Shari'a in Islam

Even the most cursory discussion of sovereignty in Islam must begin with the Shari'a, or Islamic Law. For in Islam, sovereignty is not vested in the body politic, or in the monarch, or even in jurisprudence. Sovereignty rests in the Shari'a, and the Shari'a is derived from the Qur'an. In this, the Shari'a is incapable of distinguishing morality from law; they are one and the same and as such, there is no distinction whatsoever that need be drawn between legitimate jurisprudence and religious ethics. In true Muslim society, political leaders are therefore expected to embody both a political and moral authority. It is for this deep commitment to religious dictate that in Islam, it is understood that sovereignty is defined by the word of Allah: the Shari'a (Ahmed 25).

Sovereignty, understood as supreme power over a body politic, must of course be action guiding in nature. In Islam, the Shari'a fulfills this criterion with total abandon. Because the Shari'a is overt in its prescriptions and stringent with its requirements there is no margin for error in the Islamic state. Following the conviction that Islam is "Creed and state, book and sword, and a way of life" (Muslim Brotherhood Movement Homepage (MBMH)), many Muslims will not accept gradations in terms of religious devotion. For the true Muslim, dedication to the all-encompassing faith is fundamental. Indeed, Islamist fundamentalists often condemn even Muslim states such as Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria for their a

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vation, representative of the one true Good that leads the individual to paradise. For this, every individual has a vested interest in submitting completely to the dictates of the Shari'a. On the flip side, Islam does not offer a brand of sovereignty that affords the individual any opportunities to pursue alternative forms of the Good, no matter how these may be perceived. As Azam Kumguian explains, because the Shari'a "tries to legalize for every single aspect of an individual's life, the individual is not at liberty to think or decide for himself" (1). For those with liberal sensibilities, this facet of the Shari'a is ironically unacceptable. Though liberal societies purport to champion tolerance, that ideal is challenged by the notion of Islamic law, or more specifically, those that choose to observe it. Because the Shari'a is monistic in its conception of the Good, liberals must necessarily balk at the idea of tolerating a system that itself refuses to tolerate divergent ways of life. And yet, sovereignty in Islam demands precisely that: total commitment to the one, true way as described by Allah. An issue raised above concerns inter-Muslim debates concerning the true nature of sovereignty in Islam. Though the Sh

Category: Philosophy - S