Islamic leadership

Encyclopedia : I : IS : ISL : Islamic leadership

''This is a sub-article to Islamic politics and a parallel sub-article to leadership.

Islamic leadership is what a Muslim leader is supposed to show, in order to lead in accordance to Islamic principles. Among the divisions of Islam, there are different views of how Islamic leadership is supposed to be carried out.

Contents

1 History
2
3

3.1.1
3.1.2

4 See also
5 External links

History

Both Shi' and Sunni agree that it was the Islamic prophets that where responsible for the Islamic leadership, prophet Muhammad being the last one of them. After Muhammad, the concept of Islamic leadership became disputed.

Sunni Islam dictates that in the absence of an Islamic state and the Khilafah or Capliphat, ruled by a Caliph (lit: succesor), it is obligatory on every Muslim to work towards the establishment of the Khilafah. The Khalif holds supreme religious and political authority over the state, and is advised by a consultative body, the Majlis or Shura. He may be either appointed by the previous Khalif, elected by a committee set up to elect the Khalif, or elected by the Ulema.
The Capliphat was ended by the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, as a direct consequence of World War I.

Shi'a insiste that the Shi'a Imams where those responsible for the Islamic leadership after Muhammad, however, they where robed of their right to execute their responsibilities.

After the twelfth Shi'a Imam, the concept of Islamic leadershi became disputed with the consept of Waliyat al-faqih, resluting in the 1979 Islamic revolution.
In the Shi'a jurisprudence, there is a tradition of not obeying sinners, deriving from the Shi'a belief of the Infallibility of the Shi'a imams. They also use a Qur'anic verse to support their argument:

Sura 4.35 ^{translated by Shakir}
:''[76:24] Therefore wait patiently for the command of your Lord, and obey not from among them a sinner or an ungrateful one.

The classical Shi'a belief is that nobody can be a representative of the Mahdi and Muslims should refrain from politics for the same reasons the Shia Imams retired from the political arena after the battle of Karbala. They argue that if one insist on having a government, then it should not be claimed to have divine authority by claiming to be a representative of Muhammad al-Mahdi, rather have a "normal" state and strive to have laws in harmony with Islam, without calling it explicitly an Islamic state, with a self-perceived mission to guard and expand Islam. They believe that the true Islamic state will re-emerge with the re-emergence of Mahdi, and the rushing of the procedure goes against Mahdi will.

Quietism ceased to be the only view with the release of the book Waliyat al-faqih and the Islamic revolution of Iran. Then the doctrine of the Guardianship of the Jurisprudens (Wilayat al-Faqih) took root in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Islamili have their own doctrine, see Imamah (Shi'a Ismaili doctrine)

External links

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/religion-shia2.htm