Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Department of Political Science and International Relations, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2
. Department of Political Science and International Relations, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Department of Law and Political Science, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Today, one of the definitions of political Islam is as follows: movements that consider Islam as a comprehensive religion and, emphasizing the inherent connection between religion and politics, seek to realize the Islamic state to create development and progress, implement justice, confront colonialism, and build civilization. They have emerged and emerged flexibly according to historical conditions with methods such as reform movements, revolutionary movements, or participation in political systems. With such a definition of political Islam, the initial question of this research is whether political Islam has been a phenomenon specific to the modern era or whether it has been searchable since the beginning? The assumption of the research is that, contrary to some existing theories, political Islam is not a phenomenon born of the modern era and existed before it. Accordingly, the main question of the present article is what is political Islam and why and how has it evolved?
By reviewing the existing literature and mentioning different definitions of political Islam and their classification, while providing a clear definition of what political Islam is, in the form of process tracing as a research method, by systematically reviewing theories of political Islam such as the views of Bernard Lewis, Samuel Huntington, Abu Ala Maududi and Imam Khomeini, while recognizing them, it has been reviewed, discovered and explained how political Islam began or was born, then identified the turning points and important and influential factors in its ups and downs throughout history. By describing the types of political Islam, the indicators of this phenomenon such as expansionism, justice-seeking and resistance to internal tyranny and foreign colonialism have been extracted. Thus, political Islam has been a long-standing concept and discourse independent of fundamentalist movements in the Islamic world, and in accordance with the temporal and historical conditions such as the colonial era, the rule of sultans, various kingdoms, etc., in each period and in accordance with the requirements of time and place, it has taken various forms and adopted different methods in interacting with power.
Extended Abstract
Purpose: The concept of "political Islam" is one of the controversial concepts in contemporary political science literature, which has become one of the main centers of discussion on the relationship between religion and politics, especially after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the global developments of the final decades of the twentieth century. Although the history of politics in Islam dates back to the beginning of Islam and the formation of the prophetic government in Medina, and historical evidence indicates that religion and politics were not separated in the Islamic tradition, with the spread of Western modernism and the spread of secularism, the suspicion arose that Islam has two distinct aspects: "traditional" and "political". In such a context, the term "political Islam" was mainly used in Western literature to describe trends that sought to return religion to the arena of power and governance. The present article, using the "process tracing" method, seeks to answer three basic questions: What is political Islam (what is it)? Why did it emerge and continue (why)? And how has it manifested itself in different historical contexts (how)?
Methodology: In the first part, by examining the extra-religious and intra-religious definitions, it is shown that Western approaches to political Islam can be classified into several general categories: first, the threat-oriented or Islamophobic approach, which introduces political Islam as the equivalent of fundamentalism, anti-modernity, violence, and the enemy of democracy, and considers it the "other" of secular discourse; second, the orientalist approach, which analyzes political Islam within the framework of colonial interests with an instrumental and sometimes distorted perspective; third, the research-analytical approach, which attempts to study political Islam as a socio-political phenomenon with a relatively impartial approach; and fourth, the discursive approach, which considers political Islam as a rival discourse to secularism and based on the centrality of "Islamic identity."
Findings: In contrast, the definitions of Muslim thinkers often emphasize the inherent connection between religion and politics. In this view, Islam is not simply a set of religious teachings, but a comprehensive religion with a theory of government, justice, and social order. Many Muslim thinkers, from Seyyed Jamal al-Din Asadabadi and Muhammad Abduh to Maududi, Hassan al-Banna, Seyyed Qutb, Imam Khomeini, and others, have considered political Islam to be a solution to overcome backwardness, colonialism, and tyranny. Accordingly, political Islam refers to movements that emphasize the inseparability of religion and politics, consider Islam to have a comprehensive theory of government, and consider the acquisition of political power as a prelude to the implementation of Sharia and the realization of justice.
In the second section, the reasons for the emergence and spread of political Islam are examined. Among the extra-religious theories, views such as “Islam based on historical hatred of the West” (Bernard Lewis), “clash of civilizations” (Huntington), reaction to colonialism (Fuller), the consequence of economic-ideological crises and the failure of secular nationalism (Deepa Kumar), cultural defense and the restoration of lost identity (Carvalho), as well as analyses based on poverty and social injustice (Gilles Capel) have been put forward. In contrast, Muslim thinkers consider the emergence of political Islam to be mainly the result of distancing from authentic Islam, the spread of internal tyranny, the dominance of foreign colonialism, and the failure of liberal and socialist models to achieve justice. In this view, returning to Islam and establishing an Islamic state is the only way to restore justice, dignity, and progress in Muslim societies.
In the third section, the nature of political Islam and its types are examined in a historical context. Before the modern era, political Islam manifested itself in forms such as the caliphate in the Sunni world and the imamate and wilayah in the Shiite world. In the post-modern era, with the collapse of the Ottoman Caliphate and the spread of colonialism, new forms of political Islam emerged: in the Sunni world, from Salafi-Takfi movements to pro-democracy movements; and in the Shiite world, from the reformist and supervisory actions of the ulama to the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the formation of a government based on the authority of the jurist.
Political Islam can also be classified according to different criteria: in terms of its relationship to rationality (fundamentalist and principled), in terms of the governance model (Saudi, Turkish and Iranian models), in terms of the interpretation of Islam (Shiite-Welai, Brotherhood, Wahhabi-Takfiri) and in terms of its relationship to power (supervisory, interactive, sanctions, revolutionary and governmental currents).
Discussion and Conclusion: In conclusion, the research shows that political Islam is not a newly emerging phenomenon in historical terms, but rather has its roots in the political tradition of Islam; although as a term, it has become prominent in the modern era. Political Islam in its comprehensive sense has characteristics such as the belief in the non-separation of religion and politics, the comprehensiveness of Islam, the pursuit of justice, the confrontation with colonialism and tyranny, the necessity of religious rule, and the effort to build a new Islamic civilization. Therefore, political Islam should not be considered merely an emotional or fundamentalist reaction, but rather a historical and evolving discourse that has taken various forms in different time and place conditions and continues to be one of the most important actors in the political arena in the Islamic world.
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