The Role of the Divine Law in the Political Philosophy of Avicenna

Even though Avicenna was not bound to the popular religious beliefs in ontology and presented his own unique interpretation of the system of existence – to the extent that he was labeled a heretic by the jurists – he was very much affected by religious axioms in the field of political philosophy. This is true to the extent that in his ‘theory of government’ he connected religious axioms and his ontological ones. In his view, the true ruler is no one but the prophet and after him, the caliph that the prophet has explicitly delineated or his followers have specified is the only one who deserves to rule. He had a jurisprudential view regarding those individuals who rise up against the righteous leader or even those people who are apolitical with respect to him. Thus, he said that such people should be killed and that resisting them is an action that could bring one closer to God. According to Avicenna, the person who possesses a pure intelligence and is the closest of people to religion is the only one who deserves to rule.