The wazirate (ministry), or wizarah (وِزارَة) is a term that refers to the office of the wazir, a high-ranking government official who serves as the caliph’s deputy, chief minister and advisor who aids him in running the state. Al-Mawardi says, “The ministry of delegation (Wizarah Al-Tafwid) is where the Imam appoints a wazir to whom he delegates authority for the organisation of affairs in accordance with his judgement such that he effects them properly by his own efforts.”[1] The wazirate evolved over the centuries, but it existed in one form or another from the first Islamic State headed by the Prophet ﷺ in Medina, until 1922 when the Ottoman Sultanate was officially abolished[2] and along with it the last Grand Vizier. Willem Gerrit Dedel, Ambassador of the Dutch Republic to the Ottoman Caliphate 1765-1768 during the reign of Mustafa III (r.1757-1774) describes the scene when the Sultan’s no.2 man rode past. “We fetched our horses and waited until all the Sultan’s senior officials had ridden past on their fine horses. This was an extremely lovely …

This is the first of a new series of articles discussing the governing structure of an Islamic State. The strongest view among the scholars is that Islam laid down a number of principles of ruling, but the detailed institutional structures are not fixed and will change with the times. A number of 20th century scholars and thinkers however, went a step further from just general principles, and outlined specific institutions which would be needed to run a state. Rashid Rida (d.1936), Al-Sanhūrī (d.1971), Mohammad Barakatullah (d.1927) and Taqiuddin an-Nabhani (d.1977) stand out as the most prominent in this regard, and we will discuss each of them and their models in turn. Imam Al-Mawardi (d.1058) was a jurist, chief justice (Qadi al-Qudah), diplomat and statesman of the Abbasid Caliphate under the caliphs Al-Qadir (r.991-1031CE) and Al-Qa’im (r.1031-1075CE). He wrote his famous book al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyah near the end of his life, drawing on his experiences in government and politics. His book is therefore not theoretical, but a practical guide to ruling which is why it has stood …

As the 10,000 strong army of the Prophet ﷺ marched into Makkah, Abu Sufyan stood alongside Al-Abbas watching the vast numbers of soldiers as they passed by. Abu Sufyan said to Al-Abbas, “By Allah, O Abu al-Fadl, the kingdom (mulk) of your nephew has become truly great this morning!” I said: “O Abu Sufyan, it is prophethood.” He said: “Yes, indeed.”[44] The Islamic State of the Prophet ﷺ was something out of the ordinary in Nomadic Arabia which had never known a state like this before. Introduction The emergence of the first Islamic State in 622CE went unnoticed at first by the Sassanid and Byzantine empires. The Persians and Romans were fighting each other in a major war[1], and so their focus was not on the nomadic Arabs who had never previously posed any type of threat to their empires. John Saunders says, “Once and once only, did the tide of nomadism flow vigorously out of Arabia. Bedouin raids on the towns and villages of Syria and Iraq had been going on since the dawn of …

The Nomadic Zone Islam emerged in the town of Mecca which was part of the Nomadic Zone in Hejaz, a strip of land in western Arabia running parallel to the Red Sea. A series of tribes lived in this Nomadic Zone, some were settled in towns such as Mecca, Taif and Yathrib, and others lived as Bedouins out in the desert. Fred Donner describes the environment in the Nomadic Zone, “There was, then, no state in northern Arabia to impose its control over the tribes, so that society was dominated by the most powerful tribal groups-which were, as we have seen, those focused around warrior nomads or holy families. Despite the fact that confederations headed by warrior nomads as well as those headed by holy families lacked the administrative and legal features that we associate with the state, however, they did resemble the state in one respect: they functioned as sovereign entities, independent of external political control and desiring to extend their domination over new groups and areas. This meant not only that they acted …

It’s widely accepted in political philosophy that there are three branches of government: 1 Executive implements laws 2 Legislative makes laws 3 Judicial interprets laws and resolves disputes These three branches exist in every ruling system including the Islamic system but differ in their degree of separation. We can classify such a model under the concept of technical terminology (الاِصْطِلاحات istilahiyyat) which are used to teach and understand Islam. Muhammad Hussein Abdullah says, “It is possible for the people of any particular skill, art or expertise, and in any time period to set terminological conventions (istilahiyyat), utilising the worded expressions (أَلْفاظ alfazh) of the language and transfer them to specific meanings associated to their field.”[1] There are many technical terms that scholars and thinkers have used to describe the structure of an Islamic State. Al-Mawardi (d.1058) uses ruling spheres (وِلايات wiliyyat). Rashid Rida (d.1936) and Al-Sanhūrī (d.1971) use councils (مَجالِس majalis). Mohammad Barakatullah (d.1927) uses ministries (وِزارَة wizara), and Taqiuddin an-Nabhani (d.1977) uses institutions (أَجْهِزَة ajhizah). All of these are permissibile as part of the …

Introduction The foundations (‘usul أُصُول) of an Islamic State are ‘sovereignty is to the sharia’ (سيادة للشرع) and ‘authority is with the ummah’ (سلطان للأمة). We have already discussed sovereignty in an Islamic State, and now we will discuss the second ‘usul which is authority. Imam Ghazali said, “religion and authority are twins” (الدين والسلطان توأمان ad-deen was-sultan tawaman).[1] This is because you cannot have one without the other, as Ibn Taymiyyah says, “The Ummah is the safeguard for the shar’a.”[2] Ibn Taymiyyah also mentions that “If authority and wealth were intended to make one come nearer to Allah, and were virtually dispensed in His cause, then that would lead to the establishment of deen and to prosperity in worldly affairs. If, on the other hand, authority was divorced from deen or deen was divorced from authority, then the whole affairs of the people would be spoiled.”[3] While sovereignty and authority are twins, ultimately it’s the sharia (sovereignty) which underpins the nature and legal limits of authority within an Islamic state. Al-Mawardi says, “It is the Law however, …

Professor Mohammad Hashim Kamali, is the founding CEO of IAIS (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies) in Malaysia. He has featured for many years in The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World, and written numerous books on Islamic law and constitutionalism. This is an excerpt from one of his books ‘Citizenship and Accountability of Government: An Islamic Perspective’. The 12 Principles. (1) Political authority in the Islamic system of rule belongs to the community (ummah) as it is the community that elects the head of state and is ultimately entitled to depose him in the event of manifest abuse. (2) Consultation and the right of the people to be consulted in government affairs is one of the principal means by which the community participates in government, voices its concerns over government policy, and takes the government to account. (3) The Qur’anic principle of promotion of good and prevention of evil (amr bi’l-ma’ruf wa-nahy ‘an al-munkar) and its allied concept of giving sincere advice (nasihah) also render the government accountable to the people and encourage …