served. In Islam, markets are
seen as affording the best signalling mechanism to producers and consumers and thus the
most efficient intermediary for resource allocation, economic production, distribution and
consumption. Therefore, markets are encouraged. Even then, markets must have rules that are
just and ensure their proper operation, and they must be supervised to guarantee that rules are
followed and enforced. While these rules and their supervision and enforcement are seen as
sufficient in the workings of the conventional market system, it is not so in Islam. In Islam,
market participants, both buyers and sellers, must embrace a code of morality before they
enter the market. Under such a system, the price that emerges from markets can be
considered “just” in the sense that it is the result of proper functioning markets that are based
on just rules that are followed and enforced and with market participants who are moral in
their behavior. In the absence of morality and moral behavior by all market participants,
markets can result in allocations that are socially unjust and even perverse—gross income
inequities, opulence alongside poverty, excessive consumption and little savings, hoarding,
and the like. Thus, markets left alone may not fulfill human material needs and are also not
equipped to address human spiritual needs.
The market’s institutional structure is built around five pillars:
1. Property rights  
2. Free flow of information  
3. Trust  
4. Contract  
5. The right not to be harmed by others and the obligation not to harm anyone  
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Together, these pillars serve to reduce uncertainty and transaction costs and to enable
cooperation and collective action to proceed unhindered.
Before the advent of Islam, trade had been the most important economic activity of the
Arabian Peninsula. A number of thriving markets had developed throughout the area. Upon
his arrival in Medina, the Prophet (SAW) organized a market that was structured and
governed by rules based on the Qur’an. He implemented a number of policies to encourage
the expansion of trade and the market. The Prophet (SAW) prohibited the imposition of taxes
on individual merchants as well as on transactions. He also implemented policies to
encourage trade among Muslims and non-Muslims by creating incentives for non-Muslim
merchants in and outside of Medina. After the conquest of Makkah and the rest of Arabia,
these and other market rules were institutionalized and generalized to all markets. These rules
included, in addition to the five pillars previously mentioned:
a) No restrictions on international or interregional trade (including no taxation of
imports and exports) b) Free spatial movement of resources, goods, and services from
one market to another c) No barriers to market entry and exit d) Free and transparent
information regarding the price, quality, and quantity of goods, particularly in the case
of spot trade e)Specification of the exact date for the completion of trade in instances
when trade was to take place over time f) Specification of the property and other
rights of all participants in every contract g) Guaranteed contract enforcement by the
state and its legal apparatus h) The prohibition against hoarding commodities and
productive resources for the purpose of pushing up their price i) Prohibition on price
controls j) A ban on sellers or buyers harming the interests of other market
participants by, for example, allowing a third party to interrupt negotiations between
two parties in order to influence the negotiations to the benefit of one of the parties k)
A ban on the short-changing of buyers by, for example, not giving full weight and
measure.
Moreover, sellers and buyers were given the right of annulment of a business agreement in
these seven instances:
1. Before leaving the location in which it was taking place.  
2. In the case of a buyer who had not seen the commodity and after seeing it  found it
unacceptable.  
3. If either the seller or the buyer discovered that the product had either been sold for
less than or bought for higher than it was worth.  
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4. If the buyer discovered that the quality of the product was not as expected.  
5. If side conditions were specified during the negotiations that were left unfulfilled. 
6. If a delivery period was specified but the product was not delivered on  time.  
7. If the subject of the negotiations was pack animals, the buyer had the  right to return
the animals up to three days after the deal was finalized.  The moral-ethical
foundation of market behavior prescribed by the  
8. Qur’an and implemented by the Prophet (SAW) ensured the minimization of risk and
of uncertainty for market participants and increased the efficiency of exchange.
Its aim was to reduce transaction costs. Moreover, rules specified in the Qur’an regarding
faith to the terms of contracts and the knowledge of their enforcement increased certainty and
reduced transaction costs. Another important rule promulgated by the Prophet (SAW) was the
prohibition of interference with supply before entrance into the market. From the earliest
period of operation of the Medina market, the Prophet (SAW) appointed market supervisors,
whose job was to ensure rule compliance, which in turn would result in markets that were
just. The Prophet (SAW) advised the participants to go beyond mere rule compliance and to
treat their fellow humans with beneficence. The Prophet (SAW) strongly encouraged market
participants to accept the duty of “commanding the good and forbidding evil” by engaging in
self-regulation.
Rules governing market conduct relate to appropriate behavior on the part of all participants
in the market. The Qur’an acknowledges the need for markets and affirms their existence,
placing emphasis on contracts of exchange (bay’) and trade (tijarah). As a rule, it emphasizes
market transactions based on mutual consent; that is, based on freedom of choice and
freedom of contract, which, in turn, requires acknowledgment and affirmation of private
property rights. The archetype model, discussed earlier, operationalized the concept of
exchange and trade as well as the use of the market as the mechanism for this purpose. A
market supervisor is appointed to ensure compliance with the rules of conduct in the
marketplace, rules that are internalized by participants before their entrance into the market.
Compliance with the rules of market behavior ensures prices that are fair and just. So long as
market participants comply, no direct interference with the price mechanism is permitted,
even though the legitimate authority is responsible for supervising market operations.
2.1.10 Risk Sharing
Another core principle of Islamic economics is the notion of risk sharing. This is based on
the principle of liability, which states that profit is justified on the basis of taking
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responsibility, possibly even becoming responsible for a loss and its consequences. This legal
maxim, said to be derived from a saying of the Prophet (SAW) that “profit comes with
liability,” implies that Shariah distinguishes lawful profit from all other forms of gain and
that entitlement to profit arises only when there is also the liability, or risk, of loss.
The central proposition of Islamic finance is risk sharing and the prohibition of interest-based
transactions in which a rent (interest) is collected as a percentage of the principal loaned
without the full transfer of the property rights to the lender. One result of this type of
transaction is that the risk associated with the transaction is borne by the borrower. Rather,
Islam proposes a mutual exchange (al-bay’) in which one bundle of property rights is
exchanged for another, thus allowing both parties to share the risks of the transaction—
something that is sanctioned. The emphasis on risk sharing is evident from one of the most
important verses in the Qur’an with respect to economic relations. The verse states: “They
say that indeed an exchange transaction (al-bay’) is like an al-riba (interest-based)
transaction. But Allah has permitted exchange transactions and forbidden interest-based
transactions” (2:275). The nature of property rights inherent in these two transactions hints at
one of their crucial differences. Al-bay’ is a contract of exchange of one commodity for
another where the property rights over one commodity are exchanged for those over the
other. In the case of an al-riba transaction, a sum of money is loaned today for a larger sum
in the future without the transfer of the property rights over the principal from the lender to
the borrower. Not only does the lender retain rights over the sum lent, but property rights
over the additional sum to be paid as interest are transferred from the borrower to the lender
at the time the contract of al-riba is entered into. Arguably, the last verse renders exchange
and trade of commodities and/or assets the foundation of economic activity in the Islamic
paradigm.
From this, important implications follow: Exchange requires freedom for parties to contract.
This in turn implies freedom to produce, which calls for clear and well-protected property
rights to permit production to proceed. To be able to exchange freely and conveniently, the
parties need markets. To operate successfully, markets need rules of behavior and
enforcement mechanisms to reduce uncertainty in transactions and ensure the free flow of
information. They also need trust to be established among participants; competition among
sellers, on one hand, and buyers, on the other; reduced transaction costs; and mitigation of the
risk to third parties in having to bear externalized costs of two-party transactions.
2.1.11 Wealth Accumulation and Utilization
Islam encourages the human to utilize, to the fullest extent possible, all the resources that
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Allah (swt) has created and entrusted to humankind for his use. The non-utilization of these
resources for humankind’s benefit, and for that of the society, is tantamount to ungratefulness
to Allah (swt) for the provision of these resources. Wealth is considered an important means
by which humans can pave the way for the attainment of their ultimate objective of
establishing a rule-compliant community. Islam refers to wealth as “good,” an object of
delight and pleasure, and a support for the community. Conversely, involuntary poverty is
considered to be undesirable and a basis of unbelief. This particular conception of wealth,
however, is qualified by the means employed in its earning, possession, and disposal.
Its “earning” is qualified by emphasis on the fact that wealth is only a means for the
achievement of man’s ultimate objective, not an end in itself. It must be earned through
“good,” “productive,” and “beneficial” work, as defined in Shariah, which also outlines the
methods of lawfully earning wealth. Not only are lawful methods of earning wealth specified,
but the types of economic activity that may lead to unlawfully acquired wealth that are
prohibited are discussed. Shariah specifies non-permissible professions, trade, and economic
activity that may lead to unlawfully acquired wealth. Even within each profession, Shariah
specifies proper and improper practices. Just as wealth, rightfully earned and purposefully
disposed of, is considered a blessing, wealth acquired or accumulated unlawfully for its own
sake is condemned as “corruption” and retrogression to the basest of all human negative
qualities—greed.
Islam regards wealth as the lifeblood of the community, which must be constantly in
circulation; therefore, its possession excludes the right of hoarding (Qur’an 9:34). The
implication is that wealth, lawfully earned, must be invested within the community to
improve its economic well-being. Investing wealth is measured not only by the monetary
gain associated with it but also by the benefits that accrue to society, a point that must be
borne in mind at all times by the owners of wealth.
While Islam treats wealth, lawfully acquired, possessed, and disposed of, as sacred and
subject to the protection of Shariah, it regards the wealth owner as a trustee who holds the
wealth as a trust on behalf of Allah (swt) and the community. Hence, a person’s inability to
use wealth properly provides the basis for the forfeiture of rights to that wealth.
Extravagance, waste, and general abuse of wealth are the basis on which the community can
consider the wealth owner a safih, a person of weak understanding, one in possession of
“weak intellect,” and one who, along with his or her own financial and moral loss, is
damaging the interests of the community. According to the principle of hajr, such a person’s
wealth can be made the ward of the community or of its legitimate representatives, who may
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limit the wealth owner’s right to the use of only a part of the property to meet basic needs.
2.1.12 Wealth Distribution and Redistribution
Believers must remain fully conscious of the human partnership throughout the process of
wealth creation and of the fact that they must redeem the rights of others in the created
income and wealth. Being unable to access resources to which they have the right does not
negate the fact that the poor are to share in the income and wealth of the abler.
One of the most important economic institutions or practices that operationalizes the
objective of achieving social justice is the distribution/ redistribution rule of the Islamic
economic paradigm. As mentioned earlier, a crucial mission of all messengers and prophets is
the establishment of social justice. In practical terms, the Qur’an makes clear that this means
creating a balanced society that avoids the extremes of wealth and poverty, a society in which
all understand that wealth is a blessing provided by the Creator for the sole purpose of
providing support for the lives of all. The Islamic view holds that it is not possible to have
many rich and wealthy people who continue to focus all their efforts on accumulating wealth
without simultaneously creating a mass of economically deprived and destitute people. The
rich consume opulently while the poor suffer from deprivation because their rights to the
wealth of the rich and powerful are not redeemed.
To avoid this, Islam prohibits the accumulation of wealth and imposes limits on consumption
through its rules prohibiting waste (itlaf), overspending, and ostentatious and opulent
spending (israf). It then ordains that the net surplus, after moderate spending necessary to
maintain a modest living standard, must be returned to those members of the community
who, for a variety of reasons, are unable to work and whose share of their Allah- given
resources have been utilized by the more able. The Qur’an considers the more able as trustee
agents in using these resources on behalf of the less able. In this view, property is not a
means of exclusion but inclusion, in which the rights of those less able are redeemed in the
income and wealth of the more able. The result would be a balanced economy without
extremes of wealth and poverty. The operational mechanism by which the right of the less
able is redeemed is the network of mandatory and voluntary payments, such as zakat (2.5%
on wealth), khums (20% of income), and payments referred to as sadaqat. Distribution takes
place after production and sale, when all factors of production are given what is due to them
commensurate with their contribution to the production, exchange, and sale of goods and
services.
“Redistribution” refers to the post-distribution phase when the charge due to the less able are
levied. These expenditures are essentially repatriation and redemption of the rights of others
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in one’s income and wealth. Redeeming these rights is a manifestation of belief in the
oneness of the Creator and its corollary, the unity of the creation in general and of humankind
in particular. It is the recognition and affirmation that Allah (swt) has created the resources
for all of humankind who must have unhindered access to them. Even the abilities that make
access to resources possible are due to the Creator. This means that those who are less able or
unable to use these resources are partners of the abler. The expenditures intended for
redeeming these rights are referred to in the Qur’an as sadaqat, which is the plural of the
term sadaqa, a derivative of the root meaning “truthfulness and sincerity”; their payments
indicate the strength of the sincerity of a person’s belief (2:26,272). The Qur’an insists that
these are rights of the poor to the income and wealth of the rich; they are not charity (2:177;
19:51; 38:30; 70:25; 917:26). Therefore, the Qur’an asks that extreme care be taken to
acknowledge the recipients’ human dignity, dignity of which the recipients themselves are
fully aware and conscious to the point that they are reluctant to reveal their poverty. The
Qur’an consequently recommends that payment to the poor be done in secret (2:271–273).
Moreover, it strictly forbids that these payments be made reproachfully or accompanied by ill
treatment of recipients or with annoyance displayed by the person making the payment
(2:262–265).
2.1.13 Work and Work Ethics
The concept of work in Islam (al-amal) is far broader, and has different characteristics and
objectives, than the concept as it is understood in the Western economic tradition. In Islam,
the work ethic is defined by the Qur’an itself, which stresses the need for work and action by
human beings. It is because of this emphasis on work that Islam is considered a religion of
action. The Qur’an exalts work and raises it to the level of worship, considering work as an
inseparable dimension of faith itself. Conversely, it considers idleness—or the squandering of
time in pursuit of unproductive and non-beneficial work—as the manifestation of lack of
faith and of unbelief.
Man is called on to utilize time in pursuit of work by declaring that Allah (swt) has made the
day as a means of seeking sustenance. A person who, through hard work, seeks the “bounty”
of Allah (swt)—which includes all appropriate means of earning one’s livelihood—is most
highly praised. All able-bodied persons are exhorted to work in order to earn their living. No
one who is physically and mentally able is allowed to become a liability to his family or to
the state through idleness and voluntary unemployment. The work that everyone is required
to perform must be “good” or “beneficial” (a’mal salih), but no work is considered
inconsequential in relation to its rewards or punishments in this world and in the next. One
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will have to reap whatever rewards or retributions are due as a result of one’s work.
Work, therefore, is regarded not only as a right but also as a duty and an obligation. Hence,
based on its notion of individual rights and responsibilities, Islam extends to individuals the
right to choose the type of work they desire. Along with this freedom come the obligation to
consider the needs of society and to select the type of work permitted by Shariah.
While Islam has, in no uncertain terms, decried laziness, idleness, and socially unproductive
work, it maintains that those who are physically or mentally unable to work still retain a right
to what the society, individually and collectively, produces. This conclusion is based on the
principle of invariant claim to ownership, which maintains that all human beings have a right
to the resources provided for humankind by Allah (swt). Since Allah (swt) is also the source
of the physical and mental abilities that enable some members of society to possess more than
others, the right of ownership to the original resources of those less able remains valid. This
follows from the fact that Allah’s (swt) original right of ownership of resources, which He
has created, is not negated when those resources, along with the creative labor of individuals,
are transformed into products, property, and wealth.
2.1.14 Competition and Cooperation
In the Islamic conception of humankind’s ultimate goal, economic life plays a purely
instrumental role. Even in this role, economic affairs are meant only to provide the
institutions and mechanisms needed for satisfying man’s economic needs, as man’s essence
as the supreme creature of Allah (swt) is allowed to be manifested in this world. Thus, the
economic system designed in accordance with the fundamental principles of Islam ensures
that humans can exercise their eminent dignity, freedom, responsibilities, and rights in the
conduct of economic affairs. The economic system must be so ordered as not to assign to
humans a purely instrumental role in achieving the goals of the economy or the state. Islam
seeks to guide humans to direct individual action and responsible participation in economic
affairs in a manner that commits them to community solidarity and cooperation, resulting in a
dynamic and growing economy. Thus, individuals are made accountable for the moral effects
of their social actions, including those in economic affairs, so that their own inner personal-
spiritual transformation and growth is bound to the progress of the community.
Hence, Islam utilizes cooperation and competition in structuring the ideal society through
harmonization and reconciliation between these two opposites and also between equally
primeval and useful forces at every level of social organization. From this perspective, one
can argue that one of the greatest distinguishing characteristics of Islam is its forceful
emphasis on the integration of human society as a necessary consequence of the unity of
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Allah (swt). To this end, the personality of the Prophet (SAW) is inseparable from what the
Qur’an considers as the optimal approach necessary for the emergence of solidarity in human
society. Every dimension of the personality of the Prophet (SAW), manifested in his various
social roles in the community, is directed toward maximum integration and harmony in
society. Moreover, every rule of behavior, including those in the economic arena, is designed
to aid the process of integration. Conversely, all prohibited practices are those that, one way
or another, lead to social disintegration.
The Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet (SAW) make clear references to the dual nature
of competition and cooperation; that is, human beings can cooperate and compete for good or
evil. It is this that leads to the integration or disintegration of society. The fundamental
sources, however, emphasize that competition and cooperation must be utilized in probity
and piety rather than in evil and enmity. Thus the Qur’an declares: “Cooperate with one
another unto righteousness and piety. Do not cooperate with one another unto sin and
enmity” (5:2). Similarly, Muslims are urged to compete with one another in beneficial and
righteous deeds. These sources do not allow suppression of competition or cooperation in
favor of the other when they are used within the Shariah framework. Rather, all of the
regulatory and supervisory authority invested in the legitimate political authority is directed
toward a balanced and constructive utilization of these forces. The Shariah rules regarding
the structure of the market and the behavior of market participants are examples of such
balance. Although the rules of Shariah regarding economic affairs demarcate limits and
boundaries of desirable competitive and cooperative behavior necessary for the provision and
preservation of the solidarity of society, the individual always remains the identifiable agent
through whose action (and on whose behalf) all economic activity takes place.
In this lesson, we learnt an economic system covers the type of relationships among
households, businesses, and government and the framework for producing, distributing, and
consuming the goods and services produced in an economy. A critical dimension of the
economic structure is the extent of government intervention, the role of markets and their
regulation and supervision, the legal system of property rights, ownership of factors of
production, and contracts and their enforcement. The basic issues to be addressed are what
goods and services are produced and how and for whom they are produced. Although there
are a number of ways to classify the range of economic systems, one classification could be
traditional economies, market economies, mixed market economies, mixed socialist
economies, and command (planned) economies. Adam Smith is widely considered to be the
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father of the modern capitalist market system. The Great Depression and the imploding
global economy shook up the economics profession. In response, Keynes put forward his
book titled General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money to provide some answers. A
number of economists further developed the Keynesian approach in what came to be known
as neo-Keynesian macroeconomics. Although the Keynesian theory of demand management
has become the most widely accepted macroeconomic framework, the Chicago school of
economics later criticized it, largely on libertarian grounds and because it could not explain a
number of observed economic developments in the 1970’s and 1980’s. These economists
argued against discretionary macroeconomic policies in favour of the market’s invisible hand
and passive fiscal and monetary policies. In 2014, economists are even more divided about
the effectiveness of Keynesian macroeconomic policies and the broader role of government
intervention in economic management. There is no “pure” market economy in the world of
2014. There is a role for governments in any economic system to limit economic cycles and
financial crises, to enhance growth, to develop a social safety net, and to safeguard the
interests of future generations, interests that include preservation of the environment and
provision of the social and legal infrastructure for efficient operation of a market system.
The Islamic economic system is a market-based system, where markets are seen as the best
and most efficient mechanism for resource allocation. But valuing markets for their
efficiency is not the same as upholding markets as an ideology and a philosophy. The
foundations of the Islamic economic system were laid down in the Qur’an and practiced by
the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Medina. These rules that were established by the
Almighty are the basis for the Islamic system and provide the effective institutions for the
ideal Islamic system.
1. Discuss the role and significance of economics in Islam
2. Elaborate Risk Sharing, Wealth Accumulation and distribution and Trust in context of
Islamic economic structure
3. Explain briefly the early development of economic system in Islam
4. Write a detailed note on the guiding principles of Islamic economic system
5. Write short notes on the following in about 250 words:
a) Work and work ethics in Islam
b) Market code of conduct in Islam
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Askari, Hassan, ‘Introduction to Islamic Economics: Theory and Application,’ Wiley
Blackwell, London.
Addas, Waleed, ‘Methodology of Economics: Secular or Islamic,’ International Islamic
University Malaysia Press.
Eshkar, Ahmad, ‘Islamic Economics: A Shorty History,’ Brill, Netherlands.
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Lesson 2.2: Interest Free Banking in Islam
Structure
2.2.1 Introduction
2.2.2 Objectives
2.2.3 Prohibition of Interest (al-Riba) in Islam
2.2.4 Interest Free Banking and Islamic Economics
2.2.5 Flaws in the Theory of Interest
2.2.6 Basis of Interest-Free Banking in Islamic Frame Work
2.2.7 Let Us Sum Up
2.2.1 Introduction
Banking is an important financial intermediary and vital institution in the economic structure
of any country. It mobilises savings and idle funds in an economy and makes them available
to those who can make a better and fuller utilization of the same. In this way, banking effects
a re-allocation of the capital funds. Besides this main function, the banking system makes
possible a more convenient device of making payments through cheque facilities, and renders
many other subsidiary services. An important question that agitates the minds of those who
think on Islamic Economics, whether proponents or critics, is the feasibility of interest-free
banking. It is proposed to discuss here briefly certain conceptual and practical aspects of the
issue.
At the very outset it is desirable to lay down the axioms or assumptions for the following
discussion on Interest-Free Banking: The first axiom is that interest in all its forms is
prohibited by the Qur’an. This also implies that there is no room or justification to introduce
various interpretations on the term Riba as has been attempted by some scholars. The second
axiom is that the Muslim Society in an Islamic state is genuinely interested in eliminating
Riba and is sincerely interested in introducing a system of interest-free banking not as a
supplement to the prevalent system of banking but to substitute the same. This means that the
members of the society and the state are not only interested in the change but are prepared to
bear the inconveniences or the difficulties that are avoidable in a transitionary phase of
change-over. These two axioms have been mentioned in the beginning because it is not only
a scientific system of analysis and writing according to research techniques but is also the
approach of the Qur’an itself. In the very beginning of the lesson preconditions have been
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laid down in the form of prerequisite in the people who are likely to benefit from the
guidance from the code of life given in the Qur’an. This lesson will help us to understand the
concept of interest in general and Islam’s approach to the concept of Riba and explore the
institution of interest-free banking in Islam.
2.2.2 Objectives
 To understand the general theory of interest (Riba)
 Explore the institution of interest-free banking in Islam
2.2.3 Prohibition of Interest (al-Riba) in Islam
Al-Riba technically refers to the “premium” that must be paid by the borrower to the lender
along with the principal amount as a condition of the loan or for an extension in the duration
of loan. At least four characteristics define the prohibited interest rate:
1. It is positive and fixed ex ante.
2. It is tied to the time period and the amount of the loan.
3. Its payment is guaranteed regardless of the outcome or the purposes for which the
principal was borrowed.
4. The state apparatus sanctions and enforces its collection.
It is a common misunderstanding and a myth that Islam, by prohibiting interest on loans,
denies the concept of the time value of money. Islamic scholars have always recognized the
time value of money but maintain that the compensation for such value has its limitations.
Recognition of an indirect economic value of time does not necessarily mean acknowledging
any right of equivalent material compensation for this value in all cases. According to
Shariah, compensation for the value of time in sales contracts is acknowledged, but in the
case of lending, increase (interest) is prohibited as a means of material compensation for
time.
The Islamic notion of the opportunity cost of capital and the time value of money can be
clearly understood by reviewing the distinction between investment and lending. Time by
itself does not give a yield; it can contribute to the creation of value only when an economic
activity is undertaken. A sum of money can be invested in a business venture or it can be lent
for a given period of time. In case of investment, the investor will be compensated for any
profit and loss earned during that time. Islam fully recognizes this return on the investment as
a result of an economic activity. If money is in the form of a loan, however, it is an act of
charity where surplus funds are effectively being utilized to promote economic development
and social well-being. In response to the contemporary understanding that interest on a loan
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is a reward for the opportunity cost of the lender, Islamic scholars maintain that interest fixed
ex ante is certain while profits or losses are not. To demand a certain fixed compensation for
an uncertain return that is actually earned is indulging in al-riba and is, therefore, unlawful.
The element of uncertainty diminishes with time as the resultant return on the investment is
realized, rather than the accruing of return simply from the passage of time. In short, Islam’s
stand on the time value of money is simple and clear: Money is a medium of exchange; time
facilitates completion of economic activity, and the owner of capital is to be compensated for
any return resulting from economic activity. Lending should be a charitable act without any
expectation of certain monetary benefit at the expense of another.
The Quran clearly and strongly condemns acquisition by individuals of each other’s property
through wrongful means (2:188; 4:29, 161; 9:34). Islam recognizes two types of individual
claims to property: (1) property rights that are a result of the combination of an individual’s
labor and natural resources; and (2) rights or claims to the property that are obtained through
exchange, remittances of what Islam recognizes as the rights of those less able to utilize the
resources to which they are entitled, outright grants, and inheritance. Money represents the
monetized claim of its owner to the property rights created by assets that were obtained or
received through (1) and/or (2). Lending money is, in effect, a transfer of these rights from
the lender to the borrower. All that can be claimed in return for the loan is its equivalent and
no more. Interest on money loaned represents an unjustifiable and instantaneous property
rights claim. It is unjustifiable because interest is a property right claimed outside the
legitimate framework of individual property rights recognized by Islam and instantaneous
because as soon as the contract for lending upon interest is concluded, a right to the
borrower’s property is created for the lender, regardless of the outcome of the enterprise for
which the money is used.
Money lent on interest is used either productively, in the sense that it creates additional
wealth, or unproductively, in the sense that it does not lead to incremental wealth produced
by the borrower. In the former case—that is, when the funds are used in combination with the
labor of the entrepreneur to produce additional wealth—the money lent cannot have any
property rights claim to the incremental wealth because the lender, when lending money,
does not bargain for a proportion of the additional wealth but for a fixed return, irrespective
of the outcome of the enterprise. The lender, in effect, transfers the right to his property to the
borrower. In the latter case, since no additional wealth, property, or assets are created by the
borrower, the money lent—even if legitimately acquired—cannot be used to claim any
additional property rights since none is created.
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Islamic scholars advocating the elimination of interest from the economy highlight the fact
that there is no satisfactory theory of interest in the conventional economic theory. This
criticism is levied especially on fixed rates of interest. Muslim writers see the theories of
interest as attempts to rationalize the existence of an institution that has become deeply
entrenched in modern economies and not as attempts to justify, based on modern economic
analysis, why moneylenders are entitled to a reward on the money they lend. Typical
justifications for interest in any economy include the arguments that interest is a reward for
saving, a marginal productivity of capital, and an inevitable consequence of the difference
between the value of capital goods today and their value after some time.
When it is argued that interest is a reward for saving, Muslim scholars respond that such
payments can be rationalized only if savings are used for investment to create additional
capital and wealth. According to the scholars, the mere act of abstention from consumption
should not entitle anybody to a return. When argued that interest is justified as marginal
productivity of capital, Muslim scholars respond that although the marginal productivity of
capital may be one factor in the determination of the rate of interest, interest per se has no
necessary relation with the productivity of capital. Interest is paid on money, not on capital,
and has to be paid irrespective of capital productivity. In distinguishing between interest as a
charge for the use of money and a yield from the investment of capital, Muslim scholars
argue that it is an error of modern theory to treat interest as the price of, or return on, capital.
Money, they argue, is not capital; it is only “potential capital,” and it requires the service of
the entrepreneur to transform the potentiality into actuality. The lender has nothing to do with
the conversion of money into capital or with using it productively. When argued that interest
arises as the time value of money, Muslim scholars respond that this only explains its
inevitability, not its “rightness.” Even if the basis for time preference is the difference
between the value of commodities this year and the next, Muslim scholars argue, it seems
more reasonable to allow next year’s economic conditions to determine the extent of the
reward.
It is argued that when a person lends financial resources, these funds are used to create either
a debt or an asset (i.e., through investment). In the first case, Islam considers that there is no
justifiable reason why the lender should receive a return simply through the act of lending per
se. Nor is there a justification, either from the point of view of the smooth functioning of the
economy or that of any tenable scheme of social justice, for the state to attempt to enforce an
unconditional promise of interest payment regardless of the use of borrowed money. If,
however, the money is used to create additional capital wealth, the question is raised as to
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why the lender should be entitled to only a small fraction (represented by the interest rate) of
the exchange value of the utility created from the use made of the funds; the lender should be
remunerated to the extent of the involvement of his financial capital in creating the
incremental wealth.
2.2.4 Interest Free Banking and Islamic Economics
Broadly speaking, the term “Islamic economics” defines a complete system that prescribes
specific patterns of social and economic behaviour for all individuals. It deals with a wide-
ranging of issues, such as property rights, the incentive system, allocation of resources, types
of economic freedom, the system of economic decision making, and the proper role of the
government overriding objective of the system is social justice and specific patterns of
income and wealth distribution, and consequent economic policies are to be designed to
achieve these ends from the issue of a zero interest rate, Islamic economics also fairly precise
guidelines on, for example, tax policy an orientation of government expenditures. Islamic
banking is expected to participate actively in achieving the goals and objectives of an Islamic
economy; consequently, Islamic banking is conducted “in consonance with the ethos of the
value system of Islam”. Even though the terms "Islamic banking" and "interest-free banking"
have been used changeably, it has been stressed by several writers that the former is a more
normative concept whereas the latter is the actual practice or mode of banking.
Despite the increased study and discussion of the theory on practice of Islamic banking, the
subject still presents several puzzles for academics and policymakers alike. Whether a system
that forbids the payment or receipt of interest can be viable in a modern economy is a
question often raised by economists, especially those trained in the Western economic
tradition. The writings of Muslim scholars have helped to broaden understanding somewhat,
but there still exists substantial confusion on the main issues. In this lesson an attempt is
made to answer some of the basic questions that arise by providing, with the tools and
concept of modern Western economics, a formal analysis of the main features of Islamic
banking. By doing so it is hoped that the gap between Muslim scholars and the profession at
large will narrowed.
In the light of the above mentioned axioms, let us have a look at the need to modify the
conceptual framework of economics to suit the requirements of Islamic Economics. The
beginning will have to be made by re defining the factor of production. A postulate which is
essential for the analytical framework of Islamic Economics is that capital as a separate factor
of production does not exist, but is part of another factor of production, namely, enterprise.
This means in essence redefining the term 'enterprise' in a broader way so as to include
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'capital' as a part thereof. This, it may be mentioned, is not difficult to reconcile. With the
passage of time and technological changes in the methods of production, the definitions of
other factors of production have also gone through changes. Land, for example, does not
mean land in the limited sense any more, but for all practical purposes land today is
synonymous with the term “natural resources’. Similarly, the term labour has become wider
to include not only the industrial worker in the limited sense of manual workers but includes
white-collared personnel as well as the managerial personnel in any productive unit. Thus, for
all practical purposes the term labour now connotes the sense of 'human resources'.
Moreover, considering the modern method of production and an assessment of qualitative
process of production, suggests the need for considering technology as an important factor of
production. Technology comes to play its role whenever there is a relationship between
natural resources and human resources. The production resulting from any combination of
natural and human resources is also determined by technology. It needs no proof or effort to
establish that given the same inputs of natural and human resources the quality of the factor
'enterprise' and the quality of the factor 'technology' will lead to different outputs in two
productivity units, or indeed in two different countries. In the text books of economics one
finds that whenever there is a discussion of economic laws, such as the law of diminishing
marginal utility or the law of diminishing marginal returns, a qualification is mentioned that
the quality of the commodities and the inputs respectively remain the same or unchanged.
However, in practical life we find that except in a very primitive society things do not remain
the same and the qualities of commodities or inputs invariably change over any reasonable
span of time. This in other words means that in the present day, technology has become such
an important factor that quality of products and the quality of the natural resources as well as
quality of the human resources applied always change with the passage of time, except
perhaps in a very short run or at one point of time in a limited sense. The importance of
technology thus has to be recognized as a factor of production and assuming that this factor
remains constant means laying down an assumption which is not relevant to the facts of
practical life.
The postulate of combining capital with enterprise is conceptually not too difficult to
reconcile with. The definition of the term interest in the economic literature has been already
broken down in two parts on conceptual level. A distinction has been made between the
return on the capital and the 'risk premium' to take care of the risk or uncertainties in recovery
and other things. This distinction implies that, conceptually speaking, interest and profit have
some resemblance in that interest includes reward for risk while profit constitutes a reward
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for uncertainty. This, in other words, means some resemblance between capital and
enterprise. Moreover, the formation of large corporations and companies with a large number
of share holders? sometimes more than a million? and the institution of raising share capital
of joint stock companies from the general public have tended to combine the functions of
enterprise and capital in the same persons. Entrepreneurs, therefore, are not only the small
number of promoters who conceive of and initiate a particular project but also the large
number of share holders who join the sponsors or promoters also become entrepreneurs. All
that these large number of entrepreneurs are doing is to provide capital, or more precisely,
'risk capital', and agreeing to accept the return or profit on their investment which is not
predetermined but has some uncertainty about the rate of dividend likely to be declared, and
be mentally prepared for the extreme possibility of not receiving any dividends if the
performance of the company or the project is not nearly as satisfactory and fruitful as was
anticipated by the people who subscribed to the share capital.
With the passage of time the concept or definition of a bank has also undergone changes. The
modern day banks are no more operating on the classical lines of commercial banking,
namely, short term loan of 90 days in the nature of 'self-liquidating' loans or bills. The
classical concept of a commercial bank being the one which provides only short term capital
for three months has undergone changes. The modern banks, not only in developed countries
but also in developing countries, are engaging themselves in a big way in financing industries
and agriculture. This financing, moreover, is not confined to short term capital but includes
credit facilities to help in acquisition of fixed assets for intermediate terms as well as long
terms of maturity. Thus, the distinction between commercial banks and development banks is
fast disappearing because of the structural changes in the economic activities of most of the
countries. Commerce is no more the most important sector for the banks. The relative
importance of this sector has declined in all the countries, including the developing countries.
Similarly, the investment operations in the earning assets of the banks have increased over
time. Investments by banks again are not confined to short term treasury bills or even long
term government bonds bearing interest. Commercial banks have started making investments
in the equity shares of enterprises which enables the banks to collect dividends on those
shares. Thus, it will be noticed that the water-tight compartmentalization of commercial
banks and investment banks is also disappearing gradually. In brief, the commercial banks
are moving from purely commercial banking to development and investment banking, thus
getting used to examine carefully the profitability of the projects or the scripts in which they
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used their funds. Scientific financial and credit analysis are in practice in all the good banks.
Thus, the banks should not find it difficult from a practical point of view to shift from interest
earning bodies to profit-sharing or dividend receiving bodies. 
2.2.5 Flaws in the Theory of Interest
The theory of interest has always been a very difficult area in economic literature. The
application of marginal productivity approach has not been found to be correct in the case of
interest. Complex explanations have been attempted to explain the rationale of changing
interest, the rate of interest and the supply of capital funds. Some of the explanations which
have been given are: (a) Time Preference Theory, (b) Abstinence Theory, and (c) Liquidity
Preference Theory.
The most formidable treatment of the theory of interest has been given by the Austrian
economist Bohm-Bawerk. He tried to explain the rationale of interest and the rate of interest
in terms of time preference, namely, the concept of technical superiority of present over
future. This implies that an average person prefers present over future and if he is required to
forego the present comfort or use of his funds, he is entitled to some remuneration known as
interest. However, the explanation of capital formation and 'roundaboutness' of method of
production takes us to a primitive society; the explanation is given in terms of 'physical
capital' formation, or to be more exact, accumulation of 'capital goods'. Naturally the
explanation of origin of accumulation of capital goods cannot be used to explain capital
formation and allied rationale for charging interest in a period when cash capital or 'capital
funds' are used. Moreover, Bohm-Bawerk, who tried to give the counter thesis to the concept
of Karl Marx—by emphasizing the roundaboutness of method of production and explanation
of primitive physical capital formation takes it nearer to the labour theory of value given by
Marx.
Similarly, the concept of abstinence given by some other thinkers is untenable in the present
society. In the practicable life of the modern days, we do not see any abstinence on the part of
those who provide the bulk of the savings or the capital funds. This can perhaps be possible
in a very primitive society where the government may force the people to save, thus causing
an abstinence or sacrifice on the part of those who save and provide capital funds thus
entitling themselves to a reward for the abstinence or the sacrifice in the form of interest
payment. The concept of 'forced saving' of the modern variation is even less applicable in the
case of saving process making available the capital funds and justifying the payment of
interest thereupon.
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The Keynesian concept of 'liquidity preference' as a justification or rationale of interest on the
supply side is accompanied by a concept of marginal efficiency of capital on the demand
side. In the Keynesian frame work these two concepts determine the rate of interest. The
determination of interest by liquidity preference is not exactly the same thing as
determination of interest by supply of savings or investible funds. However, doubt that been
expressed about the validity of this explanation. It has not been established whether the
supply of liquid funds or savings in general are determined by the rate of interest, though they
may be partially affected by that phenomenon. Thus, we find that economists have been hard
put to the task of explaining the rationale of interest and the rate of interest.
Perhaps the theory of interest is the least clear part of the entire economic theory. This is so
because an effort has been made to explain something which is difficult to justify. Those who
have tried to give some rationale, taking into account and criticising other theories and
explanations, ultimately take the help of the concept of opportunity cost. The rate of interest,
according to them, consists of three parts: (a) the basic interest rate, (b) a risk premium, and
(c) administrative costs involved in the lending process. The combination of first two
components, namely, the basic rate and the risk premium constitute the opportunity cost.
However, no valid and sound explanation has been given regarding the basic rate itself. The
basic or the minimum rate has been taken to be the rate of interest charged by the government
on their securities which have practically no risk of non-recovery. The basic rate of interest or
the opportunity cost has been identified as the government rate of interest on its securities
wherein no risk is involved. This is hardly a satisfactory conceptual explanation. This rate
paid by the government is an arbitrary decision, and a constant rather than a variable
explained in the normal economic powers.
Another practical difficulty in the explanation of rationale and rate of interest is the fact that
capital funds actually used for investment purposes come from different sources. On an ex
post facto basis the total investment and the total saving are supposed to be equal not only in
the Keynesian framework but also in the analysis of those who partially differ with Keynes.
However, on ex ante basis the investment and savings may not be equal according to the
economists. The difference is because of the fact that investment is supposed to be the
function of the entrepreneur, while saving and supply of capital is the function of the
capitalist or the saver. For the economy as a whole though what really matters is investment
or the saving actually used. Thus, real thing of significance is the capital funds. The sources
of supply of capital funds in the present day economy are various:
(a) The most important source for the supply of capital in modern industrialised society is the
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'retained earnings' or the reserves built by various productive units. In many advanced
countries, the retained earnings constitute more than half of the additional funds required.
This portion of available capital funds naturally is not determined by the rate of interest but is
a function of other variables, such as possible uses and expected rate of return on the
investible funds accumulated in the form of retained earnings by the corporations and
companies.
(b) Capital funds made available and used in the form of equity investment, namely, new
investment in shares issued by various productive units or companies. In the modern days of
joint stock companies as the typical form of business ownership and organization, an
important and significant part of total capital funds, and utilization of savings of the people,
takes this shape.
(c) Capital funds available in the form of lending on the basis of interest. This shape or form
of savings may be used in government securities, debentures or bonds of private sector, and
deposits in the banks.
Looking at these three alternative sources of supply of capital funds one is bound to realise
that in the present world, two out of these three alternative sources of capital funds are
originated without any consideration of interest. One finds that the bulk of the total capital
funds take the shape of equity investment in one form or the other. This development,
therefore, leads us to justify the merging of the two factors of production, namely, enterprise
and capital into one single factor of production. Thus consequent elimination of interest as a
form of reward for capital is justified for two reasons: firstly, the reason is that conceptually a
sound and correct explanation of interest as a remuneration has not been possible by the
economists who have thought a little on the subject. Secondly, looking at the practical
operation of modern day economy we know that the sharp line of distinction between capital
as a factor of production and enterprise as a factor of production is untenable in the practical
life of today rather than a primitive society where everything can be explained in terms of
labour theory as done by Karl Marx.
Under the present analytical framework of modern theory, capital is a factor of production
entirely different from all other factors of production. The differences between the
characteristics of capital and other factors of production are:
(a) Unlike other factors of production, capital is itself the result of production, or a
produced means of production. This does not apply to other factors of production,
like land, labour and enterprise.
(b) The origin of capital and the accompanying justification for its remuneration,
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are derived from the accumulation of physical capital or capital goods in a primitive
society. However, the same justification for reward or remuneration is applied to
cash capital or capital funds. This is a unique treatment and creates confusion.
(c) Factors of production other than capital lose some degree or productivity and
utility with the passage of time. While other factors of production wear out or
depreciate with the usage, capital in the sense of 'cash capital' different from
'physical capital' does not wear out or lose its value over time.
(d) While in case of other factors of production, there is always some unavoidable
difference in quality between one unit and the other units, capital in the sense of
cash capital is of uniform quality as far as various units are concerned.
These differences between capital and other factors of production naturally raise a question as
to whether capital is a factor of production at all, or is it only a tool or means for another
factor of production, namely, enterprise. It is known that enterprise in the sense of enterprise,
without having some capital along with it, does not exist in practical life. This means that
there are capital funds available in two forms and in two manners, namely, capital which goes
automatically with enterprise, usually known as the 'risk capital', and the pure capital or credit
which is available at a certain rate of interest. Logically, therefore, capital should be merged
with the other factor of production known as enterprise.
The separation of enterprise and capital has created not only conceptual problems but has
caused practical problems in the operation of the economy. According to monetary theories
of trade cycles, most of the cyclical fluctuations have resulted from an over-investment or
under investment of the 'cash capital' in the economy. The lack of synchronisation between
saving and investment on ex ante basis has created the problems. Through the borrowed
capital, which has no relationship with the voluntary saving, there is always the possibility of
over expansion resulting in lack of synchronisation between saving and investment. Hayek, a
leading proponent of the monetary theory of the trade cycles, points out:
"Nobody has ever asked them to pursue a policy other than that which, as we have seen,
gives rise to cyclical fluctuations; and it is not within their power to do away with some
fluctuations, seeing that the latter originate not from the policy but from the very nature of the
modern organization of credit. So long as we use of bank credit as means of furthering
economic development, we shall have to put up with the resulting trade cycles. They are in a
sense theprice we pay for a speed of development exceeding that which people voluntarily
make possible through their savings and which, therefore, has to be extorted from them."
Thus, if capital is merged with the factor of enterprise over expectations, over-expansion of
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credit can be eliminated. The defects of the banking system on credit basis pointed out by
Hayek can be overcome if the banking business is reorganised in such a manner that capital
and enterprise move together. If there is this merger of capital with enterprise, the
possibilities of over expansion of credit will also be eliminated. This means that all capital
becomes 'risk capital', or a part of enterprise. The decision of the entrepreneurs or
entrepreneurial groups will then not be in vacuum and on presumption that bank credit will
be available on contractual basis and on the rate of interest which is substantially lower than
the rate of profit. If banking business is reorganised in such a manner that the depositors
interested in earning some income on the deposits are required to share profit and loss with
the users of the capital funds or the entrepreneurs, a better equilibrium will emerge and a
more harmonious relationship between ex ante savings and investment will be possible.
2.2.6 Basis of Interest-Free Banking in Islamic Frame Work
We have seen earlier that capital is an instrument of enterprise both from a conceptual point
of view and from practical point of view. We would now have a look at the conceptual basis
of interest-free banking in the framework of Islamic tenets. As mentioned in the beginning,
we start from an axiom or assumption that "interest" as a form of payment for use of capital
funds is prohibited. The Qur’an ordains the prohibition of 'interest' (Riba) at least five times
in the second chapter. This prohibition of interest has been put as (i) Madness (Takhabbut),
(ii) Thing God wants to 'destroy' (Mabq), (iii) Thing which if not abandoned deserves a 'war'
(Harb) from God, (iv) Thing which is antithesis of Faith (Iman), or in other words, infidelity
(Kufr), and (v) a Thing if persisted calls for permanent abode in Hell (Khulud fi al-Nar).
These examples from the Qur’an have been mentioned only as examples.
As interest is prohibited for all purposes and in all its forms as far as Islamic framework of
thought is concerned, we have to look for guidance for a system of banking which is in
consonance with Islam. The conceptual basis for a better banking system even according to
general economic theory would be the one wherein capital is a part or partner or instrument
of the factor of production known as enterprise. Thus, we have to look in Islamic literature
for permissions of a form of business relationship between those who provide capital funds
and those who use the same, on the basis of sharing profit or loss as the case may be. In this
connection we find a mention of the institution of mudaraba or qiradmuqarada. According to
al-Sarakhsi (d. 483/1090), the definition of the institution of mudaraba based on the Qur’an
and the Sunnah is as follows.
"The word mudaraba is derived from darb on earth. It has been so named because the
mudarib (user of others' capital) qualifies to get profit share on account of his endeavours and
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work. He thus participates in the profit as well as he gets the right to use capital and strive
according to his discretion. People of Medina call this contract muqarada. This has been
related on the authority of 'Uthman ibn 'Affan that he handed over to a person some capital
on muqarada which is derived from the word qard, meaning 'a severed part'. The owner of
capital, thus, severs his right of disposal over that portion of capital and gives it to the amil
(user of capital). This is how it has been so named. We have, however, chosen the former
name as it conforms to what occurs in the Book of Allah saying 'and others strive on earth
seeking the gift of God." 
The legality of this kind of partnership between the supplier of capital and user of capital is
also recognised by other jurists of Islam, such as Burhan al-Din 'Ali Ibn Abu Bakr al-
Marghinani (in his work Hidaya) and 'Ala' al-Din Abu Bakr ibn Mas'ud al-Kasani (in his
work Badd'i'-al Saana’i fil Tartib al-Sharia). Actually the institution is one of those that
prevailed in Arabia before Islam, but were found to conform with the Islamic principles and
thus retained in the Islamic framework. Ibn Rushd says about mudaraba:
"And there is no difference of opinion among the Muslims about the legality of qirai. It was
an institution in pre-Islamic period and Islam confirmed it. They all agree that its form is that
a person gives to another person some capital that he uses it in business. The user gets,
according to conditions, some specified; proportion of the profit, i.e. any proportion they
agree, one third, one fourth or even one half."
The two above mentioned extracts from the leading jurists of Islam indicate the legality of a
partnership between the saver or the supplier of the savings and the user of the savings or the
investors. Before we proceed further it may be mentioned that the term 'user of capital' as
used in the above extracts does not mean only physical worker or the labourer in the limited
sense but would include entrepreneur or the person who uses the investible fund according to
his abilities, experience, and expertise. This difference between society of that particular type
and the present day business framework explains the reason why the user of capital would
now include entrepreneur rather than workers or labourers alone. Moreover, even in those
days some of the users of capital were not workers or the labourers in the limited sense but
were businessmen who used the capital for actual investment purposes. Thus, the contract or
the arrangement of mudaraba or muqarada is actually an arrangement of partnership or profit
sharing between the supplier of capital and the user of capital who work together as partners
and share the profit or loss as the case may be. This is in brief the foundation of partnership
between capital and enterprise in the Islamic framework.
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We have now to apply the above mentioned principles or foundation of partnership between
capital and enterprise in the field of banking. It may be mentioned that in the case of interest-
free banking in an Islamic society there will be three parties: (1) The actual user of capital or
entrepreneur; (2) The bank which serves as a partial user of the capital funds and as an
intermediary link; and (3) The supplier of savings or capital fund, i.e. depositors in the bank.
Thus, there is a triangular relationship between the actual entrepreneurs, the banks, and the
depositors. One tier of mudaraba partnership will be between the depositors and the bank;
and the other tier will be between the bank and the ultimate or actual user of the fund or the
entrepreneur. There may be, for example, an arrangement that the entrepreneur (or the
borrower in the present day banking system) and the bank would share the profit in ratio of
50 per cent each or 60 per cent for the entrepreneur, and 40 per cent for the bank or any such
ratio which may be agreed upon between themselves, may be regulated by the government or
the central bank. Similarly, there will be an arrangement between the bank and the supplier
and capital (depositors in the present banking system) for sharing the profit in the ratio of 50
percent each or 60 percent for the bank and 40 percent for the supplier of capital fund or the
depositors.
This may seem at the first look to be a complex arrangement but once the system is
introduced and begins to operate in practical life, it will become as mechanical and routine as
the present day system wherein bank charges a higher rate of interest on certain categories of
deposit while it has to pay nothing to some types of the depositors, e.g. the current account
depositors. The source of profit for the bank is the difference between the interest it receives
and the interest it has to pay to the depositors. Similarly, in the changed framework required
for interest-free banking, the entrepreneurs and the bank would share the profit on an agreed
percentage or ratio, sharing a larger amount than the banks; and the depositors would share a
smaller amount, i.e., what comes to the banks, on certain percentage or ratio.
Whether percentage or the ratio for sharing the profit between the entrepreneurs (borrowers)
and the banks on the one hand, and that between the banks and the depositors on the other
should be determined in the normal course of business activities and bargaining or should it
be regulated by the government or central bank is a policy variable or a political decision by
the governments. Either arrangement would serve the purpose as far as the conceptual
framework is concerned. The decision will have to be taken in the light of the actual
circumstances prevailing and the inclination of the people who make the decision. At the face
of it, it may seem that a ratio of two thirds for the users (65 percent) and one third for the
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suppliers (35 percent) would seem to be a reasonable arrangement because this would be a
good via media. In the extract given with one extreme being the 50% for each party, and the
other extreme being one fourth for the supplier and three fourths for the user of capital.
However, the central bank of the country can be empowered to introduce slight modifications
in the details of the terms and conditions from time to time depending upon the overall
economic situation in the country and the expansionary or the contractionary policy pursued
by the central bank in the interest of the overall national economic well-being of the country
concerned. This power would be analogous to the power to change 'bank rate' in the present
system.
The above arrangement would take care of the main profit earning activity of the banks in an
interest-free banking system. To be more precise, the arrangement pertains to what could be
described as the 'investment account' deposit in the banks. As far as the demand deposits or
the demand liabilities are concerned, the matter is simpler. Similarly, subsidiary services or
the activities of the banks will remain un-affected. These subsidiary services which are not
the main profit earning activities from the point of view of the banks themselves, constitute
an important service for the clients of the banks. The subsidiary services are remittance
facilities, safe vault arrangements, and many other relatively smaller services. The real
question regarding the feasibility of the interest-free banking system relates to the main profit
earning activities of the bank, i.e., the loans made available to the industrial and business
sectors for whom the bank finance constitutes an important activity. This main business of
banking we have already analysed above.
2.2.7 Let Us Sum Up
In this lesson, we have traced the roots of interest from Islamic perspective vis-à-vis looked
at the problems of interest based economic structure. How Islam looks at the interest and the
exploitative nature of interest based economy especially in capitalistic super-structure. It
helped us to see how Islamic banking is expected to participate actively in achieving the
goals and objectives of an Islamic economy; consequently, Islamic banking is conducted "in
consonance with the ethos of the value system of Islam". Even though the terms "Islamic
banking" and "interest-free banking" have been used changeably, it has been stressed by
several writers that the former is a more normative concept whereas the latter is the actual
practice or mode of banking.
1. Elaborate the model of interest free banking in Islam
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2. Discuss the importance of interest-free banking
3. Describe briefly on the problems of interest based economy
4. Write a short note on the concept of interest in Islam
Abdul, Wadood Khan, Interest Free Banking, Wiley Blackwell, London.
Diwany, Tariq, The Problem with Interest, Kreatic Publishers, India
Joshi, D. R., Encyclopaedia of Interest-free Banking in Islam, Cyber Tech Publications, India.
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Lesson 3.3: Sources of Islamic Economy: Zakah, Kharaj, Khums and Jizya
Structure
2.3.1 Introduction
2.3.2 Objectives
2.3.3 Contextualizing Zakah
2.3.4 Zakah System in an Islamic State: A Historical Reflection
2.3.5 Zakah as an Economic Institution and a Fiscal Tool
2.3.6 Kharaj
2.3.7 Al-Kharāj as Land Tax
2.3.8 Khums
2.3.9 The History of Khums
2.3.10 Jizya
2.3.11 Concept of Ushr
2.3.1 Introduction
The role of taxation in a country is indispensable to actualize the wealth of the nation. The
government, whether it is a secular country or Islamic state, need taxes to finance their
expenditures for every activity, from defence to provide education and to maintain the
citizens’ quality of life. In the Muslim world, taxation has been implemented since the
Prophet (SAW) time by using various instruments. Zakat is the main instrument and
complemented by other taxes such as Kharaj, Jizya, Ushr, and Khums. However, nowadays,
there is no country in the world (Islamic or secular) that only imposing those taxes. There are
always other instruments of taxation for other means and purposes, such as income tax, value
added taxes and duties. Muslim scholars often called it secular taxes. There is still on-going
debate among the scholars whether it is needed and permissible to levy other taxes on the
Muslims. Some of the traditional scholars rigidly referred to the tax instruments that were in
practice at the time of the Prophet and caliphs as the only instruments needed and allowed.
They argued that those tax instruments were sufficient to cover the government expenditures
and redistribute wealth among the Muslims in the early Islamic state then it should be today.
Other scholars, particularly Islamic economists, viewed that we should look for the
underlying principles of those taxes and try to design the modern taxation instruments that
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are Shari‘ah compliant and able to cope with todays dynamic changes and complex economic
activities. This lesson tries to discuss the sources of Islamic economy and the utility of
different institutions like Zakah, Khums, Kharaj and Ushr to strengthen the economy of
Islamic state.
2.3.2 Objectives
 To understand the sources of Islamic Economy
 To explore the institution of Zakah, Ushr, Khums and Kharaj
2.3.3 Contextualizing Zakah
Zakah is an obligatory ‘Ibadah’ and one of the five pillars of Islam ordained in the Qur’an
along with Salah. It is an important institution in the socio-economic framework of Islam,
which served as a source of public finance during the golden era of Islamic history. Maidugu
observes: “In the shariah, the word zakah refers to the determined share of wealth prescribed
by Allah to be distributed among the categories of those entitled to receive it”. According to
Al-Qardawi, Zakah means both 'purification' and 'growth'. Our possessions are purified by
setting aside a proportion for those in need. In addition, Zakah has spiritual implications of
purifying the giver from greed and niggardly; and it purifies the beneficiary from jealousy
and hatred. The purifying aspect of Zakah is clearly stated in Q9:103: “...Of their wealth, take
alms, so that you might purify and sanctify them ....” However, the economic role and
importance of this institution is now being brought to the limelight. And this gives it the basis
for being referred to as the major and central instrument of Islamic fiscal policy by most
contemporary Muslim Scholars and Economists like Al-Qardawi (1999), Bashar (1988),
Chapra (1992 & 1993), Faridi (1976 & 1983), Gusau (1997 & 2001), Iqbal and Khan (1981),
Kahf (1983), Mannan (1980) and Sadeq (1994). In view of this, the institution of Zakah must
be seen beyond a religious obligation but as a comprehensive sub-system of Islam. As such
all the elements of the sub-system must be well connected so that the desired results could be
achieved. These elements are: i) Giver ii) Receiver iii) Administrator iv) Prescribed goals;
and v) Rules or order. If all these elements are well synthesized, then the overall goal of
poverty alleviation can be achieved together with other fiscal measures. According to Faridi
(1983), fiscal policy is one of the various tools which work to achieve the goals of the
Shari’ah (Maqasid al-Shari’ah), which as explained by Imam Al-Ghazali include promoting
welfare of the people by safeguarding their Deen (religion), life, intellect, posterity and
property. Whatever safeguards these five things or any of them serve public interest and is
desirable. Therefore, the institution of Zakah exemplifies Islam’s strong concern and
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commitment towards the realization of socio-economic justice of the masses. Social justice
and collective good are very dear to Islam. Hence, it ensures and promotes equitable
redistribution of wealth and income, which is enforced through religious obligation and fiscal
measures of the Islamic state. It is however important to state that fiscal policy is an
important and indispensable economic policy, especially in the less developed or developing
economies where monetary policy alone is ineffective due to the existence of weak and
underdeveloped money and capital markets. In this regard, Chapra posited that fiscal policy
has been the major tool of the welfare state, which includes the use of public expenditure,
progressive taxation and borrowing to achieve the desired goals of economic growth,
stability, resource allocation etc. Whereas all these functions are effectively perform by the
institution of Zakah in an Islamic state, as it was documented especially during the reign of
Khalifah Umar Ibn Abdul-Aziz. Sadeq aptly captures it when he puts it submits: “The
institution of Zakah has implications for micro and macro-economic variables. In the former,
Zakah is said to result in favourable effects on saving and investment behaviours without
affecting work efforts. Favourable macro-economic effects are expected to cover several
dimensions including allocative efficiency, economic growth, distribution of income, poverty
eradication, social security and stabilization”.
2.3.4 Zakah System in an Islamic State: A Historical Reflection
According to Nik Hassan, the state has the responsibility of collecting and disbursing Zakah
and failure to do this will be tantamount to grievous sin because the basic thrust of mutual
sharing and caring would have been eroded. The role of government with respect to the
administration of Zakah is very essential and this was the practice of the Prophet (SAW) and
the rightly guided caliphs after him. It must however be emphasized that Zakah was first
implemented in the second year of Hijrah and since then it has continued to be a function of
Muslim governments throughout Islamic history. Therefore, it has been argued that the
institution of Zakah is the central pillar of an Islamic economy because it is the major
mechanism for resource mobilization and transfer, which makes income/wealth redistribution
its major function. Furthermore, Abu Bakar and Abdul Rahman note that the Zakah system
performs greater role in removing inequalities from the society. They write that “Throughout
history, whenever Muslims truthfully applied the system of Zakah, as ordained by Allah and
His messenger, the splendid objectives of Zakah were fulfilled and its great efforts appeared
within the lives of the individuals and the society”. The institution of Zakah in the Muslim
constitution during the Caliphate period was so elaborate and broad-based, that it did not only
promoted socialistic redistribution of wealth but it also created a healthy non-capitalistic
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mind frame and the spirit of togetherness. No wonder therefore that one of the excellent
examples of Zakah success was during the golden reign of Khalifah Umar Ibn ‘Abdul-Aziz
because after the collection of Zakah, it became difficult to get one needy person to receive or
benefit from it as a result of self-dependent attitude of poor Muslims prevailing in the society.
This situation confirms the Prophetic saying which was reported by Waritha bin Wahb
Khuzai, “Receive the alms, for a time is to come when a person will have to roam with alms
in his hand but there will be none to accept it. Every person will say to the alms-giver, If you
had come here yesterday, I would have accepted it. But today, I am not in need”.
It has been argued that Zakah is a transfer of resources from the rich to the poor members of
the society and there are overwhelming evidences suggesting that Islam is against
concentration of wealth/income in fewer hands as emphatically expressed in the Quran, 59:7.
Therefore, it was not surprising when Khalifah Abu Bakr waged war against the defaulters of
Zakah because it is a religious obligation that must be fulfilled in order to strengthen the
socio-economic and spiritual integration and harmony of the society. Al-Qardawi argues that
the legal and economic situations in Muslim countries must be made to comply with the
Islamic system; so that the Ummah can be saved from perpetual financial, psychological and
social burdens despite the enormous efforts of reforms and awareness being carried out in the
various Muslim countries.
2.3.5 Zakah as an Economic Institution and a Fiscal Tool
The capacity of Zakah to serve as a source of public revenue and a determinant of
expenditure as well as serving as an automatic stabilizer in an Islamic economy greatly
explains its economic role and significance. Thus, it effectively handles various economic
problems like unemployment, income and wealth disparities, unproductive savings, poverty
etc. Therefore, Zakah as a religious duty transfers some of the income and wealth of the rich
to the poor members of the society i.e. from the surplus units to the deficit units. In view of
this function, Zakah is regarded as a direct anti-thesis of riba (interest), because the former
collects from the rich a fixed rate (i.e. 2.5%) of their wealth that reaches the nisab (prescribed
minimum level), while the latter collects from the poor a fluctuating rate even greater than
that of Zakah to the rich. According to Gidado and Khan, Zakah is expected to be a major
instrument of fiscalism and its impact on the macroeconomic aggregates covers all the known
functions of public economy of a modern state, which includes: efficient allocation, curtailing
excessive income disparities, stabilization and growth, reducing unemployment and
stimulating economic activities through substantial transfer of purchasing power from the
haves to the have-nots in the society.
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Therefore, Zakah represents the economic mechanism and institution for the realization of the
distributive justice of Islam, which makes it possible to have an egalitarian and prosperous
society where the well-being of all is given topmost priority. More importantly, the objective
of Zakah expenditure is to generate both ethical cleansing of wealth through equitable
distribution and growth of the society. The distributive equity established by the Zakah
institution strives at stimulating growth, productivity and income distribution and this
eventually build up the capital base of the society. Again, the institution of Zakah as a source
of public revenue with a determined (specified) expenditure demonstrates the basic
components characteristics of fiscal policy. To this end, the expenditure categorizations of
Zakah are clearly spelt out in the Qur’an, 9:60 which states as:
Alms are for the poor and the needy, and those employed to administer
the funds; for those whose hearts have been (recently) reconciled to the
truth, for those in bondage and in debt: for the cause of Allah and for the
wayfarer: Thus is it ordained by Allah, and Allah is full of knowledge
and wisdom.
Similarly, Faridi noted that the description of Zakah in the Qur’an, its exposition by the Holy
Prophet (SAW) through his words and its actual implementation and subsequent elaboration
by the Sahaba (Companions) and Islamic Jurists explains its socio-economic and spiritual
significance. This provides students of economic theory substantial insight into the economic
and fiscal orientation and theorization of an Islamic economic framework.
2.3.6 Kharaj
Al-Kharaj is defined as taxes, revenue, revenue obtained from human property, tribute, rental,
income, general property, a public’s revenue or revenue from land. Al-Kharaj is an Arabic
word of Greek origin and also taken from literary official language of Rome, Byzantine and
Ancient Greek which generally means tax. However, throughout the history of Islam it was
used to refer to land tax.
Taxation systems that had been implemented in Islamic countries were land tax (al-kharaj),
protection tax (sulh al-jizyah), poll tax (jizyah al-ru’us) and commerce tax (al-‘Ushr). Al-
Kharaj represents a specific percentage of income obtained from land or property and it
includes land obtained from war or by peaceful means. Al-Kharaj was implemented early in
the Islamic rule in Khaibar when the Jews requested for the land that Muslims had conquered
to remain as theirs because they were very good farmers. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW)
consented to the request on condition that they surrender half the revenue obtained from the
land as tax—al-Kharaj; in accordance with the al-muzara’ah principle. Initially al-kharaji
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ncluded in ghanimah’s type of asset, which should be divided among the Muslim soldiers but
Caliph ‘Umar felt that the practice was a waste for Muslims of that time as well as the future
if the land in Iraq and Syria were divided among Muslim soldiers. So he proposed that the
land remained under the owners on condition that they pay kharaj
The term al-kharāj was also used to name the ministry in charge of finance or taxation
revenue during the Islamic rule. It was called Diwan al-Kharāj (Ministry of Finance).
Collection of all types of taxes from all over of the empire (except the one for al-birr) was
deposited here. Branches of al-kharāj were also set up in every region. These bureaus were
assigned with evaluating, collecting and surrendering tax revenue to Diwan Bayt al-mal. Due
to its importance, Diwan al-Kharāj was chaired and managed by the viceroy. Heads of
bureaus in the regions and Sahib al-Kharāj was also responsible for duties other than
collection, like identifying other sources of revenue for the nation. All forms of payments in
the regions, and salary for government officers, soldiers, public works expenses, including all
other government expenses are made by this ministry.
In the modern world, the function of the diwan is carried out by Wizarah al-Maliyyah or the
Finance Ministry.
2.3.7 Al-Kharāj as Land Tax
Al-Kharāj is a tax imposed on the owner of a piece of land that had been conquered by
Muslim soldiers in a war or peacefully. When Iraq was taken over by Muslim soldiers during
Caliph ‘Umar’s rule, there were two categories of conquered land: land with owners and land
without owners. The former refers to land that was owned by someone and the owner or
owners have surrendered to the soldiers; while the latter refers to land where the owners have
absconded or was killed during the war. Both types of land are considered kharāj land and
are taxed, unless if the owner becomes a Muslim, then zakat is imposed. This is in the case of
land with an owner. As for land without owners, they remain kharāj land even though the
person who manages the land is a Muslim. It was customary then for land without owners to
be managed by the local residents since they were skilled farmers compared to the Arabs.
However, where general administration like work division, setting of rate of tax and the
distribution was concerned, these still reside in the hands of the Arab army generals. As for
un owned or abandoned lands, Caliph ‘Umar instructed that these land cannot be sold off or
divided, but instead should collectively belong to all Muslims.
Al-Kharāj became the main contributor to the nation’s revenue at that time because the
Muslim nation then were largely an agrarian society. Initially the tax was imposed on land
owned by non-Muslims, but when the majority of the society submit to the new ruler and the
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people embraced Islam, the government then began to impose it on all the people. In other
words, all land owners were subject to al-Kharaj. According to Muhammad Diya’ al-Din al-
Rais this went on until a point when the meaning of al-kharāj evolved to mean land tax
exclusively.
The dynamism of the tax system al-kharaj began with the ijtihad by Caliph ‘Umar al-Khattab
and hence it evolved its own philosophy of terminology.
"Khums" literally means "one-fifth or 20%". A fifth (khums) of the booty (ghanima) of the
early Islamic wars, reserved for the institutional use of the government. The Qur'an mentions
it in the following verse: Know that whatever of a thing you acquire, a fifth of it is for Allah,
for the Messenger, for the near relative, and the orphans, the needy, and the
wayfarer....(8:41)
The verse depicts the word "ghanimtum" as "whatever of a thing you acquire as spoils of
war," thus confining the obligation of khums to the spoils of war only. However, Shia
thought widens the concepts of “ghanimtum” and includes other sources of wealth other than
war booty.
A public register, the Diwan, was set up for the distribution of movable booty (Ghanima or
Khums), of which at first one-fifth went to the ruler for his institutional use, while four-fifths
was taken by the conquering soldiers. But soon the state took four-fifths and paid pensions to
the soldiers, to Muhammad’s wives, and to widows and families of martyrs. Pensions were
paid on a scale depending on priority of conversion and nearness to the Prophet: wives, who
got 10,000 dirhams; the Companions of the Prophet and those who had participated in the
Battle of Badr (5,000 dirhams).
2.3.9 The History of Khums
Khums is one of those things which were introduced by Àbdu 'l-Muttalib, the grandfather of
the Prophet, and continued in Islam. Acting upon a command of God given to him in dream,
when Àbdu 'l-Muttalib rediscovered the well of Zamzam, he found in it many valuable
things which were buried in it in very remote past by the Ismailites when they feared that
their enemies would usurp them. When Àbdu 'l-Muttalib found that buried treasure, he gave
away its one-fifth (literally, khums) in the way of God and kept the remaining four- fifth to
himself. Then it became a custom in his family; and after the hijrah of the Prophet, the same
system was incorporated in Islam. Thus the first khums was not given from the 'spoils of war',
but from a buried treasure (which is one of the seven items eligible for khums).
2.3.10 Jizya
"Jizya" is derived from the root "Jaza" or "compensate". Arabs usually say the phrase "Jaza,
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yajzi" which means "compensate" or 'reward" if a person rewards another for the service
rendered by the latter. "Jizya" is a derived term in the form of "ficla" from "Mujaza" which is
the noun "compensation", meaning "a sum of money given in return for protection". Ibn Al-
Mutaraz said "It is derived from "idjza" or "substitute" or "sufficiency" because it suffices as
a substitute for the "dhimmi's embracement of Islam.
Jizya was not entirely an Islamic initiative or the innovation of its prophet Muhammad,
(Emphasis on the word “entirely”). A certain form of Jizya had existed among the tribes of
Northern Arabia in pre-Islamic times. This fact is attested by the famous historian Philip. K.
Hitti in his History of Arabs—Ghazw or raiding others for feeding mouths was an accepted
norm among the Bedouin tribes of that time. As Hitti noted, "Ghazw was a manly occupation
of Bedouins where fighting mood was a chronic mental condition". For people among the
tribes, everything that belonged to the other tribes guaranteeing material gain made a
legitimate target. The context made it necessary for a weaker tribe or a sedentary settlement
on the borderland to buy protection from the stronger tribe by paying what it then
called Khuwwah which later became Jizya in Muhammad’s Islam. Along with the booty
acquired through raids and wars, Jizya turned out to be a good source of income for believers
when they were constantly occupied in spreading the newly founded religion by means of
violence.
The jizya was a poll tax that all non-Muslim, adult males living in territories controlled by
Islamic governments were required to pay. It was the substantive proof of a people’s or
region’s subjugation to Islamic rule. The term appears once in the Qur’an (9:29), meaning tax
or tribute, and refers to the tribute owed by “the People of the Book” (ahl al-kitāb), especially
Jews and Christians. The jizya became one of the most public stipulations of a pact between
the People of the Book and the Muslim ruler, under which they were accorded the protection
of the state and the freedom to practice their religion in return for abiding by public Islamic
law and adhering to a number of restrictions regulating their behavior. In recognition of their
protection under this pact, they became termed dhimmīs. Followers of other religions, such as
Zoroastrians and Hindus, were later incorporated into the category of dhimmīs and were
required to pay the jizya.
The Persian and Byzantine empires and pre-Islamic Arab tribes had already established
systems of taxation and tribute. As Islam spread, previous structures of taxation were
replaced by the Islamic system, but Muslim leaders often adopted practices of the previous
regimes in the application and collection of taxes. Examples of the application of the jizya are
found in a number of the hadith. Prior to the Abbasid epoch, the jizya was not strictly applied,
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which frustrated the efforts of later scholars attempting to understand the early Islamic tax
system. The jizya during the early centuries of Islam was used interchangeably with another
term for tax, kharāj. Lack of clarity regarding the categories of people to which jizya was
applied further convoluted matters. In some instances, jizya was applied to individuals; in
other cases, jizya was applied to entire communities or provinces. Sometimes the jizya meant
a land tax. Under the Abbasids, the jizya was delineated as a poll tax all dhimmīs were
required to pay. Rules for the application of the jizya were devised. Free, adult males who
were not afflicted by any physical or mental illness were required to pay the jizya. Women,
children, handicapped, the mentally ill, the elderly, and slaves were exempt, as were all
travellers and foreigners who did not settle in Muslim lands. In exchange for paying the jizya,
dhimmīs were permitted to practice their religion, were not obligated to serve in the military,
and were offered protection by Muslim rulers. Collected yearly, the jizya was used to pay
salaries, pensions, and charities.
The jizya remained in place for centuries and was applied by various Muslim regimes. The
Ottoman Empire applied the jizya to its Jewish and Christian subjects for centuries. While
adhering to traditional parameters of the jizya, the Ottomans allowed religious clerics and
people of certain provinces, such as Serbia and Bosnia, exemption from or lower rates of
taxation. A form of jizya was instituted in India near the 14th century, but the practice was
eradicated by the early 18th century. Following the Mongol invasion, many regions of the
Middle East saw the disappearance of the jizya. However, the jizya continued into the 19th
century in many North African countries and Persia. With the disappearance of Islamic states
and the spread of religious tolerance, the jizya nearly vanished in the 20th century. Reports of
religious minorities being forced to pay jizya have occasionally surfaced in countries plagued
by war and political instability, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq during the early 21st
century. The imposition is seen to be at odds with modern secular conceptions of citizenship
in the nation-state, which entail the equality of citizens who adhere to different religions. It
would now appear that Jizya in different parts of the early Muslim Caliphate was not
necessarily a poll tax. It was simply a tax—a financial obligation upon a non-Muslim
community or their individuals, similar to that upon the Muslims. It is upon the state to
determine the nature of this tax. During the time of the Prophet, it was, in most places, a fixed
tribute in kind or in cash, and in some places, a fixed tax upon individuals. Later, under the
Caliphs, it was a fixed tribute consisting of a fixed sum of money and a fixed amount of
agricultural produce, and the tax was raised by a tax on land and a tax on income? the poll
tax. At times the Jizya was simply a poll tax as we find it in the Sawad and elsewhere. Here
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we must again take cognizance of the verse concerned. In the light of the verse what really
matters is the submission of the communities of non-Muslims or individuals, by way of
payment of a prescribed financial obligation, to the authority of Islam. What should be the
exact nature of that financial obligation, the state is free to prescribe it in accordance with the
exigencies of time.
2.3.11 Concept of Ushr
Ushr means one-tenth. It is a tax on agricultural produce. It is frequently used in the sense of
Sadaka and Zakat, because no strict line is drawn between Zakat and Ushr in Fiqh
scholarship. The term Ushr is not found in the Qur’an, but two verses (2:267 and 6:141) are
taken to refer to it and it is on the authority of these verses that Ushr is levied. The Qur’an
says:
1. O Ye! Who believe! Spend of the good things which ye have earned and of that
which We bring forth from the earth for you (Al-Baqarah 2:267)
2. Eat ye of the fruit thereof when it fruiteth, and pay the due thereof upon the
harvest day, and be not prodigal. (Al-An’am 6:141)
Rate (Amounts required) of ‘Ushr: If the farm or garden is watered naturally by rain or
spring water, or river or stream water, [a] tenth part of the produce is obligatory, and if the
farm or garden is irrigated by artificial means like the well, tube well, canals, etc. twentieth
part is obligatory. One must take out the tenth or twentieth part of all kinds of produce at the
time of harvest: it is not lawful to do so later when a portion of the crop has already been
consumed. Thus ‘Ushr has to be calculated and taken out from all kinds of corn, mustard
grain, ground nuts, sugarcane, dates, dry fruits, etc., and also from fresh vegetables and fruits,
like cucumber, carrot, turnip, melons, lemon, oranges, guava, mango, etc. ‘Ushr is obligatory
on honey as well. The Holy Prophet has said:“Give away tenth part of honey”. (Baithaqi)
He has explained it thus: “One leather bag of honey out of every ten leather bags are
obligatory”. (Tirmidhi)
Hadrat Abu Siyadah has reported: “I went to the Holy Prophet and said, ‘O Prophet of Allah!
I have kept bees whereupon he instructed me to give away the tenth part”. On the basis of
these traditions, the Hanafites, the Ahl al-Hadith, Ahmad bin Hanba, Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz
and others are agreed that one is subject to ‘Ushr. Imam Shafi in one of his sayings has
expressed a similar opinion, and Ibn ‘Umar and Ibn ‘Abbas from among the Companions
have also supported the same view.
Keeping in view the above mentioned Qur’anic mandate, the prophet of Islam Hadrat
Muhammad (SAW) levied Ushr on agricultural produce. The following rules and
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regulations framed in the light of the Qur’an and Sunnah of the prophet of Islam govern the
levy of Ushr:-
1. Ushr is collected on the agricultural produce of Ushr lands. Concept of Ushr
lands was developed by the Muslim Jurists and scholars in Fiqh books. Briefly
speaking the lands of those who accepted Islam, and which remained in their
possession, as Makkah, Madina, Taif, Hijaz, Yemen and other Arabian
Territories are included in Ushr lands. Lands granted by the Imam to Muslims as
fiefs, lands obtained by Muslims from the state lands of Al-Swad etc., are also
included in Ushr lands.
2. Jurists have classified the agricultural produce in two categories for the purpose
of determination of Ushr dues: Firstly, farm produce like corn and vegetable and
secondly, garden produce like fruits, honey, etc. In the view of Imam Abu
Hanifa, Ushr is chargeable on all farm produce such as corn, vegetables and
fodder. On the other hand, Imam Shafii, Imam Malik and Imam Abu Yusuf have
opined that no Ushr is chargeable on the produce which cannot be stored or
measured. Thus, according to them, Ushr is not chargeable on vegetables and
fodder. So far as garden produce is concerned, Imam Abu Hanifa subjects all
kinds of fruit to Ushr, while Imam Shafii is of the opinion that Ushr can be
imposed on dates and grapes only.
3. According to Ahadith and Sunnah of the Prophet of Islam, Ushr is levied at the
rate of one-tenth or 10% of the produce in case of land irrigated by natural
sources like rain, springs or streams. However, the rate of Ushr is one-half i.e.
1/20 or 5% of the entire produce in case of land watered by artificial means of
irrigation such as wells, buckets etc. The tax is charged before deduction of any
expenses on account of cultivation or production.
4. Nisab or minimum amount of agricultural produce which is liable to Ushr is 5
Vasqs or 948 Kg. in weight. If the produce is less than that, no Ushr is
chargeable.
5. Ushr on agricultural produce is paid at the time of harvest when the crops are
reaped or fruits are taken away. The Qur’an says; “…. And pay the due thereof
upon the harvest day…..” (6:141). Thus, period of one year is not essential for
levy of Ushr like Zakat on gold and silver.
6. Ushr is payable only when there is actual produce, the land is Ushr land and the
producer or the owner of the produce is a Muslim. Owner may be an adult or a
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minor, a man or a woman, a slave or a makatab, Ushr will have to be paid. Even
a Waqf is subjected to Ushr.
In case the owner of the land has himself cultivated it, he will be charged to
Ushr. If the land has been given on lease or rent by the owner and has been
cultivated by the tenant or leaseholder, then the tenant or the leaseholder would
by paying the Ushr because he is the owner of the produce (Abu Yusuf).
In Mazaraat, i.e. when the land is given to the tenant on the basis of produce
sharing, Ushr would be paid by the landlord if the seed has been supplied by
him. If the seed is supplied by the tenant, then the land-owner and the tenant,
both of them, would be paying Ushr according to their shares in the produce.
If the land is leased or rented to a Zimmi, the Ushr would be paid by its Muslim
owner, because by renting the land to a non-Muslim, he has deprived the state of
its right to Ushr.
7. If the crops are destroyed on account of natural calamities or theft, there would
be no Ushr. If the owner gets compensation for destruction of the crop, then he
would be paying Ushr out of such compensation.
In this lesson, we learnt about different aspects of Islamic economic structure (donations and
taxes) which help to maintain and consolidate the economic needs of a Muslim state. Starting
from Zakah—an important ingredient of purifying and thus transferring the money to the
different sections (exactly eight) of the society. We also explored the role of Kharaj and Jizya
in economic to maintain the structural balance including the Ushr. All these revenues and
taxes help a state working on the guidelines to maintain and consolidate the different aspects
of an Islamic economy.
1. Describe the different aspects of Islamic economic structure
2. The Institution of Zakah is multifaceted. Elaborate
3. Explain briefly the concept of Jizya
4. Write a short note on Kharaj
5. What do you mean by Ushr?
Askari, Hasan, Islamic Economics and its Principles, Wiley Blackwell, London
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Ben, Shemesh, Taxation in Islam, Brill, Netherlands
Senturk, Omar Faruk, Charity in Islam: A Comprehsive Guide to Zakat, Tughra Books, USA
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Unit III
Economics and Historiography
i) The Economic Role of State
ii) Islamic Concept of History
iii) Muslim Contribution to Historiography: Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Khaldun
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Lesson 3.1: The Economic Role of State
Structure
3.1.1 Introduction
3.1.2 Objectives
3.1.3 The Basic Imperatives
3.1.4 Material Well-being
3.1.5 Economic Functions
3.1.5.1 Eradication of Poverty, Full Employment and Optimum Rate of Growth
3.1.5.2 Stability in the Real Value of Money
3.1.5.3 Law and Order
3.1.5.4 Social and Economic Justice
3.1.5.5 Social Security and Equitable Distribution of Wealth
3.1.5.6 International Relations and National Defence
3.1.6 The Wherewithal
3.1.6.1 Zakat
3.1.6.2 Income from Natural Resources
3.1.6.3 Taxation
3.1.6.4 Borrowing
3.1.7 Let Us Sum Up
3.1.1 Introduction
Islam has a set of goals and values encompassing all aspects of human life including social,
economic and political. Since all aspects of life are interdependent and the Islamic way of life
is a consistent whole, its goals and values in one field determine the goals and values in the
other fields as well. In all economic systems, the state plays a vital role in the economy. Only
the extent of the state’s involvement differs, depending on the common values and belief
system shared by the individuals who make up the particular society. The role of the state in
an Islamic economy is to ensure that everyone has equal access to resources and means of
livelihood, that markets are supervised so that justice is attained and transfers take place from
the more able to the less able, and that distributive justice is ensured for the next generation.
Islam is a rule-based system; in such a system, the state regulates, supervises, and provides an
incentive structure for rule compliance, all within the framework (rules) prescribed by the
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Quran and Sunnah. This lesson seeks to examine the interrelationship between the economic
and political content of the Islamic way of life and discusses the functions and nature of the
Islamic state in the light of its basic imperatives within the framework of financial
constraints.
3.1.2 Objectives
 To understand the basic framework of economics in Islamic state
 To analyse the different economic responsibilities of Islamic state
3.1.3 The Basic Imperatives
The Islamic way of life, being goal-oriented, is inconceivable without an organized
community governed in accordance with the tenets of Islam. The Qur’an unequivocally
condemns disorder and anarchy (2: 205) and the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) stressed the
need for organization and authority in Muslim society. Thus the state is viewed in Islam as an
instrument for the realization of the ultimate goals, both spiritual and material, of the Islamic
society. However, the authority exercised by the state is not absolute. It is a trust from God
and is to be exercised in accordance with the terms of the trust as laid down in the Shari’ah.
Two of the most important terms of this trust are that the state should be democratic, and
welfare-oriented. Sovereignty, according to Islam, vests in God. It is only His Will that
should prevail in this world, the Qur’an says:
Is it not His to create and to govern? (7: 54)
Sovereignty is for none but God. (12: 40)
Follow the Revelation sent to you from your Lord, and follow not, as friends or
protectors, other than Him (7: 3).
The sovereignty of God implies the rule of the Divine Law as revealed by Him in the Qur’an
to the Holy Prophet and as elaborated in the Prophet’s Sunnah during the course of his
mission. Man as vicegerent of God on earth (2: 30; 6: 165) can neither make nor abrogate the
Divine Law. Man must necessarily submit to it if he realizes that the All-knowing God in His
Great Wisdom is the best guide of man in all his affairs. Given the Divine Law, all
individuals who submit to it must be partners in its implementation. Hence, once the
sovereignty of God is recognized, the authority for its establishment is vested in the whole
ummah (community) and is to be exercised in the light of the Qur'an and Sunnah through the
democratic process of consultation with the ummah,(or its rightful representatives) as the
Qur'an enjoins:
And consult them in affairs. (3: 159)
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And they conduct their affairs by mutual consultation (42:38)
The mission of the Holy Prophet is defined by the Qur'an to be a merciful blessing (rahmah)
for all mankind (2: 107). Some manifestations of this merciful blessing are stated explicitly in
the Qur'an. These include, among others, the fostering of "good life" (hayat tayyibah) and
"welfare" (falah), provision of ease and alleviation of hardship, generation of prosperity,
nurturing a climate of love and affection, and ensuring freedom from moral corruption,
hunger, fear and mental distress. Hence, all organizations and institutions, including the state,
should reflect the character of merciful blessing, and cater to the "welfare" of all people. The
welfare function of the Islamic state was particularly stressed by the Prophet (SAW) when he
stated: "Any ruler who is responsible for the affairs of Muslims but does not strive sincerely
for their well- being will not enter Paradise with them." The companions of the Prophet
clearly appreciated this welfare role of the Islamic state as is evidenced by numerous
utterances of the early Caliphs and their instructions to their governors. 'Umar, the second
Caliph, wrote to Abu Musa, the governor of a province: “The best of men in authority is he
under whom people prosper and the worst of them is he under whom people encounter
hardships”. Muslim jurists have unanimously held that catering to the welfare of the people
and relieving them of hardships is the basic objective of the Shari’ah and hence of the Islamic
state. The letter addressed to Caliph Harun al-Rashid by his Chief Justice, Abu Yusuf, vividly
clarifies the welfare character of the Islamic state, and the same stress is evident in the
writings of medieval Muslim thinkers like Mawardi, Abu Ya'la, al- Ghazali, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn
al-Qayyim and Ibn Taymiyah. The evidence in the Qur'an and Sunnah and the writings of
Islamic scholars for the welfare function of the Islamic state is so overwhelming that it would
be unjustified if we fail to appreciate the Islamic state as a "welfare state".
But there are other political systems which also claim to be welfare oriented. The difference
lies essentially in their basic philosophy of what constitutes human welfare. Islam
distinguishes itself by its own unique philosophy of welfare which is comprehensive and
consistent with its concept of human nature. Man has been created from matter but has been
infused with a part of the Divine spirit. The matter and the spirit together constitute the
indivisible human self which is free but responsible before God for all its actions within the
frame of reference of Divine guidance. He is intelligent and capable of differentiating
between right and wrong and acting on his own initiative. His mission is to fulfil his
obligations as the vicegerent of God on earth. He is not only a member of the Muslim
community but also a part of humankind, the family of God. Only that philosophy of welfare
is best suited to man which enables him, firstly, to attain a fuller realization of his complete
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indivisible self (spiritual as well as material) in keeping with his status as vicegerent of God
and, secondly, to make the optimum all-round contribution to his ummah and to mankind.
The concept of welfare in Islam can hence be neither exclusively "other-worldly" nor purely
"this-worldly". While urging Muslims to gain mastery over nature and utilizing the resources
provided by God for the service and betterment of humankind, Islam warns Muslims against
single-minded concentration on material acquisitions as the highest measure of human
achievement and ignoring the indispensable spiritual content of the human self. Islam rather
provides a spiritual orientation to all material effort and creates a harmony between the innate
spiritual and material urges of individuals and groups. Islam has so firmly and exquisitely
devoted to the spiritual and material aspects of life that they may serve as a source of mutual
strength and together serve as the foundation of true human welfare and happiness.
According to Islam, negligence of either of the two aspects of life will prevent humankind
from achieving true welfare. In fact, there is no division between material and spiritual
aspects of life in Islam. All human effort whether for "material", "social", "educational", or
"scientific" goals is spiritual in character as long as it conforms to the value system of Islam.
Working hard for- the material well-being of one's own self, family and society is as spiritual
as the offering of prayers, provided that the material effort is guided by spiritual values. This
synthesis of the material and the spiritual is what is missing in the welfare concept of the
other two systems, capitalism and socialism as they are morally neutral.
This is, of course, a general indication of what is implied by welfare in Islam. More positions
that are specific have been taken by the Shari'ah on many issues, which cannot be elaborated
here. In brief, it may be stated that the welfare of individuals in an Islamic society may be
realized if there is a proper environment for:
(a) a fuller realization of Islamic spiritual values in the individual as well as in society.
(b) an adequate fulfilment of all basic material needs of life.
These are briefly discussed below under the spiritual and material roles of the state. This
dichotomy is only for the convenience of discussion and does not imply a separate identity
for the two roles which are closely integrated.
3.1.4 Material Well-being
Adequate fulfilment of basic material needs is, in the Islamic frame of reference, as necessary
for human welfare as spiritual uplift. Therefore, while arranging for the spiritual guidance of
men by a chain of Prophets to all people through space and time, God has also provided all
necessary resources for their material well-being. The Qur'an mentions: "He it is Who has
created for you everything on earth" (2: 29) and "has made subservient to you whatever is in
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the heavens and the earth and granted you His bounties, manifest and hidden" (31: 20; 4: 32-
3; 16:12-14; 22:65; and 45:12). Two fundamental principles may be derived from these
verses. One, that God-given resources are for "you", which is addressed to all people and not
to any privileged group or class; and two, that they are meant for general human welfare, and
at least, for eradicating poverty and fulfilling the basic material needs of all people.
Some of the basic material needs of individuals that must be satisfied are:
9. training and education to develop the innate abilities of the individual and to enable him to
cater for his well-being independently without becoming a burden on others;  
10. a suitable job, profession, or trade in keeping with his aptitude, ability, ambition, and
needs of society so that both he and society can benefit from his ability and training;  
11. adequate food and clothing;  
12. comfortable housing; 
13. a healthy environment combined with appropriate medical facilities, and adequate
transport facilities to enable a worker to commute to his place of work without any
difficulty and to convey his product to appropriate markets at reasonable cost.  
These material needs of the individual and their fulfilment have been so explicitly recognized
by the Shari'ah that numerous evidences from the Qur'an and the Sunnah and Islamic writings
would be tantamount to elaborating the viewpoint. The fulfilment of these spiritual and
material needs of individuals and society would naturally necessitate the playing of a vital
role by the state in the economic system of Islam. Nevertheless, it may be stressed here for
the sake of clarity, that it is basically the moral responsibility of the individual to cater for his
own needs through his own volition and effort. Islam categorically condemns begging and
indolence; and places great importance on hard work. The Prophet enjoined: "Beg not
anything from people" and "A man has not earned better income than that which is from his
own labour." 'Umar, the second Caliph, symbolized this Islamic teaching for earning one's
own livelihood through hard work by saying: "No one of you should stay away from seeking
livelihood and say: God! Give me sustenance', for the sky will not rain gold and silver" and
"Seek of the bounty of God and be not a burden on others."
The individual is not only expected to work for his own livelihood and welfare but is also
expected to do his best on every job or mission he undertakes. "God desires that whenever
anyone of you performs a job he does it perfectly."In fact the spiritual and material goals of
the Islamic society cannot be fully realized until all Muslims, men or women, put forth their
best in keeping with the optimum potential of their God-given talents. Specification of certain
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essential elements of the positive role or the essential economic functions of the Islamic
welfare state hence becomes necessary. The following section of this lesson briefly specifies
these functions.
3.1.5 Economic Functions
Some of the essential functions of the Islamic welfare state with respect to the economy may
be stated: (1) to eradicate poverty and create conditions for full employment and a high rate
of growth; (2) to promote stability in the real value of money; (3) to maintain law and
order; (4) to ensure social and economic justice; (5) to arrange social security and foster
equitable distribution of income and wealth; and (6) to harmonies international relations and
ensure national defence. All the functions are important and thus discussed below.
3.1.5.1 Eradication of Poverty, Full Employment and Optimum Rate of Growth
Since economic resources are a trust from God, it is the moral obligation of the trustee to
employ these resources efficiently to realize the purpose of the trust which is the welfare of
all the vicegerents of God. This naturally implies: firstly, eradication of poverty and
satisfaction of all basic human needs; secondly, full and efficient employment of all human,
and material resources to attain an optimum rate of economic growth and improve the
standard of living of all people; and, thirdly, avoidance of conditions generating deficient or
excess demand and leading to unemployment or inflation. The word "optimum" has been
preferred here in place of "maximum" or "high" to allow for a margin for harmony with the
goals of spiritual uplift and social welfare. This is because economic growth is not an isolated
phenomenon and is to be viewed against its impact on the moral fabric of Muslim society, the
goal of social and economic justice, and the overall "welfare" of all people. For a realization
of this objective, it would be incumbent upon the Islamic state not to leave the essential
function of allocation of resources, particularly scarce resources, or the determination of
aggregate demand to the unhindered operation of blind market forces. It should itself play a
positive role and consciously contribute towards the attainment of desired goals through (i)
rational planning, and (ii) building the necessary physical and social infra-structure.
(i) Planning: It is now widely recognized that undisciplined self-interest and unguided play
of market forces may not always work out for the best of all strata of society and may not
necessarily lead to optimum efficiency in the use of resources because of limitations of
individual horizon, lack of awareness or appreciation of social costs, and unbalanced growth
in different sectors of the economy not related to the welfare needs of the people. The Islamic
state should, therefore, resort to planning and play an active role in the implementation of its
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plans. The need for planning does not imply that the Islamic state can resort to regimentation
or unscrupulous control of the private sector. What it does imply is that instead of leaving the
allocation of resources and the management of aggregate demand primarily to the blind
interplay of market forces, the state should play an active role not only in determining
priorities and guiding or channelling the scarce resources in the light of those priorities, but
also in regulating demand so that occurrence of recession or inflation is avoided.
(ii) Physical and social infrastructure: For the growth of an economy and the development
of a healthy and prosperous society, the existence of a basic physical and social infrastructure
is generally recognized a necessity.
The Qur'an enjoins upon Muslims to gather whatever strength they are capable of (8: 60).
The significance of "strength" here need not be confined to military strength. It could also be
implied to refer to the economic strength which, among others, lies at the root of military
strength. An essential part of this latter strength is the provision of an infrastructure through
the improvement and extension of roads and highways, building of dams and bridges,
provision of irrigation networks, construction of ports, airports and telecommunication
services, and furnishing of facilities essential for providing external economies to different
sectors of the economy. The role of the state here is obviously of primary importance.
Therefore, whenever the Prophet appointed a governor, he instructed him to strive for
creating ease rather than hardship for the people. One of the means by which the state could
generate prosperity is to provide the necessary infrastructure. Public works programmes,
therefore, received significant attention during the days of 'Umar and other caliphs.
The provision of social capital (education, public health, etc.) should also be an undisputed
area of the activity of an Islamic state. The general case for education is obvious. Since
according to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), "acquisition of knowledge is obligatory for
every Muslim", thus, public investment in education is necessary. Educational efforts must,
however, go beyond attempts to increase the degree of literacy, for literacy is only a means to
real education and not an end in itself. The general aim of education in Muslim society must
be to guide Muslims who would conform to the ideals laid down in the Qur'an and the
Sunnah, to introduce the process of change that would bring about the Islamic environment,
to teach ever-new skills, and to stimulate the incentive for research and invention of new
techniques of production and distribution so as to utilize God-given resources more
efficiently. The education system, in addition, is to building upright moral character, should
also inculcate in the student the spirit of hard work and efficiency, economy and frugality,
avoiding waste and extravagance, and making productive investment of savings so that in
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addition to the individual, it benefits society in general as well.
Like education, public health is another sphere of social capital towards which the
government should take positive steps. The Prophet stated that "a strong Muslim is better and
more beloved before God than a weak one", and "cleanliness is half of falth". Therefore, it
may be inferred that it is the state responsibility to provide a healthy environment combined
with adequate medical facilities to improve the health and efficiency of people and to reduce
suffering from sickness and disease. With respect to a clean and healthy environment one
may also argue in favour of better sanitation facilities, curbing of pollution, provision of
clean and safe water supplies; hygienic and comfortable housing and clearance of slums.
3.1.5.2 Stability in the Real Value of Money
One of the most serious problems of contemporary society is persistent inflation with
accompanying decline in the real value of money and monetary assets. This is not because
inflation and growth are necessary counter-parts of each other but because of a number of
inflation-prone post-War phenomena. In fact, stability in the real value of money is vitally
important not only for the continued long-term growth of an economy but also for social
justice and economic welfare. Honesty and justice in all measures of value has been stressed
in the Qur'an:
And give full measure and weight with justice (6: 152).
So give full measure and weight without defrauding men in their belongings and do
not corrupt the world after its reform. This is better for you, if you are believers (7: 85;
11: 84-85; 17: 35, and 26: 181).
These verses should not be restricted only to individuals but also to society and the state; and
should not be confined merely to conventional weights and measures but should also
encompass all measures of value. Moreover, any continuous and significant erosion in the
real value of money may be interpreted in the light of the Qur'an, otherwise it would be
tantamount to corrupting the world because of the adverse effect this erosion has on social
justice and general welfare. This implies that any activity or behaviour of individuals, groups,
or institutions in an Islamic state which significantly erodes the real value of money should
be considered to be a national issue of paramount importance and treated with a sense of
concern.
It may hence be considered obligatory for the Islamic state to resort to healthy monetary,
fiscal and incomes policies and appropriate direct controls when necessary, including wage-
price controls, to minimize erosion in the real value of money, thus preventing one group of
society from knowingly or unknowingly corrupting others and violating the Islamic norms of
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honesty and justice in measures.
3.1.5.3 Law and Order
The importance of this universally recognized function of the state cannot be ignored. This is
because the degree of law and order in a society and the extent of security of life and property
are the prime determinants of growth and stability of an economy and the inner happiness of
individuals. In his powerful farewell pilgrimage address, in which the Holy Prophet declared:
“Your lives and your properties are as sacred as this day of Hajj.” On another occasion he
emphasized: "Whatever a Muslim possesses is unlawful for another Muslim, his wealth and
property and his life." On the basis of this, Muslim jurists have unanimously stressed the duty
of the Islamic state to safeguard the life and property of all individuals within its boundaries
so that, in the words of the Prophet, "a woman travelling alone from Hira' to the Ka'bah feels
such security that she has fear of none but God".
3.1.5.4 Social and Economic Justice
Since Islam considers humankind as one family, all members of this family are alike in the
eyes of God and before the Law revealed by Him. There is no difference between the rich
and the poor, the high and the low, or the white and the black., There is no discrimination due
to race, colour or position. The only criterion for a man's worth is character, ability, and
service to Islam and humanity. The Holy Prophet (SAW) has said: "Certainly God does not
look at your faces or your wealth; He looks at your heart and your deeds." The noblest of you
are the best in character." The Prophet (SAW) also warned of the consequences of
discrimination and inequality before the Law for an individual or a nation:
Communities before you strayed because when the high committed theft they
were set free, but when the low committed theft the Law was enforced on them.
By God, even if my daughter, Fatimah, committed theft I will certainly cut her
hand.
Whoever humiliates or despises a Muslim, male or female, for his poverty or
paucity of resources, will be disgraced by God on the Day of Judgment.
'Umar, the second Caliph, wrote to Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, one of his governors, asking him to
treat everyone equally in respect so that the weak did not despair of justice from him and the
high did not crave for undue advantage. This spirit of social justice was prevalent in the
Muslim society during the period of the first four caliphs, and even in the later period. It may
be pertinent to quote what the renowned jurist Abu Yusuf wrote in a letter addressed to
Caliph Harun al-Rashid: "Treat alike all individuals irrespective of whether they are near you
or remote from you", andt "the welfare of your subjects depends on establishing the Divine
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Law and eliminating injustice".
The Islamic teaching of brotherhood and equal treatment of all individuals in society and
before the Law would not be meaningful unless accompanied by economic justice so that
everyone gets his due for his contribution to society and that there is no exploitation of one
individual by another. This point is stressed in Islamic writings. The Qur'an urges Muslims to
"withhold not what is justly due to others" (26: 183), implying thereby that every individual
must get what is really due to him, and not more by depriving others of their share. The
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) warned: "Beware of injustice for injustice will be equivalent to
darkness on the Day of Judgment." This warning against injustice and exploitation is
designed to protect the rights of all individuals in society (whether consumers or producers
and distributors, and whether employers or employees) and to promote general welfare, the
ultimate goal of Islam.
Of special significance here is the relationship between the employer and the employee which
Islam places in a proper setting, specifying norms for the mutual treatment of both so as to
establish justice between them. An employee is entitled to a "just" wage for his contribution
to output and it is unlawful for a Muslim employer to exploit his employee. According to an
hadith of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), three persons will certainly face God's displeasure on
the Day of Judgment; one he does not fulfill his covenant with God; he who sells a free
person and enjoys the price; and he who engages a labourer, receives due work from him, but
does not pay him his wage. This hadith by placing exploitation of labour on an equal footing
with contravention of the covenant with God and enslaving of a free person suggests how
repugnant exploitation of labour is to the spirit of Islam. Besides being paid the "just" wage,
Islam requires that labourers should not be made to work so hard or in such miserable
conditions that their efficiency declines, their health deteriorates, or their ability to enjoy
income or participate in family life gets impaired. If they are made to perform a task which is
beyond their capacity they should be provided with sufficient help (manual or technical) to
enable them to do the job without undue hardship. The Holy Prophet said:
Your employees are your brethren whom God has made your subordinates. So he who
has his brother under him, let him feed him with what he feeds himself and clothe him
with what he clothes himself and not burden him with what overpowers him. If you do
so then help him.
On the basis of these teachings, fixation of minimum wages and maximum working hours,
creation of appropriate working conditions, enforcement of precautionary measures against
industrial hazards, and adoption of technological innovations to reduce hardships would be
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fully in conformity with the spirit of Islamic teachings. While this is the treatment expected
of an employer to his employees, Islam, because of its commitment to justice, protects the
employers by placing certain moral obligations on the employee as well. These include,
among others, honesty, diligence and efficiency in the performance of the function for which
the employee has been hired. "An employee who excels in his devotion to God and also
renders to his employer the duty, sincerity and obedience that he owes him, for him there is
double reward [with God]."In this field, the Islamic state could play an important role
through inculcation of Islamic work ethics in employees and imparting of appropriate
vocational education.
3.1.5.5 Social Security and Equitable Distribution of Wealth
Given the commitment of Islam to human brotherhood and to social and economic justice,
gross inequalities of income and wealth could only be repugnant to its spirit. Such
inequalities could only destroy rather than foster the feelings of brotherhood that Islam
wishes to create. Besides, since all resources are gifts of God to all human beings (al-Qur'an,
2: 29), there is no reason why resources should remain concentrated in a few hands. Hence,
Islam emphasizes distributive justice and incorporates in its system a programme for
redistribution of income and wealth so that every individual is guaranteed a standard of living
that is humane and respectable and in harmony with the dignity of man inherent in his being
the vicegerent of God on earth. A Muslim society that falls to guarantee such a humane
standard is really not worthy of the name as the Prophet declared: "He is not a true Muslim
who eats his fill when his next-door neighbour is hungry.
Hence Islam emphasizes distributive justice and incorporates in its system a programme
which seems to contain the following five essential elements: one, as discussed earlier,
making arrangements for training, and then rendering assistance in finding gainful
employment to those unemployed and looking for work in accordance with their ability; two,
enforcing a system of "just" remuneration for those working; three, making compulsory
arrangements for insurance against unemployment and occupational hazards, old-age
pensions and survivors benefits for those who can afford to provide for this; four, providing
assistance to those who, because of disability, physical or mental handicaps or obsolescence
are unable to support themselves or to attain a respectable standard of living by their own
effort; and five, collecting and distributing zakat and enforcing Islamic teachings related to
the division of the estate of a deceased person to accelerate the distribution of income and
wealth in Muslim society so that, in the words of the Qur'an: "wealth does not continue to
circulate merely among your rich" (59: 7),
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It is the duty of the Islamic state to ensure a respectable standard of living for every
individual who is unable to take care of his own needs and hence requires assistance, The
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) clearly declared that "He whom God has made an administrator
over the affairs of Muslims but remains indifferent to their needs and their poverty, God will
also be indifferent to his needs and poverty", and "He who leaves behind him dependants,
they are our responsibility" and "the ruler [state] is the supporter of him who has no
supporter". These and other similar ahadith lay down the gist of Islamic teachings in the
realm of social security.
The Islamic concept of justice in the distribution of income and wealth does not require equal
reward for everyone irrespective of his contribution to society. Islam tolerates some
inequalities of income because all men are not equal in their character, ability, and service to
society (6: 165; 61: 71, and 43: 32). Therefore, distributive justice in the Islamic society after
(i) guaranteeing a humane standard of living to all members through proper training, suitable
job, "just" wages, social security and financial assistance to the needy through the institution
of zakat, and (ii) intensifying the distribution of wealth through its system of dispersal of the
estate of a deceased person, allows such differentials in earning as are in keeping with the
differences in the value of the contribution made or services rendered to society.
The Islamic stress on distributive justice is so emphatic that some Muslims believe in
absolute equality of wealth. Abu Dharr, a companion of the Prophet, was of the opinion that
it is unlawful for a Muslim to possess wealth beyond the essential needs of his family.
However, most of the Prophet's companions did not agree with him in this extreme view. But
even Abu Dharr was not a protagonist of equality of flows (income). He was in favour of
equality of stocks (wealth accumulations). This, he asserted, could be attained if the entire
surplus of income over "genuine" expenses (al-'afw) was spent by the individual helping poor
brothers in particular and society in general. The consensus of Muslim scholars in spite of
being intensely in favour of distributive justice, has, however, always been that if a Muslim
earns by rightful means and from his own income and wealth fulfils his obligations toward
the welfare of the society by paying zakat and other compulsory and voluntary contributions,
there is nothing wrong in his possessing more wealth than other fellow Muslims. In reality,
however, if the Islamic teachings of halal and haram about income and acquisition of wealth
are sincerely followed, if the norm of justice to employees and consumers is applied, if
provisions for redistribution of income and wealth are implemented, and if the Islamic law of
inheritance is enforced, there will remain no gross inequalities of income and wealth in
Muslim society.
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3.1.5.6 International Relations and National Defence: With respect to the wider sphere of
humankind and the Muslim ummah, it is the responsibility of the Islamic state to contribute
towards the spiritual and material uplift of humankind. If resources permit, it should provide
assistance to relieve hardship and promote growth and accelerated development in deserving
countries. The guiding principles of its policies in international economic relations in the
light of Islamic teachings may briefly be stated as: to co-operate in all matters contributing to
"righteousness" and "piety" and to refrain from co-operating in "aggression" and "sin", and to
work positively for the welfare of mankind because it is the family of God. These principles,
of course, relate to all countries and all peoples to whom the Islamic state is linked by bonds
of universal human brotherhood as propounded by Islam. However, with other Muslim
countries to which the Islamic state is united by common faith, it should manifest greater
solidarity and cooperation in all fields of life to enhance the unity and dignity of the ummah
and the glory of Islam.
The Islamic state should also promote international understanding and peace in line with the
teachings of Islam. It should encourage and support any constructive move towards peace,
and should honour all treaties and agreements to which it is a partner. Nevertheless, while
working for peace as a basic objective, the Islamic state should do its utmost to strengthen its
defences so as to prevent or frustrate any aggression against its faith, territory, freedom and
resources since the Qur'an enjoins: "And prepare against them whatever force you can" (8:
60). This may be understood to imply preparedness in terms of both men and material,
including compulsory military service, efficient training, high morale, and diversification of
sources of supplies if these cannot be produced locally or in collaboration with other Muslim
countries. Nevertheless, in compliance with Islamic teachings, the military strength of the
Islamic state should be used only for a "just" cause in a "just" manner against those who
nurture, or resort to, aggressive designs:
And fight in the way of God against those who fight against you, but do not
transgress limits for God loves not the transgressors (2: 190).
3.1.6 The State Finance
To live up to all the above obligations, the Islamic state would naturally stand in need of
adequate financial resources. One principle which is clearly recognized by all Muslim jurists
is that the state has no right to acquire resources by confiscating property duly possessed by
individuals or groups. However, if income or property has been wrongfully acquired, then the
state not only has the right to confiscate it, rather it is its moral responsibility to rectify this
state of affairs. As for the means of income of the Islamic state, they are the following: (i)
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Zakat; (ii) Income from natural resources; (iii) Taxation; and (iv) Borrowing.
3.1.6.1 Zakat: To enable Muslims to bring welfare of a society which is like a single nuclear
family, where wealth is equitably distributed and where the essential needs of all deserving
individuals are met primarily by mutual help with the planning and organizational assistance
of the state. Islam has instituted a powerful social security system-the zakat. It is a part of the
religious obligations of a Muslim to pay zakat at a prescribed rate on his net worth or
specified income flows to the zakat fund. Whenever the Qur'an speaks of the obligation to
establish prayers it also simultaneously stresses the obligation of Muslims to pay zakat. The
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) went so far as to declare that "whoever offers prayers but does
not pay zakat, his prayers are in vain".
However, even if the state collects zakat, the proceeds are likely to be limited. Moreover, the
expenditure heads for zakat are clearly enumerated in the Qur'an. Even though some jurists
have widened the coverage of the expression fi sabil Allah (in the way of Allah), it can hardly
be made to include all expenditure heads of the Islamic state. Thus, if the Islamic state is to
live up to its obligations it must have access to resources beyond the zakat collection.
Revenues would have to be raised through other means.
3.1.6.2 Income from Natural Resources: It has already been established that natural
resources have been provided by God for the welfare of all people. The monetary benefit
derived from these resources should, therefore, permeate to all people and should not under
any circumstances be allowed to be diverted solely to certain individuals or groups. The
acceptance of this principle does not necessarily restrict the management of these resources to
the state alone. Whether the state or private enterprise should manage the exploitation of
these resources, it should be determined by the criterion of efficiency. However, even if
private enterprise is to manage and operate these resources the profit derived by it should not
be more than what is justified by the services rendered and the efficiency attained. In
countries with abundant natural resources to contribute an adequate income to the state
treasury to finance public expenditure (as is the case in some major oil-producing Muslim
countries), there may be little need for additional sources of revenues. However, countries
where income from this source is either not available, or if available, is not sufficient, the
state would have to supplement its income by resorting to taxation and/or borrowing if
necessary.
3.1.6.3 Taxation: The right of the Islamic state to raise resources through taxes cannot be
challenged provided that taxes are raised in a just manner and are within a certain "bearable"
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limit. This right is defended on the basis of the Prophetic saying that "in your wealth there are
also obligations beyond the zakat", and one of the fundamental principles of Islamic
jurisprudence is that "a small benefit may be sacrificed to attain a larger benefit and a smaller
sacrifice may be imposed in order to avoid a larger sacrifice".
Most jurists have upheld the right of the state to tax. According to Marghinani, if the
resources of the state are not sufficient, the state should collect funds from the people to serve
the public interest because if the benefit accrues to the people it is their obligation to bear the
cost. Abu Yusuf also supports the right of the ruler to increase or decrease taxes depending
on the ability of the people to bear the burden. However, only a just tax system has been held
to be in harmony with the spirit of Islam. A tax system which is oppressive and too onerous
has been unanimously condemned. All rightly-guided Caliphs, particularly 'Umar, 'Ali, and
'Umar ibn 'Abd al- 'Aziz (RA) are reported to have stressed that taxes should be collected
with justice and kindness, that they should not be beyond the ability of the people to bear, and
should not deprive the people of the basic necessities of life. Abu Yusuf indicated that a just
tax system could only lead to an increase in tax receipts and the development of the country.
Mawardi emphasized that taking more is unjust with respect to the rights of the people,
whereas taking less is unfair with respect to the rights of the public treasury.
In view of the goals of social justice and equitable distribution of income a progressive tax
system seems to be perfectly in harmony with the goals of Islam. It must, however, be
emphasized that from the discussion of the jurists what is relevant from the point of view of
modern times is the right of the Islamic state to tax with justice. It would not be proper to
conclude that taxation should be strictly confined to the items mentioned by the jurists.
Circumstances have changed and there seems to be the need for devising a tax system which
is in harmony with the goals of Islam and yields sufficient revenue to allow a modern Islamic
state to discharge its functions as a welfare state.
3.1.6.4 Borrowing: If total revenue from all the above sources (including sale of services) is
not sufficient, the Islamic state would stand in need of borrowing. In this case because Islam
prohibits interest, the borrowing would need to be interest free. For certain sound income-
yielding projects amenable to sale of services and distribution of dividends, it may be
possible to raise funds on the basis of profit-sharing. However, the scope for this is limited in
the case of most public projects. In case profit-sharing is not possible or feasible, the Islamic
state may have to borrow funds and this would be possible only if the private sector of the
Muslim society is so highly inspired by the ideals of Islam that it is willing to forego the
return. In modern acquisitive Muslim societies imbued more with hedonistic ideals of the
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economic man as conceived by Adam Smith rather than by the altruistic teachings of Islam,
and with continuous erosion of the real value of savings because of the high rate of inflation,
it may be expected that borrowing without any return may tend to be unproductive unless it is
made compulsory.
Expenditures financed by borrowing from the central bank tend to be inflationary, unless
accompanied by a corresponding increase in the supply of goods and services, thus violating
the norm of monetary stability as already discussed. Therefore, under normal circumstances
borrowing from the central bank may be resorted to when a corresponding increase in output
can be more or less ensured. Borrowing from the central bank may also be defended under
certain special circumstances even if there is no corresponding rise in output provided it is
felt that damage done by a small degree of inflationary financing is more than offset by other
economic or non-economic gains that are likely to be realized. This seems to conform to the
principle that a smaller sacrifice may be imposed to avoid a larger sacrifice and that-the
smaller of two evils may be tolerated.
3.1.7 Let Us Sum Up
In the above discussion of this lesson indicates that the Islamic state is essentially a welfare
state and is duty-bound to play an important role in the economy for the fulfilment of the
goals of the Shari'ah in the economic field as briefly specified above. This welfare role is,
however, to be played within the framework of individual freedom which Islam values
greatly. The most important pillar of the Islamic faith is the belief that man has been created
by God and is subservient to none but Him (13: 36) and that one of the primary objectives of
the Prophetic mission of Muhammad (SAW) is to release mankind from all burdens and
chains enslaving it (7: 157). This provides not only the essence of the Islamic charter for
individual freedom from all bondage but also subjects man to the sovereignty of God in all
aspects of life which essentially implies subordination of man to the moral law as specified in
the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Because man is born free, no one, not even the state, has the right
to abrogate this freedom and to subject him to regimentation. It is this respect for freedom
which prompted 'Umar, the second Caliph, to declare: Since when have you begun to enslave
people although their mothers bore them as free men? This commitment of Islam to
individual freedom has led to a consensus among Muslim jurists that in normal circumstances
restrictions may not be imposed on a free and sane adult. Thus freedom of expression,
occupation and movement are assured in an Islamic state. It is to realize this norm of
individual freedom that Islam has incorporated in its economic system the essential elements
of free enterprise after conditioning it to its own norms and values. The institution of private
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property along with the market mechanism has been integrated into the Islamic system in
such a manner that an "appropriate" part of the production and distribution of goods and
services is left to individuals and voluntarily constituted groups enjoying freedom in their
dealings and transactions. The profit motive has also been upheld as, besides being consistent
with human nature, it provides the necessary incentive for efficiency in the use of resources
which God has provided to mankind.
1. Elaborate the fundamental economic responsibilities of Islamic state
2. Explain the role of economic institutions in strengthening the Islamic state
3. Write a brief note on the place of economics in Islamic State
4. Explain three sources of income in Islamic state
Askari, Hasan, Introduction to Islamic Economics, Wiley Blackwell
Chapra, Umer, Islam and the economic challenge, Adam Publishers
Mawdudi, Abu Ala, Economic System of Islam, Karachi Press
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Lesson 3.2: Islamic Concept of History
Structure
3.2.1 Introduction
3.2.2 Objectives
3.2.3 Historical Value of Quran and Hadith
3.2.4 The Criteria for Evaluating Historical Data
3.2.5 The Perspective and the Methodology
3.2.6 Let Us Sum Up
3.2.1 Introduction
Islam is a religion that has a strong sense of history. The Qur’an recognizes two major
sources of information, nature and history. The Qur’an narrated stories about the past for the
purpose of teaching lessons to the people. Historiography has always been tantamount to and
considered one of the major components in the Muslim intellectual and literary tradition. This
general overview of philosophy of history and historiography within the context of Muslim
traditions will discuss questions such as how did Muslim historians view and understand
history? How and why did they compose, compile, and write historiography and for what
purpose? What value did they give to history? How did they relate history to social change?
How did they link historiographic composition to other literary genres? What would be the
proper terminology? Is it Muslim or Islamic philosophy of history? Of course, this question is
an intricate one because there are ambiguities or gray areas between the two terms. Both
terms refer to different facets of the subject. The term Muslim refers to the person or people
who adhere to the religion of Islam. It carries the historical, social, and physical meaning of
the community and people whose religion is Islam. One might argue, of course, based on
what is commonly perceived: whatever the Muslims do, they do it in the name of Islam.
However, we must bear in mind that not everything the Muslims do could be taken as
representing or in accordance with the principles of Islam. There are many instances where
the Muslim conducts him or herself not in conformity with the basic injunctions of Islam. In
this case, that particular conduct, although carried out by a Muslim, should not be taken as
Islamic because it does not comply with Islamic principles. The Muslim carried out this
conduct on his own wish and free will, which in no way could be connected with Islam.
Conversely, when we refer to something as Islamic, we refer to Islamic principles derived
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from the teachings of the Qur’an, the sunnah and the other authentic Islamic sources. The
Muslim, with appropriate qualifications, expresses views and interpretations on aspects of
religious teachings and principles. It is quite inappropriate to categorize whatever comes from
a Muslim as Islamic because it is humanly fallible, subject to misrepresentations, while the
Qur’an is considered theologically divine, sacred, and infallible. On this basis, it is safer and
logical to refer to a Muslim rather than an Islamic philosophy of history. Although in most
cases, the views of Muslim scholars and intellectuals can be considered as representing Islam,
it is more appropriate to associate the views and opinions with the person rather than with the
religion. This is more reasonable since there would be variations, differences and dispute
among scholars. However, in the course of this discussion, the term Islamic philosophy
would also be used occasionally and interchangeably whenever appropriate, especially when
the discussion deals particularly with the questions of theological and doctrinal matters.
3.2.2 Objectives
 To understand the basic concept of History
 To explore various dimensions of Islamic conception of history
Is there an Islamic concept of history? To trace the Islamic concept of history is actually to
trace the roots of the idea of history in Islam. As the primary theological and doctrinal
sources of Islam, the texts gathered in the Qur’an contain many narratives about events of
different societies over different ages. In fact, one of the suras (chapters) of the Qur’an, sura
28 is called Sura al-Qasas (history or narration). Apart from this, other verses elsewhere in
the Qur’an contain various forms of narratives about ancient generations and civilizations.
The purpose is to give lessons to the people. The Qur’anic term for this is ‘ibra (example). In
one of the verses, the Qur’an reads, “In their history, there is a lesson for those who possess
intelligence” (Qur’an 12:111). The term ibra is also used elsewhere in slightly different
context such as in the phenomena of cattle (Qur’an 16:66) and the succession of day and
night (Qur’an 24:44). However, the ground is the same, i.e., it carries the principles of
education and lesson. In this sense, in so far as the Qur’anic notion is concerned, the concept
of ‘ibra can be regarded as the most important precept to the later development of the idea of
history in Islam. Apart from ‘ibra, there are other concepts that imply similar implications.
The concept of ayat (signs) for example in the verse “We have set it up as a lesson [ayat]. Do
any of you wish to learn? (54:15) and “In Joseph and his brothers there are lessons [ayat] for
the seekers” (12:7) and the concept of dhikr in “This should be a lesson [dhikra] for everyone
who possesses a mind, or is able to hear and witness” (50:37). Ibn Khaldun was one of the
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earliest to properly use this concept. This can be seen from the very title of his magnum opus,
the Muqaddima li-Kitab al-‘Ibar.
Second to the Qur’an is the Prophetic tradition, sunnah or hadith. This is about the sayings
and the deeds of the Prophet (SAW). The Prophetic tradition gave a strong impetus to the
later development of historiography in Islam. Theologically speaking, the deeds and sayings
of the Prophet (SAW) are regarded as the second source next to the Qur’an. It is vital for
Muslims to precisely record and document these Prophetic traditions for later generations to
study and derive from their religious teachings and injunctions. History is very important
from the ideological and educational perspective in addition to its importance as a discipline
of knowledge and as information. The Qur’an teaches us, “Indeed in the stories of these men,
there is a lesson for those who can think.” (Q 12:111) Educationally, then, for the new
generations and ideologically for those who are committed to Islam as a way of life, it is very
important to get the message of history which enlightens us in dealing with contemporary
circumstances. Is it more correct to say Islamic history or Muslim history? Each description
has its pros and cons. When you say “Islamic history” you care more about commitment to
Islam and assessment according to Islamic criteria, since not everything which happened in
the past or happens at present on the Islamic scene can really be considered Islamic.
Historical events should be evaluated under such a term according to Islam whether they are
social, cultural, political or economic. What may be positive in terms of a historical
development or very important as a mere material accomplishment may or may not be
something important from the viewpoint of Islam. Suppose that we have a very magnificent
tomb made by Muslims, would you consider this Islamic or not?
According to the classic Arabic historiographers, it is knowledge pertaining to a country,
customs and manners of people, remains of the people of yore, as well as an account of the
actions of those alive. Thus history as a science traces the rise and development of
civilizations.
Al-Kafiyaji in his Al-Mukhtasar fi ‘ilm al-Tarikh defines Tarikh as:
Linguistically, Tarikh is the indication of time. In the customary usage and as a
technical term, Tarikh is the general fixation of time, for the purpose of relating
to it a time-section, either of the past, the present or the future.
According to Imam Abd al-Rahman al-Sakhawi:
Tarikh is the indication of time that serves for an accurate establishment of
circumstances affecting the transmitters of traditions (Ahadith) and religious
leaders. It indicates the dates of their birth and death, their soundness of mind
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and body, their travels and pilgrimages, their accuracy and knowledge of
traditions, the degree of reliability and unreliability ascribed to them and similar
matters.
Furthermore, he says:
Important events and occurrences are also added to it. Such events are the
appearance of religion. The imposition of new (religious) duties, events
concerning caliphs and wazirs, raids, battles and wars, conquests of countries and
change of dynasties.
Thus, historiography is a branch of learning which investigates time-sections and
circumstances prevailing in them, as well as the circumstances which are connected with
those time-sections with a view to their fixation as to time.
Calling our history “Muslim history” may draw a line between human behaviour and Islam
itself. History represents the outcome of Muslim practices and each can be evaluated
according to Islam. It is just a development of Muslim thinking and behaviour—Muslim
interaction with other human universal effects. Muslim history is the product of Muslims as
human beings. It may be right or wrong ideologically, but it is the product of people.
According to Western terminology, Islam may be “the religion,” “the history,” or “the
people” of the present time. When Westerners write about Islam they may mean
contemporary Muslim or past Muslims or Islam as a religion. Consequently, when you say
Muslim history, you are talking about “people” and the people may or may not comply with
the teachings of the religion and their practice may or may not be accepted by Islam. The
term “Muslim history” seems preferable to emphasize the human nature of this history, and to
underline the fact that any event in that history might be positive or negative, good or bad,
might comply or contradict with Islam. Therefore, Muslim practices may not necessarily
represent Islam as revealed by God, and the word “Islam” should be used exclusively for the
“religion” in its divine sources: Quran and Sunnah, while “Muslims” live as human beings
and may abide by or deviate from divine guidance.
3.2.3 Historical Value of the Qur’an and Hadith
The Qur’an is full of references to accounts of the creation of Heaven and Earth, creation of
man as well as to the stories of Ad and Thamud, the people of Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa and Isa
(AS). It also throws light on the life of Muhammad (S.A.W.) and other important events of
the history of Islam such as the battles of Badr, Uhud, Banu Nadir, Trench, truce of
Hudaibiya, the conquest of Makka etc. Moreover, reference to contemporary world history is
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also found though only once i.e. when a prediction is made about the outcome of the struggle
between the Byzantines and the Persians. Hadith, too, has references to the ancient nations,
prophets and important events of the past. It illustrates on the various aspects of the life of
Muhammad (S.A.W.) and at the same time highlights the virtues of his companions such as
Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Salman al-Farsi (R.A.), to name a few.
The science of genealogy is also one of the sources of historical literature. The Quran has
approved it as a source of knowledge by declaring "Indeed we created you in tribes and clans
so that you may recognize each other." It is to be noted that though this science was approved
by the Quran, and though the Prophet (SAW) evinced his interest in it by once informing
Uqba b-Amir of the latter's genealogy pride on nobility and ancestral glory was forbidden by
the former in the following terms, “Verily the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is he who is
most pious among you,” and by the latter in these emphatic words: "Hence forward no Arab
would claim superiority over a non-Arab only by reason of his being an Arab. All of you are
descendants of Adam, and Adam was created of clay and dust”.
In this context, the historical value of the record of the public census ordered by the Prophet
(SAW) cannot be neglected. The record handed over to him contained the names of 1500
believers. Every known collection of Islamic manuscripts includes a good proportion of
historical works, which in itself is a fair indication of the importance attached by Muslim
scholarship to history. A comparison between the output of historical literature by the
Muslims before decay set in and the Islamic civilization began to decline, and the histories
written during or before that period by other people will show what great interest was taken
by the followers of Islam in history. A similar comparison in the standards achieved will be
equally illuminating. It would be no exaggeration to say that in the Middle Ages, history was
itself a Muslim science. Their contribution is even more remarkable in view of the fact that
the Muslims had inherited very meagre traditions on which they raised so glorious an edifice.
For several decades, the Orientalists were not impressed with the Muslim traditions regarding
the magnitude of ignorance in pre-Islamic Arabia. They saw in them an endeavour to
exaggerate the achievement of Islam by belittling pre-Islamic Arab effort; even the silence of
Muslim writers was suspect. Partly for this reason and partly with the desire to belittle the
success of Islam in uplifting the Arabs, the Orientalists made strenuous efforts to find proofs
of pre-Muslim attainments, but they did not discover much. A recent work portrays it "the
cultural and economic level of the nomad population was, as it has always been, too low to
support any literary effort." The Arabs did produce some poetry, a fact mentioned and
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recognized by Muslim authorities, but they had little conception of other branches of
literature. They do not seem even to have a word for history. Some of the earlier writers have
used the term akhbar for history; the singular form, khabar, is used even today for a report or
information. This has been the meaning of the word in Muslim times; the earlier meaning of
this word is obscure. As the name implies, akhbar is generally understood to mean a string, a
collection, or, at best, a connected sequence of reports, and only in the last form does it
achieve the form of a historical narration of events. The origin of the word tarikh, which is
now generally used for history, is even more difficult to trace. Its root form perhaps came to
be used in the Yemen in the pre- Islamic days, but, in all probability, it referred to time, not to
history. This significance of the word has not yet been lost; indeed, the word tarikh is used
more often in the meaning of a date than of history. It is obvious that without even a proper
word for it, the Arabs could have little conception of history before the advent of Islam. They
had a few stories of what they had considered to have been important or interesting events
and vague, probably untrue, legends of the people who had inhabited the old ruins that were
scattered in some parts of the peninsula. They lacked even a proper epic; indeed, they were a
people with no consciousness of history. The Muslims, therefore, could not have drawn any
inspiration for the development of a tradition of historiography from the pre-Islamic Arabs.
The Greek sciences made a most significant contribution to Islamic culture, but in the field of
history, the Greek influence is difficult to trace. No classical Greek history ever reached the
Arabs; the Greek and the Latin annalistic literature has been lost and is not available even to
the modern scholar. History, however, was a much less important sector of Greek and Latin
scholarship; it was not considered of sufficient merit to be included in the curriculum of
regular studies. The Muslims adopted the branches of learning that were considered to
possess sufficient importance in the eyes of the Greeks themselves; the Greek tradition was
kept alive in these subjects. One of the reasons for the loss of classical Greek historical
literature may be the fact that the Arabs showed no interest in its preservation. The
Byzantines had traditions of historiography and it is not beyond the range of possibility that
some of their works came into the hands of the Arabs through Syrian Christians and converts
to Islam. They might have contributed some techniques, but these techniques could not have
been important. In any case, the Arabs could not have derived their historical sense from the
Byzantines.
The other two great civilizations with which the Arabs came into close contact were those of
the Iranians and the Hindus. The Hindus never developed an interest in history. There is little
indication of the Iranians possessing any notable historical literature at the time of the
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Muslim conquest. It is, therefore, more likely that the Arabs developed a sense of history as a
result of the Prophet Muhammad’s mission.
Apart from their moral and philosophical implications, which helped in creating a historical
sense in the Muslims, the historical allusions in the Qur'an presented a challenge to the
Muslim mind. The Muslims wanted to learn more about them, and thus began a search for
more detailed information. It is true that with their limited resources and the condition of
human knowledge in those days, the information collected by the early Muslims was not
always accurate. Considerable legendary material, folklore, and mythology entered into their
understanding of the historical facts mentioned in the Qur'an. A fertile source of legendary
material was the Jewish tradition. The net gain was that historical curiosity had been aroused.
Some of the earlier mistakes were never corrected, but others were discarded when critical
faculties got sharpened by greater experience and knowledge.
It would be seen from this discussion that historiography in the Muslim world had religious
beginnings. It was religion that gave the Muslims their historical sense, and the requirements
of developing a theology made it imperative for the Muslim theologians to undertake
historical research and to lay down canons of evaluating historical data for eliminating doubt
and error so far as it was humanly possible. It led them to explore the traditions of religions
allied to their own which had preceded the mission of the Prophet in point of time. Indeed,
historical studies started in Islam as a necessary adjunct of theological development. It was
necessary, therefore, for the Muslims to cultivate a religious attitude towards history, which
could not be discarded easily. Indeed, even when history ventured out into the courts of
worldly monarchs, it was not able to overcome some of the conceptions developed in the
cloisters of the mosques and the colleges of theology.
3.2.4 The Criteria for Evaluating Historical Data
What can our criteria be in evaluating the different information which we get from Muslim
sources of history? Our history suffers not from a scarcity of information but from its
abundance and difference, and as a result we have to go through the hard work of evaluation.
We had the earliest experiences in accurate evaluation in the project of collecting the Qur’an
(fourteen centuries ago) and later in the project of collecting the Sunnah (thirteen centuries
ago) and we did this marvelously. Muslims need to maintain such experience in the
evaluation of these plentiful historical reports. Several suggestions have been made about the
required criteria in this field. Ibn Khaldun suggested that the natural laws of human society
and civilization “taba’i al-imran al-ijtima al-insani” should be applied to any event reported
in history. If any reported event seems impossible according to these laws, the information
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should be rejected, and no discussion about the credibility of the informer is needed at all in
such a case. The requirements used by ‘hadith’ scholars for credibility and authenticity have
also been suggested in the past and present as a criterion for evaluating historical reports, and
Muhibb al-din al-khatib has revived this opinion in modern times through many of his
writings. He mentioned these ideas in the introduction of his authenticated edition of the book
of Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi “al-Awasim Mina al-Qawasim” in the part on the deeds attributed
to some companions of the Prophet after his death. He also mentioned these ideas in later
articles in al-Azhar monthly while he was its chief editor. However, applying the
requirements for authenticity of “hadith” in the field of history has proven to be a big
problem, since chains of informers might be ignored by some important historians, and
wherever they might be mentioned, some links might be missing or might be unknown. As
history represented information which might not imply any religious obligation or
prohibition, early compilers of historical information did not care to indicate, present
information about every link, nor scrutinize the chain of reporters. When Muhibb al-Din
himself published the authenticated edition of “al-Kharaj” by Abu Yusuf (d. 182 A.H/798)
he found that he could not practice the suggested criteria of hadith scholars in editing the text
and footnoting it. Another contemporary scholar originally from Hyderabad in India,
Muhammad Hamidullah, has stated that “the interest of the informer” in the information
should be investigated, and that whenever the informer could not have any interest in his
information it should be accepted.
3.2.5 The Perspective and the Methodology
A challenging character of Muslim history is its openness and universality. It is not an
isolated phenomenon. We believe that Islam is a continuation of the message of Allah to all
mankind since its creation; and we have to reach back before the message of Muhammad
(SAW) and after the middle ages in order to follow the human response to the divine message
in different times and places. This may explain why classical Muslim historians started their
works with the stories of the Prophets and their people before Muhammad (SAW), and the
histories of the great powers and civilizations before Islam. We may not follow precisely the
same approach but we should at least keep in mind the fact that Islam is just a completion and
development of the divine message and Muslims did not appear in history in a vacuum.
Besides, the rise of Islam in Arabia, and its spread as a faith, political power, and a
civilization had never been isolated from the existing political and cultural circumstances of
the world. Meanwhile, Islam has existed in history as a religion, a society, a political power, a
civilization and culture—all together in totality and harmony. The Orientalists in the 19th and
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20th centuries were limited in their study of Islam, but one of their positive qualities was
concerned with Islam had to study the religion, the Arabic language and literature, and
Muslim history, and in most cases this was achieved after studying Bible and Hebrew and
Greek heritages. He They had this package of knowledge before writing about a certain topic
related to Islam and Muslim history. Now you find new generations of Western scholars
concerned with Islamic studies trained differently. There may be a sociologist who like to
concentrate on the sociology of Islam or contemporary Muslim societies, an economist, who
is concentrating with the economics of Muslim countries, an anthropologist, a historian, a
scholar of comparative linguistics or literature or religion, etc. These contemporary Western
scholars may be less biased than the classical orientalists but they do not know the classical
sources of Islam as a whole package which could have enabled them to understand Islam and
Muslim practices in the past and present in a better way.
The openness of Muslim history in relation to time and place requires the historian to be
always aware of the essential balance between the continuation and the change, between the
diversity and the unity. A Western scholar like Von Grunebaum edited a whole work with the
title of “Diversity and Unity in the Muslim Civilization”, and this direction has to be
followed and enriched, especially from an Islamic perspective. A Muslim scholar who is
loyal to the universality of Islam should not be reluctant or too sensitive to underling regional
aspects or events. Our Muslim scholars left voluminous contributions on regional histories
(e.g., Syria, Egypt, Maghreb, India) and cities (Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, Baghdad, Mosul,
Isfahan etc.) one can always deal with particulars while maintaining the general. We have to
deepen our research by exploring the impact of Muslim civilization on the Renaissance and
even the impact of Islam on the Christian reformation. In any case, we should never forget
that human history, and Muslims are no exception, represents the human nature of combining
positives and negatives, high and low points.
3.2.6 Let Us Sum Up
In this lesson, we tried to understand one of the important institutional offshoots of Islamic
intellectual legacy—the idea of history—and its place in Muslim tradition. It elaborated on
the importance the Qur’an attaches to the subject of history and how it has played an
important role in Islamic as well as other civilizational discourses. This lesson helps us to
understand the role of Muslim scholarship in nourishing the objective approach to historical
narratives and past histories. The origins of history in Islam were doctrinal and theological.
History was theological because it was considered as another category of authentic religious
source of laws, values, and religious rituals and practices. Biographic stories about the
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Prophet (SAW) and his tradition, the sunnah and hadith fit well in this category. From an
Islamic point of view, history is also seen as the practical manifestation of the divine plan.
Therefore, historiography cannot be perceived as merely a subject acquired for the sake of
knowledge alone; it is something that carries a religious thrust in it. In Islam, the spirit and
foundation of historiography is to offer lessons for later generations. For this reason, Muslim
historiography has had a very close connection with the general development of Islam,
including its doctrines, law, and jurisprudence. This trend started from scrutinizing the chains
of narrators (jarah wa tadeel) in hadith literature and continued till Ibn Khaldun, who
discussed the socio-anthropological and philosophical intricacies of understanding of history
of civilizations.
1. Explain the importance of history in Islamic tradition
2. Elaborate the place of history and its role in shaping the Islamic worldview
3. Describe briefly the meaning and definition of history in Islam
4. Write a note on Historical Data
5. Islamic concept of history derived from the Qur'an and Sunnah. Explain
Donner, Fred, Narratives of Islamic Origins: The Beginning of Islamic historical writing, The
Darwin Press
Rosenthal, A History Muslim Historiography, Edinburg University Press
Siddiqui, Mazheruddin, Islamic Methodology in History, Adam Publishers.
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Lesson 3.3: Muslim Contribution to Historiography: Ibn Ishaq and Ibn
Khaldun
Structure
3.3.1 Introduction
3.3.2 Objectives
3.3.3 Muslim Historiography
3.3.4 Ibn Ishaq
3.3.5 Ibn Khaldun
3.3.6 Let Us Sum Up
3.3.1 Introduction
Historiography is the study of history and methodology of the discipline of history, the
methods of historical research and presentation. Researchers of history collect all data and
documents by his continuous research and analytical methods. Then, they prove its
authenticity by their proper observations. History is a subject which furnishes one of the most
copious departments of Muslim intellectual legacy. They also re-arrange the historical events
by the course of time. By threading all these stages successfully, history becomes a scientific
and authentic source of the knowledge. In this way, all kinds of writings, reading and
teaching on history, analysis of the historical documents, verification of historical data,
reviewing all kinds of analytical methods regarding history, confirmation of the authenticity
of all historical events, discussed facts on history, composed books of history and criticism
on historical matters are called Historiography. Muslims if not the only but one of the
important contributors in ascertaining the facts of history and have their share in setting the
standards of objective understanding and interpretation of history. Historiography has always
been tantamount to and considered one of the major components in the Muslim intellectual
and literary tradition. This general overview of philosophy of history and historiography
within the context of Muslim traditions will discuss questions such as how did Muslim
historians view and understand history? How and why did they compose, compile, and write
historiography and for what purpose? What value did they give to history? How did they
relate history to social change? How did they link historiographic composition to other
literary genres? What would be the proper terminology? Is it Muslim or Islamic philosophy
of history?
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3.3.2 Objectives
 To conceptualize historiography from Islamic perspective
 To explore Ibn Ishaq’s and Ibn Khaldun’s contribution to Muslim historiography
3.3.3. Muslim Historiography
In the early stage of Islam, (in the beginning of 9thcentury) Muslim scholars and historians
considered historiography to be the third source of knowledge after the research of Quran and
Sunnah. For this reason, after the collection and compilation of the Hadith of the prophet
(SAW), they start writing of the history. It seems very interesting that the same tradition was
followed to the collection, compilation and preservation of the Hadith of the Prophet (SAW)
and the history of the primary age of Islam. This tradition was followed till Hijra 3rdcentury
(9thand 10th C.E). Since third A.H Arab historiography was mostly around with the
description of the events and religious theme. In course of time it was enlarged and enriched
with the research of tribal, regional and national history. Also by the description of the world
history, Arab historiography becomes a major part of the world historiography and it starts
the glorious steps of the Muslims in the development of knowledge standing on this, Arab
historiography took its multi-formation not only discussion of the historical events but also
fixed its relation to the cause and effects along with deeply analyzed criticism attached with
the history. In this way historiography was developed by the Muslim scholars at the same
time Arabic language was also developed because the state language was Arabic at that time
and research work on historiography was continued naturally in Arabic. Franz
Rosenthal wrote in the History of Muslim Historiography, “Muslim historiography has at all
times been united by the closest ties with the general development of scholarship in Islam,
and the position of historical knowledge in Muslim education has exercised a decisive
influence upon the intellectual level of historical writing. The Muslims achieved a definite
advance beyond previous historical writing in the sociology”.
In comparison with this Persio-Arabic terminology of “tarikh”, the Graeco-Latin-English
terminology of “history” stands for tales and stories, and also in their technical sense they
yield a subtle and significant difference. As for “tarikh”, there are, as we know, a few
significant dates in the life of every human being, such as those of birth, marriage, death with
chronological and systematic arrangement of such dates one’s life story is built up. Similarly,
by arranging the description of the advent, advancement or retrogression, childhood, youth,
maturity, old age and death of a person, family, tribe, society, culture and civilization in a
systematic and chronological order and examining the veracity of the events, their
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orientation, the idea or intention, one can write the life story of all, collectively or
individually. Such a chronological and systematic account of a family, nation or civilization
is known as “tarikh”. Since “tarikh” literally means a “date”, a systematic account of
anything involves more than one date. Hence such an account used to be called “tawarikh” in
plural. But on account of the difficulty in pronunciation, the singular “tarikh” came to be
popularly used to mean it in the plural sense. Therefore, in its last analysis, Perso-Arabic
“tarikh” means a chronological and systematic description of events, and in this very literal
sense, it is history. To the Muslim scholars “Tarikh” is not an Art, but a Science, an ilm;
because it is based on a systematic methodology, critically checked and rechecked at every
step. In devising this science, the Muslims were inspired by their zeal for working out a
truthful and factual description of the life and activities of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and
to collect all his utterances, commands, directives, advices, messages, his practices at war and
peace. The Muslim scholars left no stone unturned for accomplishing those task as exactly
and truly as possible. Because to them, the life of the holy Prophet (SAW), was a practical
exemplification of the best and nicest ideal of a good human life– uswatun hasanatun, which
if any one can actualise, to any extent, in one’s own life, that much of his life would also
become ideal and virtuous.
Moreover, the behaviour of the holy Prophet (SAW) was invariably bound up with actual
living situation of human life and provided practical solution of all problems arising from the
complexity of family, social and national life. Such practicability of the ideal form of life and
the behavioural pattern of the Prophet’s life as the warp and woof of good living on this
earth, as also providing the best prospect for the future life in the next world is covetable. As
such, the birth of the “tarikh” out of the researching endeavour of the Muslims to gather,
collect and compile the living, factual and true description of the sayings, doings and
approvals of the holy Prophet (SAW), was commensurate primarily with the compilation of
the Sunnah, which was called Ilm al- Hadith, the Science of Hadith and besides, it also
comprised the wider and more liberal endeavours of the Muslim scholars to gather, collect
and compile all the information available about the wars and pacts of the holy Prophet
(SAW), which were fought and enacted for the implementation of the ideals of Islam; in
addition, the theoretical purpose of ascertaining the truth about the events that took place in
this connection and also political and economic necessity of fixing up the status of those who
participated in these events as well as the need of assessing the roles of different persons
taking part therein, eventually led to the birth of the Science of Tarikh, firstly in the form of
description of the holy Prophet’s wars and expeditions called Sirah and Maghazi.
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These researches were carried on in the best tradition of human knowledge, combining the
critical methodology and technique of sifting Prophetic Tradition or Hadith with the lore and
learning of the conquered peoples of the East and West. This newly devised critical
methodology was called Jarah and Ta’dil, i.e., critically sifting reliable information, which
was applied to ascertain the accuracy and the rational analysis of the factual narrator of
Hadith called Riwayat and the rational analysis of the points and facts called Dirayat. Later
on these Riwayat and Dirayat were adopted by the modern Western scholars as the warp and
woof of historical methodology under the caption of Internal Criticism and External Criticism
of history. This historical methodology gave the West the first scientific basis for the learning
of humanities.
The critical pursuit of compiling Sirah and Maghazi, the biographical narration and the
accounts of wars and expeditions of the Prophet (SAW), necessitated for sifting Hadith,
which gave birth to another auxiliary science of “biodata” of the narrators of the above
accounts called Asma ur-Rijal, which prepared the ground for the birth of the science of
Islamic History par excellence. In fact, Tarikh was gradually developed by the Muslim
scholars by broadening the scope and range of the subject-matter of the biography of the holy
Prophet in its accomplished form called Sirat Rasul Allah or Sirat al-Nabi comprising
progress and development of the Muslim community, the Ummah as a whole and then
extending it from the Islamic history proper, and to the history of the entire human race as
well as the universal history composed by the classical Muslim scholars like Tabari. Such an
Islamic history and the universal history found well-formulated, abiding and durable pattern
in the hands of al-Tabari during the 4th century Hijri/10th century C.E. which is well known
as Tarikh al-Tabari. Latterly the pursuit of historical research reached its zenith amongst the
Muslim scholars in the hand of Ibn Khaldun during the 14th century C.E. who gave it a
peculiar combination of a scientific methodological dynamism and an empirical-cum-
rationalistic philosophical orientation, who named his work, Kitab al-Ibar or the Book of
Lessons, instead of calling it Tarikh, which has remained still unsurpassed in the field of
history and in the intellectual arena of the medieval and modern civilization.
Considering from this wider perspective of the inner development of Tarikh, keeping pace
with material progress and the intellectual needs of the ever-expanding Muslim community
life throughout the world, Islamic history may be classified into two inter-related and inter-
dependent yet self-sustaining parts; that is to say:
a) The inner history of Islam comprising the birth, growth and development of the
Muslim Ummah beginning with the Hijrah of the holy Prophet, peace and blessings
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of Allah be upon him, along with the background of the contemporary social situation
in which he was born and brought up, received the revelation of the holy Quran and
struggled to propagate the truth of Islam till the time of Hijrah; then it proceeds
through the Hijrah, which gave birth to the community life of the Muslims, organized
by the holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, into a Constitutional
Society and State, which marked a turning point in the progress of Islam by putting
into operation the inner and outer dynamics of a concrete historical process that kept
on moulding through centuries of active and continuous struggle to establish and
spread the truth, which kept on moulding and remoulding the ideal pattern of the
Muslim community life on the one hand, and never ceasing to influence and spin
around its own orbit the broader historical process of the outer world that has been
commemorated in the progress of the Hijri calendar, the back-bone of Islamic history
par excellence, on the other.
b) Besides this inner part of Islamic history, the Muslim scholars also meticulously
worked out an outer part of history, which comprised the history of mankind from
Father Adam down to the present day, which provided the background and human
perspective to the inner history of Islam.
Thus, Islamic history deals with two continuous parallel current of history. The first part of it
comprises the background and the perspective beginning with Adam (AS) down to the
present day and the second part deals with the birth of the Muslim Ummah and comes down
to the present day. In one word, Islamic history falls into two parts, one part dealing with the
human civilization in general and the other part dealing with the Islamic civilization in
particular.
In the above perspective, the subject-matter of Islamic history presents itself as “a search
after the wonderful technique of the creation of the great Creator, Allah the Most High, and
an understanding of the freedom-loving nature of man by means of observing the endless
variety of created objects on the one hand, and the peculiar ways of human life, his socio-
economic revolutions, his ethical and religious ideals, his creative arts and crafts, gradual
evolution of his culture and civilization on the other.” The fullness of the scope of Islamic
history and culture lies with the study and research under the context of such a broad and
wider field of the history of mankind. We may briefly illustrate the point by recalling the
observations of a 15th Christian/9thHijri century Muslim scholar, namely al-Sakhabi, who
classified the works of the Muslim historians into 40 groups or divisions and observed that
any one historian cannot master more than two or three divisions out of them (cf. Rosenthal:
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Muslim Historiography, pp. 388-91). He held that the number of history books is uncountable
and referring to a learned person, who had 1,000 volumes of history in his collection (p.388)
and that, if all the histories are compiled together, it cannot be accomplished with less than
600 volumes (p.391). This clearly shows the wider nature of Islamic History and Culture and
the vastness of the actual historical researches of the Muslim scholars.
In 1258 CE, having destroyed Abassids khilafat and Ilkhani dynasty was established. With
the Ilkhani dynasty, ‘Persi’ language became the state language and it was developed during
the time of Timurids and Safavids. In this way, ‘Persi’ entered in Indian sub-continent by the
change of political power around the world (Gibbs, H.A.R, Studies on the civilization of
Islam, London, 1962). When Turkish replaced Persians, historiography was also started in
Turkish language. But, the research of historiography in Turkish language has not so far
enriched. Turkish sultans also patronized the Persian language later and at that time, regional
and dynastic history continued in Persian language.
Though the Arab historiography follows the Persian trends in the research of historiography,
there is something different in the Arab historiography. Main theme of the Persian
historiography was the conduct occupation of the kings. In the Persian history, general people
was totally absent or a little bit was seen in their historiography during Ilkhani period
composed in Persian language Jami-at-Tawarikh by Rashid-ud-din. In this book, the author
tries to follow the trends of At- Tabari’s writings but in his writings, the character of Arab
historiography is totally absent in this write up. But, Rawat- as-Safa composed by Mirkhand
represents Arab trends and nature. During the Timurids period, the same trends Tarikh-i-
Khani and Jafarnama were composed. In these two books, Timurids dynastic history was
arranged superbly. It is said that Muslim historiography was influenced later by the trends of
Arab and Persian historiography. The Persian and Turkish carried on the central Asian trends
of historiography towards Indian sub-continent.
3.3.4 Ibn Ishaq
Ibn Ishaq is best known for his biography of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), though he also
claimed to be a scholar in law. He was born in Medina around 85A.H. (704 CE). Scholars can
trace Ibn Ishaq's lineage back to his grandfather, Yasar. Yasar was an Arab prisoner captured
at Aln al-Tamr in 12A.H. (633-4CE). Yasar became a slave but later became a Muslim and
was freed. Yasar had three sons, all of whom were known as transmitters of akhbar. Despite
having this detailed lineage, little is known about Ibn Ishaq's early life. He did apparently
gain a scholarly reputation at an early age, for there he was references as "the most
knowledgeable of men in maghari" by no later than 121AH (741CE). Scholars also know he
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studied under Yazid b. Abi Habib in Alexandria. Ibn Ishaq was married to a woman named
Fatima bint al-Mundhir b. al-Zubayr. Ibn Ishaq probably returned to Medina later, but was
forced to leave. Contributing to Ibn Ishaq's departure may have been his bad relation with
Malik b. Annas, a scholar of law who Ibn Ishaq treated with contempt. Ibn Ishaq was the
earliest, and probably the most thorough, of Islam's historians. He never claimed that
everything he heard was the perfect, absolute fact; rather, he very frankly writes "so-and-so
said this, but so-and-so said that." Most of the discrepancies he cites are minor, and the vast
majority of the incidents he cites are surprisingly consistent with what other Muslim
historians say.
Meanwhile, however, other Muslim historians commented on Ibn Ishaq's work (before it was
rescinded and lost) and quoted from it extensively. Guilliaume has taken these pieces and
added them back in, and has indicated clearly what has been added, diligently citing the
source of the addition in each case. Ibn Ishaq’s sira is passed down to us in an abridged and
annotated recension by a later scholar, Ibn Hisham (d. c. 833 CE), although it is possible to
undo some of Ibn Hisham’s abridgement since other historians such as al-Tabari quote large
portions of the earlier unabridged version in their writings. Ibn Ishaq’s biography forms the
basis of virtually all later biographies of Muhammad (SAW) in the Islamic tradition. It is, in
F. E. Peters’ words, “the classical and canonical biography of Muhammad.” There is a wide
variety of opinion among scholars of early Islam as to whether Ibn Ishaq’s sira is reliable.
Since its impact on the Islamic tradition is indisputable even if its historical accuracy is not.
Ibn Ishaq’s life of Muhammad (SAW) was in fact embedded in an ambitious “universal
history” that covered the history of the world from the creation up to Ibn Ishaq’s own time
(the Abbasid caliphate). For a reconstruction of Ibn Ishaq’s history covering the period before
the time of Muhammad (SAW) (that is, the portion leading up to where Guillaume’s work
begins) The narratives of the Sirah have to be carefully and meticulously sifted in order to get
at the kernel of historically valid information, which is in fact meagre and scanty. But the
value of this information for the scrutiny of the social, political, moral, and literary ideas of
the Muslim community cannot be overestimated; during the centuries, since Muslim society
came into existence, the revered personality of the Prophet (SAW) served as an ideal to be
followed and emulated.
Several aspects of Ibn Ishaq’s work suggest that he was aware of some Christian criticism of
Muhammad.
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3.3.5 Ibn Khaldun
Abdur-Rahman Ibn Khaldun is considered as one of the greatest thinkers in the annals of
human history. He lived in the middle-late fourteenth century and is known as the father of
the disciplines of history and sociology, also making an indelible imprint in the fields of
philosophy and economy. He crafted an independent theory of history – an amalgam of
history proper and culture, whereby he probed the “origins, rise, decline and fall of
civilisations.” and took into consideration the complex intersection of social, economic,
environmental political and moral factors in the development of civilisations. His ideas were
a product of his extensive experience in observing matters of statecraft, the scholarly Islamic
education he received and various peoples he encountered across the expanse of the existing
Islamic dynasties. He has influenced a broad spectrum of historians and intellectuals, from
the historians of the Ottoman Empire to the Orientalists of the nineteenth century who
brought his works to prominence in Europe and the West. His ideas continue to hold
prominence today, having an impact on a number of modern theories and intellectual
currents.
In his The Introduction (1377), Ibn Khaldun wrote, “History is an art of valuable doctrine,
numerous in advantages and honourable in purpose; it informs us about bygone nations in the
context of their habits, the prophets in the context of their lives and kings in the context of
their states and politics, so those who seek the guidance of the past in either worldly or
religious matters may have that advantage.” Ibn Khaldun’s theory divided history into two
main parts: the historical manifest and the historical gist. According to him, history should
not limit itself to recording events, but should examine environments, social mores and
political bases: “True history exists to tell us about human social life, which is the world’s
environment, and the nature of that environment as it appears from various events. It deals
with civilisation, savagery and tribalism, with the various ways in which people obtain power
over each other, and their results, with states and their hierarchies and with the people’s
occupations, lifestyles, sciences, handicrafts and everything else that takes place in that
environment under various circumstances.”
Ibn Khaldun’s method relied on criticism, observation, comparison and examination. He used
scientific criticism to analyse accounts of historical events, the sources of these accounts and
the techniques used by historians, examining and comparing various different accounts in
order to get rid of falsifications and exaggerations and obtain some objective idea of what had
actually happened. Many accounts contained lies because they had been written to flatter
some ruler or to further the interests of some sect, the newsmakers and storytellers
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deliberately cheating and falsifying things for their own purposes. Ibn Khaldun, therefore,
urged the historian to become erudite, accurate in observation and skilled in comparing text
with subtext in order to be capable of effective criticism and clarification. Although Ibn
Khaldun strongly believed in God, he never mentioned any celestial aim for history, or any
divine end at which history would come to stop. He states, in fact, the “past is like the future,
water from water”, which seems to imply that human history has no end. Ibn Khaldun went
further to criticise other historians for imposing metaphysical ideas upon historical events to
make the latter appear subordinate to the gods or to divine providence, turning history,
properly a science, into something more closely akin to the arts and literature. As a result,
some Muslims and Westerners seized his concept of history to denounce Ibn Khaldun as an
atheist, a charge of which he was innocent; his point was that the science of history was not
subject to metaphysics and could not be made so. Ibn Khaldun never questioned the existence
of God. His work, according to him, was “inspired by God, pure inspiration”, which should
be evidence enough of his belief in God.
However, his views on prophecy are crystal clear, unlike those of certain of his predecessors
in Muslim philosophy, in particular Al-Farabi (870-950) and Ibn Sina (980-1037). As an
experimental philosopher, he was interested in the holy experiments of the Prophet
Muhammed (SAW), which means he cannot have seen history as having no end. If the
existence of God is regarded as an absolute fact and His prophets and their religious
experiments as proof of this fact, then the statement that in history the past is just like the
future must mean it consists of a continuous series of events not stopping with any nation, but
continuing in cycles. Ibn Khaldun believed even the minutest of facts should be scrutinised in
analysing historical events, since these were not simple phenomena, but complex. He
regarded history as far from easy to study, being “the knowledge of qualitative events and
their causes in depth.” Since metaphysical theories of history were in his view irrelevant, Ibn
Khaldun imported the idea of causality from the theoretical field of philosophy into the
practical arena of history by concentrating on the worldly ‘causes and reasons’ of historical
events. His method was directly inductive, relying on the senses and the intellect without
referring to any other norm. There was, in his view, a yawning void between the abstractive
and the experimental, the first being based on logic and second on the reality of the sensible
world. The subject of divine knowledge was an invisible spirit unable to be subjected to
experimentation and of which there was no sensory evidence, so there could be no certain
proof of it in this world. Since the sensible and the non-sensible thus had no terms in
common, Ibn Khaldun banished the abstractive or divine world from his logical syllogisms.
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This is precisely the approach taken by modern positivism, and even pragmatism followed in
Ibn Khaldun’s footsteps during its early stages.
In his diagnosis of “the causes of lies in history”, Ibn Khaldun identifies a number of reasons,
such as: sectarianism, misplaced trust in the sources, ignorance of some hidden purpose and
the wish to flatter rulers. Hence, many historians, copyists and tellers have made the mistake
of accepting untrue accounts or recording events that did not take place because they have
relied on report alone, without bothering to research its sources closely for truth or falsehood,
compare it with anything else or apply their own intelligence to it. In this they have showed
themselves to be poor historians. For example, al-Mas’udi and various other Arab historians
accepted that the Israelite armies led by the Prophet Moses numbered 600,000 or more men
aged twenty and upwards. If we examine this tale carefully it is clearly false. When Jacob and
his kinsmen entered Egypt there were only seventy of them. Only four generations separated
Jacob and Moses. Where, then, did Moses get this huge multitude of youths and men? The
Israeli themselves, moreover, reported that Solomon’s army numbered 12,000 and his horses
1400, while calling his kingdom the vigour of their state and an expansion of their reign. In
his prescription of “requirements for a historian”, Ibn Khaldun stated that several things were
essential if a historian were to be qualified to deal with historical events and stories:
1. An understanding of the rules of politics and the nature of people.
2. Knowledge of the natural environment and how it differs according to time and place.
3. Acquaintance with the social environments of the various different nations in terms of way
of life, morals, incomes, doctrines and so forth.
4. An understanding of the present time and an ability to compare it with the past.
5. Knowledge of the origins and motives of states and sects, their declared principles, their
rules and major events in their histories.
To achieve a critical understanding of historical events, then, the historian must study the
general circumstances of the period with which he is dealing and compare the particular
events in which he is interested. He should then explore any similar events that have taken
place at other periods along with the general circumstances of these periods. When he has
completed these two main stages he should be able to recognise events as reasonable and
probably true, or unacceptable and almost certainly false. Certain events need only be studied
separately, along with the general circumstances of their periods, to know which parts of
them must be true or false.
In his analysis of ‘the intellect’, Ibn Khaldun believes the intellect has limits it cannot exceed
and that these prevent it from reaching a complete understanding of God and His attributes.
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This is its reality, and man cannot upgrade it or increase its level of capability. Ibn Khaldun
insisted that the intellect could not be aware of “the reality of the soul and the divine” or of
anything else existing in the higher world, because it was incapable of reaching, knowing or
proving it. We can be aware only of what is material; if a thing is immaterial we can neither
prove it nor base any proof upon it. Ibn Khaldun offered the intellect little encouragement to
dwell on metaphysics, preferring to emulate al-Ghazali (1059-1111), by dealing a final and
near-fatal blow to philosophical thought by the Arabic-Islamic intellect. Nevertheless, it is
worth mentioning that in closing one door Ibn Khaldun threw open to the human mind an
entirely new one: the sociology and philosophy of history.
Since the 18th century, the Western world has taken Ibn Khaldun seriously, especially as his
scientific ideas were very much like those that were to develop much later on in human
history. He has, however, still not taken his rightful place as the founder of philosophy of
history and the pioneer of sociology, although translations of his historical and social treatises
have helped to some extent.
3.3.6 Let Us Sum Up
This lesson has portrayed a general overview of Muslim philosophy of history. It has touched
on various questions including its origin, development, and debates. We can highlight some
essential points here. First, it is important to really grasp the correct perspective in view of
understanding and differentiating between the terms Islamic and Muslim. In this lesson, we
have suggested that the term Muslim should be used as general term while the term Islamic
might be used in the appropriate circumstances. Second, the primary Islamic sources namely
the Qur’an and the sunnah are the chief sources and become the precept to the development
of historiographic ideas and tradition in Islam. Third, Muslim philosophy of history should be
understood as the attempt to inquire and grasp the very meaning and concept of history in
Islam based on the best interpretation of Islamic principles. Fourth, in Islam, history is
important because it serves both religious and social functions. History serves as source of
Islamic doctrines, law, and jurisprudence as well as ethical values. Fifth, although the Qur’an
comes with peculiar principles regarding history, philosophers and the historians developed
their own ideas and interpretation and were influenced by their own backgrounds and
circumstances. Sixth, Muslim philosophy of history in one way or another has also been
influenced by the previous ancient thoughts and traditions particularly that of the Greeks. We
also learnt the role played by Ibn Ishaq in consolidating the idea of history through the
history of Prophet and the sociological and anthropological approach of Ibn Khaldun towards
the objective critical understanding of history.
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1. Explain the basic idea of history in Islam
2. Explain the role of Ibn Khaldun in consolidating the history of Islam
3. Critically evaluate the Islamic concept of history
4. Explain the meaning and definition of Tarikh (history) in Islamic perspective
5. Write a brief note on Ibn Ishaq and his contribution to Sirah literature
Rosenthal, Franz, A History of Muslim Historiography, Edinburg University Press
Robinson, Chase, Islamic Historiography,Cambridge University Press
Stephen, Humprehys, Islamic History: A Framework for Enquiry, Princeton University Press
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Unit IV
Sociology and Psychology
i) Islamic Sociology: An Introduction
ii) Islamic Institution of Family and its Social Role
iii) Islamic Psychology: An Introduction
iv) Concept of Psyche in Islam
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Unit 4: Sociology and Psychology
Lesson 4.1: Islamic Sociology: An Introduction
Structure
4.1.1 Introduction
4.1.2 Objectives
4.1.3 Origin
4.1.4 Scope
4.1.5 Islamic Sociologists
4.1.5.1 Ibn Khaldun
4.1.5.2 Al-Biruni
4.1.5.3 Shah Wali-Ullah
4.1.5.4 Jamal al-Din Afghani
4.1.5.5 Dr. Ali Shariati
4.1.6 Let Us Sum Up
4.1.1 Introduction
Sociology is a broad subject and it becomes hard for the sociologist to define it. Sociology is
defined as the study of society and human social action. It mainly concerns with the social
rule which binds and separates different kind of people, groups, associations, institutions, etc.
and it also study the maturation of human social life. It is an astonishing and convincing
enterprise, as its subject matter is our own behavior as social beings. The scope of
sociological work is extremely broad, ranking from the analytic thinking of passing
encounters between individuals on the street to the investigation and scrutiny of global social
processes. We live in a society and thus have some knowledge and understanding of our
society. This knowledge is mainly acquired with our own observations, experiences, and
interactions. Though this knowledge is mostly correct, but it suffers some limitations, as it
often develops unconsciously with our subjective feelings, opinions, assumptions and
prejudices. Many people round the globe believe that there is a link between the physical
appearance of an individual and its characteristics like skin color, height, color of eyes and
hair on the one side and on the other side, intelligence, civilization, language, graphic
symbol, and moral values. Thus, some people are of the opinion that the white race is
superior to all other races, especially to blacks who have an innate deficiency in intelligence,
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linguistic and cultural and moral values. Similarly, in India the upper-caste Hindus
(Brahmans) have high status than the other castes (Kshastrias, Vashiyas and Shudhras). Such
beliefs and opinions have no scientific basis but emerged from false beliefs, assumptions and
stereotypes. Sociology emphasizes on the process of social interaction and effort to
understand and loosen the strength and dynamics of such beliefs and stereotypes. It also urges
to look the common understanding and assumptions with critical examinations. Sociology
demonstrates the need to get a much more liberal perspective of why we are as we are? why
we act as we do? It teaches us that what we consider as natural, inevitable, good or true may
not be such, and that the ‘givens’ of our life are strongly inclined by historical and social
forces. The practice of sociology involves the ability to think imaginatively and to detach
oneself from preconceived ideas about social life. The main concern of sociology is the
complex relationship between the individual and society. This relationship is paradoxical i.e.,
the individuals constitute and sustain society, and the society and its institutions like kinship,
marriage, religion and economic system existed before the individual is born and continue
even after his death, which constrain the behavior of an individuals. In simple words human
beings create society and they are created by it.
4.1.2 Objectives
To understand the history, importance, and scope of Islamic Sociology
To get familiar with some prominent Islamic sociologists and their contribution in the
field
4.1.3 Origin
The origin of sociology from the Western perspective lies between the late 19th century and
early 20th century in Europe, as a scholarly reflection on modernity and its process. It is
attributed to the French Sociologist and Social Philosopher Auguste Comte (1798-1857), who
coined the term “sociology” in 1838 from Prefix Latin socius/soci- means “companion”,
“associate”, “friend” or “ally” and suffix Greek logia/-ology means “study of speech”. Comte
hoped to unify all studies of humankind – including history, psychology and economics. He
originally used the term ‘social physics’, but some of his intellectual rivals at the time were
also making use of the term, thus he wanted to distinguish his own views from theirs, so he
coined the term ‘sociology’. The French Revolution and the growth of Industrialization make
significant changes in the traditional lives of the French society. Comte looks to create such a
science of society which could explain the laws of the social world just as the
natural/physical science explains the functioning of the physical world. Those social laws
will govern the social world like the natural laws govern the natural/physical world. Comte
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classifies human knowledge which passes through three stages: theology, metaphysics and
positivism. The other Western sociologist such as Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) gives his
famous principle of sociology “study social facts as things” by this he meant that the social
life could be analyzed as rigorously as objects or events in nature. Karl Marx (1818-1883)
contrasts sharply with Comte and Durkheim and talked about the downfalls of capitalism and
gives the theory of “class struggle”. His view point was grounded in what he called the
materialist conception of history. Max Weber (1864-1920) was another Western sociologist
born in Germany. His important element in sociological perspective was the idea of the
“Ideal type” i.e., concepts or analytical models that can be used to understand the world.
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) is known as the first woman sociologist and the author of
more than fifty books. She was the first to turn a sociological eye on previously ignored
issues, like marriage, children and race relations, domestic and religious life.
Among the classical founders of Western sociology, Comte, Durkheim, Marx, and Weber are
the most important and influential sociologist. Although the reflections of a sociological
nature are found in earlier times as before Auguste Comte and other Western sociologists.
The first systematic formulation of sociology is found in the works of 14th century North
African Muslim historian, philosopher, and sociologist, Ibn Khaldun.
Early Muslim sociologists were concerned about the challenges of social organization of
diverse people under the one common religious organization in the Islamic caliphate – the
Abbasid, the Mamluk’s of Egypt, and the Ottoman Caliphate. It was rooted in methods from
early Islamic philosophy and Islamic science and reflected the strong concern of Islam with
social cohesion. The main sources for them to solve the sociological issues like concept of
man, human nature, marriage, property rights, etc. were primary religious texts i.e., the
Quran, the traditions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and Jurisprudence. The famous Muslim
scholars who wrote about social issues and economics were IbnKhaldun (1332-1406), Abu
Hanifah (699-767), Abu Yusuf (731-798), Ishaq bin Ali al-Rahwi (854-931), Al-Farabi (873-
950), Qabus (d. 1012), Al-Biruni (973-1048), Ibn Sina (980-1037), Ibn Miskawayh (b. 1030),
Al-Ghazali (1058-1111), Al-Mawardi (1075-1158), Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201-1274), Shah
Wali-Ullah (1702-1763), Jamal al-Din Afghani (1838-1897), Dr. Ali Shariati (1933-1977),
and A.R. Momin.
4.1.4 Scope
The scope of the sociology of Islam is wide and encompasses Islam as a faith and the draft of
a social order, a civilization, and as the defining feature of a large segment of humanity that
constitutes nearly one-fourth of the global population. Islam as a faith is based on the
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exposition of beliefs, doctrines, norms and values, the Islamic view of human nature and the
social order, institutional structure and cultural patterns, which are mentioned in the well-
preserved textual tradition like the Quran, the recorded statements and precepts of Prophet
(Hadith), the exegetical and legal commentaries of the Quran, sociological study of the
methodology of Hadith literature, biographical and historical sources (Prophet, Companions
and Medina period), sociology of Islamic law, Islamic movements. In western perspective the
sociology and anthropology of Islam are generally viewed as the comparative study of
Muslim societies in an empiricist framework. As Riaz Hassan mentions, “the sociology of
Islam primarily refers to the empirical study of Muslim societies”. The sociology of Islam
encompasses the Islamic Great Tradition rooted in textual sources and highly significant in
the contemporary Muslim societies. The methodology for sociology of Islam is based on
various approaches, orientations, and techniques like textual study, comparative method, use
of historical and literary sources, oral traditions, analysis, participant observation, and field
work.
Religion as a social institution is an integrating force and an identity of adherence to a
society. It is a means for expressing collective beliefs and common values enhancing social
commitment and solidarity. Islam being the world’s second-largest religion after Christianity,
with more than 1.85 billion, believers, has been the hot debatable topic for sociologists. Islam
having the rich legacy of culture, civilization, language and ethics make imprints in every
country around the world. Islam is not a racial or parochial religion confined to a particular
race, tribe or people. Its teachings and principles are manifestly Universalist in character. The
institutions of Islam are highly helpful and purposeful in bringing a good and harmonious
society where all happily reside. The institution of Baitulmal (State Treasury) is governing to
uplift the poor and needy persons of the society. In Baitulmal the institution of zakah is a
great source of public economy and the compulsory levy on the wealth of a Muslim who is
rich in wealth and property. Zakah literally means growth, nourishment and purity. It is the
purification of wealth, heart, and self (Nafs). It is the best means to contribute towards social
development on equitable basis. The burdens of society and state are collectively shared by
its citizens, which results the diminution of socio-economic crisis. It also pays an opportunity
for weaker and poor sections of the society to become socially and economically productive.
The social order evolved by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) during the 7th century is a
hallmark in the world history. The society of Arabia before his Prophethood was based on
tribal setup with Sheikh as the source of law and the social authority to enforce. The Sheikh
was the judiciary and he would impose whatever he could find suitable for the sustenance of
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Arab customs and supremacy of his clan. The Arab society was divided in many social units
and several groups where in trying to manifest their hierarchy and legitimacy over the other
even at the cost of blood. The revelations of the Quran and the teachings of Prophet guided
for social homogeneity and preached the principle of justice (‘adl). The concept of ‘justice to
all’ was the core component of the model framed by the Quran and adopted by the Prophet.
The Muhajirun (emigrants), the Ansar (helpers) and the people of other faiths like Jews and
Christians lived together in Medina, to ensure social homogeneity, tying them with a unified
social bond, under the headship of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The social mechanism of
Islam fascinated elite and the deprived social classes to construct sound egalitarian norms.
The essence of justice to all enables human being to lead an admirable life and also
strengthening the bonds of human brotherhood and the social fabric. The Islamic message of
unifying human beings bridges the gap between rich and poor, high and low, rural and urban
and the Prophet endeavor to make a unified society which represented the equilibrium of the
social forces and guarantees the human welfare. The society intimates with the concepts of
tolerance and co-existence as the non-Muslim faction never thought themselves isolated or
ignored. The people of ahlal-Zimah (under protection) evolved with the spirit to treat them as
per the sanctity of their own religious scriptures. The tax like Jizyah collected to ensure their
protection and their share in the state affairs similar to the taxes like Zakah, ‘Ushr, etc., paid
by the Muslim citizens to the Central Treasury (Baitulmal). The gender discrimination and
the exploitation of the women as was practiced in the Arabia before Prophethood was
abolished and woman was given the status as a potent social force to secure his position, the
legal share in the property for her was also conformed in the Quran (Al-Quran: 4:7,11,12).
The Islamic social setup reflects the social justice with its basic principles like iman (faith),
amanah (trust) and falah (welfare).
4.1.5 Islamic Sociologists
The various Muslim sociologist played their role in bringing forward the social model as
framed by the Quran and adopted by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to ensure human
brotherhood and welfare of all based upon the concept of justice to all. They made their
efforts to present the true and real picture of Islam regarding the social, political, and
economic matters which was defamed and over shaded by various elements. Some of the
Muslim sociologists and their contributions in the field are mentioned below.
4.1.5.1 Ibn Khaldun(1332-1406)
Wali al-Din Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun popularly known as Ibn Khaldun was born in Tunis
in 1332, in an Arab Muslim family. His monumental work, history of mankind known as
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Kitab al-Ibar is based on his personal observations and reflections. In its Muqaddimah
(Prolegomena), he discussed on the sociological themes like the influence of environmental
conditions on society and human character, different forms of political organization and
government, differences and characteristics of rural and urban populations, kinship, social
solidarity, etc. The information contained in Muqaddimah has anticipated and influenced
numerous modern theorists as well as classical sociologists. He discussed the theories on
society, the basis of sovereignty or asabiyah, the rise and fall of states, and other themes of
sociological nature.
Ibn Khaldun in ilm al-umran (science of culture) describes the new science of human social
organization now termed as ‘sociology’. Its subjects matter is the human civilization, the
primitive societies, the states, cities, crafts, occupations, etc. It also discusses the conditions
that attach themselves to the essence of civilization, one after the other. He divided the
society into badawa (rural) and hadara (urban) societies. He briefly describes the rural
society as the ‘inhabitants of the desert’ and urban as the ‘inhabitants of cities’. The badawa
are attached to the desert as they have agrarian life style. They are nomad or savages people
and represent the primary phase of social organization. The hadara lives in cities constitute
countries and their economic arrangement is rendered with commerce and craft, in addition to
agriculture and husbandry. They observed the high standard of life in terms of comfort and
luxury and they represent the secondary phase of social organization. The badawa people are
rough, savage and uncultured however they are hardly frugal, uncorrupt in morals, freedom
lovers and self reliant while as the hadara are the seats of craft, sciences, arts and culture but
are highly corrupt and dependent.
Ibn Khaldun gives the social conflict theory in which he talks about the rise and fall of
different societies and civilizations. The conflict exists as the consistent element between the
rural and the urban societies. He finds the basis of social conflict in the social solidarity
(asabiyah), which helps nomads to gain power as they conquer upon the highly civilized and
developed cities. Asabiyah is expressed by means of associative sentiments, unity of purpose,
community of social and economic interests, and oneness of feelings and emotions. The
societies transform from primitive stage to civilized stage i.e., from rural to urban. Ibn
Khaldun gives the three stages of rise and fall of societies Bedouin to Sedentary and ends at
Senility.
4.1.5.2 Al-Biruni (973-1048)
Abu Rayhan al-Biruni was a polymath with wide ranging interests in astronomy, physics,
mathematics, geography, history and comparative religion. His magnum opus Kitabal-Hind
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written between 1017 and 1031 is an encyclopedic compendium on Indian society, culture
and religion. He travelled to India stayed for almost 13 years and was deeply inclined to its
sacred language, religious beliefs and philosophy of Hinduism.
4.1.5.3 Shah Wali-Ullah (1702-1763)
Shah wali-ullah made quite serious attempt to find out the relationship between social, ethical
and economic systems in his famous book Hujjat al-Allah al-Balighah. According to him,
spirituality has two aspects; one is a personal relation of human being with God, another is
man’s relation to his fellow-beings and no human being is fully spiritual who seeks only his
own personal salvation in isolation from society. It is only in the social setup that the
spirituality of an individual is expressed. He further discussed the social issues in his
civilizational devices (Irtifaqat).
4.1.5.4 Jamal al-Din Afghani (1838-1897)
Jamal al-Din Afghani is unique among the Muslim thinkers of the modern age who continues
to serve as a source of inspiration for many Muslim intellectuals, both traditional and
modern, as well as the Muslim political elite of present day, in general. His views on
individual and society and their mutual relationship are commendable. He discusses the rights
and responsibilities of an individual towards society and the guidance of nature towards the
services of society. His views are more empirical than idealistic. In the ethical ideas of
Afghani the social values were placed above everything while judging individual conduct.
The individual is the basic and founding stone on which the whole building of society rests.
As far as the basic instincts are concerned the human being is not superior to other animals or
species, it is only his urge to be a noble and civilized which shapes his social personality.
Human being is not nature but every where he is bound with nature. Afghani find out that the
blood ties gets strength from one’s urge to remain close with those who are essential for the
fulfillment of basic needs. Thus, the existence of a family institution is directly a result of
social necessity and these ties operate until the necessities are there. These social necessities
govern all human relations by a continual practice under the stable social pressure altered into
deep-rooted habits. The human relations based upon the institution of family, tribe or nation
greatly influence in making individual personality and behavior. The analysis of society by
Afghani is found in his essay “al-sana‘ah” (craftsmanship) in which he discussed the
evolution of human being from self-centered individualist to a coordinated social personality.
He emphasize on the social nature of human beings and notes that human being is not
descended from the heaven but one of the creatures living on earth. Ancient human being
lived the life like wilds depend upon the trees, taking shelter in the caves and without any
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crafts and arts. Due to the use of reason and intellect, the human being stepped forward
towards a civilized life and marched towards progress with the help of arts and crafts. He
believed that the human actions and behavior are performed under the supervision of reason.
An individual is not able to meet his needs single-handedly and is dependent on other
individuals to perform their respective roles and gives birth to various social organizations.
Afghani describes society as like human body, having various organs and all of them
functioning for the maintenance of the whole body but every organ individually gets
benefited. If sometimes any organ is isolated from the body or works against the team, it
actually is unconsciously destroying his existence. Thus every individual should work for the
progress and development of his society, as the society exists he will exist.
4.1.5.5 Dr. Ali Shariati (1933-1977)
Dr. Ali Shariati was an outstanding Muslim intellectual and a great contributor towards
Political, Economic and Social fields. His sociological ideas conceptualize towards the
understanding of Islam, Oneness of God (Tawhid), Man, Modernization, Marxism and
Historical events. The nature of his analysis was eclectic and his methods of investigating
religion, thought and adoption was neutral and impartial. He was successful in bringing forth
the real characteristics of Islamic civilization which contradictory to the European and
Western frame of presenting the orthodox Muslim identity. His sociological ideas are based
on the ideology of Tawhid – “a metaphysical/philosophical world view that observes the
universe as one living organism imbued with ‘Self-Consciousness’ and ‘Will’ evolving a
predetermined direction towards an utopian goal”. It signifies that there is no scope for
dichotomies like ‘unity in Trinity’ of the three hypostases: God, Nature and Human. Humans
have the basic responsibility to recognize and accept the reality of Tawhid.
Shariati posits the two dimensional nature of human being as his dialectical reality created of
‘clay’ and ‘spirit’, this contradiction caused the inward struggle and constant movement. The
clay symbolizes stagnation and spirit movement towards perfection. Man’s nature (Fitra) lies
between two opposite poles, a combination that creates an evolutionary movement of human
being towards perception. He is the vicegerent (Khalifah) of God, superior to other creatures,
and has been given the knowledge of names which even angles do not know. He derives and
claims his supremacy and divinity on the basis of ‘knowledge’. Shariati’s ‘Ideal Man’ is one
whose spirit overcomes clay. He is one who is the combination of a philosopher, politician,
soldier, and sufi, synchronizing all qualities at once. He is one who holds the sword of a
Caeser in his hand; heart of Jesus in his breast; thinks with the brain of Socrates and has God
with the heart of Hallaj.
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Shariati’s lectures and discourses where collected in a book namely “On the Sociology of
Islam (1979)” which shows that the fundamental sources of inspiration in his thoughts were
the Quran and Prophet’s Sunnah. He believed that the knowledge including sociological
knowledge should be imbued with a concern of social change, reconstruction and human
welfare.
4.1.6 Let Us Sum Up
It is clear from the above discussion that Sociology can be well studied from an Islamic
perspective. Islam concerns itself with the wellbeing of humans in both their individual and
social life. Therefore, it is quite obvious that a considerable number of Islamic teachings deal
with the different aspects of human social life. Islam stresses the maintenance of cohesion of
social life in all the more emphatic terms. It regards violating the rights of fellow human
beings as unpardonable crime which will not be forgiven even by the creator unless forgiven
by the victim. Being inspired by the Islamic emphasis on cohesive and cooperative social life,
eminent Muslim scholars throughout history have grappled with the multiple aspects of
human society. The Quranic social teachings and Prophetic deliberations coupled with the
Muslim scholarship on society and its related aspects can be well-integrated to formulate
Islamic Sociology.
1. Elaborate on the sociological thought of Ibn Khaldun and Dr. Ali Shariati
2. Describe the origin and scope of Sociology in Islam
1. What is meant by Islamic Sociology?
2. Write the sociological thought of Jamal al-Din Afghani
Ahmad, Khurshid, Family Life in Islam, London: Islamic Foundation, 1974
Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, 5th Edition, UK: Polity Press Cambridge, 2006
Mawdudi, S.A.A., Social System of Islam, Lahore: Islamic Publication, 1997
Momin, A.R., (ed.), Sociology in Islamic Perspective: Selected Readings, New Delhi:
Institute of Objective Studies, 2017
Siddiqui, Muhammad Iqbal, The Family Laws of Islam, New Delhi: Adam Publishers, 2010
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Lesson 4.2: Islamic Institution of Family and its Social Rule
Structure
4.2.1 Introduction
4.2.2 Objectives
4.2.3 Family
4.2.4 Marriage
4.2.5 Polygamy
4.2.6 Divorce
4.2.7 Let Us Sum Up
4.2.1 Introduction
The family is one of the central institutions of human society and is universally found across
the world; however, there are significant variations in the form, structure and function. There
are two types of family structure: joint family and nuclear family. The extended/joint family
comprises of two or more married brothers or cousins living together in the same household
with their parents, unmarried brothers and sisters and their own children; and the nuclear
family consists of a married couple and their children. All societies around the world in past
and in present regulate sexual relations through the institution of marriage. There are
enormous variations in the structure, type and patterns of marriage and in the customs, rituals
and ceremonies that are associated with marriage. Marriage is a union of a man and woman
which is socially and legally approved and the offspring form the union are considered
legitimate.
4.2.2 Objectives
To understand the importance of the Institution of family in Islam
To get familiar with the role the family and marriage play in Muslim society
To know about various dimensions associated with marriage in Islam
4.2.3 Family
Family is an important and basic institution in social system of Islam. Islam guides human
beings here in the matters which are related to social structure like family, marriage, divorce,
etc. Regarding the significance of sex the first thing that has been stated and explained in this
connection is “All things We made in pairs” (Al-Quran: 51:49) this verse refers the
universality of the sex-law and the Master of the universe Himself expose the secret of His
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Creation. The universe has been designed in relationship with pairs. It implies that one
partner in the pair should be active and the other receptive and passive. This relationship is
the basic which give rise to all other relations functioning and operating in the different
societies of the world. The existence of both active and passive partners is equally important.
But by nature active is superior to passive. This superiority is not due to any merit in
masculinity against any demerit in femininity. It is rather due to the fact of possessing natural
qualities of dominance, power, responsibility and authority. Just as the existence of both
active and passive partners is necessary likewise it is necessary that the active partner should
be dominant and able to produce the desired effect. There are certain innate abilities and traits
in the men (active partner) of which he has been made the head of a family unit. For example,
a man is much more gifted innately to protect and to defend himself and to earn livelihood
and to take the initiative than a woman. It should be appreciated here that the superiority men
have over women is not absolute; it is only in certain spheres- spheres which entitle men to
become head of the family. There are certain other spheres like take care of household affairs,
look after children, etc. in which women are more superior to men. Man is responsible for its
families conduct and affairs. The wife (passive partner) and the children are obligatory to
obey him, provided that he does not involve them in the disobedience of Allah and His
Prophet Muhammad (SAW). He is responsible for earning a living for the family and
providing the necessities of life. Husband beats the financial responsibility for the wife. It is
his obligation to earn and fulfill the needs of his wife and children. In the Quran (4:34) Allah
Says, “Men are the governors of the affairs of women because Allah has made men superior
to women and because men spend of their wealth on them”, “Virtuous women are obedient,
and guard their (husbands) rights carefully in their absence under the care and watch of
Allah”. The family in Islam has been organized in such a way as to governor, the ruler and
the ruled not like the master and the slave.
Social structure in Islam has been constructed upon the Quranic concept of Justice,
benevolence and welfare. Islam disapproves celibacy and approves marriage as a religious
and moral obligation for social necessity. It is a means to emotional fulfillment and sexual
gratification, legitimate procreation, inter-familial alliance and community solidarity.
4.2.4 Marriage
The most important challenge and problem of social life is how to regulate the sexual urge
into a social system and how to prevent it from running like wilds. In order to curb the
problem and accept the challenge, Islam has organized the relation between the husband and
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the wife and reduced them to a system. Islam produces the laws and procedure to satisfy ones
sexual urge through a legitimate way i.e., system of Nikah (Marriage).
Marriage (Nikah) is an important aspect of family for developing and balancing the social
system. Allah says in the Quran, “And marries those among you who are single, and those
who have the capability for marriage among your slaves, male or female. If they are poor,
Allah will give them means out of His grace. Allah is ample-giving and He knows all things.
(Al-Quran: 24:32). If marriage is somehow impossible, then this cannot be a permit for
gratifying one’s sexual desire without entering into the marital bond. Marriage is an open
declaration of a contract by a man and woman to live permanently as husband and wife. It is
declared in the presence of people through a responsible personality with great solemnity and
gravity after he delivers a sermon to counsel and guide them. It is evident from the divine
scriptures that this way was adopted from the very birth of human beings on this earth.
Islam enlists some kind of women with whom one cannot marry and whom marriage has
been prohibited, in simple words, Islam enlists the prohibited relations – Muharramat. Begins
with the step mother and ends with women who are married to someone and in between these
two are based on the three bases of relationship: Lineage, Fosterage and Marriage. They are:
women whom your father married, your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your maternal
and paternal aunts, the daughters of your brothers and sisters, your mothers who have suckled
you and sisters through fosterage, mothers of your wives, your step-daughters raised under
you of your wives with whom you have lain, wives of your real sons and two sisters in
wedlock at the same time, and women already married (in married life). (Al-Quran: 4:22-4).
The marriage (Nikah) bounds with some conditions in Islamic society. First, a Nikah should
be conducted through wealth – which here refers to the dower. The Quran emphasizes that
Allah has ordained this payment as essential pre-requisite of marriage and immediate
completion of this obligation if someone has not done yet. But the payment is not certain and
fixed, the husband and his wife can mutually agree the amount as well as the time of its
payment. The Shariah has not fixed any amount for the dower. It has been left to the norms
and traditions of a society and to the discretion of the people. Second condition is chastity.
No adulterer has the right to marry a chaste woman and no adulteress has the right to marry a
chaste man, except if the matter has not gone to court and the two purify themselves of this
sin by sincere repentance (Al-Quran: 24:3). The sanctity of the institution of marriage takes
place with the consent and presence of the elders of the family. There is no doubt that the
decision of marriage is primarily taken by the concerned man and woman. However, if the
marriage does not take place through the consent of the guardians or the elders of the family,
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then there must be a solid reason for this. In the absence of solid reason a state has the power
and authority to stop such kind of marriages.
The Shari‘ah, by enjoining these injunctions, wants to close all the ways leading to sexual
anarchy, and intends to restrict sexual relation to marriage only. This is the way for human
being to protect himself against all sorts of unnatural, self-created sexual excitements and to
conserve his energy for the service of society. It desires that the sexual love and attraction
which God has created in every man and woman for the purpose of running this universe
should be exclusively employed in creating and establishing the family. Islam wants to
consolidate the family. The principles of justice and fairly that Islam adopted while
determining the rights of the husband and the wife should be put to adopt. Islam tries to adopt
the Self-purification, Punitive Laws and Preventive Measures for safeguarding the social
system. By self-purification human being automatically begins to follow and obey the rules
of the system, whether there be the external force or not, no one compel him to adopt. The
punitive laws prevent the commission of all such crimes as may disintegrate the system or
destroy any of its bases. The preventive measures help to organize social life in such a
manner that it safeguarded against all sorts of unnatural, wild and artificial excitements of
sexual urge.
4.2.5 Polygamy
Polygamy means a man or woman having more than one spouse. It is further divided into
Polygyny and Polyandry. Polygyny is that in which a man has more than one wife at a time
and Polyandry is that in which a woman has more than one husband. Polygyny has been
widely prevalent across large parts of the world since ancient times. Polyandry marriages are
rather exceptional and rarely existed in parts of India, Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet and some parts of
Siberia. Islam prohibits Polyandry and accepts only Polygyny i.e., Islam approves that only
men can marry more than one wife at a time. It is likely to mention here that, Allah addresses
the guardians of the orphans to marry their mothers who are lawful to them in order to
protecting the rights of the orphans and taking care of their wealth and property (Al-Quran:
4:3-4). But it is evident from the explanation of these verses of the Quran that it is not
primarily revealed to state any directive regarding polygyny as they are actually revealed to
make use of the pre-existing practice of polygyny in Arabia for the welfare of the orphans. In
another place, the Quran clearly alluded to the fact that as per the norms of human nature, the
real benefits and advantages of the institution of family manifest themselves in a
monogamous family. It is stated that the father of mankind; Adam (ASW) was blessed with
one wife. It is basically social, psychological, political and cultural needs from which arise
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the need for polygyny. Such needs existed in various societies to different extent. Muslims
are directed to make use of this practice to solve a social problem that would arise from time
to time. However, it has been made conditional upon two things: (a) for an objective of the
welfare of orphans, a person cannot marry more than four wives; (b) if a person is not able to
deal justly with all four wives he should not marry more than one.
4.2.6 Divorce
Divorce is the another component of Institution of family which means separation from one
another i.e., when it becomes impossible for a husband and wife to get along with one
another, there exists in all divine religions the option of separation. It was mentioned in the
early Abrahamic faiths and Islam also revealed the laws of divorce. In religious terminology,
it is called talaq (divorce). In Surah Talaq, the Almighty Allah has revived with certain
additions and amendments that very law. The other details of this law are also mentioned in
Surah Baqarah and Surah Ahzab. Before circumstances reach to such extent that the divorce
remains the only option, one should have intense desire to keep intact the marital relationship
as far as possible. However, if all efforts of reformation failed then Allah directs Muslims to
make the last attempt for the survival of this relationship i.e., the relatives of the couple, their
clan and tribe and other well wishers should come forward and use their influence to set right
the situation. One arbitrator from the husband’s family side and one from the wife’s family
side, and they should try to reconcile the two. If this does not work then the divorce should be
made by following the procedure mentioned in the Quran. Whether a husband divorces with
his own decision or does so at the demand of wife, this procedure should be followed.
Consideration of ‘iddat (waiting period), until this period expires the husband has right to
take back his wife (ruju‘). If he does not take back his wife within the period of ‘iddat then
the relationship of wedlock will cease to exist. Either retain them with kindness or let them
go with kindness… (Al-Quran: 2:231). If a husband revokes his decision within the period of
‘iddat, the woman will continue to remain his wife, but he can exercise this right only two
times in his life to the same wife. However, once he used this authority twice his wife would
be permanently separated from him except if she marries some other person and he then also
divorces her with the same procedure (Al-Quran: 2:230,232). Whether the husband decides to
divorce his wife or take her back, in both cases the Quran directs him to witness two Muslims
on his decision (Al-Quran: 65:2). This is the correct way of divorce and the decisions shall
stand legally implemented.
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4.2.7 Let Us Sum Up
The institution of family is the bedrock of both human society as well as civilization. Islam
lays strong emphasis on consolidating this vital social institution so that the individual
realizes his full potential in all its probability. Several Quranic verses deals with the
regulation of family life and family issues. Family matters such as marriage, divorce, kinship,
etc. have been addressed and explained in the sources of Islam including the scholarly
interpretations of Muslim luminaries. The Islamic concept of family, and Islamic teachings
on family life are persuasive enough to produce such citizens who are all the more beneficial
for whole humanity.
1. Explain the institution of family and its social role in Islam
2. Describe the meaning and importance of Nikah in Islam
3. Discuss briefly why Islam allows polygamy only
4. Write a short note on Divorce in Islam
4.2.9 Suggested Reading
Ahmad, Khurshid, Family Life in Islam, London: Islamic Foundation, 1974
Ghamidi, J.A., Islam: A Comprehensive Introduction, English Translation of Mizan by
Shehzad Saleem, Lahore: Al-Mawrid. 1990
Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, 5th Edition, UK: Polity Press Cambridge, 2006
Islam and Civilizational Renewal, Vol.3, No. 1, 2011, International Institute of Advanced
Malaysia: Islamic Studies (IAIS). (http://www.icrjournal.org/icr/index.php/icr/issue/view/3)
Mawdudi, S.A.A., Social System of Islam, Lahore: Islamic Publication, 1997
Momin, A.R., (ed.), Sociology in Islamic Perspective: Selected Readings, New Delhi:
Institute of Objective Studies, 2017
Siddiqui, Muhammad Iqbal, The Family Laws of Islam, New Delhi: Adam Publishers, 2010
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Lesson 4.3: Islamic Psychology: An Introduction
Structure
4.3.1 Introduction
4.3.2 Objectives
4.3.3 Origin and Development
4.3.4 Islamic Psychology
4.3.5 Nature of Human Beings
4.3.6 Physical and Spiritual Practices
4.3.7 Let Us Sum Up
4.3.1 Introduction
Psychology is a science which studies mental processes, experiences and behavior in
different contexts. We use our mental processes when we think or try to solve a problem, to
know or remember something. It is an internal, subjective, unobservable component, like
thoughts, beliefs, feelings, sensations, perceptions, etc. Behavior is considered to be anything
that an individual does, or any action that can be observed by others. The goals behind the
subject are generally to describe, explain, predict, and control human behavior, mental
processes, and emotions of a human being. It has been defined as the science of soul, mind,
consciousness, and behavior. In 1590 Rudolf Goeckle used the word ‘Psychology’. The
word Psychology is derived from the combination of Greek words “Psyche” means “Soul”
and “Logos” means “Discursive Knowledge” , thus Psychology literally means the “Science
of the Soul” which latter was substituted with more comprehensive way as “Science of the
Mind”. The science of psychology works on the principle that behavior is a result of cause
and effect, which leads to determinism versus freedom, and whether human is solely
responsible for his own actions. Most of the psychologists believe that the reason behind the
behavior of human beings is their nature and that human being is certainly limited in his own
free will. The scientific explanation of human behavior poses a challenge for those offering
explanations under religious concepts for human behavior, including the exercise of “free
will”.
4.3.2 Objectives
To get familiar with the Islamic concept of Psychology
To understand various dimensions and practices of Islamic Psychology
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4.3.3 Origin and Development
The origin of the Western Psychology emerged from various disciplines. In the 14th century
CE, psychologia referred to a branch of pneumatology (the science of spiritual beings and
substances). In the 16th century, a new term anthropologia was added which studied the
science of persons and was divided into psychologia (the study of the human mind) and
somatologia (the study of human body). Later in the 18th century, distinguish between
rational and empirical psychology by Von Wolff paved the way of scientific psychology.
Modern psychology studied and treated humans within the purview of the Western
materialistic worldview, primarily seen as a material being. The spiritual entity or component
of human beings is dispelled or reduced in modern/western psychology. As its presence
cannot be established within the standards of scientific observations/experimentation and in
more suitable way it is called scientism (the mad worship of science). Sigmund Freud and
Skinner both rejected the notion of transcendental human nature as unnecessary and insisted
that transcendental concepts of purpose, attitude, value and the like are pre-scientific.
The Islamic view about the world is totally opposed to the Western materialistic worldview.
In Islam human beings and other creatures of the universe are created by Almighty Allah.
Not only created it alone but also solely sustains and governs it. Human being has divine and
transcendental purpose as he shall be resurrected in the Hereafter and is accountable for his
life of this world. Through an Islamic perspective, human being has a dualistic nature as it is
made of two components – matter and spirit. He should strive for the betterment of both in a
balanced way and the Islamic Law (Jurisprudence) has also been Divinely formulated so that
this balance should be maintained. Thus there is an urgent need for developing Islamic
Psychology in the contemporary times whose paradigms, principles, methodologies, and
conceptual/theoretical frameworks must evolve from the Islamic worldview. The classical
Muslim psychological concepts by classical Muslim scholars are discussed under distinct
disciplines. Their psychological views are scattered in various works that deal with ethics,
aqidah and fiqh, like the works of Al-Mawardi – Adab al-Din wa al-Dunya; Ibn Al-Qayim –
Ma’arij al-Salikin; and Al-Ghazzali – Ihya’ Ulum al-Din. Hujjat Allah al-Ballighah and Al-
Budur al-Bazighah the two seminal works of Shah Wali-u-Allah have also a good concern
with Human psychology.
4.3.4 Islamic Psychology
Islam is the way of life having a comprehensive model for human beings which is
incorporated with the spiritual, psychological, emotional and social aspects. The study of the
soul; the ensuing behavioral, emotional, and mental process; and both seen and unseen
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aspects that influence elements are the issues of Islamic psychology. The soul is the key
element of life drives the behavior, emotions, and mental process in humans. The fitrah and
the pledge of monotheism inscribed on each soul whether he is a Muslim or not. The true
nature of soul is spiritual and requires the spiritual bond with the Creator, just as the body
requires the food and water to live. Without this bond the soul will suffer anxiety, depression
and despair. The key to ones sound mental health and well being is in the submission to Allah
– the Almighty and to subsequently purifying ones soul. Islamic psychology conceptualizes
that both seen and unseen world influences the humans. The contemporary/modern
psychological theories are concerned with the seen world which includes parents, family
members, peer groups, teachers, communities, media and so on. While as the Islamic
psychology adds the unseen world also to explain the human nature. Modern psychology is
broadly concerned with the study of behavior. Thinking is a form of behavior, so is
remembering, or writing, or any other form of activity performed by human, be it simple or
complex, concerned with worship or with common transactions. The behavior of human, his
education, development, and change is the objective of divine messages that indicate the
worship of the Creator. The study of this behavior by observation, experimentation, analysis,
and induction is the concern of various branches of psychology. The Quran is concerned,
from beginning to end, with the behavior of human beings in this world, and with his destiny
in the hereafter (depending on his behavior). The main source of knowledge and information
through Islamic perspective is the revelation from God–primary and fundamental source of
understanding. It is possible only through revelation that we can assume and comprehend the
true nature of the soul and the unseen world.
Islamic psychology is the realization of oneness of God–tawhid. To understand the human’s
inner self-spirit, soul and heart are the main concerns of Islamic psychology. The two
dimensions of Islam inner (batin) and outer (zahir), both are the subject of psychology. The
inner (batin) dimension has four aspects: spirit, soul, heart, and intellect. Islamic psychology
is based on knowledge and principle of guidance practiced and constituted in the divine law.
Knowledge of self is main domain of the psychology. Islamic psychology relies on the
Quranic teachings and principles for guidance, to which all aspects of human self and
personality should be addressed. Islam states that the natural position of human being is a
positive and good when one submit to God. Spirituality of a human being influences the all
aspects of human behavior and experience. It formed the strong relationship between the
Human being and God with believing in sacredness, unity, and transformation. All souls or
spirits pledged with God before the existence of earth/universe and acknowledged Him as
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their Lord (Al-Quran: 7:172). Therefore, the spiritual aspect of every human being
experienced the divine. Spiritual or religious aspect suggests what is right and what
considered as wrong and emphasis more on the inner experience than the external. Through
Islamic view the Nafs (self) has three dimensions: Nafs ammara; Nafs awwama; and Nafs
mutma‘inna. For the development of personality and achieve self harmony the balancing of
these three dimensions have a vital importance. The aim of Islamic psychology is to
understand the different aspects of humans and the spiritual paths which establish strong
relationship with our Lord and this begin with the meaning of life and purpose of life. The
development of self is based on the cultivation of values and eradication of evils and for that
the Quran and the teachings of Prophet Mohammad (SAW) are the fundamental sources.
4.3.5 Nature of Human Beings
Human beings are composed of Ruh (Soul); Qalb (Self); Nafs (Ego/Psyche) and Body.
Human being is the central theme and concern of the entire process of creation. Some
scholars are of the view that the central idea of Quran is human being. Ruh (Soul) used in the
Quran referring various ways like for metaphysical entities such as angels, revelation or
divine inspiration and also used to signify the inner human nature or soul which maintains
life to the mind and body of the humans. Human beings experiences many changes in his soul
as well as in body and not remain in the same state. Human has the nature to change and
develop his mental capability which is essential need for his survival. The human beings
composition is of ten elements; five of which is material and five is non-material. The
material elements include four basic elements and Nafs (Ego/Psyche) and the non-material
elements are: Qalb (Self); Ruh (Soul); Sirre Khafi (Hidden); and Sacrament. The terms ruh,
qalb, nafs and aql are mentioned in the Quran and referred as the various dimension of
human’s inner self. In order to understand the nature of human being these concepts should
be explained and explored in depth in the light of the Quran. Human being has a unique
position and place in the universe as he has been created to be different, these differences has
been mentioned number of times in the Quran.
The first and foremost concept of the inner nature of human being is Ruh (Spirit). In Quran
while referring to various metaphysical varieties like angels, revelation or divine aspiration,
the word Ruh has been mentioned. During the time of Prophet Mohammad (SAW) the
question was raised, what is Ruh? and the Prophet in reply recites some verses of the Quran:
They ask thee concerning ‘The ruh’
Say: The ruh is from the command of my Lord… (Al-Quran: 17:85)
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However, if we look into the other sections of the Quran, we will find some understanding
about the nature of human. In Surat al-Hijr Allah says,
Behold! Thy Lord said to the angels:
I am about to create human, from sounding clay,
from mud, molded into shape; when I have fashioned him
and breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down in obeisance unto him…
(Al-Quran: 15:28-9)
The spirit is a mediator between the Divine Being and the conditioned universe. According to
Ibn’ Arabi the uncreated aspect of ruh present in human being is essentially one with God.
Hence human being is the perfect manifestation of divine attributes and names. The Sufis
called human being (ruh) the Divine Form (al-surah al-ilahiyah) as the Prophet Mohammad
(SAW) saying is, ‘God created Adam in His form’. The Divine nature becomes the content of
human beings nature and human becomes His essential form. Al-Ghazzali compares Pure
Being to sun and the human spirit to the elemental light; Pure Being is related to ruh as sun is
related to elemental light. This ray of the Divine Sun proceeded from the command of God
(Al-Quran: 17:85). The ruh is a life-force which imparts power to the body comparing it to
the radiation of light from a lamp which illumines the body. Thus, it is a spiritual principle
which vitalizes the body and controls it. He graded the human soul into four levels: sensory
soul, imaginative soul, rational soul and transcendental soul. He mostly refers to ruh in
symbolic terms and uses the analogy of life as most Sufi thinkers did. Sheikh Shihab al-Din
al Suhrawardi also designated the ruh as a ray of the Divine intellect. Al-Razi believes the
ruh is eternal and the intellect of human being created from the Divine substance. Ibn
Miskawayh declares that the essence of the soul is motion and this motion is of two kinds:
one is towards intellect and other towards matter. Sadr al-Din Shirazi or Mulla Sadra argues
that the relationship of the soul to the body is not like that of any ordinary physical form to its
matter as Ibn Sina views. He says that the soul is fully realized state of a material body so far
as it operates through its ‘organs’. The word ‘organs’ does not mean physical organs but the
faculties or powers through which the soul works such as appetite, nutrition and digestion. It
highlights that the Sadra is talking about nafs and not of ruh and he believes in oneness of the
Being and sees ruh as a single entity which is manifested at different levels.
Self has been the subject of serious thinking and deep speculation for all the great
psychologists. “Know thyself” has been the thinking of many philosophers amongst the
ancient and as well as the modern philosophers and psychologists. A famous Islamic saying
is that, “He who knows the ‘self’ knows his Lord”. Al-Ghazali provided the concrete and
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complete understanding of the concept of self. According to him the conception of the self is
expressed in Arabic by four different terms: Aql (intellect, reason), Nafs (desire, nature), Ruh
(soul) and Qalb (heart). The self fulfills the bodily needs through the motor (Muharrika) and
sensory (Mudrika) powers. The two special tendencies are appetite (al-quwwat al-
shahwaniyya) and anger (al-quwwat al-ghadabiyya). The former urges the body to strive for
and obtain what is good for it. It includes hunger, thirst, sexual craving, etc. the latter urges
the body to avoid or repel what is harmful to it. There are mainly six powers in the Self of
human, they are appetite, anger, impulse, apprehension, intellect and will. The human soul is
capable of attaining the perfection by passing through some following stages of development:
sensuous (Mahsusat), imaginative (Mutakhayyalat), instinctive (Muhimat), rational
(Ma’qulat) and the divine. The human soul is gifted with knowledge and will. Knowledge
can be acquired through imitation following, observation, logical reasoning, contemplation
and intuition. Perfect knowledge is possessed only by God, so the more one’s knowledge is
true and complete, the more one approaches God.
The universe has been created with purpose and human being has a supreme purpose to
realize the morals as being the most dignified of all the creation. Human being has to adopt
the qualities which develop his morals like al-Munjiyat (the redeeming qualities) or al-
Fadai’l (virtues), and refrain from al-Muhlikat (the destructive qualities) or al-Radhai’l
(vices) which hinder it. The most important virtue is the love and obedience of God.
Character is not identified by action or knowledge or talent as none of them is in itself good
or bad. They are the functions of the character and it does not always express itself in action.
Character is inherent and is permanent not incidental or momentary. Good character is the
beauty of the soul and like the beauty of the body depends on the harmonious development of
all its elements. Fundamental elements of the character are wisdom (Aql or Hikmah), self-
assertion (Ghadab), and appetite (Shahwa). These elements must work together with
harmony and correct proportion. The justice (Adl) is the power which directs these elements
to achieve the means. Al-Ghazali is of the opinion that the human beings character can be
changed and improved as it possesses some degree of free will. He argues that Khulq
(character) is an expression of inner form of human being just as Khalq (the physical form)
expresses the outer form. He says human beings only regulates and disciplines his passions
but not root them out. In order to achieve the moral end one has to build up a good character
which inculcates the adoption of virtues and repudiation of vices. God sends Prophets with an
immediate aim of building the character of their followers by leading them to the knowledge
of God.
214
Heart (Qalb) plays significant role in human psychology. In one of the sayings of Prophet
Muhammad (SAW), Heart is not merely a physical organ that pumps blood throughout the
body; it also has a prominent spiritual role. If the heart is sound, the rest of the body will be
sound, and the actions of the body will be pure and if the heart is diseased the body will lead
unhealthy actions, vices and misbehaved. Qalb mentioned in the Quran many times refers to
itself or to the chest that contains it. The root of the word ‘qalb’ refers to changing quickly or
often. It does not remain constant or static, its changing nature is related to its levels of faith
(Imaan). It is a ‘super-sensory organ’ that is cognizant of metaphysical truths. Heat keeps
both emotions and reasoning qualities, it is interconnected with the soul. The three main
types of hearts are the healthy heart, the dead heart and the sick or defective heart. The
healthy heart is free from the false desires and the desires which oppose the commands of
God. It whole heartedly relies on Allah (God) alone and this type of heart is living, healthy
and gentle heart (Al-Quran: 26:88-89). The healthy heart is the peaceful and comfortable
heart free from the depression, anxiety and chaos. The dead heart is away from the path of
truthfulness and is ignorant of its Creator, the Lord. It is the follower of the false beliefs and
desires and is depth in the worldly pleasures. They reject the guidelines of the God which
revealed unto them (Al-Quran: 39:45; 2:7, 74). The dead heart is suffering from anxiety,
pride, depression, and chaos. The third type is the sick heart which is between the healthy and
dead hearts. It is defective but remains some hope and life. Its condition lies between the
personal desires/material world desires and love/faith/trust in God. His heart is continuously
fighting internally for its safety and purification. It deserves to be guarded and protected from
the harmful and bad desires which will destroy it and deceit it in the fire of whimsy world
desires.
The human beings have free will to make choices in regard to their beliefs and deeds as
indicated in the several verses of the Quran. However, this free will is not absolute it has
limits. There is no compulsion in religion and an individual is never forced to accept this and
that, he or she must freely choose to do what he wants to do (Al-Quran: 18:29; 76:3; 2:256).
God has bestowed humans with the ability of reasoning and thinking. This helps him to find
out the true way of salvation and is accountable for his deeds. Another important bounty of
God is knowledge. It is strongly emphasized in Islam as it enables human beings to
distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, lawful and unlawful, justice and
injustice, etc. Allah through revelation guides humans from time to time with the essential
information that we need to discover our way easily and clearly. We are accountable for
215
those deeds which by choices we make and earn and not of those on which we had no
control.
Values are very important and unique disposition of human beings apart from the other
creatures. They lie at the core of human behavior and reflect through his actions. The Islamic
values that have much significance are kindness, truthfulness, humility, patience, justice,
love, righteousness, and sincerity. Kindness is the fundamental character of the humans and
must extent to everyone and everything with which/whom one interacts, including spouses,
children, relatives, animals, environment, and society as a whole. The noble characteristics of
the followers of Islam are honesty and truthfulness. Truthfulness is manifested in several
ways like truthful speech, truthfulness in dealings and transactions, keeping promises, etc.
Humility is one of the noblest challenging virtues for the humans to develop. To be humble
with one another and one should neither boast above another nor transgress against another. It
is a distinguished feature of morals and spiritual behavior of the followers of Islam. Patience
is mentioned more than ninety times in the Quran. It is the most important characteristic
feature for Muslims to develop. It means to restrain oneself from that what is harmful and
what one dislikes with a sense of acceptance and submission. They should pardon and forgive
those who do harm with them. Justice is rendering equally with everyone without considering
the sex, caste, tribe, or race. It means to be fair and equitable with the ‘other’ without looking
his status, faith, and reputation. It is indispensable for individuals as well as for society.
Justice is a divine attribute which Quran emphasized to be adopted as a moral ideal. Love is
actually inclined towards Allah and towards His fellow beings. It is also directed towards
oneself and demands all possible efforts for making oneself sound physically, spiritually,
morally, intellectually, psychologically, and economically. It brings out the virtues like
sympathy, mercy, kindness, respect, generosity, and good deeds. Righteousness is the
consistent struggle against the forces of evil and oppression. The characterization of the
righteousness which demands to its participants were perseverance, courage, fearlessness and
trust in Almighty God. The Quran imbibed its followers the characteristics of righteous in the
social context. The core of entire moral structure of Islam is sincerity. It means that all the
virtues and actions should exclusively be for the sake of God. There should be no desire and
self-interest behind the actions we perform. Moreover, it is the part of our faith that the deeds
and actions are judged not on the basis of performance but on the basis of our intentions.
4.3.6 Physical and Spiritual Practices
Islamic spiritual practices seem to be widespread in the recent decades throughout whole
world. The people suffering from many social and psychological problems and suffer from
216
number of physical diseases which affect their happy and peaceful environment. They look
for such kind of environment that will reduce their sufferings and bring back the environment
of peace. The Islamic spiritual practices proved to be very helpful and motivated tool to
overcome the sufferings. These practices help them to heal not only mental and emotional
disorders but also physical problems. The Physical and Spiritual practices for solving the
psychological problems include Mid-Day Nap (Qailulah), Prayer (Ibadat), Repentance
(Tawbah), Renunciation and poverty, Trust in God (Tawakkul), Recollection (Dhikr),
Meditation (Muraqaba), Religious Obligations (Faraid), and Access (Wird). The Mid-Day
Nap is Sunnah and gives relaxation to the body in daytime. It is a remedy for sleeplessness as
it is very conducive to total relaxation and sleep. This also helps to resume the work in a
better shape and also protects from health issues. Sleep posture is also necessary and reveals
about the personality of the person as the old proverb is the kings are known to prefer to sleep
on their back, the rich human being on his stomach and the wise human on his side. The sleep
posture adopted by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is almost adopted by all devout Muslims.
He used to lie on his right-side with limbs slightly flexed, right hand below the cheek and
facing towards Kabah. Prayers (Ibadat) shield a votary against indecency and misbehavior. It
also relaxes the body and keeps mind calm and peace. Prayer is a way which connects human
being to his Almighty Creator – Allah. This will result to cope with stress and suffering. It is
a strength and courage to face hardships and sufferings which came in this world in one or
the other form. Prayer is essentially a communication between the created being and the
creator, a quite form of speech. It is somehow related to contemplative meditation techniques.
It maintains the daily routine and strengthens a person to lead a religious life of his own
choosing. Repentance (Tawbah) is the first stage of spiritual journey as mentioned by
different Sufi orders. Repentance (Tawbah) means to return, it is described as the awakening
of the soul to the extent that if he do some evil or sin, he feels impatience unless and until he
abandons the sin and resolves that he will never return to these kinds of evils or sins.
Renunciation and poverty not only means empty hand it also means empty heart. The names
given to them by the Muslim mystics are proud to be known as the ‘poor man’ (faqir) and
‘mendicant’ (dervish) as they stripped all material desires and lust of this world. Trust in God
(Tawakkul) is the eradication of self-will and its extreme is the renunciation of every personal
initiative and volition, total passivity like that of a corpse in the hands of the washer.
Recollection (Dhikr) means remembering, thinking of or mentioning. It is a plain way of
worship without any mystical savior. It may be either spoken or silent but the best way
according to sufi’s is that the tongue and mind should cooperate in recollection. The dhikr in
217
sufi institution carries a multitude exercises (breathing, controlling respiration and sitting
posture) along with remembering God. The remembrance of God has various forms like
Dhikr-i-Jali, Dhikr-i-Khafi, Sultanu’l-Adhkar, Habs-i-Dam, Pa-i-Anfas etc. Meditation
(Muraqaba) begins with the dhikr repeating the words like Allahu-Hadiri (God is present
before me), Allahu-Naziri (God sees me), and Allahu-Mai (God is with me). Then the
meditate person meditates upon some verses of Quran. Religious Obligations (Faraid) are the
rituals like Salaat (Prayer) and Tilawat (Recitation of Quran). All sufi orders greatly
emphasized on the rituals and obligations. Access (Wird) means something that can be called
as Hizb or Wazifah. In spiritual terminology it opens with a collective recitation, in a loud and
rhythmic voice of a series of formulas taken from the Quran with a certain number of times –
3, 7, 11, 29, 33, 100, or 1000 times. It is a sense of renewing the pact made with the Shaykh,
with the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and with the God Himself.
4.3.7 Let Us Sum Up
From the above discussion, it can be justifiably concluded that there is a vast scope for an
Islamic articulation of Psychology. The Quran and Prophetic traditions are replete with
allusions to various aspects of human psychology. The nature of human nature, inherent
strengths, and weaknesses of human beings as well as the psychological basis of human
activities all are well grappled in the sources of Islam. Besides, Muslim scholars in both
medieval and modern times have done commendable work in engaging with human
psychology from an Islamic perspective. Finally, given the increasing psychological
problems in the present times due to unbridled materialism on one hand, and the role Islam
plays in checking the greed and other vices of human beings on the other, the importance of
Islamic psychology becomes all the more obvious.
1. Explain in detail the Nature of human being in Islamic perspective
2. What do you know about Fitrah? How is it related with Psychology?
Discuss the origin and development of Psychology in Islam
Write a note on the physical and spiritual practices of Islamic Psychology
Write the importance of Qalb and Nafs in Islam
218
1. Bhat, Dr. Abdul Rashid, “Psychological Trends in Shah Wali-u-Allah Dehlvi: A Brief
Analysis,” Insight Islamics, Srinagar: Shah-i-Hamdan Department of Islamic Studies,
University of Kashmir, 2009
2. Husain, Prof. Akbar, Islamic Psychology: Emergence of a New Field, New Delhi:Global
Vision Publishing House, 2006
3. “Psychology”, The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Vol.15, No.4, Winter
1998, London: International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).
4. Utz., Aisha, Psychology from the Islamic Perspective, Saudi Arabia: International Islamic
Publishing House, n.d.
5. Wani, Gowhar Quadir, “Islamic Perspectives on Human Nature: Ibn Ashur’s Fitrah Based
Theory of Maqasid Al-Shariah,” Islam and Civilisational Renewal, Vol. 8, No.2, April, 2017,
Malaysia: International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS).
(http://www.icrjournal.org/icr/index.php/icr/article/view/638/596)
219
Lesson: 4.4: Concept of Psyche in Islam
Structure
4.4.1 Introduction
4.4.2 Objectives
4.4.3 Concept of Psyche: Islamic Perspective
4.4.3 Defining the Terms
4.4.3.1 Al-Nafs
4.4.3.2 Al-Qalb
4.4.3.3 Al-Aql
4.4.5 Let Us Sum Up
4.4.1 Introduction
The term ‘Psyche’ comes from the Greek word as a synonym for the word Soul. In
psychology, we call the soul or mind the human psyche. It allows one to think, judge, and
feel emotions. In the contemporary times, there are two separate approaches to describe the
existence of the human psyche. One is the religious approach which refers psyche as the
‘soul’ and the other one is secular approach which refers psyche as the ‘mind’. According to
Sigmund Freud, the human behavior is the result of three levels of consciousness of the mind
interacting with one another. These are the conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mind,
in other words Freud’s model of the psyche is of three stages id, ego and superego. Psyche
operates in two ways one to store the memories and another masters fear. In this sense the
psyche and mind work together. Psyche be accessed by the mind and mind can uncover the
distortions of reality that psyche had adapted. The humans are dualistic from the Islamic
perspective possessing both body and soul. The condition of soul or the spiritual level
achieved affects the thoughts, feelings, and behavior of the human body. The term used in the
Quran for the soul or psyche is Nafs (anfus or nufoos). It has two meanings the human soul
and the self. It is used sometimes to refer to the soul or spirit and sometimes it refers to that
which is associated with the body or the self. The three main stages of Islamic psyche (nafs)
described in the Quran are also of three stages Nafs al-‘Ammarah, Nafs al-Lawwamah, and
Nafs al-Mutma’innah. Muslim scholars hold the concepts of psyche or Ilm al-nafs from the
inception of the Quran and contributed abundantly in understanding the mind and behavior of
human beings.
220
4.4.2 Objectives
To be familiar with the concept of Psyche in Islam
To get an overall perspective on the importance of heart, Naf and Aql in the
development of Psyche of a person
4.4.3 Concept of Psyche: Islamic Perspective
The concept of psyche or human psyche refers to the forces in an individual that influence
thought, behavior and personality of an individual. It is actually the concept of self,
encompassing within it the modern concept of soul, self, and mind. The duality of an
individual; one which is visible (the body and its functions) and the other is psyche (inner self
and its functions). The self is the open field of internal and external forces that determine
behavior. The separate Greek word translated as ‘soul’ or ‘mind’ later became English
‘psyche’. The word ‘Psyche’ is translated in Arabic as ‘Nafs’, ‘Qulb’, ‘Ruh’. The questions
regarding these concepts were raised right from the beginning of Islam and were answered to
a certain extent by the Quran and Sunnah; by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and by his
companions. These concepts were further discussed and elaborated by different philosophers
and scholars of Islam like Al-Kindi, Al-Farabi, Ibn-Sina, Al-Ghazali and others. They
concretized the concept of psyche in the light of the Quran, on which the Western scholars
built the foundation of modern concept of psyche. The concept of human psyche in Islam is
understandable by defining the terms like spirit, soul, heart, and intellect or in other words the
inner (batin) dimension of human. It also tries to understand the relationship between these
dimensions. The human psyche is not purely psychological; its essence is spiritual and
metaphysical. The Fitrah (natural inclinations) of the human being and the covenant of
monotheism are inscribed on each soul, whether the person is Muslim or not.
Nafs/soul/psyche mentioned in the Quran defines at its lowest level as the principle of life
and consciousness. The human soul/psyche is guided by its own higher level which, at that
stage, is protected and guided by the super consciousness, the God. This substantial relation
of our nafs to God, our knowledge of God is predicated upon gaining knowledge of the
essence of our own self/nafs/psyche. It is this soul/psyche/nafs a person have a tendency to
forget, “And do not be like those who forget God, so God made them forget themselves (their
souls)…”(59:19). The Quran identifies tree types of souls: the inciting soul, the self-accusing
soul, and the contented soul. The human self/psyche/nafs is not invincible against temptation.
It certainly inclines to commit evil. Even Prophet Muhammad (SAW) confessed, “I do not
claim to be innocent myself. Verily, the human soul is inclined towards evil, save those upon
whom my Lord bestows His grace. Verily, my Lord is Forgiving, Merciful” (12:53). The soul
221
and ego are one and the same; the difference is of different attributes each one adopts. The
‘force’ that is inspired in the mother’s womb is the ‘Soul’ of a new born baby and he
struggles for a noble or sinful disposition. He develops a loving and caring attitude towards
his body and occupies himself in the better adjustment of body, thus he develops ‘Ego’. So
the difference is qualitative and not in essence. Ego is a force by which human being desires
for something good or something bad. Human being is not under the influence of ego but ego
is under the control of human. The salvation in the Hereafter is for those who purify their
soul, “Successful indeed is the one who purifies his own self.” (91:9)
4.4.4 Defining the Terms
4.4.4.1 Al-Nafs
Al-Ghazzali has pointed out the two dimensions of nafs: the upward (the uppermost limit of
psyche which connects it to the spirit) and the downward (the one inclined towards matter).
Al-Burckhardt and Al-Ghazzali defines nafs with some distinctions between them:
Al-nafs al-haywaniyah: the animal soul, the soul as passively obedient to natural
impulses.
Al-nafs al-ammarah: the soul which commands human being to evil; the passionate;
egoistic soul.
Al-nafs al-lawwamah: the soul which blames, the soul aware of its own imperfections.
Al-nafs al-mutma‘innah: the soul at peace, the soul reintegrated in the Spirit and at
rest in certainty.
The last three are directly referred from the Quran nafs al-ammarah (Al-Quran: 12:53); nafs
al-lawwamah (Al-Quran: 75-2); and nafs al-mutma‘innah (Al-Quran: 89:27). In Qur'an, it
has been mentioned that in the Day of Judgment human beings will testify against his own
nafs (Al-Quran: 75:14). This confirms that there is some element in human being which is
above the desires of nafs and survives the bodily death and will exist so that it can be
questioned about its earthly life. Al-Ghazzali identifies three stages of human beings which
employs the will. The lowest is of the material world which has the absolute necessity of
God’s will since matter has no will. Second is the psychical and sensuous world where
relative freedom is recognized and the human will is exercised. Thirdly is the Divine realm
absolute freedom where absolute will exist in which human will is relative and incomplete
reflection.
4.4.4.2 Al-Qalb
Al-Qalb (The heart) has been regarded as the main source of moral and spiritual diseases. The
words in the Quran used for these kind of diseases are nifaq (hypocrisy), ‘ama (blindness),
222
qaswa (harshness), kidhb (lie), hasrat (strong desire), zaigh (crookedness), ithm (sin), qalb
murtab (skeptical heart), akinna (veil), lahw (trifle), etc., and similarly to mention the good
and healthy heart the Quran uses the following words: dabt ‘ala al-qalb (grip of the heart),
amanat al-qalb (faithfulness of the heart), qalb salim(peaceful heart), wajal (dread), taqwa
al-qalb (purity of the heart) and qalb munir (illuminated heart), etc. The organ in human’s
body which is associated with intellect is the heart. As Quran mentions: “it is not the eyes
that are blind but the hearts” (Al-Quran: 22:46).
4.4.4.3 Al-Aql
Al-Aql (The Intellect) is the essential concept of al-nafs. The Arabic word ‘al-aql’ comprises
the whole range of the intelligence including reason. Al-Askari (1979) used the terms like
‘aql-i-juz’i and ‘aql-i-kulli’ for reason and intellect respectively. ‘Aql-i-juz’i or reason is the
faculty of discursive and analytical thought, whereas ‘aql-i-kulli’ or intellect is the faculty of
intuition. Hence spiritual experiences are supra-rational and should not be confused with
irrational, which is equivalent to the animal soul in human.
4.4.5 Let Us Sum Up
The above discussion leads us to conclude that the terms like Nafs, Qalb and Aql are
effectively representative in portraying the picture of human psyche. These terms as well as
their elaborations in different Quranic verses, Prophetic narrations and the works of Muslim
scholars help us in understanding the different aspects of human personality. They bring to
fore that human existence is not purely material but bears psychological, metaphysical and
transcendental dimensions. While the concept of human psyche in Islam reflects the
complexities of human nature, it simultaneously provides us the direction to develop avenues
to ameliorate the human condition.
1. Evaluate the concept of Psyche in Islamic perspective
2. What are different principle elements that shape the Psyche of a person
3. Write the meaning and definition of Qalb and Nafs
1. Bhat, Dr. Abdul Rashid, “Psychological Trends in Shah Wali-u-Allah Dehlvi: A Brief
Analysis,” Insight Islamics, Srinagar: Shah-i-Hamdan Department of Islamic Studies,
University of Kashmir, 2009
223
2. Husain, Prof. Akbar, Islamic Psychology: Emergence of a New Field, New Delhi:Global
Vision Publishing House, 2006
3. “Psychology”, The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Vol.15, No.4, Winter
1998, London: International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).
4. Utz., Aisha, Psychology from the Islamic Perspective, Saudi Arabia: International Islamic
Publishing House, n.d.
5. Wani, Gowhar Quadir, “Islamic Perspectives on Human Nature: Ibn Ashur’s Fitrah Based
Theory of Maqasid Al-Shariah,” Islam and Civilisational Renewal, Vol. 8, No.2, April, 2017,
Malaysia: International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS).
(http://www.icrjournal.org/icr/index.php/icr/article/view/638/596)
224

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PG PROGRAMME

(ISLAMIC SOCIAL SCIENCES: CONCEPTS AND DEVELOPMENT)

DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION

Unit I, II & III

Content Editing by:

Format Editing by:

Unit I Political Science

ii) Al-Farabi, Al-Mawardi and Shah Wali ul Allah 17-52

ii) Interest Free Banking in Islam 123-138

iii) Sources of Islamic Economy: Zakah, Kharaj, Khums 139-151

Unit III Economics and Historiography

i) The Economic Role of State 154-170

ii) Islamic Concept of History 171-180

Unit IV Sociology and Psychology

ii) Islamic Institution of Family and its Social Role 203-208

iii) Islamic Psychology: An Introduction 209-219

iv) Concept of Psyche in Islam 220-224

i) Early Development of Islamic Political Thought

ii) Al-Farabi, Al-Mawardi and Shah Wali ul Allah

iii) Nature and Scope of Khilafah, Ummah

iv) International Relations in Islam

i) Economic of System of Islam: Guiding Principles

ii) Interest Free Banking in Islam

iii) Sources of Islamic Economy: Zakah, Kharaj, Khums and Jizya

Economics and Historiography

i) The Economic Role of State

ii) Islamic Concept of History

iii) Muslim Contribution to Historiography: Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Khaldun

Sociology and Psychology

i) Islamic Sociology: An Introduction

ii) Islamic Institution of Family and its Social Role

iii) Islamic Psychology: An Introduction

iv) Concept of Psyche in Islam

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