The Islamic System and Its Difference from Theocracy
Conclusion
It can be concluded from what has been said that the theocracy proposed by Western Christianity is in no way compatible with the theory of divine sovereignty considered by Islam; there are also reasons to reject the view of those who claim this compatibility, which will be listed below:
1. The theocracy of the Christian West was not designed based on the teachings of revelation and related to authentic religious sources but was proposed with the aim of institutionalizing the dominance of the church, which the Quran has fought against.
2. Governance is not the right of the ruler to rule as he wants; from the point of view of Islam, the Islamic ruler must establish government within a specific framework. He does not have the right to impose his desires on others and call it “divine.” The Islamic ruler does not have the right to take over Islamic laws and regulations. He does not have the right to make laws on his own without Allah’s permission, and in practice, must act only based on Islamic rules and regulations.
3. Theocracy is a secular and authoritarian government, while the Islamic system is a complete religious system whose origins, goals, laws, conditions, characteristics of the ruler and its agents, and the principles of social relations are rooted in the text of religion.
4. According to medieval theocracy, the ruler was responsible only to God (Allah), not to the people; and that God (Allah) had neither set conditions for the king nor issued a plan for his rule. In contrast, in Islam, the ruler is responsible both to God (Allah) and to society.
5. Although in theocracy the Pope has absolute authority, in Islam the Imam, who is the All-Conditional, can rule; but this apparent similarity cannot justify the conformity of theocracy with the theory of divine sovereignty in Islam. Because in Islam, it is a condition that someone who has piety, justice, insight, management, and is adorned with the religion of Islam should be at the head of society so that he can lead the society based on the standards of Sharia and not his own tastes.
Therefore, the Islamic system is different in its name, symbol, nature, and example from all other political systems in the world; it is not right to make it an example of one of the other political systems or to borrow a name from them for the Islamic system.
It is true that the application of theocracy to the Islamic system is correct based on the literal meaning, which is the sovereignty of God (Allah); also, in the Islamic system, although the people are given a significant role in choosing rulers, supervising them, dismissing them, and installing them, and the principle of shura (council), justice, equality, and protection of civil rights and freedoms have been emphasized. However, with all these factors, the application of theocracy, democracy, and republic to the Islamic state brings to mind the oppression and corruption that these systems have brought with them in the West. So, what is the need to expose Islam to false accusations and harsh and biased criticism?
It is better to call the Islamic system the Islamic system and not to seek to untie it and give it a name.
Principles of the Islamic Political System
The foundations of any intellectual system introduce the path and direction to its followers and, at critical junctures, lead them towards the desired goals; as long as the reader and researcher do not understand these foundations correctly and do not think deeply about their various angles, any statement and presentation of a point of view can be accompanied by shortcomings and defects. With this in mind, in outlining the foundations of the Islamic political system, given the breadth of the discussion, more attention will be paid to matters that play a direct and fundamental role in the understandings of this chapter.
Theology is the most important pillar of Islamic political thought. In the Islamic political system, the foundation of all matters is based on the principle of what is God’s (Allah’s) position in the flow of power. Any understanding of theology affects all other principles, such as Islam ology and anthropology.
The principles of the political system of Islam are that the absolute sovereignty, authority, and source of authority is Allah, the Almighty, and this is the dividing line between Islam and Western democracy. Democracy is based on the separation of religion from politics, whereas the nation is recognized and accepted as the source of sovereignty, authority, and rule. This is its difference from Western theocracy, in which religious leaders, spiritual fathers, and kings rule instead of God (Allah) and make laws in the name of God (Allah), allowing whatever they want to be lawful and forbidding whatever they want. In fact, religious leaders are the source of absolute sovereignty and the owner of sovereignty; therefore, the principles of the political system of Islam will be discussed below:
1. Divine Sovereignty
Sovereignty in the terminology of political science means the exclusive right of the state to establish power in a certain territory. This sovereignty grants the superior power the possibility of legislating and exercising it to the powerful.
Throughout history, there has been a debate about who has the right to establish power and sovereignty: can someone who does not have any rights himself delegate the right to rule and reign to others, or should he draw his authority from a source that is the source of all rights and entitlements?
In Islamic political thought, absolute and complete sovereignty in the realm of human existence and political life belongs only to God (Allah) Almighty. At first glance, no one but God (Allah) has the right to rule over humans because He created all humans free; therefore, if someone wants to rule over humans, he must have permission from the Creator of humans for the following reasons:
First: The right to rule belongs only to Him.
Second: He is aware of all the benefits and harms of human life.
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