Islamic Society is Devolved

The Islamic state is not a communist state where the regime is in control over all aspects of social, political and economic life. The governing authority in Islam certainly plays a major role in society, but it does not intrude into the individual and family affairs of people unless people are facing abuse and harm in these spheres and need protection. In essence an Islamic society is already devolved in terms of its responsibilities. The family plays a pivotal role in looking after its members both young and old, not just in terms of financial support but also with regards the children, educating them and bringing them up to be functioning members of the society.

Communities and neighbourhoods are simply a collection of families and so will manage their affairs in a similar manner. The Islamic charitable endowment known as Waqf where an individual or institution permanently donates assets, such as land or money, for religious, charitable, or social purposes to benefit the community, meant that many local projects such as new mosques, schools, hospitals, guilds, homes, wells, orchards etc were developed and supported separate to the state. This tradition continues to this day and is known as Sadaqa Jariya, a charity that continues to give reward even after one’s death.

In western countries the benefits bill in terms of social care, pensions and other social security handouts is huge. In the UK it accounts for around 25% of the total government spend which in 2022-2023 equated to £300 billion.[1] The Islamic policy in origin is for the families to manage this. Instead of taxing working age adults in order to pay the money back to them in the form of pensions when they are old or out of work, this financial burden will be on the family. Since they pay less tax, then they have greater disposal income to support this. No doubt such a system requires a very different kind of society to the individualistic liberal societies of the west.

Areas of Devolution

When examining the devolved powers to the governors we find three main areas in which the governors generally had no control, although there were exceptions as we will come to. These areas are the army, finance (taxation) and judiciary. Limiting the powers of the governor in any of these fields would mean that the power is not devolved and hence is centralised under the central caliphal government via a separate army commander, ‘Amil (tax collector) and Qadi (judge). In modern times this is via separate government departments headed by a minister or secretary.

The central caliphal government in principle can centralise or devolve any of its executive powers as it deems fit for the time, and is not limited to just the army, finance and judiciary. Education was always the preserve of the ‘ulema and their respective madhhabs (schools of thought) where scholars graduated through a system of ijaza (authorisation).[2]

The Abbasids did establish hospitals but generally local doctors and healers would administer health care to the tribes and community. The caliphs would have their own personal physicians and in many cases these weren’t Muslim. Moses Hamon, for example, who after fleeing Spain with his father, became the physician for the Ottoman Caliph – Suleiman the Magnificent.

Recently, the thinktank ‘Labour Together’ produced a report outlining a policy of devolving powers over education, health and some aspects of criminal justice to local mayors which was endorsed by the UK government’s local government secretary Steve Reed.[3]

In terms of collective ibadat (worship) Al-Mawardi says, “Some say that leading the prayers on Fridays and the Eid days is the responsibility of the judiciary rather than that of the amir, and this is the most convincing opinion for the followers of ash-Shafi’i, although it has also been said that the amirs are more entitled to it, and this is the most convincing view for the Hanafis.”[4] The ‘ulema who made up the judiciary generally had this responsibility through the entire Islamic State. They were effectively an independent institution who managed their own affairs and madrassas unless appointed as official judges or professors by the state.

Notes

[1] https://ifs.org.uk/taxlab/taxlab-key-questions/what-does-government-spend-money

[2] The ijaza (إجازة) system in Islam is a traditional method of granting authorization to transmit religious knowledge—particularly the Qur’an, Hadith, and other Islamic sciences.

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/22/ministers-could-give-mayors-control-of-schools-and-hospitals-in-devolution-shake-up

[4] Abu l-Hasan al-Mawardi, The Laws of Islamic Governance, translation of Al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyah, Ta Ha Publishers, p.52