1 Islamic articles on: Islam and politics

Table of contents for the topic Islam and politics
  1. Islam, politics and political parties

IslamQA: Islam, politics and political parties

Salaam. What is your take on Islam and politics? Do you think Islam has a politic system that matches the teachings of Islam or is it free to us to decide which politic system to use to regulate our nations and country? I remember that 1400 years ago, Prophet Muhammad used to rule an Islamic State (Daar al-Islam) and does that count as a stance for us to also establish an Islamic State? I'm not talking about ISIS and such here, because that's a different matter. Thank you for your time. May Allah Bless you and your family.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

I lay out my views on Islam and politics in my essays The Muslim Plan for Western Civilization: There is No Plan and The Last Mufti of Iranian Kurdistan (And a Critique of Political Islam).

I do not think there is one right political system for Muslim to follow. What I believe is that if most of the citizens of a country freely choose to implement Islamic principles in their government, then that is a good thing and they are free to do so, provided that they do not transgress on the rights of those who are not Muslim or who disagree with them on governance.

So if a Muslim government comes about organically and naturally, because of the will of the people, then I support that. But if it comes about becomes a small group of people desire it and try to force it on others, then I am against that. The Prophet PBUH was democratically elected as the ruler of Medina, he never sought power for himself or his group. He is the example we should follow in politics.

I am completely against Islamist political parties, where a group of Muslims self-elect themselves to be the representatives of Islam. This always leads to more harm than good. I believe all Muslim organizations should be non-political and they should all have as their main principle the non-seeking of political power.

However, I am in favor of individual Muslims getting involved in politics under their own name rather than claiming to represent all Muslims.