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An Islamic state (Arabic: الدولة الإسلامية, al-dawla al-islamiyya) is a type of government, in which the primary basis for government is Islamic religious law. From the early years of Islam, numerous governments have been founded as "Islamic", beginning most notably with the Caliphate established by Mohammad himself and including subsequent governments ruled under the direction of a caliph (meaning, "successor" to the prophet Mohammad).

However, the term "Islamic state" has taken on a more specific modern connotation since the 20th century. The concept of the modern Islamic state has been articulated and promoted by ideologues such as Abul Ala Maududi, Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini, and Sayyid Qutb. Like the earlier notion of the caliphate, the modern Islamic state is rooted in Islamic law. It is modeled after the rule of Mohammad. However, unlike caliph-led governments which were imperial despotisms or monarchies (Arabic: "mulk"), a modern Islamic state can incorporate modern political institutions such as elections, parliamentary rule, judicial review, and popular sovereignty.

The Historical Islamic state[link]

Early Islamic Governments[link]

The term caliphate refers to the first system of government established by Mohammad in 622 CE, under the Constitution of Medina. It represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah (nation), although it did not always incorporate the full religious community of Muslims (for example, Kharijites and Shia). It was subsequently led by Muhammad's disciples who were known as the Rightly Guided (Rashidun) Caliphs (632-661 CE). The Arabian Empire significantly expanded under the Umayyad Caliphate (622-750) and the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258).

The Essence of Islamic Governments[link]

The essence or guiding principles of an Islamic government or Islamic state, is the concept of 'Al-Shura'. Different scholars have different understandings or thoughts, with regard to the concept al-Shura, However, most Muslim scholars are of the opinion that Islamic al-Shura should consist of:^[1]

• Meeting or consultation, that follows the teachings of Islam.
• Consultation following the guidelines of the Quran and Sunnah.
• There is a leader elected among them to head the meeting.
• The discussion should be based on mushawarah and mudhakarah.
• All the members are given fair opportunity to voice out their opinions.
• The issue should be of maslahah ammah or public interest.
• The voices of the majority are accepted, provided that it does not violate with the teachings of the Quran or Sunnah.

Prophet Muhammad himself respected the decision of the shura members. He is the champion of the notion of al-shura, and this was illustrated in one of the many historical events, such as, in the Battle of Khandaq (Battle of the Ditch), where the Prophet was faced with two decisions, i.e. to fight the unbelievers outside Medina or within Medina. After consultation with the sahabahs (companions), it was suggested by Salman al-Farsi that it would be better if the Muslim fought the unbelievers within Medina by building a big ditch on the northern periphery of Medina to prevent the enemies from entering Medina. This idea was later supported by the majority of the sahabahs, and thereafter, the Prophet also approved it.

The raison d'être the Prophet placed great emphasis on the agreement of the decision of the shura, is to respect the decree of the shura members, and because the majority of opinion (by the sahabah) are supposedly better than the decision made by one individual. However, it should be emphasized here that the decision of the shura should not in any way violate the teaching of Islam, Quran and Sunnah.

The Revival and Abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate[link]

The Ottoman Sultan Selim I (1876–1909) reclaimed the title of Caliph, which had been in dispute and asserted by a diversity of rulers and "shadow caliphs" in the centuries of the Abbasid-Mamluk Caliphate since the Mongols' sacking of Baghdad and the killing of the last Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad in Iraq 1258.

The abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate as an office of the Ottoman Empire occurred under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1924 as part of Ataturk's reforms. This move was most vigorously protested in India, as Gandhi and Indian Muslims united behind the symbolism of the Ottoman Caliph in the Khilafat (or "Caliphate") Movement, which sought to reinstate the Caliph deposed by Ataturk. This Khilafat Movement leveraged the Ottoman political resistance to the British Empire, and this international anti-imperial connection proved to be a galvanizing force during India's nascent nationalism movement of the early 1900s, for Hindus and Muslims alike, even though India was far from the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate in Istanbul.

The Modern "Islamic State"[link]

Origins in 20th century nationalist and anti-imperialist movements[link]

"The very term, 'Islamic State', was never used in the theory or practice of Muslim political science, before the twentieth century," a Pakistani scholar wrote,^[2] and western scholars of Islam agree.^[3]

The modern conceptualization of the "Islamic state" is attributed to Abul Ala Maududi (1903–1979), an Indian Muslim theologian who founded the political party Jamaat-e-Islami and inspired other Islamic revolutionaries such as Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini.^[4] Abul Ala Maududi's early political career was influenced greatly by anti-colonial agitation in India, especially after the tumultuous abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 stoked anti-British sentiment (see Khilafat Movement).^[5]

The Islamic state was perceived as a "third way" between the rival political systems of democracy and socialism (see also Islamic Modernism).^[6] Maududi's seminal writings on Islamic economics argued as early as 1941 against free-market capitalism and socialist state intervention in the economy, similar to Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr's later Our Economics written in 1961. Maududi envisioned the ideal Islamic state as combining the democratic principles of electoral politics with the socialist principles of concern for the poor.^[7]

Islamic States Today[link]

Islamic republic is the official name given to several Islamic modeled contemporary states^[8] in the Muslim world, including the Islamic Republics of Pakistan, Iran^[9] and Afghanistan.^[10] Pakistan adopted the title under the constitution of 1956. Mauritania adopted it on 28 November 1958. Iran adopted it after the 1979 Iranian Revolution that overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty. In Iran, the form of government is known as "Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists". Afghanistan was run as an Islamic state in areas controlled by the Taliban from 1992–2001, and after the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban the country is still known as the "Islamic Republic of Afghanistan". Despite the similar name, the countries differ greatly in their governments and laws.

Saudi Arabia can be considered an Islamic state, but it is an absolute monarchy ruled by a king and therefore not known as an "Islamic Republic".

Pan-Islamism is a form of religious nationalism within political Islam which advocates the unification of the Muslim world under a single Islamic state, often described as a caliphate.

The Libyan interim Constitutional Declaration of 3 August 2011 declares Islam to be official religion of Libya.

Muslim criticism of Islamic states[link]

Prominent Muslim intellectuals^[who?] have argued that Islamic states destroy the purity of Islam.^{[citation needed]}

Indonesia[link]

Indonesian scholar Nurcholish Madjid (1939–2005) believed that the instrumental use of Islam for political ends violates the central principle of Islamic theology, monotheism (or "tawhid"), by mixing divine oneness with worldly politics.^{[citation needed]}

Iran[link]

Leading up to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, many of the highest-ranking clergy in Shi'a Islam held to the standard doctrine of the Imamate, which allows political rule only by the prophet Mohammad or one of his true successors. They were opposed to creating an Islamic state (see Ayatollah Ha'eri Yazdi (Khomeini's own teacher), Ayatollah Borujerdi, Grand Ayatollah Shariatmadari, and Grand Ayatollah Khui).^[11] Today, contemporary theologians who were once part of the Iranian Revolution have also become disenchanted and critical of the unity of religion and state in Islamic Republic of Iran, and are advocating secularization of the state to preserve the purity of the Islamic faith (see Abdolkarim Soroush and Mohsen Kadivar).^[12]

See also[link]

• Criticism of Islamism
• Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists (in Iran)
• Hussein-Ali Montazeri
• Islamic republic
• Islamism
• Shariah
• Theocracy

References[link]

Abu Izzadeen (Arabic: ابو عز الدين‎, Abū ‘Izz ad-Dīn), born Trevor Brooks, 18 April 1975), is a British spokesman for Al Ghurabaa, a Muslim organization banned under the Terrorism Act 2006 for the glorification of terrorism, that operated in the United Kingdom.^[1] He was convicted on charges of terrorist fund-raising and inciting terrorism overseas on 17 April 2008,^[2] and sentenced to four and a half years in jail. He was released in May 2009,^[3] after serving 3 and half years, including time on remand.

Personal background[link]

Abu Izzadeen is a British citizen born in Hackney, east London to a family originally from Jamaica. Brooks converted to Islam a day before he turned 18, on the 17 April 1994, changing his name to Omar, but preferring to be called Abu Izadeen. He is fluent in Arabic.^[4][5]

He trained and worked for a while as an electrician. He and his Arab-born wife Mokhtaria were married in 1998; they have three children.^[5][6][7]

Political activities[link]

Abu Izzadeen met Omar Bakri Muhammed and Abu Hamza al-Masri at Finsbury Park Mosque in the 1990s; this is when he is thought to have been radicalized.^[6]

He visited Pakistan in 2001, before the September 11 attacks, as part of Al-Muhajiroun; he claims he went there to give a series of lectures. He also claimed to have attended terror training camps in Afghanistan.^[5][6]

He described the 7/7 suicide bombers in London as "completely praiseworthy".^[8]

On the eve of the anniversary of the 7/7 attacks in London, he was filmed preaching to a group of Muslims in Birmingham (UK) mocking and laughing at the victims of 9/11 and threatening further terror attacks in the UK.^[9]

He has openly stated that he wishes to die as a suicide bomber.^[10]

On 20 September 2006, Abu Izadeen and Anjem Choudary disrupted Home Secretary John Reid's first public meeting with Muslims since his appointment. He called Reid an "enemy" of Islam.^[11] John Humphrys interviewed Izzadeen on the 22 September 2006 edition of BBC Radio 4's Today programme. In a heated discussion Abu Izadeen stated that his aim was to bring about Sharia law in the UK and that this should be achieved without following the democratic process but rather "in accordance to the Islamic methodology".^[12]

Arrests[link]

February 2007[link]

British police arrested Abu Izadeen on charges of inciting terrorism on 2007-02-08. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said the arrest is related to an "on-going inquiry," involving a speech Abu Izadeen gave in the West Midlands area in 2006, which predates the 20 September 2006 incident.^[13][14]

April 2007[link]

He was arrested again in a pre-dawn police raid on 2007-04-24 under the Terrorism Act 2000 "in connection with inciting others to commit acts of terrorism overseas and terrorist fundraising". ^[15]

April 2008[link]

On 2008-04-17 Izzadeen was among six men convicted at Kingston Crown Court of supporting terrorism, while the jury failed to reach a verdict on a third charge of encouraging terrorism.^[16] He was subsequently jailed for four and a half years.

See also[link]

• Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt
• Khalid Kelly
• Anjem Choudary
• Abu Uzair
• Hassan Butt
• Andrew Ibrahim
• Sulayman Keeler
• Abu Hamza al-Masri
• Omar Bakri Muhammad

References[link]

v t e Alleged militants in the War on Terror who have lived in the United Kingdom Al Ghurabaa and Al-Muhajiroun Hassan Butt Anjem Choudary Abu Izzadeen Sulayman Keeler Omar Bakri Muhammad Abu Uzair Lockerbie bombing Abdelbaset al-Megrahi 1993 World Trade Center bombing Ramzi Yousef 2001 shoe bomb plot Richard Reid Saajid Badat 7 July 2005 London bombings Hasib Hussain Mohammad Sidique Khan Germaine Lindsay Shehzad Tanweer 21 July 2005 London bombings Osman Hussain Muktar Said Ibrahim Ramzi Mohammed Yasin Hassan Omar Adel Yahya 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack Bilal Abdullah Kafeel Ahmed 22 May 2008 Exeter bombing Nicky Reilly Miscellaneous Andrew Ibrahim Abu Bakr Mansha Abu Hamza al-Masri Aabid Khan Rabah Kadre Younes Tsouli Kamel Rabat Bouralha