Modeling the Governance Structure of the State – a Contemporary Islamic Perspective

Abstract

The Muslim ummah has been suffering the last hundred years to create prosperous and independent countries. The ummah experienced autocracy, monarchy, tyranny, and corruption; and have gone through wars, revolutions, coups, and massacres striving for a solution. This thesis presents a contemporary Islamic model for a governance structure of the state that can be part of this solution. The state in Islam shall be governed by sharīʿah and shall implement shūrā at the different levels of governance, and most importantly, at the level of state administration. The proposed model does not only incorporate Ahlu al-ḥall wāl-ʿaqd as a core element in the model, but also discusses a contemporary structure for this organization. The model emphasizes the role of education and Islamic sciences as well as the importance of creating and maintaining an active and dynamic society. In this thesis, the concepts of sovereignty and authority are discussed and are embedded in the proposed model. Beside the governance structure model, this thesis also presents a unique Islamic good governance model that highlights ten Islamic principles and shows the correlation between them. This good governance model is compared with other models in the literature. The comparison shows that proposed model is more extensive and comprehensive and fill the gaps that existed in the previous models. This study was made using library research and content descriptive analysis methods for the information obtained from published books and papers. The suggested model and values are practical and can be gradually implemented to create a positive change in the ummah.