Islamic State and Political Freedom in Islam from the Viewpoint of Allameh Mohammad Taghi Jafari

Document Type : Research Paper

.

Abstract

  Defining Islamic state and political freedom contains interactions between people and the political system. Mutual rights and responsibility of the person and the state and the state's responsibility to improve material and spiritual lives of the society members are very important. Differences between Islamic with secular states, is the spiritualism and perfectionism of the Islamic state. Criticism in Islamic state is approved but disturbing the society social is denied. Identifying the contrasts between an Islamic and a secular states is the purpose of this study; also the point of view and interpretation of Islamic thinkers of holy book  and the hadith is a proper way to reach a desired society. This paper also intends to define and analyze the mentioned contrasts based on Allameh Mohammad TaghiJafari's views. The outcomes indicate that the pattern presented by an Islamic state to define and characterize political freedom is unique and different from the one presented by western secularism. An Islamic state respects the rights of its citizens and encourages them to participate in political affairs. All kinds of reluctance or compulsion are rejected. Freedom of speech is permitted unless the serenity of the society gets disturbed. Expressing and circulating all opinions is not acceptable and the decision will be the responsibility of the elite, since there might happen some issues as a result of lack of knowledge on the citizens' side that can result in the weakening of thought and faith principles of the society.

Keywords