Contours of an Islamic State

About the Book

Contours of an Islamic State highlights the true nature of an Islamic state in the light of the teachings of the Holy Qur'an and the exemplary conduct of the Prophet of Islam and the Rightly-Guided Caliphs. It explains that an Islamic state is not a theocratic polity as critics assume, but rather a welfare state in its truest sense, grounded in total justice and the foundational concept of Tawheed (Oneness of God). The book also examines why an Islamic state could not be established anywhere in the world after a short period of the true caliphate.

What You'll Discover

• Analysis of sovereignty, directive principles, and constitutional fundamentals of an Islamic state.
• The nature, sources, components, and distinctive features of Islamic Law (Sharī'ah).
• Principles governing the political system, head of state, administration, and public obedience.
• Social structures, class dynamics, and the Islamic economic framework.
• Educational and moral systems, along with the rights and duties of citizens, Muslim women, and non-Muslim citizens.

Table of Contents

1. Preface - 7
2. Salient Issues - 11
3. Islamic Law (Sharī'ah) - 21
4. The Political System of Islām - 65
5. The Social System of Islām - 135
6. The Economic System of Islām
7. Islām's Educational System
8. The Moral System of Islām
9. Rights and Duties of Citizens - 199
10. Bibliography - 229
11. Index - 235
12. Transliteration Scheme - 239

More About the Author

Alṭāf Aḥmad A‘ẓmī was born in 1942 in Azamgarh (UP, India). He is a retired professor of Hamdard University, New Delhi, specialising in Unani Medicine and Islamic Studies. At Hamdard, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies and Social Sciences and Head of the Centre for History of Medicine & Science. He has authored more than two dozen books, including a three-volume Urdu commentary on the Holy Qur'an.