Editing Political aspects of Islam (section)

==Pre-modern Islam==
{{Main|Early history of Islam|Early Muslim conquests|Historical reliability of the Quran|Historicity of Muhammad}}

===Origins of Islam===
{{Main|Pre-Islamic Arabia|Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Early Muslim conquests|Historical reliability of the Quran|Historicity of Muhammad}}
[[File:ArabianpeninsulaAL.PNG|thumb|Arabia united under Muhammad (7th century CE)]]

[[Early history of Islam|Early Islam]] arose within the historical, social, political, economic, and religious context of [[Late Antiquity]] in the [[Middle East]].{{sfn|Robinson|2010|p=9}} The second half of the 6th century CE saw political disorder in the [[Pre-Islamic Arabia|pre-Islamic]] [[Arabian peninsula]], and communication routes were no longer secure.<ref>{{cite book|author= Christian Julien Robin|title= Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA297|year= 2012|publisher= OUP USA|pages= 297–99|isbn= 9780195336931}}</ref> [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Religious divisions]] played an important role in the crisis.<ref name="Robin302">{{cite book|author= Christian Julien Robin|title= Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA302|year= 2012|publisher= OUP USA|page= 302|isbn= 9780195336931}}</ref> [[Judaism]] became the dominant religion of the [[Himyarite Kingdom]] in Yemen after about 380 CE, while [[Christianity]] took root in the [[Persian Gulf]].<ref name="Robin302"/> There was also a yearning for a more "spiritual form of religion", and "the choice of religion increasingly became an individual rather than a collective issue."<ref name="Robin302"/> While some [[Arabs]] were reluctant to convert to a foreign faith, those [[Abrahamic religions]] provided "the principal intellectual and spiritual reference points", and Jewish and Christian loanwords from [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] began to replace the old pagan vocabulary of [[Arabic language|Arabic]] throughout the peninsula.<ref name="Robin302"/> The ''[[Hanif|Ḥanīf]]'' ("renunciates"), a group of [[Monotheism|monotheists]] that sought to separate themselves both from the foreign Abrahamic religions and the [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|traditional Arab polytheism]],<ref name="Rubin 2006">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Rubin |author-first=Uri |author-link=Uri Rubin |year=2006 |title=Ḥanīf |editor-last=McAuliffe |editor-first=Jane Dammen |editor-link=Jane Dammen McAuliffe |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān]] |volume=II |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |doi=10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQCOM_00080 |isbn=978-90-04-14743-0}}</ref> were looking for a new religious worldview to replace the pre-Islamic Arabian religions,<ref name="Rubin 2006"/> focusing on "the all-encompassing father god [[Allah]] whom they freely equated with the Jewish [[Yahweh]] and the Christian [[Jehovah]]."{{sfn|Rogerson|2010}} In their view, [[Mecca]] was originally dedicated to this monotheistic faith that they considered to be the one true religion, established by the patriarch [[Abraham]].<ref name="Rubin 2006"/>{{sfn|Rogerson|2010}}

According to the [[Historiography of early Islam|traditional account]],<ref name="Van-Ess 2017"/><ref name="Lewis1995a"/> the [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]] was born in [[Mecca]] around the year 570 CE.<ref>"The very first question a biographer has to ask, namely when the person was born, cannot be answered precisely for Muhammad. [...] Muhammad's biographers usually make him 40 or sometimes 43 years old at the time of his call to be a prophet, which [...] would put the year of his birth at about 570 A.D." F.&nbsp;Buhl & A.T.&nbsp;Welch, ''Encyclopaedia of Islam 2nd ed.'', "Muhammad", vol.&nbsp;7, p.&nbsp;361.</ref> His family belonged to the Arab clan of [[Quraysh]], which was the chief tribe of Mecca and a dominant force in western Arabia.<ref name="Lewis1995a"/><ref name="Robin287">{{cite book|author= Christian Julien Robin|title= Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA287|year= 2012|publisher= OUP USA|page= 287|isbn= 9780195336931}}</ref> To counter the effects of anarchy, they upheld the institution of "sacred months" when all violence was forbidden and travel was safe.<ref name="Robin301">{{cite book|author= Christian Julien Robin|title= Arabia and Ethiopia. In The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GKRybwb17WMC&pg=PA301|year= 2012|publisher= OUP USA|page= 301|isbn= 9780195336931}}</ref> The polytheistic [[Kaaba]] shrine in Mecca and the surrounding area was a popular pilgrimage destination, which had significant economic consequences for the city.<ref name="Robin301"/><ref name="Zeitlin49">{{cite book|author= Irving M. Zeitlin|title= The Historical Muhammad|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sbhJJ7AOLL4C&pg=PA30|date= 19 March 2007|publisher= Polity|isbn= 978-0-7456-3999-4|page= 49}}</ref>

The [[Early history of Islam|origins of Islam]] as a religious and political movement are to be found in the life and times of the [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]] and his successors.<ref name="Polk 2018">{{cite book |last=Polk |first=William R. |author-link=William R. Polk |year=2018 |chapter=The Caliphate and the Conquests |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozFDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |title=Crusade and Jihad: The Thousand-Year War Between the Muslim World and the Global North |location=[[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |series=The Henry L. Stimson Lectures Series |pages=21–30 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv1bvnfdq.7 |isbn=978-0-300-22290-6 |jstor=j.ctv1bvnfdq.7 |lccn=2017942543}}</ref> In 622 CE, in recognition of his claims to prophethood, Muhammad was invited to rule the city of [[Medina]]. At the time the local Arab tribes of [[Banu Aus|Aus]] and [[Khazraj]] dominated the town, and were in constant conflict. Medinans considered Muhammad as an impartial outsider who could resolve the conflict. Muhammad and his followers thus moved to Medina, where Muhammad drafted the [[Constitution of Medina]]. The laws Muhammad established during his rule, based on the [[Quran]] and his own doing, are considered by Muslims to be ''[[Sharia|sharīʿa]]'' or Islamic law, which Islamic movements seek to re-establish in the present day. Muhammad gained a widespread following and an army, and his rule expanded first to the city of [[Mecca]] and then [[Spread of Islam|spread]] across the [[Arabian peninsula]] through a combination of diplomacy and [[Early Muslim conquests|military conquests]].<ref name="Polk 2018" />

The real intentions of Muhammad regarding the spread of Islam, its political undertone, and his [[Dawah|missionary activity]] (''da’wah'') during his lifetime are a contentious matter of debate, which has been extensively discussed both among [[Ulama|Muslim scholars]] and [[Kafir|Non-Muslim]] scholars within the academic field of [[Islamic studies]].<ref name="Poston 1992">{{cite book |author-last=Poston |author-first=Larry |year=1992 |chapter=Daʻwah in the East: The Expansion of Islam from the First to the Twelfth Century, A.D. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzvnCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 |title=Islamic Daʻwah in the West: Muslim Missionary Activity and the Dynamics of Conversion to Islam |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=11–12 |isbn=9780195072273 |oclc=133165051}}</ref> Various authors, Islamic activists, and historians of Islam have proposed several understandings of Muhammad's intent and ambitions regarding his religio-political mission in the context of the pre-Islamic Arabian society and the founding of his own religion:<ref name="Poston 1992" />

{{Blockquote
|text=Was it in Muhammad's mind to produce a world religion or did his interests lie mainly within the confines of his homeland? Was he solely an [[Arabs|Arab]] [[Nationalism|nationalist]]—a political genius intent upon uniting the proliferation of [[Tribes of Arabia|tribal clans]] under the banner of a new religion—or was his vision a truly international one, encompassing a desire to produce a reformed humanity in the midst of a new world order? These questions are not without significance, for a number of the proponents of contemporary da’wah activity in the West trace their inspiration to the prophet himself, claiming that he initiated a worldwide missionary program in which they are the most recent participants. [...] Despite the claims of these and other writers, it is difficult to prove that Muhammad intended to found a world-encompassing faith superseding the religions of [[Christianity]] and [[Judaism]]. His original aim appears to have been the establishment of a succinctly Arab brand of [[monotheism]], as indicated by his many references to the [[Quran|Qurʾān]] as an ''Arab'' book and by his accommodations to other monotheistic traditions.<ref name="Poston 1992" />
}}

===Quran===
[[File:Birmingham Quran manuscript - closeup.jpg|thumb|right|Close-up of one leave showing chapter division and verse-end markings written in [[Hijazi script]] from the [[Birmingham Quran manuscript]], dated between c. 568 and 645, held by the [[University of Birmingham]].]]

Most likely Muhammad was "intimately aware of Jewish belief and practices," and acquainted with the ''Ḥanīf''.{{sfn|Rogerson|2010}}{{sfn|Hazleton|2013|p="a sense of kinship"}} Like the ''Ḥanīf'', Muhammad practiced ''[[Taḥannuth]]'', spending time in seclusion at mount Hira and "turning away from paganism."{{sfn|Bleeker|1968|p=32-34}}<ref>Sally Mallam, [https://humanjourney.us/ideas-that-shaped-our-modern-world-section/mohammad-and-the-beginnings-of-islam-community-of-believers/ ''The Community of Believers'']</ref> When he was about 40 years old, he began receiving at mount Hira' what Muslims regard as divine revelations delivered through the [[Angels in Islam|angel]] [[Gabriel#Islam|Gabriel]], which would later form the [[Quran]]. These inspirations urged him to proclaim a strict [[Monotheism|monotheistic faith]], as the final expression of [[Bible prophecy|Biblical prophetism]] earlier codified in the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity; to warn his compatriots of the impending [[Judgement Day]]; and to castigate social injustices of his city.{{#tag:ref|"Key themes in these early recitations include the idea of the moral responsibility of man who was created by God and the idea of the judgment to take place on the day of resurrection. [...] Another major theme of Muhammad's early preaching, [... is that] there is a power greater than man's, and that the wise will acknowledge this power and cease their greed and suppression of the poor."<ref name="Buhl1993">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Buhl |first1=F. |last2=Ehlert |first2=Trude |last3=Noth |first3=A. |last4=Schimmel |first4=Annemarie |last5=Welch |first5=A. T. |title=Muḥammad |orig-date=1993 |year=2012 |editor1-last=Bearman |editor1-first=P. J. |editor1-link=Peri Bearman |editor2-last=Bianquis |editor2-first=Th. |editor2-link=Thierry Bianquis |editor3-last=Bosworth |editor3-first=C. E. |editor3-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor4-last=van Donzel |editor4-first=E. J. |editor4-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor5-last=Heinrichs |editor5-first=W. P. |editor5-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam#2nd edition, EI2|Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition]] |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=360–376 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0780 |isbn=978-90-04-16121-4}}</ref>|group=Note}} Muhammad's message [[Timing of Sahabah becoming Muslims|won over a handful of followers]] (the ''ṣaḥāba'') and was met with [[Persecution of Muslims by Meccans|increasing opposition from Meccan notables]].<ref name="Donner2000">{{cite book |author-last=Donner |author-first=Fred M. |author-link=Fred Donner |year=2000 |origyear=1999 |chapter=Muhammad and the Caliphate: Political History of the Islamic Empire Up to the Mongol Conquest |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=imw_KFD5bsQC&pg=PA5 |editor-last=Esposito |editor-first=John L. |title=The Oxford History of Islam |location=[[Oxford]] and [[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=5–10 |isbn=0-19-510799-3 |oclc=40838649}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|"At first Muhammad met with no serious opposition [...] He was only gradually led to attack on principle the gods of Mecca. [...] Meccan merchants then discovered that a religious revolution might be dangerous to their fairs and their trade."<ref name="Buhl1993"/>|group=Note}} In 622 CE, a few years after losing protection with the death of his influential uncle [[Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib|ʾAbū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib]], Muhammad migrated to the city of Yathrib (subsequently called Medina) where he was joined by his followers.{{sfn|Robinson|2010|p=187}} Later generations would count this event, known as the ''[[Hegira|hijra]]'', as the start of the Islamic era.<ref name="Hourani15-19">{{cite book|author=Albert Hourani|title=A History of the Arab Peoples|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=egbOb0mewz4C&pg=PA15|year=2002|publisher=Harvard University Press|pages=15–19|isbn=9780674010178}}</ref>

In Yathrib, where he was accepted as an arbitrator among the different communities of the city under the terms of the [[Constitution of Medina]], Muhammad began to lay the foundations of the new Islamic society, with the help of new Quranic verses which provided guidance on matters of law and religious observance.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/> The [[surah]]s of this period emphasized his place among the [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|long line of Biblical prophets]], but also differentiated the message of the Quran from the sacred texts of Christianity and Judaism.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/> Armed conflict with the Arab Meccans and [[Jewish tribes of Arabia|Jewish tribes]] of the Yathrib area soon broke out.<ref>{{cite book|author=W. Montgomery Watt|title=Muhammad at Medina|url=https://archive.org/details/muhammadatmedina029655mbp|date=1956|publisher=Oxford at the Clarendon Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/muhammadatmedina029655mbp/page/n22 1]–17, 192–221}}</ref> After a series of military confrontations and political manoeuvres, Muhammad was able to [[Occupation of Mecca|secure control of Mecca]] and allegiance of the Quraysh in 629 CE.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/> In the time remaining until [[Death of Muhammad|his death]] in 632 CE, [[Tribes of Arabia|tribal chiefs across the Arabian peninsula]] entered into various agreements with him, some under terms of alliance, others acknowledging his claims of prophethood and agreeing to follow Islamic practices, including paying the [[Zakat|alms levy]] to his government, which consisted of a number of deputies, an army of believers, and a public treasury.<ref name="Hourani15-19"/>

In Islam, "the [[Quran|Qurʾān]] is conceived by [[Muslims]] to be the word of [[God in Islam|God]] spoken to Muḥammad and then passed on to humanity in exactly the same form as it was received".<ref name="Calder 2004">{{cite book |editor1-last=Calder |editor1-first=Norman |editor2-last=Mojaddedi |editor2-first=Jawid |editor3-last=Rippin |editor3-first=Andrew |year=2004 |chapter=The life of Muḥammad |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZySCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 |title=Classical Islam: A Sourcebook of Religious Literature |location=[[New York City|New York]] and [[London]] |publisher=[[Routledge]] |edition=1st |pages=16–35 |isbn=9780415505086 |lccn=2003043132}}</ref> While the Quran doesn't dwell on politics, it does make mention of concepts such as "the oppressed" (''mustad'afeen''), "emigration" (''[[Hegira|hijra]]''), the "Muslim community" (''[[Ummah]]''), and "fighting" or "struggling" in the way of God (''[[Jihad|jihād]]''), that can have political implications.<ref name="Cook-1983-51-60">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Cook (historian) |year=1983 |title=Muhammad |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0192876058 |pages=51–60}}</ref> A number of Quranic verses (such as {{Cite Quran|4|98|expand=no|style=nosup}}) talk about the ''mustad'afeen'', which can be translated as "those deemed weak", "underdogs", or "the oppressed", how they are put upon by people such as the [[pharaoh]], how God wishes them to be treated justly, and how they should emigrate from the land where they are oppressed ({{Cite Quran|4|99|expand=no|style=nosup}}). [[Abraham in Islam|Abraham]] was an "emigrant unto my Lord" ({{Cite Quran|29|25|expand=no|style=nosup}}). War against "[[Kafir|unbelievers]]" (''kuffār'') is commanded and divine aid promised, although some verses state this may be when unbelievers start the war and treaties may end the war. The Quran also devotes some verses to the proper division of spoils captured in war among the victors. War against internal enemies or "[[Munafiq|hypocrites]]" (''munāfiḳūn'') is also commanded.<ref name="Cook-1983-51-60"/> Some commands did not extend past the life of Muhammad, such as ones to refer quarrels to Allah and Muhammad or not to shout at or raise your voice when talking to Muhammad.<ref name="Cook-1983-56-7">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=Michael |year=1983 |title=Muhammad |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0192876058 |pages=56–7}}</ref> Limiting its political teaching is the fact that the Quran doesn't mention "any formal and continuing structure of authority", only orders to obey Muhammad,<ref name="Cook-1983-56-7"/> and that its themes were of limited use when the success of Islam meant governance of "a vast territory populate mainly peasants, and dominate by cities and states" alien to [[Nomad|nomadic life]] in the [[desert]].<ref name="Cook-1983-59">{{cite book |last=Cook |first=Michael |year=1983 |title=Muhammad |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0192876058 |page=59}}</ref>

===Islamic State of Medina===
The [[Constitution of Medina]] was drafted by Muhammad. It constituted a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of the significant tribes and families of [[Yathrib]] (later known as [[Medina]]), including [[Muslims]], [[Jews]], [[Christians]],<ref>R. B. Serjeant, "Sunnah Jāmi'ah, pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the Tahrīm of Yathrib: analysis and translation of the documents comprised in the so-called 'Constitution of Medina'", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' (1978), 41: 1-42, [[Cambridge University Press]].</ref> and [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Arab Pagans]].<ref>See:
*Reuven Firestone, ''Jihād: the origin of holy war in Islam'' (1999) p. 118;
*"Muhammad", ''Encyclopedia of Islam Online''</ref><ref>Watt, William Montgomery. ''Muhammad at Medina''</ref><ref>R. B. Serjeant. "The Constitution of Medina." ''Islamic Quarterly'' 8 (1964) p.4.</ref> This constitution formed the basis of the first [[Islamic state]]. The document was drawn up with the explicit concern of bringing to an end the bitter intertribal fighting between the clans of the Aws ([[Banu Aus|Aus]] and [[Khazraj]]) within Medina. To this effect it instituted a number of rights and responsibilities for the Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Pagan communities of Medina, bringing them within the fold of one community: the ''[[Ummah]]''.<ref>Serjeant (1978), page 4.</ref>

The precise dating of the Constitution of Medina remains debated but generally scholars agree it was written shortly after the ''[[Hegira|hijra]]'' (622 CE).
{{#tag:ref|W.M. Watt argues that the initial agreement was shortly after the hijra and the document was amended at a later date specifically after the battle of Badr (AH [anno hijra] 2, = AD 624).<ref>Watt, William Montgomery. ''Muhammad at Medina''. pp. 227-228</ref>|group=Note}}
{{#tag:ref|R. B. Serjeant argues that the constitution is in fact eight different treaties which can be dated according to events as they transpired in Medina with the first treaty being written shortly after Muhammad's arrival.
<ref>R. B. Serjeant. "The Sunnah Jâmi'ah, Pacts with the Yathrib Jews, and the Tahrîm of Yathrib: Analysis and Translation of the Documents Comprised in the so called 'Constitution of Medina'." in ''The Life of Muhammad: The Formation of the Classical Islamic World'': Volume iv. Ed. Uri Rubin. Brookfield: Ashgate, 1998, p. 151</ref>
<ref>see same article in ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' 41 (1978): 18 ff. See also Caetani. ''Annali dell’Islam, Volume  I''. Milano: Hoepli, 1905, p.393.</ref> |group=Note}}
{{#tag:ref| Julius Wellhausen argues that the document is a single treaty agreed upon shortly after the hijra, and that it belongs to the first year of Muhammad’s residence in Medina, before the battle of Badr in 2/624. Wellhausen bases this judgement on three considerations; first Muhammad is very diffident about his own position, he accepts the Pagan tribes within the Umma, and maintains the Jewish clans as clients of the Ansars<ref>see Wellhausen, Excursus, p. 158.</ref><ref>Julius Wellhausen. ''Skizzen und Vorabeiten'', IV, Berlin: Reimer, 1889, p 82f</ref>|group=Note}}
{{#tag:ref| Moshe Gil, a skeptic of Islamic history, argues that it was written within five months of Muhammad's arrival in Medina.<ref>Moshe Gil. "The Constitution of Medina: A Reconsideration." ''Israel Oriental Studies'' 4 (1974): p. 45.</ref>|group=Note}} 
It effectively established the first Islamic state. The Constitution established: the security of the community, religious freedoms, the role of Medina as a ''[[haram]]'' or sacred place (barring all violence and weapons), the security of women, stable tribal relations within Medina, a [[tax system]] for supporting the community in time of conflict, parameters for exogenous political alliances, a system for granting protection of individuals, a [[judicial system]] for resolving disputes, and also regulated the paying of [[Blood money (term)|blood money]] (the payment between families or tribes for the slaying of an individual in lieu of ''[[Eye for an eye|lex talionis]]'').{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}

===Early Caliphate and political ideals===
{{Main|Caliphate}}
{{Further|Islamic ethics|Islamic leadership}}
[[File:Map of expansion of Caliphate.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|[[Early Muslim conquests]], 622–750:
{{legend|#a1584e|Expansion under Muhammad, 622–632}}
{{legend|#ef9070|Expansion under the [[Rashidun Caliphate|Rāshidūn Caliphate]], 632–661}}
{{legend|#fad07d|Expansion under the [[Umayyad Caliphate]], 661–750}}
]]

After the [[death of Muhammad]] in 632 CE, his community needed to appoint a new leader, giving rise to the title of ''[[caliph]]'' ({{langx|ar|خَليفة|translit=khalīfa|lit=successor}}).<ref name="Polk 2018"/><ref name="Van-Ess 2017">{{cite book |author-last=van Ess |author-first=Josef |year=2017 |chapter=Setting the Seal on Prophecy |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=viRoDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Theology and Society in the Second and Third Centuries of the Hijra, Volume 1: A History of Religious Thought in Early Islam |translator-last=O'Kane |translator-first=John |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East |volume=116/1 |pages=3–7 |doi=10.1163/9789004323384_002 |isbn=978-90-04-32338-4 |issn=0169-9423}}</ref><ref name="Lewis1995a">{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Bernard |author-link=Bernard Lewis |year=1995 |chapter=Part III: The Dawn and Noon of Islam – Origins |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjAABdA9z18C&pg=PA51 |title=The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]] |pages=51–58 |isbn=9780684832807 |oclc=34190629}}</ref> Thus, the subsequent Islamic empires were known as "[[caliphate]]s",<ref name="Van-Ess 2017"/><ref name="Lewis1995a"/><ref name="Pakatchi-Ahmadi 2017">{{cite encyclopedia |author1-last=Pakatchi |author1-first=Ahmad |author2-last=Ahmadi |author2-first=Abuzar |year=2017 |title=Caliphate |translator-last=Asatryan |translator-first=Mushegh |editor1-last=Madelung |editor1-first=Wilferd |editor2-last=Daftary |editor2-first=Farhad |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Islamica |location=[[Leiden]] and [[Boston]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |doi=10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_05000066 |issn=1875-9823}}</ref> and a series of four caliphs governed the early Islamic empire: [[Abu Bakr|Abū Bakr]] (632–634), [[Umar ibn al-Khattab|ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb]] (Umar І, 634–644), [[Uthman ibn Affan|ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān]] (644–656), and [[Ali|ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib]] (656–661). These leaders are known as the ''[[Rashidun|rāshidūn]]'' ("rightly-guided") caliphs in [[Sunni Islam|Sunnī Islam]].<ref name="Lewis1995a" /> They oversaw the initial phase of the [[early Muslim conquests]], advancing through [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Persia]], [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|the Levant]], [[Muslim invasion of Egypt|Egypt]], and [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|North Africa]].<ref name="Lewis1995a" />

Alongside the growth of the [[Umayyad Caliphate]], the major political development within early Islam in this period was the sectarian split and political divide between [[Kharijites|Kharijite]], [[Sunni Islam|Sunnī]], and [[Shia Islam|Shīʿa]] [[Muslims]]; this had its roots in a dispute over the succession for the role of caliph.<ref name="Van-Ess 2017"/><ref name="Izutsu 2006">{{cite book |last=Izutsu |first=Toshihiko |author-link=Toshihiko Izutsu |year=2006 |origyear=1965 |title=The Concept of Belief in Islamic Theology: A Semantic Analysis of Imān and Islām |chapter=The Infidel (''Kāfir''): The Khārijites and the origin of the problem |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PDxHG5MtLawC&pg=PA1 |location=[[Tokyo]] |publisher=Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies at [[Keio University]] |pages=1–20 |isbn=983-9154-70-2}}</ref> Sunnīs believed the caliph was elective and any Muslim from the Arab clan of [[Quraysh]], the tribe of Muhammad, might serve as one.<ref name="Lewis1995b">{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Bernard |year=1995 |chapter=Part IV: Cross-Sections – The State |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjAABdA9z18C&pg=PA139 |title=The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]] |page=139 |isbn=9780684832807 |oclc=34190629}}</ref> Shīʿītes, on the other hand, believed the title of caliph should be hereditary in the [[Ahl al-Bayt|bloodline of Muhammad]],<ref name="jaarel 2015">{{cite journal |last=Foody |first=Kathleen |date=September 2015 |title=Interiorizing Islam: Religious Experience and State Oversight in the Islamic Republic of Iran |editor-last=Jain |editor-first=Andrea R. |journal=[[Journal of the American Academy of Religion]] |volume=83 |issue=3 |pages=599–623 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/lfv029 |doi-access=free |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] on behalf of the [[American Academy of Religion]] |eissn=1477-4585 |issn=0002-7189 |jstor=24488178 |lccn=sc76000837 |oclc=1479270 |quote=For Shiʿi Muslims, [[Muhammad]] not only designated [[Ali|ʿAlī]] as his friend, but appointed him as his [[Succession to Muhammad|successor]]—as the “lord” or “master” of the new [[Ummah|Muslim community]]. ʿAlī and [[Family tree of Ali|his descendants]] would become known as [[Imamah (Shia doctrine)|the Imams]], divinely guided leaders of the Shiʿi communities, sinless, and granted [[Tafsir|special insight into the Qurʾanic text]]. The theology of the Imams that developed over the next several centuries made little distinction between the authority of the Imams to politically lead the Muslim community and their spiritual prowess; quite to the contrary, their right to political leadership was grounded in their special spiritual insight. While in theory, the only just ruler of the Muslim community was the Imam, the Imams were politically marginal after the first generation. In practice, Shiʿi Muslims negotiated varied approaches to both interpretative authority over [[Islamic holy books|Islamic texts]] and governance of the community, both during the lifetimes of the Imams themselves and even more so following the [[Occultation (Islam)|disappearance]] of the [[Muhammad al-Mahdi|twelfth and final Imam]] in the ninth century.}}</ref> and thus all the caliphs, with the exceptions of Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law [[Ali|ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib]] and his firstborn son [[Hasan ibn Ali|Ḥasan]], were actually illegitimate [[usurper]]s.<ref name="Lewis1995b" /> However, the Sunnī sect emerged as triumphant in most regions of the [[Muslim world]], with the exceptions of [[Iran]] and [[Oman]]; thus, most modern Islamic political ideologies and movements are founded in Sunnī thought. [[Companions of the Prophet|Muhammad's closest companions]] (''ṣaḥāba''), the four "[[Rashidun|rightly-guided]]" caliphs who succeeded him, continued to expand the Islamic empire to encompass [[Siege of Jerusalem (636–637)|Jerusalem]], [[Siege of Ctesiphon (637)|Ctesiphon]], and [[Muslim invasion of Damascus|Damascus]], and sending Arab Muslim armies as far as the [[Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent|Sindh region]].<ref>[http://alcor.concordia.ca/~shannon/201Lec02images_files/image004.jpg] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050930020401/http://alcor.concordia.ca/~shannon/201Lec02images_files/image004.jpg |date=September 30, 2005}}</ref> The early Islamic empire stretched from [[al-Andalus]] (Muslim Iberia) to the [[Muslim invasion of India|Punjab region]] under the reign of the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad dynasty]].

An important Islamic concept concerning the structure of ruling is the ''[[shura]]'' or "consultation" with people regarding their affairs, which is the duty of rulers mentioned in two [[Quran|Quranic verses]]: {{Cite Quran|3|153|expand=no|style=nosup}} and {{Cite Quran|42|36|expand=no|style=nosup}}.<ref name="Lewis1995c">{{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Bernard |year=1995 |chapter=Part IV: Cross-Sections – The State |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CjAABdA9z18C&pg=PA141 |title=The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]] |pages=141–143 |isbn=9780684832807 |oclc=34190629}}</ref> One type of ruler not part of the Islamic ideal was the [[king]], which was disparaged in the Quranic mentions of the [[Pharaoh]], "the prototype of the unjust and tyrannical ruler" ({{Cite Quran|18|70|expand=no|style=nosup}}, {{Cite Quran|18|79|expand=no|style=nosup}}) and elsewhere ({{Cite Quran|28|34|expand=no|style=nosup}}).<ref name="Lewis1995c"/> The phrase ''Ahl al-Ḥall wa’l-‘Aḳd'' ({{langx|ar|أهل الحلّ والعقد|lit=those who are qualified to unbind and to bind}} or sometimes 'the people of the solution and the contract') was used in order to denote those qualified to appoint or depose a caliph or another ruler on behalf of the Ummah.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Ahl al-Ḥall wa'l-ʿAḳd |year=1960 |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C. E. |editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. J. |editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W. P. |editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |editor4-last=Lewis |editor4-first=B. |editor5-last=Pellat |editor5-first=Ch. |editor5-link=Charles Pellat |editor6-last=Schacht |editor6-first=J. |editor6-link=Joseph Schacht |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam#2nd edition, EI2|Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=1 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_0381 |isbn=978-90-04-16121-4 |pages=263–264}}</ref> Olivier Roy writes that {{blockquote|Classical Islamic thought is overflowing with treatises on governing, advice to sovereigns, and didactic tales. They do not reflect on the nature of politics, but on the nature of the good ruler and of good government (advice, techniques, paradigms, anecdotes).<ref>Roy, Olivier, ''The Failure of Political Islam'' by Olivier Roy, translated by Carol Volk, Harvard University Press, 1994, p.29</ref>
}}

====Election or appointment====
{{Further|Islam and democracy}}

[[Al-Mawardi]], a Sunnī Muslim jurist of the [[Shafiʽi school|Shāfiʿī school]] of [[Fiqh|Islamic jurisprudence]], wrote that the caliph should be a member of the [[Quraysh (tribe)|Quraysh]] tribe. [[Al-Baqillani|Abu Bakr al-Baqillani]], an [[Ash'ari|Ashʿarī]] Sunnī Muslim scholar and [[Maliki|Mālikī]] jurist, wrote that the leader of the Muslims simply should be elected from the majority. [[Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man]], the founder of the Sunnī [[Hanafi|Ḥanafī school]], also wrote that the leader must come from the majority.<ref name=2muslims>[http://www.2muslims.com/directory/Detailed/225505.shtml Process of Choosing the Leader (Caliph) of the Muslims: The Muslim Khilafa: by Gharm Allah Al-Ghamdy] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707062249/http://www.2muslims.com/directory/Detailed/225505.shtml |date=2011-07-07 }}</ref>

Western scholar of Islam, [[Fred Donner]],<ref>''The Early Islamic Conquests'' (1981)</ref> argues that the standard Arabian practice during the early caliphates was for the prominent men of a kinship group, or tribe, to gather after a leader's death and elect a leader from amongst themselves, although there was no specified procedure for this ''[[shura]]'', or consultative assembly. Candidates were usually from the same lineage as the deceased leader but they were not necessarily his sons. Capable men who would lead well were preferred over an ineffectual direct heir, as there was no basis in the majority Sunnī view that the head of state or governor should be chosen based on lineage alone.

====''Majlis ash-Shura''====
Deliberations in the politics of the early caliphates, most notably the [[Rashidun Caliphate|Rāshidūn Caliphate]], were not "democratic" in the modern sense of the term; rather, decision-making power laid with a council (''[[shura]]'') of notable and trusted [[Companions of the Prophet|companions of Muhammad]] (''ṣaḥāba'') and representatives of different [[Tribes of Arabia|Arab tribes]] (most of them selected or elected within their tribes).<ref>Sohaib N. Sultan, [http://www.islamonline.net/English/introducingislam/politics/Politics/article04.shtml Forming an Islamic Democracy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041001023746/http://www.islamonline.net/English/introducingislam/politics/Politics/article04.shtml |date=2004-10-01 }}</ref> Traditional Sunnī Muslim jurists agree that the ''shura'', loosely translated as "consultation", is a function of the Islamic caliphate. The ''[[Majlis-ash-Shura]]'' advise the caliph. The importance of this is premised by the following verses of the Quran:
<blockquote>{{Cite Quran|42|38|expand=no|quote=...those who answer the call of their Lord and establish the prayer, and who conduct their affairs by Shura. [are loved by God]}}</blockquote>
<blockquote>{{Cite Quran|3|159|expand=no|quote=...consult them (the people) in their affairs. Then when you have taken a decision (from them), put your trust in Allah}}</blockquote>

The ''[[majlis]]'' were also the means to elect a new caliph. Al-Mawardi wrote that members of the ''majlis'' should satisfy three conditions: they must be just, they must have enough knowledge to distinguish a good caliph from a bad one, and must have sufficient wisdom and judgment to select the best caliph. Al-Mawardi also stated that in case of emergencies when there is no caliphate and no ''majlis'', the people themselves should institute a council of ''majlis'', select a list of candidates for the role of caliph, then the ''majlis'' should select from the list of candidates.<ref name=2muslims/>{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2019}}

Some modern political interpretations regarding the role of the ''Majlis ash-Shura'' include those expressed by the Egyptian Islamist author and ideologue [[Sayyid Qutb]], prominent member of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]], and the Palestinian Muslim scholar and propagandist [[Taqiuddin al-Nabhani]], founder of the [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamist]] political party [[Hizb ut-Tahrir]].<ref name="Shavit 2010">{{cite journal |last=Shavit |first=Uriya |date=August 2010 |title=Is ''Shura'' a Muslim Form of Democracy? Roots and Systemization of a Polemic |journal=[[Middle Eastern Studies (journal)|Middle Eastern Studies]] |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=349–374 |doi=10.1080/00263200902917085 |issn=1743-7881 |lccn=65009869 |oclc=875122033 |s2cid=145304876}}</ref> In an analysis of the ''shura'' chapter of the Quran, Qutb argued that Islam requires only that the ruler consult with at least some of the ruled (usually the elite), within the general context of [[Sharia|divine laws]] that the ruler must execute. Al-Nabhani argued that the ''shura'' is important and part of "the ruling structure" of the Islamic caliphate, "but not one of its pillars", and may be neglected without the caliphate's rule becoming un-Islamic. However, these interpretations formulated by Qutb and al-Nabhani are not universally accepted in the Islamic political thought, and [[Islamic democracy|Islamic democrats]] consider the ''shura'' to be an integral part and important pillar of Islamic political system.<ref name="Shavit 2010"/>

====Separation of powers====
{{Further|Islam and secularism|Islamic ethics}}

In the early Islamic caliphates, the caliph was the [[head of state]], and had a position based on the notion of a successor to Muhammad's political authority, who, according to [[Sunni Islam|Sunnī Muslims]], were ideally elected by the people or their representatives,<ref>''Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World'' (2004), vol. 1, p. 116-123.</ref> as was the case for the election of [[Abu Bakr|Abū Bakr]] (632–634), [[Uthman ibn Affan|ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān]] (644–656), and [[Ali|ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib]] (656–661). After the ''rāshidūn'' caliphs, later caliphates during the [[Islamic Golden Age]] had a much lesser degree of democratic participation, but since "no one was superior to anyone else except on the basis of piety and virtue" in Islam, and following the example of Muhammad, later Islamic rulers often held [[public consultation]]s with the people in their affairs.<ref>{{cite book|title=Justice Without Frontiers|first=Christopher G.|last=Judge Weeramantry|year=1997|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|isbn=90-411-0241-8|pages=135}}</ref>

The legislative power of the caliph (or later, the [[sultan]]) was always restricted by the scholarly class, the ''[[ulama]]'', a group regarded as the guardians of [[Sharia|Islamic law]]. Since the ''sharia'' law was established and regulated by the [[Madhhab|schools of Islamic jurisprudence]], this prevented the caliph from dictating legal results. ''Sharia''-compliant rulings were established as authoritative based on the ''[[ijma]]'' (consensus) of legal Muslim scholars, who theoretically acted as representatives of the entire ''[[Ummah]]'' (Muslim community).<ref name=Feldman2008>{{cite news |last=Feldman |first=Noah |date=March 16, 2008 |title=Why Shariah? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/magazine/16Shariah-t.html?&pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2008-10-05}}</ref> After law colleges (''[[madrasa]]'') became widespread beginning with the 11th and 12th century CE, students of Islamic jurisprudence often had to obtain an ''[[Ijazah|ijaza-t al-tadris wa-l-ifta]]'' ("license to teach and issue legal opinions") in order to issue valid legal rulings.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Makdisi |first=George |date=April–June 1989 |title=Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=109 |issue=2 |pages=175–182 [175–77] |doi=10.2307/604423|jstor=604423 }}</ref> In many ways, classical Islamic law functioned like a [[constitutional law]].<ref name=Feldman2008/>

Practically, for hundreds of years after the fall of the [[Rashidun Caliphate|Rāshidūn Caliphate]] (7th century CE) and until the first half of the 20th century, [[Muslim-majority countries]] usually adopted a system of government based on the coexistence of the [[sultan]] and ''[[ulama]]'' which followed the rules of the ''sharia'' law. This system resembled to some extent some Western governments in possessing an [[unwritten constitution]] (like the [[United Kingdom]]), and possessing separate, countervailing branches of government (like the [[United States]]), which provided a clear [[separation of powers]] in socio-political governance. While the United States and some other systems of government have [[Separation of powers under the United States Constitution|three separate branches of government]]—executive, legislative, and judicial—Islamic monarchies had two: the sultan and the ''ulama''.<ref name=feldman-fall-6>Feldman, Noah, ''Fall and Rise of the Islamic State'', Princeton University Press, 2008, p.6</ref>

According to the French political scientist and professor [[Olivier Roy (professor)|Olivier Roy]], this "''de facto'' separation between political power" of sultans and emirs and religious power of the caliph was "created and institutionalized ... as early as the end of the first century of [[Islamic calendar|the hegira]]." The sovereign's religious function was to defend the Muslim community against its enemies, institute the sharia, ensure the public good (''maslaha''). The state was instrument to enable Muslims to live as good Muslims and Muslims were to obey the [[sultan]] if he did so. The legitimacy of the ruler was "symbolized by the right to coin money and to have the Friday prayer (''[[Jumu'ah]] [[khutba]]'') said in his name."<ref>Roy, Olivier, ''The Failure of Political Islam'' by Olivier Roy, translated by Carol Volk, Harvard University Press, 1994, p.14-15</ref>

British lawyer and journalist [[Sadakat Kadri]] argues that a large "degree of deference" was shown to the caliphate by the ulama and this was at least at times "counterproductive". "Although jurists had identified conditions from mental incapacity to blindness that could disqualify a caliph, none had ever dared delineate the powers of the caliphate as an institution."  During the Abbasid caliphate:

<blockquote>When Caliph [[Al-Mutawakkil]] had been killed in 861, jurists had retroactively validated his murder with a [[fatwa]]. Eight years later, they had testified to the lawful abdication of a successor, after he had been dragged from a toilet, beaten unconscious, and thrown into a vault to die. By the middle of the tenth century, judges were solemnly confirming that the onset of blindness had disqualified a caliph, without mentioning that they had just been assembled to witness the gouging of his eyes.<ref name=kadri-120-1>{{cite book|last1=Kadri|first1=Sadakat|title=Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ...|date=2012|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=9780099523277|pages=120–1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztCRZOhJ10wC&pg=PT127}}</ref>
</blockquote>

According to [[Noah Feldman]], law professor at [[Harvard University]], the Muslim legal scholars and jurists lost their control over Islamic law due to the [[Codification (law)|codification]] of ''sharia'' by the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the early 19th century:<ref name=Feldman-why>{{Cite web|author=Noah Feldman|title=Why Shariah?|work=[[New York Times]]|date=March 16, 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/magazine/16Shariah-t.html?ei=5070&em=&en=5c1b8de536ce606f&ex=1205812800&pagewanted=all|access-date=2008-10-05}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|How the scholars lost their exalted status as keepers of the law is a complex story, but it can be summed up in the adage that partial reforms are sometimes worse than none at all. In the early 19th century, the Ottoman empire responded to military setbacks with an internal reform movement. The most important reform was the attempt to codify Shariah. This Westernizing process, foreign to the Islamic legal tradition, sought to transform Shariah from a body of doctrines and principles to be discovered by the human efforts of the scholars into a set of rules that could be looked up in a book. [...] Once the law existed in codified form, however, the law itself was able to replace the scholars as the source of authority. Codification took from the scholars their all-important claim to have the final say over the content of the law and transferred that power to the state.}}

===Obedience and opposition===
[[File:Muhammad's widow, Aisha, battling the fourth caliph Ali in the Battle of the Camel.jpg|thumb|Muhammad's widow, [[Aisha]], battling the fourth caliph [[Ali]] in the [[Battle of the Camel]] (16th-century miniature from a copy of the ''[[Siyer-i Nebi]]'')]]

According to scholar Moojan Momen, "One of the key statements in the Qur'an around which much of the exegesis" on the issue of what Islamic doctrine says about who is in charge is based on the verse <blockquote>
"O believers! Obey God and obey the Apostle and those who have been given authority [''uulaa al-amr''] among you" ({{cite quran|4|59|s=ns}}).
</blockquote>

For Sunnīs, the expression "those who have been given authority" (''uulaa al-amr'') refers to the rulers (caliphs and kings), but for Shīʿas it refers to the Imams.<ref>Momen, Moojan, ''Introduction to Shi'i Islam'', Yale University Press, 1985 p.192</ref> According to the British historian and Orientalist scholar [[Bernard Lewis]], this Quranic verse has been
<blockquote>elaborated in a number of sayings attributed to Muhammad. But there are also sayings that put strict limits on the duty of obedience. Two dicta attributed to the Prophet and universally accepted as authentic are indicative. One says, "there is no obedience in sin"; in other words, if the ruler orders something contrary to the divine law, not only is there no duty of obedience, but there is a duty of disobedience. This is more than the [[right of revolution]] that appears in Western political thought. It is a duty of revolution, or at least of disobedience and opposition to authority. The other pronouncement, "do not obey a creature against his creator," again clearly limits the authority of the ruler, whatever form of ruler that may be.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050501faessay84305/bernard-lewis/freedom-and-justice-in-the-modern-middle-east.html?mode=print |title=Freedom and Justice in the Middle East |access-date=2008-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071230195152/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050501faessay84305/bernard-lewis/freedom-and-justice-in-the-modern-middle-east.html?mode=print |archive-date=2007-12-30 |url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

According to the [[Tafsir|exegetical interpretation]] of the medieval Sunnī Muslim scholar [[Ibn Taymiyyah]], for this verse "there is no obedience in sin"; that people should ignore the order of the ruler if it would disobey the divine law and shouldn't use this as excuse for revolution because it will spill Muslims' blood. According to Ibn Taymiyyah, the saying "sixty years with an unjust imam is better than one night without a sultan" was confirmed by experience.<ref name=Lambton>{{cite book|last1=Lambton|first1=Ann K. S.|title=State and Government in Medieval Islam|date=2002|publisher=Routledge|page=145|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVvYAQAAQBAJ&q=siyasa+ibn+taymiyyah&pg=PA144|access-date=19 September 2015|isbn=9781136605208}}</ref> He believed that the Quranic injunction to "[[Enjoining good and forbidding wrong|enjoin good and forbid evil]]" (''al-amr bi-l-maʿrūf wa-n-nahy ʿani-l-munkar'', found in {{cite quran|3|104|s=ns}}, {{cite quran|3|110|s=ns}}, and other verses) was the duty of every state functionary with charge over other Muslims, from the caliph to "the schoolmaster in charge of assessing children's handwriting exercises."<ref>Ibn Taymiyya, ''Le traite de droit public d'ibn Taimiya.'' Translated by Henri Laoust. Beirut, 1948, p.12</ref><ref name=kadri-139>{{cite book|last1=Kadri|first1=Sadakat|title=Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ...|date=2012|publisher=macmillan|isbn=9780099523277|page=139|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ztCRZOhJ10wC&q=Heaven+on+Earth%3A+A+Journey+Through+Shari%27a+Law}}</ref>

===Sharia and governance (''siyasa'')===
{{Main|Siyasa}}

Starting from the late medieval period, Sunni fiqh elaborated the doctrine of ''siyasa shar'iyya'', which literally means governance according to [[sharia]], and is sometimes called the political dimension of Islamic law. Its goal was to harmonize Islamic law with the practical demands of statecraft.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|author1=Bosworth, C.E.|author2=Netton, I.R. |author3=Vogel, F.E.|title=Siyāsa |year=2012 |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |edition=2nd|publisher=Brill |editor1=P. Bearman|editor2= Th. Bianquis|editor3= C.E. Bosworth|editor4= E. van Donzel|editor5= W.P. Heinrichs|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_1096}}{{subscription required}}</ref> The doctrine emphasized the religious purpose of political authority and advocated non-formalist application of Islamic law if required by expedience and utilitarian considerations. It first emerged in response to the difficulties raised by the strict procedural requirements of Islamic law. The law rejected circumstantial evidence and insisted on witness testimony, making criminal convictions difficult to obtain in courts presided over by ''[[qadi]]s'' (sharia judges). In response, Islamic jurists permitted greater procedural latitude in limited circumstances, such as adjudicating grievances against state officials in the ''[[mazalim]]'' courts administered by the ruler's council and application of "corrective" [[Tazir|discretionary punishments]] for petty offenses. However, under the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk sultanate]], non-qadi courts expanded their jurisdiction to commercial and family law, running in parallel with sharia courts and dispensing with some formalities prescribed by fiqh. Further developments of the doctrine attempted to resolve this tension between statecraft and jurisprudence. In later times the doctrine has been employed to justify legal changes made by the state in consideration of [[Maslaha|public interest]], as long as they were deemed not to be contrary to sharia. It was, for example, invoked by the Ottoman rulers who promulgated a body of administrative, criminal, and economic laws known as ''[[Qanun (law)|qanun]]''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Yossef Rapoport|title=Political Dimension (Siyāsa Sharʿiyya) of Islamic Law|encyclopedia=The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-513405-6|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195134056.001.0001/acref-9780195134056-e-635|editor=Stanley N. Katz}}{{subscription required}}</ref>

===Shīʿa tradition===
{{Main|Imamate in Shia doctrine}}

In [[Shia Islam|Shīʿa Islam]], three attitudes towards rulers predominated — political cooperation with the ruler, political activism challenging the ruler, and aloofness from politics — with "writings of Shi'i ulama through the ages" showing "elements of all three of these attitudes."<ref>Momen, Moojan, ''Introduction to Shi'i Islam'', Yale University Press, 1985 p.194</ref>

===Kharijite tradition===
{{Main|Khawarij}}
{{Muhakkima Islam |expanded=History}}

[[Islamic extremism]] dates back to the [[early history of Islam]] with the emergence of the [[Kharijites]] in the 7th century CE.<ref name="Izutsu 2006"/> The original schism between [[Kharijites]], [[Sunni Islam|Sunnīs]], and [[Shia Islam|Shīʿas]] among [[Muslims]] was disputed over the [[Succession to Muhammad|political and religious succession]] to the guidance of the [[Ummah|Muslim community]] (''Ummah'') after the death of the [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]].<ref name="Izutsu 2006"/> From their essentially political position, the Kharijites developed extreme doctrines that set them apart from both mainstream Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims.<ref name="Izutsu 2006"/> Shīʿas believe [[Ali|ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib]] is the true successor to Muhammad, while Sunnīs consider [[Abu Bakr]] to hold that position. The Kharijites broke away from both the Shīʿas and the Sunnīs during the [[First Fitna]] (the first Islamic Civil War);<ref name="Izutsu 2006"/> they were particularly noted for adopting a radical approach to ''[[Takfir|takfīr]]'' (excommunication), whereby they declared both Sunnī and Shīʿa Muslims to be either [[Kafir|infidels]] (''kuffār'') or [[Munafiq|false Muslims]] (''munāfiḳūn''), and therefore deemed them [[Capital punishment in Islam|worthy of death]] for their perceived [[Apostasy in Islam|apostasy]] (''ridda'').<ref name="Izutsu 2006"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/another-battle-with-islams-true-believers/article20802390/|title=Another battle with Islam's 'true believers'|last=Khan|first=Sheema|date=12 May 2018|website=The Globe and Mail|publisher=The Globe and Mail Opinion|access-date=19 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/publications/free/the-balance-of-islam-in-challenging-extremism.pdf|title=The Balance of Islam in Challenging Extremism|last=Hasan|first=Usama|date=2012|website=Quiliam Foundation|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802045255/http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/publications/free/the-balance-of-islam-in-challenging-extremism.pdf|archive-date=2 August 2014|access-date=2015-11-17}}</ref>

The Islamic tradition traces the origin of the Kharijities to the [[Battle of Siffin|battle between ʿAlī and Mu'awiya at Siffin]] in 657 CE. When ʿAlī was faced with a military stalemate and agreed to submit the dispute to arbitration, some of his party withdrew their support from him. "Judgement belongs to God alone" (لاَ حُكْكْ إلَا لِلّهِ) became the slogan of these secessionists.<ref name="Izutsu 2006" /> They also called themselves ''al-Shurat'' ("the Vendors"), to reflect their willingness to sell their lives in [[Martyrdom in Islam|martyrdom]].<ref name="Brown 2017">{{Cite book|last=Brown|first=Daniel|title=A New Introduction to Islam|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd|year=2017|isbn=9781118953464|edition=3rd|location=Oxford|pages=163–169}}</ref>

These original Kharijites opposed both ʿAlī and Mu'awiya, and appointed their own leaders. They were decisively defeated by ʿAlī, who was in turn assassinated by a Kharijite. Kharijites engaged in guerilla warfare against the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]], but only became a movement to be reckoned with during the [[Second Fitna]] (the second Islamic Civil War) when they at one point controlled more territory than any of their rivals. The Kharijites were, in fact, one of the major threats to Ibn al-Zubayr's bid for the caliphate; during this time they controlled Yamama and most of southern Arabia, and captured the oasis town of al-Ta'if.<ref name="Brown 2017" />

The Azariqa, considered to be the extreme faction of the Kharijites, controlled parts of western Iran under the Umayyads until they were finally put down in 699 CE. The more moderate [[Ibadi Islam|Ibadi]] Kharijites were longer-lived, continuing to wield political power in North and East Africa and in eastern Arabia during the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid period]]. Because of their readiness to declare any opponent as apostate, the extreme Kharijites tended to fragment into small groups. One of the few points that the various Kharijite splinter groups held in common was their view of the caliphate, which differed from other Muslim theories on two points.

* First, they were principled egalitarians, holding that any pious Muslim ("even an [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|Ethiopian slave]]") can become Caliph and that family or tribal affiliation is inconsequential. The only requirements for leadership are piety and acceptance by the community. 
* Second, they agreed that it is the duty of the believers to depose any leader who falls into error. This second principle had profound implications for Kharijite theology. Applying these ideas to the early history of the caliphate, Kharijites only accept Abu Bakr and 'Umar as legitimate caliphs. Of 'Uthman's caliphate they recognize only the first six years as legitimate, and they reject 'Ali altogether.

By the time that Ibn al-Muqaffa' wrote his political treatise early in the 'Abbasid period, the Kharijites were no longer a significant political threat, at least in the [[Early Muslim conquests|Islamic heartlands]]. The memory of the menace they had posed to Muslim unity and of the moral challenge generated by their pious idealism still weighed heavily on Muslim political and religious thought, however. Even if the Kharijites could no longer threaten, their ghosts still had to be answered.<ref name="Brown 2017" /> The Ibadis are the only Kharijite group to survive into modern times.