Islamic Political Thoughts
Volume:4 Issue: 2, Fall 2017

In security studies school, there are different viewpoints toward religious and its role in domestic and international security systems. From Peace of Westphalia until beginning of 21 century, many experts has thought Talking about the role of religious is meaningless. After 9/11, most politicians were talking about Islamic terrorism. At this time, there are two types of role for Islam in the field of security: first in Daesh as a big terrorist organization that create insecurity in Iraq and second in Hashd al-Sha’bi as a big volunteer organization that try to make Iraq more secure. This paper discuss these two different perspectives on the role of Islam in security.

Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi is one of Neo-Sadraic philosophers among influential political personalities in contemporary Iran, representing theories within philosophical realm and political thinking. In this paper, we are going to find an answer to the question of what relationship there is between epistemological viewpoints of Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi and his political thoughts, (question). To do so, using analytical-descriptive technique based on text-to-text interpretation of Leo Straus. We will show that generally his political thoughts and specifically his theories about government are based on epistemology having four layers, namely, experimental insight, intellectual insight, intuitive insight, and revelational insight (methodology). And it is according to this very epistemological thought that his political thinking has an elitist form (hypothesis). In this paper, first three cases of types of knowledge, value of knowledge, and tools of knowledge from Mesbah Yazdi’s viewpoint have been addressed, and then his political thoughts have been briefly represented. We conclude that the relationship between epistemology and political thoughts of Mesbah Yazdi is of constructive kind, that is, his political thinking has an epistemological base.

One of the most important concerns of Islamists in responding to the retardation of Islamic societies is the issue of government. This concern became more evident in the new wave of popular uprisings in Arab countries in 2011. In Tunisia, with the collapse of Ben Ali and the power of Al-Nahda under the leadership of Rashed Ghannouchi, various theoretical analyzes of the future of the political system and the ideal government in this country became the focus of political attention. This paper seeks to address the question of “what is the conceptual transformation of a ideal government in the political views and ideas of Rashed Ghannouchi?” In order to answer this question, this paper has used intentionality hermeneutics method of Skinner in analyzing political thought.
The findings indicate that the ideal government in Ghannouchi’s political thought has undergone a conceptual transformation in three periods: In the first period, he seeks for Islamic-based democracy. In Second period , after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, he seeks Islam as a specific social agenda for governance. In the third period after 2011, Ghannouchi’s ideal government transformed from Islamic democracy to Muslim democracy.

The universality of Islamic teaching in fulfilling the needs of human life and managing human society have always been an interest of religious scholars and researchers. In this regard, preservation and expansion of Islam has preoccupied Ulama’s mind throughout the history. For this reason, the revival of Islamic values and thoughts has been recognized as a crucial issue for and a heavy burden on Muslim’s scholars. Imam Khomeini has achieved successes in continuance of the movement of religious revivalism, that other Islamic reformists have achieved less. Imam Khomeini is one of significant revivalists who led the Islamic revolution in Iran and consequently brought about changes in Muslim society and civilization. He proved that dignity and civilization of Muslims can be restored in the light of Islamic doctrine and its transcendental values. In this article, the researcher first attempts to discuss the concept of revivalism and its application in Islamic culture and the activities of some of contemporary Muslim revivalists comparatively. Finally, distinctive features of Imam Khomeini’s revivalism will be examined.