Theocratic government

Question

What is a theocracy, or religious government? Is it endorsed by Islam?

Theocracy, or religious government, refers to a system in which political power belongs to a religious authority and laws are implemented based on religious teachings. Examples of theocratic governments in ancient history (Egypt, India, China) and also in the Christian world can be seen; in Christianity, although church leaders rejected the divinity of rulers, they considered the ruler a representative of God and did not accept opposition to him.

In the Islamic perspective, absolute sovereignty belongs to God, and any government is established by His permission; therefore, Islam does not accept Christian theocracy, which accepts rulers without accountability and oversight. In Islam, government is seen as a duty, not a privilege, and the ruler is merely an executor of divine law; this difference distinguishes Islamic theocracy from the common Christian theocracy.

Concept of Theocracy

Theocracy (in English: Theocracy) means divine government or religious government. In a theocratic government, the theoretical basis is that the government is from God and political power is in the hands of the supreme religious authority which holds both religious leadership and government in its hands and interprets and implements God's commands.

History of Theocracy

Theocracy or divine rule has appeared in various forms throughout history. One form existed in primitive societies such as Egypt, India, and China. Another form emerged in the Christian world, where church leaders, although they rejected the idea of the divinity of rulers, accepted a kind of direct delegation of the right of governance to religious leaders and considered the ruler responsible only to God, making absolute obedience to him obligatory and any opposition to him unacceptable.

Theocracy from an Islamic Perspective

According to the Islamic worldview, the entire universe is the exclusive property of God and no partner is conceivable for Him in this realm; therefore, fundamentally and essentially, there is no command other than His. Thus, sovereignty, whether in the cosmic system or in the legislative system, is exclusive to God. God is the source of all powers, and Islamic Sharia is the only source, origin, and foundation of legislation, because creation, lordship, and creativity are exclusive to God.

For this reason, Article 2 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic states: "The Islamic Republic is a system based on faith in the One God, the exclusivity of sovereignty and legislation to Him, and the necessity of submission to His command." Or Article 56 declares: "Absolute sovereignty over the world and man belongs to God, and considering this sovereignty, whether based on religious principles or in accordance with the constitutional standards of the Islamic Republic, it is exclusive to God."

On this basis, no human being has the right to sovereignty or guardianship over human society unless it is from the Creator and Maker of man. The prophets and divine saints, who exercise sovereignty and guardianship over human society, have their guardianship as a manifestation of God's guardianship and by His permission and command.

Based on Islamic logic, wilayah and absolute sovereignty belong to God, and for this reason, any sovereignty and guardianship, whether cosmic or legislative, is realized only by God's permission. Nevertheless, Islam, while believing in divine sovereignty and its manifestation in the era of occultation in Guardianship of the Jurist, does not accept the theocracy that exists in its established form in the Christian world. Or in other words, common Christian theocracies have no connection with divine sovereignty in Islam. Because Christian theocracy, given that government is delegated to an individual without any reason and there is no oversight over his actions, and the ruler does not consider himself accountable to the people, has no similarity or correspondence with reasonable, accountable, and critique-receptive sovereignty that is subject to divine Sharia. Rather, in Islam and Islamic government, in addition to the fact that the ruler is the law of God, not a person and government is a duty, not a privilege, and the supreme religious authority is merely an expounder and executor of the law. Therefore, this type of government has no connection with Western theocracy, past or present.

Introduction for Further Study

1. Qadrdan Qoramlaki, Mohammad Hassan, *Secularism in Christianity and Islam*, Publications of the Islamic Propagation Office of the Qom Seminary.

See also

• Moral Nature of Religious Government
• Legitimacy of Religious Government
• Religious Government from the Perspective of Shia and Sunni
• Necessity of Forming a Religious Government from the Shia Perspective