Download The Benefits of the Single Leadership from Islamic View Point

JOURNAL OF CURRENT RESEARCH IN SCIENCE
ISSN 2322-5009
CODEN (USA): JCRSDJ
Available at www.jcrs010.com
JCRS
S (1), 2016: 382-385
The Benefits of the Single Leadership from Islamic View Point
Amir malek zade*, Foozieh Keshavarz
Department of low, Shiraz Branch, Islamic azad university,shiraz,iran
*Corresponding Author email: [email protected]
K E Y W O R D S: Aristotle- government- Islam- jurisdiction (velayat-e faqih) - conferencing - sovereignty
ABSTRACT: According to Aristotle's view point the government is part of human nature due to his theory of the
social nature of human beings. In Islamic point of view, the government belongs to God that put in the hands of
some people as a matter of trust its first founder in Islam is the holy prophet (pbuh). The necessity of the state
establishment along with its formation principles has got different dimensions and certain characteristics that
Aristotle believes that its establishment is because of the natural need or human nature but Islam considers more
factors apart from the practical life of the Prophet and reasoning for it. Aristotle depicts the principles of the
government as the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government but in practice limits these principles
of the government as the obedient and then a citizen, but in the Islamic government principles it is after the
sovereignty of God, the law, people and the leader. From Aristotle's view point an efficient government is a
government that fulfils the peace, wishes and the unity of the people, but from an Islamic perspective after human
well-being, the government should be favorite and legitimate. Aristotle considers the soviet government or the
democratic one as the best government after gaining the proper conditions that is holding the status of decision
making power by the middle class citizens. He numerates some advantages to it as compared to other states, but the
single leader ship government in Islam, the leader must have some conditions. Imam Khomeini (velayat-e faqih)
could establish and originate the single leader government in Iran, according to Islamic law.
Introduction
The first advantage; the Islamic judge concerning his decision is to recognize some advisability and is to take this
criterion into consideration. Perhaps that person before the judgment, it is not committed to that, but issuing the judgment
affects the fulfillment of the advisability and creates the obligation and necessity. For example, the Islamic judge issued a
warrant for the valuation of certain goods. Obviously every member of society knows that determining the price of goods or
proof of other rights, contains the interests of society and if these plans is not mandatory the condition of the society will be
disordered and distressed, while we know that Islam is not satisfied of this distress.
The Islamic judge finds that the unified stance issuing the ruling judgment in certain circumstances is of fundamental
advisability and causes unity and avoids any disruption to the ruling system.
So here the Islamic or the single leadership government in concern with the current theses if it is advisable takes action to
issue the legislative, which are also called secondary laws.
The second advantage of "human unity” is not the unity in faith and religion and leaving intellectual and ideological
or taste differences aside but the purpose is to preserve these differences find empathy among them and feel respect towards
each other and follow each other's rights and mutual interests. Also, the purpose of the "unity of the Islamic nation" is not the
unity of religious and jurisprudence stance and lack of the expression of these opinions, but the intention is that the first
Islamic sects to know each other properly, to be fully informed of the intellectual and doctrinal stance and to maintain the
honor and spread of Islam to keep away from the conflict that the Quran forbids it " No fight because dispersion comes and the
blessings go." and to defend the holy Quran and the common and fixed principles of Islam to be a unified group.
Islam emphasizes on this issue and the presence of a single state leadership as a criterion for measuring the religion
and avoiding the diversion is of the benefits of a single government leadership because the practices and beliefs, and behavior
that is based on the true Islam can serve as indicators and models for individuals, it is worth to note here that the purpose of the
author is the single government leadership or the same as jurisdiction (velayat-e faqih) is concerned by the Shiites.
The third advantage can be known as the common administrators of Caliph / Imam, and lack of separation between
the religious and the political matters. The old state of Muslims, contrary to Western Christian culture, first believes in
separation and independence of the religious and political issues and secondly divides the fundamental forming forces of the
J. Curr. Res. Sci. Vol., S (1), 382-385, 2016
government, does not accept such a dualistic distinction and Islamic ruling solely is responsible for all religious, political,
social, legal issues and so on.
The fourth advantage is to be considered the election of people in accordance with the basic principles of Islam with
the exception of the Prophet and the Imams, who were chosen by God as successors, it should be said about the jurisdiction
(velayat-e faqih) or the supreme leader of government that Imam Khomeini, along with the revival of jurisdiction (velayat-e
faqih), the religious democracy is also restored and established. This means that people can indirectly and through the selection
of experts to choose the leader of the state and in the absence of efficiency and also capability dismiss him through their
representatives. The subject that is not seen in the Aristotle Counseling Government, of course, in the Aristotle Counseling
State, the council chairman is elected or dismissed by the council members but the power of dismissal and appointment is
limited to the council and considering the council of state and government, especially the rulers of this case does not apply.
One advantage of the single leadership is that before possessing the position and the election he should have certain
special characteristics and as it was stated its most immediate and crucial is the discretion and control over religious affairs,
which causes him to get familiar with the principles and issues related to religious affairs and of necessity to decide
considering the best interest of society and government to follow and he is also required to take action and decide in the
specific context.
As already mentioned, the absolute monarchy of King with regard to personal gain and maintaining his power was to
make laws and regulations which had not met with any restrictions and could suppress any resistance and opposition with
military power but in single Islamic leadership government, the Absolute power jurisdiction (velayat-e faqih) does not mean
the power without any limits or boundaries, but he must also be held accountable against the people and the law and also
enacting laws and regulations should not contradict with Islamic law.
The sixth advantage that can be counted as the features for a single government is preventing the expression of
opinions that are contrary to Islamic laws and provisions, for example, in the Aristotle counseling government or aristocracy
members may not have shared together the same opinion and with regard to tribal, ethnic and emotional interests take a
decision contrary to the former decisions every day causing chaos and disorder, but in a single leadership government,
although the leader consults with advisory bodies or institutes, but he is the final decision maker, and as his decisions are
binding and mandatory, are conducted by both real and legal persons.
The seventh advantage of the single leadership government in today’s political systems today can be seen as
coordinating powers, for example in Iran, although superficially, the principle of separation of powers is accepted but
according to political, religious and social structure of the country and governance practices in Iran and the constitutional law
principles we should believe that having a single leader who has the legal and Islamic authority, as well as being the
representative of the general population, and he could create a connection among the judiciary, executive and legislature in
various fields and with certain decisions and determining many frameworks of the activities will help decision-making to
perform better both the religious and legal aspects, for example, in the Islamic Republic of Iran as the single state religious
leader based on the religious teachings and the principle of jurisdiction (velayat-e faqih), the leadership, determining the
performance and activities of the three branches in line with their policies ,programs and decisions, conducts and prevents any
performance beyond the Islamic law and the law and the interests of society.
Conclusion
In this research, Islamic viewpoints and Aristotle's ideas about government have been analyzed. Aristotle as one of
the greatest philosophers and political theorists of the world, expressed the views and opinions that after thousands years are
discussed analyzed. Aristotle considers the establishment of the state necessary because of natural or human nature, whereas
Islam has considered more reasons effective for the need to form a government. Aristotle considers the establishment of the
sate as necessary in what so ever forms even the governments that are bad; meaning that basis of his opinion is that the
presence of a bad government is better than none. Nevertheless, because of political and ethnic reasons many of the
governments simply because they are established by the non-Greek are not considered as states or placed in the category of bad
governments whereas considering his viewpoints the government is to provide the prosperity and decent life welfare for the
citizens but in Islam the government that is established should be in the framework of reason and Islam and the idea that by
which ethnic group or tribe the government is established, it is not important; It is important to unite and lead people toward
happiness. Aristotle changes the various dignitaries of government but in practice, it can be said that apart from the rulers and
the obedient, he expressed the theory of separation of powers, he introduced three branches and the amount and limits of their
activity is defined but from the viewpoint of the writer he is not loyal to his opinions, because in practice he divides the
dignitaries of the government after subordinate and the leader, citizens and non-citizens, meaning that if the person is from
Greek, he is considered as the citizen and is considered as the dignitaries of the government, but if he is non-Greek, he is no
longer a part of dignitaries he elaborated as far as tat the defeated in war is not considered as citizen. The sobering point is
that Aristotle himself was not Greek. Aristotle, like Plato has divided members of society, and practically accepted slavery and
383
J. Curr. Res. Sci. Vol., S (1), 382-385, 2016
in his view a citizen includes the only person who has the right to vote and even women and older people are not considered as
citizens.
Another issue that Aristotle deals with is to identify good and bad states of and ranking the states according to a study
of the structure and function of 158 state before his time. He believes that the best states respectively can be considered as the
kingdom (absolute rule of a person), aristocracy (rule of the few) and then the polity or the Republic and in the case of bad
governance, democracy and oligarchy. He believes that government activity and being able to provide comfort and welfare for
his people is good enough, but in practice he is under the influence of his teacher Plato's view knows the best state or
government as the Kingdom and other states in case of presence of the conditions as well as having the qualifications and
conditions is better than the Kingdom, i. e. it means except monarchy other governments must have the necessary conditions to
become more favorable state but in the end the polity government or the counseling government under following the
conditions is reckoned as the best government, but with the assessment of the views we see that only the main and important
requirement to better know the counseling Government or the Republic is that the community average people without
definition with a clear criteria to be determined, as citizens, can have the right to vote and to be in the Council is to make the
counseling government or Republic as superior and he states that if the rich gains the points should be reckoned as the
aristocracy state and it is better later would become surely as the oligarchy state and if poor people are to have the right to the
counseling government later turns to democracy. Of course democracy as mentioned in previous chapters is very different
from modern democracy. According to Aristotle, democracy is the best among the bad states because in this state the poor
takes the power because the majority of our society will be greedy of the rich wealth, then democracy is among the bad
governments. But in Islam the government dignitaries are very different and first the supreme sovereignty is God which has
absolutely been accepted and people, the law is the Islamic law, or rather to say the first and primary and secondary decrees
and then the leader or the ruling. Islam does not categorize people and their superiority is based on their faith and the favorable
government considered as legitimate government along with Islamic views with acceptance. By examining the government
dignitaries of Islam it can be noticed that Islam, contrary to Aristotle's view is not associated with conflict. One of the
common points between Aristotle and Plato, as it was stated, is non-interference and influence of religion in the state,
according to these philosophers; It means that religion does not have any status of in the state or government dignitaries to
assess the desirability of government. But, according to Islam, of course, from the perspective Shiite the state and religion are
inseparable an the Sunni party believe that the government and religion are in collaboration with each other and gradually
getting models from Western European viewpoints and separation of church and state perspective gained a wide following. It
tends to change the views of the Sunni in regard to single leadership government and somehow believe to remove this
perspective after the end of the rule of the Guided Caliphs. The Shi’ite especially after the 1357 revolution with the
establishment of a single leadership government actually put this vision into practice after centuries. Imam Khomeini had the
main role of explaining the view among all Muslims in general and especially Iran. Perhaps, the main reason and irrefutable
acceptance and implementation of this view can be considered in practical life of the Prophet and the Imam's continuation of
the tradition and sayings that shi’ite believe after the holy prophet after whom Imams are his successors and in the absence of
Imam Mahdi (pbuh) people who have necessary features can hold this position. Of course it must be said that from the
Shi’ite’s view point caliphate of the Prophet and the Imams is of the type that is appointed by God and about the other Islamic
laws are selective that these two are not in conflict with each other since the root and basis of this status is originated from in
practices of the Holy Prophet and the Imams and their tradition and sayings. Aristotle holds many benefits for the counseling
government but in practice by comparing this state with a single government leadership to say powers and duties of a single
government leadership is far more than the counseling government, the counseling government, however, contrary to the
single-leadership government in terms of duration of time is less and more people involved in decision-making but because
everyone with a general condition without having the skills and experience can be its member keeps distance from expertise
and decision-making but in a single leadership government, before one gets selected must be well acquainted with all matters
of religion and religious jurisprudence along with holding other terms or that decisions should not be contrary to the Islamic
law that is the same as reason and intellect is the same as Islamic law. Finally, it must be said that the government from Islamic
perspective is considered as favorable and legitimate as that of Aristotle’s, because in practice we can not indicate the
government and the framework and the good or bad as clearly or that to be placed in a time and space category permanently.
References
1323. Kashf-Alasrar, 1st ed., Tehran: publication of Azadi.
1361. The Scripture of Light, vol. 20, the Ministry of Islamic Guidance.
1373. The Jurisdiction Leader (Velayat-e faqih), 1st ed., Tehran: The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works.
1375. General Freedoms and Human Rights, 2nd ed., Tehran University Press.
1378. velayat-e faqih, Guardianship of Jurisprudence and Justice, Qom: Asra Publication.
1385. Nicomachean Ethics, trans. by Lotfi Tabrizi, M.H., Tehran: The new design.
1387. The Scripture of Imam, vol. 11, 20 and 22, Tehran: Institute for the Publication of Imam Khomeini Works.
1415AH. Ketab- Albaie, 2nd ed., Qom: Islamic Institute publication.
Abu-Alhamd, Abu-Alhamid, (1384). Principles of Politics, 10th ed., Tehran: Tous Publication.
384
J. Curr. Res. Sci. Vol., S (1), 382-385, 2016
Agha Bakhshy A.1374. Dictionary of Political Sciences, 1 st ed., Tehran: Iran's Center for Information and Documentation.
Ahmadi Tabatabai MR.1387. Morality and Politics, Islamic and comparative Aapproach, 2 nd ed., Tehran:Imam Sadegh University.
Arber J, Smith M.1374. The Nature of Foreign Policy in a World of Interdependence among Countries, trans. by Hussein Seifzadeh, 2nd ed., Tehran: Ghomes
publication.
Aristotle. 1390. Politics, trans.by Hamid Enayat, 7 th ed., Tehran: Pocket Books’ Company.
Arsanjani H.1348. The Sovereignty of the Governments, 1st ed., Pocket Books’ Publication.
Ashuri D.1366. Political Encyclopedia, 1st ed., Tehran: the pearl Publication.
Assadian A.1391. Changes in the Separation of Powers, 1 st ed., Tehran: Majd Publication.
Bashiriyeh H.1380. Education, Political Science, Tehran: Negah Moaser Publication.
Bushehry J.1390. Basic Rights, Issues, Vol. II, 2 nd ed., Tehran: Publication of Publishing Company.
Dehkhoda AA.1383. Persian Dictionary, Tehran: Tehran University.
Dorzheh, M.1358. Political Sociology, trans. Ghazy A., 1 st ed., publishing Mizan.
Emami M.1390. Introduction to the Foundations of Fundamental Rights and the Political System, 1 st ed., Tehran: Mizan Publication.
Firhy D.1382. The Political System and State in Islam, 1st ed., Tehran: Hadith Emrooz.
Foozi Y.1384. Imam Khomeini's Political Thought, Qom: Maaref Publication.
Haghighat S.1389. The Principles of Political Thought in Islam, 3rd ed., Samt Publication.
Hassani A.1376. The Islamic Republic, Qom: the center of the representation of velayat faqih of Jihad.
Jafary Langroodi MJ.1390. In the Terminology of Wasit Right, 4th ed., Tehran: Ganj Danesh Publication.
Jafary Nodoushan A.A.1383. The Separation of Powers in the Law of Iran, America, France, Tehran: Islamic Revolution Documents Center.
Jahan Bozorgy A.1378. The Principles of Politics and Government, 1 st ed., Tehran:Islamic Culture and Thought Research Center.
Jamali H.1380. The History and Principles of International Relations, 1 st ed., Tehran :Publication of the representative of velayat-e faqih.
Javad Amolie A.1379. The Jurisdiction (Velayat) in the Holy Quran, 1 st ed., Qom: Asra Institute.
Khomeini R.1360. The Jurisdiction Leader (Velayat-e faqih), Tehran: Amir Kabir.
Khoramshahi, et.al., (1376). The Message of the Prophet, 1st ed., Tehran: Jami Pblication.
Khosravi H.1388. Fundamental Rights 1, 1st ed.,, Tehran: Publication of Payam Nour.
Plato.1368. The Republic, trans. Fouad Rohany, 5 th ed., Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publication.
Pooladi K.1382. The History of Political Thought in the West, 1 st ed., Tehran: publishing center.
Rejaly Tehrany AR.1383. The Jurisdiction Leader (Velayat-e faqih) During the Absence, 2nd ed., published by Nobough.
Renee A.1374. Introduction to Political Science, trans. Leila Sazagar, Tehran: University Publication Center.
Rousseau JJ.1352. The Social Contract, trans. Kia, M., 2nd ed., Tehran Ganjine.
Rousseau JJ.1380. The Social Contract, trans. M. sheriffs, 2nd ed., Tehran: Agah publication.
Shabani G.1386. Fundamental Rights and the Islamic Republic of Iran, 28th ed., Tehran: Information Publication.
ShamsAlddin MM.1375. The Islamic System of Government and Administration, trans., Ayatollah Seyyed Shirazi, Tehran: Tehran University Press.
Soroush AK.1368. Further than Ideology, 2 nd ed., Tehran: Rad Publication.
Sotoode H.1374. The History of Social Thought in Islam, Tehran: Avaye Noor.
Tabatabai Motameni M.1386. Fundamental Rights, 8th ed., Tehran: Publication Mizan.
The Holy Quran
Tohidfam M.1382. The State and Democracy in the Era of Globalization, 1 st ed., Rozane Publication.
385