The second of two volumes of the renowned and comprehensive text on Islamic political theory by Ayatullah Misbah Yazdi, dealing with the importance of recognizing Islam as the basis of any just political theory, methods of implementing such a theory by the government, and comparing and contrasting this Islamic system with the system predominant in most Western ans secular nations.
- Islamic Political Theory (Legislation): Volume 2
- Preface
- Introduction
- Session 24: Grand Strategies in the Realm of Governance and Implementation (Part 1)
- The exigency of government
- Different approaches on objectives of executive power
- Aim of prophets (‘a) in establishing government
- Impact of social challenges on conduct of liberal system
- Reason behind individuals’ inclination towards liberalism
- A perspective on the structure of Islamic government and state
- The government must be accepted by the people
- Session 25:Grand Strategies in the Realm of Governance and Implementation (Part 2)
- Government as perpetually needed by human society
- Need for government according to Islam and the Qur’an
- The exigency and source of power
- Administrators must be God-wary and morally sound
- An examination of the legitimacy of government in political philosophy
- Difference between Islamic and liberal perspectives on legitimacy
- Session 26: Special Functions of State and Islamic Perspective on Public Participation
- Exclusive functions of state
- Dual structure of functions of state
- Need for organizations dealing with low-income strata of society
- The Islamic paving of ground for public participation
- Factors undermining public participation
- Status of civil society in Islam
- New ways of opposing Islamic criteria for selection
- Need to preserve Islamic values and principles and counter enemy plots
- Session 27: A Perspective on the Distinctive Structure of the Islamic State
- Fundamental difference between government in Islamic and secular systems
- Presentation of a secular state model by those enamored by Western culture
- State’s mission to preserve and promote Islamic mottos
- Methods employed by the state to fulfill its responsibilities
- Model of totalitarian and liberal states
- Islam’s idealistic and realistic perspective on state
- Defects of a state’s centralized system
- Session 28: Observance of Values and Legitimate Freedom in an Islamic State
- Session 29: The Political Hierarchy in the Islamic State
- Specific duties of an Islamic government
- Qualifications of Islamic state officials
- Necessity of determining origin of statesmen’s qualifications
- Rejecting the value-laden approach of Kant in the realm of behavior
- Islam’s non-judgmental approach in value-giving and assigning duties
- Worship has different degrees of value
- Categorized models of Islamic government
- Rational proof of the wilayah al-faqih system
- Session 30: The Connection between the Absolute Guardianship of the Jurist and the Islamic Government Establishment
- Balance between prerogatives and duties in the Islamic state
- Connection between absolute guardianship (wilayat-e mutlaq) and government prerogatives
- People’s skepticism on absolute guardianship
- Investigating the structure of Islamic government
- Precedence of the notion of “state within a state” in Islam
- Imam Khomeini’s presentation of “absolute guardianship of the jurist”
- Description of wilayat al-faqih in the maqbulah of ‘Umar ibn Hanzalah’
- Islam’s view on separation of powers
- Grounds for overlapping of functions
- Session 31: An Examination and Criticism of the Theory of Separation of Powers
- Historical trend leading to the theory of separation of powers
- Reasons behind the separation of powers
- The impossibility of totally separating and delineating the powers
- Need for an institution that coordinates and supervises the three powers
- Wilayah al-faqih as the unifying axis of society and the political system
- Session 32: The Exigency of Elucidating the Ideological Position of the Islamic System
- Different levels of understanding the Islamic government
- A review of the characteristics of law and its necessity
- Another review of the qualities of the implementers of Islamic laws
- Theoretical connection of Islamic government with ideological principles and foundations
- Logical and rational basis of Islamic government’s linear degrees
- Presenting some questions regarding Islamic government
- Session 33: Islam and Different Forms of Government
- Skepticism on Islam’s alleged lack of government planning and program
- Refuting the abovementioned skepticism and stating the Islamic viewpoint on the form of government
- The impossibility of presenting a fixed government structure
- Skepticism on alleged temporal and worldly nature of government and obsoleteness of Islamic laws
- Refutation of the above and the connection between Islam’s immutable and alterable laws
- Divine laws’ jurisdiction encompasses all spheres of human activities
- Session 34: The Position of Islamic Laws and Our System’s Superiority over Other Systems
- Connection of the immutable laws of Islam with government structure and alterable laws
- Primary and secondary laws and the secondary laws’ alleged conflict with Islam
- Shortcomings of the democratic systems
- Exigency of the powers’ coordinating agency
- The coordination of powers in the wilayah al-faqih system
- The wilayah al-faqih system’s superiority over other systems
- Session 35: The Connection between Freedom, State and Laws
- The alleged incompatibility of an appointed ruler with freedom and democracy
- Examining intrinsic freedom and negating the theory of predetermination
- No contradiction between the internally value-oriented system and freedom
- The connection between religious, obligations and freedom
- The connection of hudud and ta‘zirat with freedom
- The existence of state and laws negates absolute freedom
- The exigency of linking sovereignty with Allah
- Session 36: Need for Decisiveness in Implementing Islamic Ordinances
- Social impact of human action and the necessity of government
- The legitimate source of government and the enigmas of democracy
- The government’s legitimacy in Islam
- The prophets and their way of guiding people
- The need to remove obstacles along the way of guidance
- The necessity of preserving divine values and negating Western values
- Decisiveness in implementing laws and struggling against enemies of the system
- Warning people against conspirators and mercenaries
- Session 37: A Scrutiny of the Issue of Violence
- The enemies’ sinister propaganda and activities against Islam
- The West and its pretentious defense of human rights
- Resorting to violence and plotting to topple down the Islamic system
- Paving the ground for the absence of people from the scene
- The exigency of confronting cultural conspiracies and misgivings about religious sanctities
- Islam’s description of God’s mercy and wrath
- The necessity of confronting enemies and hypocrites, and eliminating impediments to guidance
- Opposition to the penal and criminal laws of Islam
- Violent measures not confined to the domain of penal and criminal laws
- Islam and the need to answer all academic objections under all circumstances
- Confronting the conspiracies and reaction of foreigners
- The Qur’an and the need to repudiate and be inimical to its enemies
- Session 38: Confrontation of Western Ideas and Beliefs’ with Islamic Laws
- The Constitutional Movement and propagation of Western values
- Some writers’ displeasure at the presentation of ideal freedom in Islam
- Islamic decree on enemy combatants and agents of corruption on earth
- The consequences of the lack of decisive step against conspirators
- Irresponsible stances against the issue of violence
- An examination of the synonym of the word “violence” in the Qur’an
- The Western and Islamic concept of tolerance
- Session 39: An Investigation of the Relativity of Values and Religious Narratives
- Session 40: Religious Knowledge: Fiction or True Reflection?
- The status of realistic and unrealistic languages
- The motive of introducing the language of religion as symbolic and unrealistic
- Westernized intellectuals, the promoters of the theory of relativity of religion
- Eclectic understanding of the story of Habil and Qabil
- The presentation of an ambiguous image of religion
- Comparing the Qur’an with the language of poetry as a justification of pluralist interpretations
- The plurality of interpretations and trends of knowledge in hermeneutics
- Words and the possibility of their arriving at different truths
- The possibility of acquiring absolute and real knowledge of the Qur’an
- The relativists’ unfounded claim of Qur’anic language being unreal
- Imam ‘Ali’s (‘a) expression of concern over cultural confusion and the distortion of religion
- The necessity of removing personal preferences from the domain of religion
