HUKUMA AL-ISLAMIYYA, AL-(ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT)

While continuing to refer to classical doctrines of the caliphate, contemporary Sunni concepts of the Islamic state, or Islamic order (al-nizam al-islami), have moved well beyond classical precedents to include elements of what is today considered to constitute "good governance": the rule of law, participation, accountability, and the independence of the judiciary, without abandoning certain specifically Islamic notions such as "Sovereignty lies with God, who has defined the fundamental moral and legal code regulating all human activity" (shari˓a). Government and society derive their legitimacy from "applying" the shari˓a. In their capacity as God's representatives or trustees on earth (sing. khalifa), men and women are equal (though within specific domains, their rights and duties are not identical). The ruler (caliph, imam, or president) derives his authority from the community of believers, who elect him and are bound to obey him as long as he stays within the limits of God's law. Consultation (shura) in all public affairs is obligatory, albeit not necessarily binding on the ruler. He is accountable before God and the community (though the instruments of sanction, including his removal from office, remain ill defined). Some authors further include universal suffrage, majority rule, and the separation of powers as basic elements of Islamic government in the modern age.

See alsoPolitical Islam .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Krämer, Gudrun. "Visions of an Islamic Republic. Good Governance According to the Islamists." In The Islamic World and the West. Edited by Kai Hafez. Leiden: Brill, 2000.

Gudrun Krämer