political thought, the appointment of a Muslim ruler, ruler, variety of legitimacy

In the realm of politics, the issue of the legitimacy and appointment of a Muslim ruler is one of the most fundamental challenging issue between the ShiÝi political thought and the western thought. Belief in the divine appointment of a Muslim ruler can make dramatic changes in the fiqhi (jurisprudential) statements in the realm of politics. In this article, the writer tries to make a contrastive analysis of various views of the issue in question and explain what important consequences may follow from this in the political thought. The necessity of political revolution and the establishment of government, the obligation of the appointment of someone as a ruler and the duty of people in following and assisting him, the illegal acts of opposition to the appointed ruler and the acceptance of the authority of infidels, delegation of all powers and authorities to a Muslim ruler and illegitimacy of any intervention in social affairs without his permission, the necessity of basing all governmental policies on the Islamic laws, the duty of Islamic government to make plans and legislate laws for the sake of the spiritual guidance of society and, last but not least, determining the position of ‘allegiance’ and ‘ national poll’ can be said to be the consequences of this view in the political thought of Islam. The way in which these statements have relations with the ‘idea of appointing a Muslim ruler’ has also been explained in the article.