AN EVALUATION OF THE CLASSIFICATION OF STATES IN ISLAMIC POLITICAL THOUGHT
In this article, I analyze the classification of states in the books of İbn al-Muqaffa, al-Ghazali, al-Turtushi, Ibn Khaldun and Kınalızade who are among the most prominent scholars of Islamic political thought. This topic has a special place in Islamic political thought and offers an important window for comparing classical and modern political understandings and constitutional types. There are two noteworthy factors at work in the books’ classification of states. One is historical conditions, which I argue are the main reason for the diversity in the views analyzed in this article. The other factor is the impact of the juridical and theological perspective on Sunni scholars. The scholars have similar opinions on politics, law-makers, law, goodness, evil, reason, and revelation, and I argue that these similarities are a result of their shared Sunni juridical and theological framework.
İlker Kömbe
