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

The history of the emergence of an Islamic state is inseparably linked with the same faith. This religious direction appeared due to the activities of the Prophet Muhammad.

Origins

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

With time, the followers of Islam became more and more. These included the bulk of the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. In this connection, the problem of orderly relations and universal control over the adherents of this religious direction arose. Prophet Muhammad quickly coped with the solution of this problem. He became that single leader who led the faithful along the bright path of Allah.

After the death of Muhammad, his successors became Caliphs. They are adherents of Islam, who took the place of the prophet. Their duties included exercising the powers of government over all Muslims.

Aggressive intentions

After the death of Muhammad, the idea of conducting a "holy war" began to gain strength. And this is in spite of the fact that the jihad was initially used only for defensive purposes. Only later did it gradually turn into an instrument of submission and capture of infidels. The long, bloody construction of the Caliph began. The state-forming factor in this process was Islam.

Caliphate

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

This Islamic state in its political system retained the features of the slave, but at the same time rapidly began to degenerate into a feudal state. The large territories of the conquered lands were the property of the state. Workers on their peasants forced to pay taxes, equating them to hereditary tenants.

Government structure

The centralized form of the monarchy took place in the Caliphate. In the state there was a secular and spiritual head. He was the Caliph. An important feature of the existing monarchy was the combination of spiritual and secular power in one person. That is why the Islamic state of the Caliphate can be attributed to the feudal-theocratic. The main role among the highest state officials was assigned to the Vizier. The great importance in the Caliphate was acquired by educated sofas.

The heads of the regions of the state were emirs. They were appointed by the caliph. After the appearance of feudal disunity, many emirs became independent rulers.

At the initial stage of development of such a state as the Caliphate, religion and law merged into one. The main source of law was the Koran. Its author is the Prophet Muhammad. Muslim law was called "Sharia", which means "direct way". It included not only religious dogma. The Islamic Caliphate scooped in this writing the norms of civil, criminal, and procedural law.

There were collections of legends about Muhammad's judgments, as well as works including interpretations of Muslim law-makers. These letters served as a supplement to the Koran. They are also used now with gaps in the existing law.

The Islamic Caliphate had one more characteristic feature. There were no divisions between religious, legal and ethical norms. They were a single complex.

The Islamic Caliphate for a long time retained state ownership of the whole land. However, the developing feudal relations have changed this device. Private property began to appear.

Which state can be considered Islamic?

Muslims have not lost their power in many countries. What is an Islamic state today? This country is based on Islam. This religious trend is a dogma for the whole society. Sharia is the main script, guided by an Islamic state. This is a document containing elements of civil and constitutional, administrative and criminal, procedural and family law.

The Islamic concept of building a state differs from the Western form. First of all, it is based on the laws compiled by the Prophet Muhammad. In addition, it is worth noting, in Islam it is very difficult to classify the forms of state structure.

The classical theory of Islam advanced its dogmas. She believed that adherents of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad can not be divided among nations. According to this religion, Muslims are an inseparable ummah. The federations existing on the political map of the world, for example, Malaysia or the United Arab Emirates, in the opinion of Islam, are not a union of nations but states. This also implies a fundamental difference between these countries from the way a federation in Western Europe is understood.

Types of Islamic States

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

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

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

There are small Islamic countries in which the power belongs to the dynasty of the emir or to the chosen leader. They are called emirates. The peculiarity of such states is their small size. They are considered as original steps, serving for the revival of the Caliphate.

Since September 1919, the North Caucasus Emirate existed on the territory of Western Dagestan and Chechnya. Since March 1920, this Islamic state became part of the RSFSR.
But the UAE is ruled by the president. But at the same time, the United Arab Emirates is a federation that includes seven emirates. They are ruled by emirs.

The next type of Islamic state is the Imam. Here the leader is the spiritual religious leader. They call him Imam. This kind of political and social system is characterized by the following Shiite doctrines. At the same time, state power is given a global character (by analogy with the Caliphate).

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

In the 19th century. There was another similar Islamic state. The map of Yemen from 1918 to 1962 indicated the Yemen Mutawakkili Kingdom on its territory. Its existence ceased after the anti-monarchist revolution.

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

Islamic Republics

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

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

In the list of Islamic republics are Afghanistan and Mauritania, Pakistan and Iraq. Laws in these states are created taking into account the dogmas of the Sharia.

Basic concept

The Qur'an does not prescribe any specific form of government. Islamic law does not have its own constitutional theory. However, the main concept of any kind of Islamic state is compliance with the requirements of Muslim doctrine. This allows us to say with confidence that Islam is endowed with a "supranational" property. In addition, this doctrine consolidates the very foundations of the whole existing system. At the same time, Islam plays a dominant role in the activities and principles of the organization of the state mechanism.

A vivid example of the embodiment of the basic concept of an Islamic state is the society that the prophet Muhammad created. He established in his hands the judicial, executive and control authorities. And the final decisions the prophet took only after the council with the authoritative Muslims. Muhammad in his teachings claimed that the idea of creating such a state was revealed to him by Allah himself.

Islamic law gradually developed. The basic concept of the state also changed. It was becoming more and more secular and conflicted with the traditional Islamic teaching, which asserted the immutability of divine dogmas. There was a continuous process of legislative reforms. As a result, those relations that previously regulated only Islamic law, were also regulated by other regulatory sources that were of European origin.

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

Features of the concept

The Islamic state has its own characteristics. The main feature is the subordination of all its activities to the predominant principles of Islam. Here, people's control over the activities of state bodies is supposed. This is prescribed by Islamic law. Thus, the state is responsible to its citizens.

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

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

The basic concept of many Islamic states is the consolidation of the supreme legal force behind the Koran. In addition to the norms that prescribe secular law, the Muslim law operates in parallel. At the same time, they both have a wide scope of distribution, affecting not only personal relations, but also those that are within the administrative, criminal and civil status. This concept is typical for countries located on the Arabian Peninsula, as well as for Pakistan.

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

Basic Doctrines

The caliphate arose as a theocratic state. From the very beginning of its existence, its main principle was the unity of secular and spiritual power. All the management was concentrated in the hands of the Caliph.

The normative prescriptions given in the Qur'an do not indicate the need to use a particular form in the construction of the state. The principles of the mechanisms of power are not specified in them. However, some admirers of the Koran interpreted the sacred script in their own way. They created works in which the Islamic concept of the state was reflected. That idea, on which they relied, is in the Qur'an. It says that the only source of power is Allah. Muhammad was only his messenger, for which the function of controlling the will of the deity was fixed.

The Islamic concept of the state began to develop in the 10-11 centuries. This was the period when the Caliphate ruled the Abbasid dynasty, and the country fell into decay.

For a long time, the construction of an Islamic state was based on two approaches. The position of the first of them was based on the principle of unity of religion and law. In contrast, there was an opinion about the non-necessity of the Muslims maintaining a single caliphate. However, both of them saw the determining role of Islam in regulating all aspects of the life of society.

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

Already at the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the Islamic states have adopted a secular society model. However, in the second half of the same century, a trend was emerging that led to the strengthening of the role of Islam in the lives of these countries. This was especially evident in Iran, Pakistan, Sudan.