Religion and State from the perspective of Thomas Aquinas and Khawaja Nasir al-Din Tusi

Khawaja Nasir and his contemporary, Thomas Aquinas, are two prominent philosophers and theologians belonging to Abrahamic religions (Islam and Christianity). Considered as rationalistic and proactive, both scholars discussed religion and state in their works. The question arises as to whether they view the formation and administration of state as an exclusively religious–divine issue or a natural one related to the civil nature of mankind. Using a descriptive–analytical method, this paper tries to analyze Khawaja Nasir’s and Aquinas’ viewpoints in order to answer the above question. The data shows that both Aquinas and Khawaja Nasir consider the legitimacy of state as a matter of nature conditional on justice and wisdom regardless of whether state is divine or conventional. For Khawaja Nasir, the administration of Utopia is not limited to the prophets and imams—who are distinguished by divine inspiration—but the scholars who are distinguished by the power of reason are also entitled to the administration of Utopia. According to Thomas Aquinas, any government that acts justly and rationally is in the public interest and in line with human nature, so it must be obeyed.