The Principles of State and Government in Islam

by Muhammad Asad

The very fact that none of the existing Muslim countries has so far achieved a form of government that could be termed genuinely Islamic, makes a discussion of the principles that underlie the constitution of Islamic state imperative. This book is an attempt to keep that discussion alive.

Genres: Islam, Politics, Religion, Nonfiction, Philosophy, History, Political Science

110 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

محمد أسد (ليوبولد فايس سابقاً) ولد في الإمبراطورية النمساوية الهنجارية عام 1900، وتوفي في إسبانيا عام 1992م. وهو كاتب وصحفي ومفكر ولغوي وناقد اجتماعي ومصلح ومترجم ودبلوماسي ورحالة مسلم (يهودي سابقاً) درس الفلسفة في جامعة فيينا؛ وقد عمل مراسلاً صحفياً وبعد منحه الجنسية الباكستانية تولى عدة مناصب منها منصب مبعوث باكستان إلى الأمم المتحدة في نيويورك. وطاف العالم، ثم استقر في إسبانيا وتوفي فيها ودفن في غرناطة. ويعتبر محمد أسد أحد أكثر مسلمي أوروبا في القرن العشرين تأثيراً.
لقب العائلة "فايس" اسم يعني باللغة الألمانية اللون الأبيض، وهذه إشارة واضحة للأصول الألمانية للعائلة، وكتابة „WEISS“ بتكرار حرف “ S „ في نهاية الاسم بدلا من „WEIß“ دليل واضح على الأصول اليهودية للعائلة. واسم والده "كيفا" وكان محامياً، وجده لأبيه كان حاخاماً، فهو الحاخام الأورثوذوكسي "بنيامين أرجيا فايس". وقد تولّى جده الحاخامية في "تشارنوفيتش" في منطقة بوكوفينا. درس الفلسفة والفن في جامعة فيينا ثم اتجه للصحافة فبرع فيها، وغدا مراسلاً صحفياً في الشرق العربي والإسلامي ثم زار القاهرة فالتقى بالإمام مصطفى المراغي، فحاوره حول الأديان، فانتهى إلى الاعتقاد بأن "الروح والجسد في الإسلام هما بمنزلة وجهين توأمين للحياة الإنسانية التي أبدعها الله" ثم بدأ بتعلم اللغة العربية في أروقة الأزهر، وهو لم يزل بعدُ يهودياً.
انتقل للعيش في القدس بعد تلقيه دعوة من أحد أقاربه اليهود للإقامه معه في القدس في الوقت الذي كانت فيه فلسطين تحت الانتداب البريطاني، وكتب هناك عدة مقالات مهمة أبرزت قلق العرب من. المشروع الصهيوني. ثم انخرط في دراسة متعمقة للإسلام، حتى قرر التحول من اليهودية إلى الإسلام في 1926 وهو في برلين وبعد عدة أسابيع من ذلك اعلنت زوجته إسلامها.
قام بالترحال إلى العديد من البلدان، إذ زار مصر والسعودية وإيران وأفغانستان وجمهوريات السوفييت الجنوبية. وزار عمر المختار ليبحث معه إيجاد طرق لتمويل المقاومة ضد الإيطاليين كما انتقل إلى شبه القارة الهندية التي كانت تحت الاحتلال الإنجليزي، وهناك التقى بالشاعر الكبير والمفكر محمد إقبال عام 1932 والذي اقترح فكرة تأسيس دولة إسلامية مستقلة في الهند (والتي أصبحت لاحقاً باكستان)، وقد أقنعه محمد إقبال بالبقاء والعمل على مساعدة المسلمين لتأسيس تلك الدولة.
ومع اندلاع الحرب العالمية الثانية عام 1939 اعتقل والدا محمد أسد، وقتلا في وقت لاحق في الهولوكوست على يد النازيين. كما أن محمد أسد نفسه اعتقل على يد الإنجليز وسجن ثلاث سنوات باعتباره عدواً.
فور استقلال باكستان عام 1947 وتقديراً لجهوده وتأييده لإقامة دولة إسلامية منفصلة في شبه القارة الهندية، فقد تم منح محمد أسد الجنسية الباكستانية وتم تعيينه مديراً لدائرة إعادة الإعمار الإسلامي. وفي وقت لاحق التحق بوزارة الشؤون الخارجية رئيساً لوحدة شؤون الشرق الأوسط عام 1949، ثم تقرر تعيينه بمنصب مبعوث باكستان إلى الأمم المتحدة في نيويورك عام 1952. إلا ّ أنه سرعان ما تخلى عن هذا المنصب ليتفرغ لكتابة سيرته الذاتية (حتى سن 32) الطريق إلى مكة الذي ترجم للعربية باسم (الطريق إلى الإسلام).
كان ليوبولد فايس رجل التساؤل والبحث عن الحقيقة، وكان يشعر بالأسى والدهشة لظاهرة الفجوة الكبيرة بين واقع المسلمين المتخلف وبين حقائق دينهم المشعّة، وفي يوم راح يحاور بعض المسلمين منافحاً عن الإسلام، ومحمّلاً المسلمين تبعة تخلفهم عن الشهود الحضاري، لأنهم تخلّفوا عن الإسلام ففاجأه أحد المسلمين الطيبين بهذا التعليق: "فأنت مسلم، ولكنك لا تدري !". فضحك فايس قائلاً : "لست مسلماً، ولكنني شاهدت في الإسلام من الجمال ما يجعلني أغضب عندما أرى أتباعه يضيّعونه"!!. ولكن هذه الكلمة هزّت أعماقه، ووضعته أمام نفسه التي يهرب منها، وظلت تلاحقه من بعد حتى أثبت القدر صدق قائلها الطيب، حين نطق (محمد أسد) بالشهادتين.
قام محمد أسد بعد إسلامه بأداء فريضة الحج، كما شارك في الجهاد مع عمر المختار، ثم سافر إلى باكستان فالتقى شاعر الإسلام محمد إقبال، ثم عمل رئيساً لمعهد الدراسات الإسلامية في لاهور حيث قام بتأليف الكتب التي رفعته إلى مصاف ألمع المفكرين الإسلاميين في العصر الحديث.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

" We must never forget that the message of Islam is eternal and must therefore always remain open to the searching intellect of man." (26)

The use of knowledge and reason in living the Islamic life is a central message of the Qur'an and Sunnah. "Oh my sustainer, cause me to grow in knowledge" Surah 20:114. Asad quotes the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.): "If anybody goes on his way in search of knowledge, God will thereby make easy for him the way to Paradise" (66). The debate over knowledge in the Islamic world has been a contentious one throughout history, particularly regarding boundaries of the divine law and its application. Where does the divine end and the room for human "free will" begin? In what specific ways are the messages of the Qur'an and Sunnah timeless and eternal? Is the Islamic message adaptable to different times and circumstances, and in what ways? These questions center around the concept of ijtihad ("independent reasoning") balanced up against those statements of the divine that are clear and without question. Asad makes it clear: "The Shariah cannot be changed because it is a divine law" (14). Yet what does that practically mean for the complexities and necessary decisions of lived experience? Asad incorporates the term Nass (12) for those elements of the Qur'an and authentic Sunnah that are clear injunctions and prohibitions applicable to basic human nature and not subject to contingencies of time. These are quite different than those messages or specific applications of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) and his companions that were restricted to the time and environment in which they were applied. The message is eternal, the cultural context and environment is constantly changing.

There is a lot of ground covered in this short book. The strength of this approach is that he is able to make a concise, clear statement on the immutable nature of the Islamic message while providing a basic "blueprint" as he describes it to one aspect of the Islamic ideal of the complete life - that of the political realm. The weakness is that this message can delve into the utopian at times as many fundamental issues of human power and human weakness remain in the practical implementation of any form of government.

Yet any system of government in its theoretical or doctrinal form can appear utopian. This is a one of the many conundrums that all Muslims face when approaching the Islamic message of the complete life, and more specifically in mixing our human attempts at interpretation and living with an eternal divinity. Asad effectively answers one of the many questions I have in my own life, and that is: Can we know the clear divine message of the ideal state? The answer according to Asad is yes, but perhaps not in the way that many in the contemporary world (both Muslim and non-Muslim) might have come to believe. There certainly is a timeless Shariah that Muslims are required by their commitment of faith to follow. Asad is simply calling us to realize that this Shariah allows room for God-given gifts of intelligence in application to changing circumstances.

[Brady Postma · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this 1961 book, author Muhammad Asad takes great care to denote the timeless principles of Islamic governance and to exclude the context-specific traditions and mistranslations so often taken by conservative Muslims to be precedents binding on any government that aspires to deserve the adjective "Islamic."

It makes a distinction between theocracy (defined as "rule by clergy") and proper Islamic governance (which has no clergy, and is instead rule by a mix of timeless moral doctrine and human reason to apply that doctrine to the times). It is remarkably positive in its comparisons of the ideal Islamic government to the Presidential, non-Ministerial governmental system of the United States, while being significantly critical of the European parliamentary system of governance. It is similarly critical of hereditary or purely symbolic heads of state, and of any aspiration to Islamic governance that ignores a thousand years of historical experience since the Right-Guided Caliphs (the Prophet Muhammad's first four successors) as if they were infallible and timeless precedents rather than governments well-fitted to their times.

A great comparison can be made between this book and Frederic Bastiat's "The Law" both in the size of the political treatise ("Principles" is merely 107 pages long; "The Law" is only 75) and also in the depiction of an exciting political ideology. As "The Law" tells the political ideology of the French Revolution, so does "Principles" tell the political ideology of modern, progressive Islam.

[Sagheer Afzal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a seminal book. Muhammad Asad was the most enlightened Muslim scholar of his time and indeed of any time. This is why the book is a must read for Muslims.

1) He makes the valid point that Sharia law needs to be reformed. He points out that most of Sharia comes from the deductive reasoning of scholars who lived centuries. And as such they incorporated their own man made opinions into the canon of Islam. In essence they as Muhammad Asad puts it 'brought about a second Islam."

2) Muhammad Asad states that a welfare system for the needy and homeless is an essential element of an Islamic state.

3) He points that the reason for the decline of Islam and the reasons why so many Muslims aspire for westernised life is due to the ignorance of the Mullah's. Who turned what was meant to be a simple framework into a huge ugly edifice replete with do's and dont's and in doing so turned many Muslims away from Islam.

4) He destroys the very premise of Wahabbism with a sentence in which he says that it is stupid to cling onto a way of life in 520 AD when society has changed so much.

5) He clearly explains how an Islamic government should be. A government with a democratically elected leader; who is held in check by a body of clerics who have life experience outside that of a Madrasah.

[wajiha · Rating 5 out of 5]

“For Islam is much more than a program of political action: it is a system of beliefs and morals, a social doctrine, and a call to righteousness in all individual and communal concerns; it is a complete, self-contained ideology which regards all aspects of our existence moral and physical, spiritual and intellectual, personal and communal as parts of the indivisible whole which we call "human life." But precisely because the ideology of Islam is so complete and so self contained, its adherents cannot live a truly Islamic life merely by holding Islamic beliefs. They must do far more than that. If Islam is not to remain an empty word, they must also coordinate their outward social behavior with the beliefs they profess.”

-

muhammad asad (as per usual) leaves one contemplating. may Allah azzawajal be pleased with him and may his work be of benefit to all who come across it, ameen <3

[Masrur · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. For any absolute beginner in the field of the state and Islam, this is a good primer. It's accessible and readable. So I would recommend it to the right person.

My issue with it is that it lacks authority. Once you know it's written by someone with a background in journalism you can sense the waffle. The substance of this book could probably be a pamphlet.

[Salman Tariq · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muhammad Asad , a rabbi who settled in Lahore for some time has laid the political framework of Islamic society. Although I believe on congregation for this kind of work , but this singular effort is drop in stagnant sea.

The nutshell of the book is we have been trying to solve modern socio-economic problems with conventional Fiqah (which needs an upgrade according to modern times). In certain situations Fiqah allows us an open road to fill any dent in political framework with modern interpretation. We have been very rigged in the past about Islamic interpretations .
Modern terms, socialism, democracy, theocracy can’t be applied while explaining Islamic ideology. Islam has its own identity with own social justice. For example Islam believes on a part of socialism where it says it’s a welfare stay but it clearly denies the recognition of human as economic figure but something more important. Islam believes on a part of theocracy where it makes divine law above people, but it denies the connotation of selecting clergyman as leader. Reliance on these western historical precedents can be more dangerous as it shades our own identity of Islam.

Here are some important points from the book.

Electoral system for all 4 caliphates was different, so Islam allows us be flexible in that matter to choose whatever suits us according to present circumstance.

The “shura “ must be selected as sectaries of the President .

The major flaw in democracy is what if minority is on right, the answer to the question is Amir has final say on such verdict, but such Absolute power may corrupt him too that’s why we should have supreme council above the Amir/President. The membership of the supreme council must be for life time , so they may not be drawn to other luxurious jobs.

In democracy “law making” is subjected to elected members who are mostly unaware of socio economic problems. People are selected on the basis of popularity, not based upon knowledge of law, socio economic policy making. Debate on such matters is done by entirely different branch which is called bureaucracy.

American electoral system where president holds all the power is more close to Islam .where President holds all the power this even solves the minority representation . Based upon proper vision he can select minority member, which otherwise would not have selected from assembly without proper sponsorship.

Free health and education must be the right of every citizen.

For achieving these goals elite members from major sects must sit down to ponder upon developing blue prints of a welfare society.



Apart from this summary, Assad doesn’t explains
how religion offers better prospects of national happiness? Any recent example?
What is the measure unit of righteousness and wisdom in person to be elected in shura?
From academic point of view book is excellent , but it seriously lacks any practical knowledge . The system devised above only exist in writers imagination.

[farahxreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frankly speak, I didnt really like the idea of Islamic state as my judgment has been clouded by the idea of secular, the conservative Muslims who insist on the maintenance of traditional forms of Shariah, the conservative Muslims who think that women do not have rights to education and so forth.

But this simple maqolah has changed my perception towards an Islamic state thank God belajar Islamic Constitutional Law this semester thank you prof Samat nakAbolehtakuntukfinal? Assad and Naim's idea of Islamic state lebih kurang sama, they highlighted on the need to revise the Shariah dan pada masa yang sama masih mengekalkan basis Quran dan Sunnah.

Tiga bintang setengah sebab tak cerita sangat pasal bidang kehakiman dan buku ini cerita permukaan saja so siapa nak tau apa fundamental characteristics for Islamic state, feel free to grab this book!

[Ali Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muhammad Asad was appointed director of the Department of Islamic Reconstruction, a government institution devoted to the elaboration of the intellectual and sociological principles which should underline the newly born society and the state, Pakistan. He was given a task to design a purely Islamic constitution for Pakistan. This book was, although, published after the first constitution of the country, however, it mirrors how Muhammad Asad was planning to prepare the first constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. After the demise of the founding father of the country, he was sacked from his post and was given a portfolio in the foreign ministry of the country to serve as an ambassador. Whatever happened in the aftermath is very well known to all those who have read Pakistan's history. However, this book makes clear that if the Quaid survived a little more and that if Muhammad Asad had not been sacked from his post, our country has entirely a changed version of religion and it would perhaps be more polite and tolerate toward other religion and Muslims themselves.

[Muhammad Fakhruddin]

Rasa rugi tak kenal Asad awal-awal.

Tidak ramai penulis topik ini, seperti yang beliau sebut, berhati-hati dalam membincangkan konsep 'negara Islam'. Terutamanya berkaitan perkembangan sejarah lahirnya konsep negara di Barat dan kesesuaiannya dengan prinsip-prinsip Islam. Satu pandangan jauh memikirkan makalah ini ditulis pada tahun 1961, lebih sedekad sebelum Revolusi Iran dan pelbagai perkembangan politik yang berlaku di kebanyakan dunia Islam.

Dalam memperkatakan konsep negara Islam saya kesan tulisan-tulisan Mawdudi dan pimpinan Ikhwan yang sering dirujuk ketimbang Asad, yang tak kurang penting jasanya dalam penubuhan negara Pakistan. Dalam prakata beliau menyatakan ada menulis esei "Islamic Constitutional-Making" yang mungkin berkaitan dengan sistem kehakiman, agak kurang disentuh dalam makalah ini. Dalam kesimpulannya ada disebut perihal pengekodan (codification) undang-undang Islam bagi memandu umat dalam hal bernegara, walaupun beliau sedar kesukaran-kesukaran yang bakal dihadapi.

Satu yang konsisten dalam tulisan ini ialah pendiriannya bahawa perlunya kita menggali khazanah Al-Quran dan Sunnah, dengan bekal itu dan kefahaman keadaan semasa, membina ijtihad yang bersesuaian dalam hal politik masa kini.

[Abdulmaliq attar · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب رائع .. ولو أنه يضع فقط الخطوط العريضة للمنهج الصحيح (برأيي المتواضع) الذي يمكن على أساسه وضع نظام للحكم في دولة حديثة لتحكم بشرع الله.. يضع النقاط على الحروف في العديد من القضايا.. ويبيبن ان متابعة الغرب في كل مصطلحاته السياسية لا يمكن ان تخدم أمتنا الإسلامية بل على العكس ..
بل حتى ان استعمال تلك المصطلحات لا يسمح بمناقشة منهج الإسلام الحقيقي في الحكم .. وأظن هذا الكتاب ضروريا لجيلنا في الوقت الحاضر.. لنفهم مايراد بنا .. وكيف علينا ان نتصرف حيال هذه التحديات المهولة التي تواجهنا كشباب مسلم في العالم ..

[Tariq · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful read. The writer does not indulge into unnecessary superlatives about the religion Islam which has become a trademark of Muslim writers, to the point where it affects their objectivity. Muhammad Asad, a renowned scholar of the last century wastes no time in getting to the point and charts out structure of a modern Islamic State. He argues that no historical precedents, nor any contemporary Islamic governance models, offer any guidance to what a modern Islamic State should look like. He also warns that thinking in terms of western political concepts will only increase the Muslim confusion as Muslim historical experience is distinct from the west. Laying the foundations with these arguments, author goes on to build, brick by brick, the structure of an Islamic State directly from the guiding principles of governance from the Quran and the Sunnah.

One of my favorite part of the book is author's definition of Shariah: A concise group of explicit ordinances of the Quran and Sunnah which clearly order or prohibit an action. These ordinances are timeless and eternal, and only these constitute the Shariah. Things which are not explicitly ordered or prohibited are for the people to decide keeping in view the requirements of a particular time, through Ijtehad. This, according to the author, provides dynamism to Islamic law and is the divine logic which prevents Islam from getting outdated.

Author condemns Muslim thinking of creating an State on the model of 7th century Arabia as times and needs of the current age are drastically different from that time.

Overall, this is a great book for anyone who wants to understand Islamic political theory, and the nature of society that Islam envisages to create through its governance model. For, creation of an Islamic State is not the end, but a means to achieve a just and egalitarian society.

[Khaled · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is indeed difficult to express or elucidate my thoughts on the work of Muhammad Asad especially when it comes to this book titled The Principles of State and Government in Islam. The story of how Asad wrote down this great work as narrated by his wife Pola Hamida Asad in Home-coming of the Heart is as follows. Asad had a bad habit of not reading neither opening the letters he receives. One day, while they were in Beirut towards the end of fifties, Pola noticed a letter from Pakistan left not opened along with the heap of not opened letters in the drawer. She insisted that Asad should open this letter, but Asad refused as usual. At last she forced him to open it, and he read in it that a group of young  fellows in Pakistan are sponsoring a work, to be published by the University of California Press, on Principles of State and Government in Islam, a work that develops the basics which Asad relied on in drafting the first constitution of Pakistan in 1948. Asad has utilized this opportunity up to his best.
The book is very concise, clear and offers a sheer conceptualized view of a State governed by Islamic Divine Law (Shari'ah).
The exigency of such an Islamic State in our time is needed in order to complete what the first Four Rachideen Caliphs have begun.
This book is a must for our youth and to everyone who considers that there is no other way than immitating the western module of state and governance, or replicating the relic of the past centuries of Islamic ruling.
Indeed, there is an alternative which is getting up with the need of initiating a State governed and run by the stipulated tenets of Islam that could adhere to the socio-economic needs of our time.

[Danyal Saeed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Modern Muslims are torn between the identity of nationhood as something geographical (or administrative/political) or as something ideological (values / religion). This very beautifully cuts through the confusion and gives you what Islam really asks of a state and its citizens. What an Islamic State is, is not secularism and departure from religion, but its also not a state based on Fiqhi rulings that were derived from Quran and Sunnah but were meant for a particular period, for a particular people. This lays great emphasis on the importance of ijtihad, and separating the nusoos ordinances of Quran and Sunnah, from the Fiqhi rulings of later times.

These principles should be the basis of a state if it wants to call itself Islamic.

It's roughly a 100 pages, and was a pleasure to read.

[Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise reflection on state and government in islam. A bit unfortunate to see that some of the ideas here have been available in English to the muslim community for 60 years and are not widely circulated at all such as: islamic roots of some democratic principles and pluralist society, an emphasis on limiting the foundational law to qat'iyat (issues based on explicit definitively transmitted primary sources) as opposed to the inferences of a particular school of thought and the necessity for original legal solutions suited to the times beyond this core law.
However in some respects, the author himself relies on other than qat'iyat to justify using the mechanism of the state to accomplish some functions. Nonetheless a valuable and accessible contribution to the topic.

[Mehadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read book if you want to about Government and State system through Islamic philosophy in modern age.
It is not only theological description also a give a model.
Islamic philosophy on making a Government and build a state is differ from modern western democratic philosophy. Basic principle is we are bound to obey the boundary comes from Almighty Allah and we can make a model as our time within this boundary.
In this book writer bring all boundary condition for making a model.

[Mehadi Hassan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of Muhammad Asad is a must read book if you want to about Government and State system through Islamic philosophy in modern age.
It is not only theological description also a give a model.
Islamic philosophy on making a Government and build a state is differ from modern western democratic philosophy. Basic principle is we are bound to obey the boundary comes from Almighty Allah and we can make a model as our time within this boundary.
In this book writer bring all boundary condition for making a model.

[Obaid Saeed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on a problem of mingling religion and state faced by many Islamic states today. This short book gives many insights on the views of different scholars on the subject and possible solutions. As the concept of nation state is still very young, Islamic states have a long way to go to reaching harmony between leaders and subjects which may be different in some extents with adopted practices in western countries.

[Mohammad Fraytees · Rating 5 out of 5]

يختصر هذا الكتاب القيم رحلة طويلة من البحث والجهاد فكري تتوجها درجة عالية من النضوج والاتزان بعيدا كل البعد عن اي نوع من العصبية والتبعية الا لله ورسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم. ليضعنا في مواجهة المسؤولية الواضحة اتجاه ما ندعيه وما بامكاننا عمله تجاه هذا الادعاء ان صدق.

[Abdullah Senosy · Rating 3 out of 5]

ده كان تعليقي اول ما انتهيت من قراءة الكتاب
"
الكتاب غير نظرتي لحاجات كتير في دولة الإسلام والكاتب فصل في اشياء اجتهادية تفصيلات رائعة احيانا وغريبة احيانا اخرى علشان كده زي ما الكاتب قال ف البداية -هو فتح الباب والكتابة ف المجال ده لازم يخلفه فيها ناس تانيين- لان الباب ده ف الدين مش مطروق كتير رغم اهميته وكثرة المنادين بقيام دولة الاسلام من غير ما يعرفوا اسسها وقواعدها
بالنسبة للمضمون كان في تعليقات ف مسالة الجهاد والجزية والضرائب وده مش موضع مناقشة
وبالنسبة للاحاديث..بعضها والله اعلم غير صحيحة فيجب على احد الدارسين تحقيقها
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لكن بعد ما قرأت كتاب سيد قطب "معالم في الطريق" اقتنعت بقوله ان طرح الاسلام كمنهج نظري لن يعود بالنفع عليه ولكن يجب العمل للتمكين للاسلام كمنهج حياة يحكم الحياة بكل جوانبها

[Adeel Hasan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine its 1947. Pakistan is a newly created state, but she lacks a constitution as yet. There is hope in the ummah, that a modern Islamic state will rise out of the struggle. What ideas and principles should drive this state? This books is the scholarly endeavour of Mohammad Asad to answer that question.

A must read for everyone thinks Democracy is un-Islamic and only Khilafat is acceptable.

Be warned though, although it examines many questions regarding the Islamic state, it does not suppose to answer all of them.

[Syed M. Abdullah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ultra rationalist and modern definitions of key Islamic Concept. The books impliedly advocates the case of democracy as a system of govt in Islam and pleads its case by drawing the old islamic philosophies in altogether a new colour. The author tends to be legallistic in his argument contrary to his stance in his other books i.e. radically against the Western narrative of governance. Apart from this general contradiction, it shows Islam in its pragmatic form that is not radical as is otherwise defined.

[Asad · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a powerful little book. I am left, at the same time, inspired by what it envisions and distressed by how far from said vision we have diverged (and not for the better). There is much work to be done before the Islamic Republic of Pakistan has a legitimate claim to its title.

[Khalid Syaifullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The very basic introduction to the construct, responsibilities, and role of an Islamic State. A much needed book in light of today's so-called "Islamic State" to clear up not so much the views of a non Muslim, but a Muslim's first and foremost.

[رانيا الكتاتني · Rating 4 out of 5]

قرأت هذا البحث منذ ما يقرب من عامين محاولةً للوصول لبعض الإجابات وأكثر ما أعجبني فيه هو أنه قادني إلى تساؤلات أكثر فأكثر وترك للقارئ المجال للتفكير في غالبية الأمور.

بحث جيد أكد على الإطار العام للسياسة الشرعية وترك الباقي لاجتهادات علماء كل زمن.

[Rana Iqbal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in the Islamization of society.