حسن مجیدی

The idea of religious democracy as emerging from the thinking style of leaders of the Islamic republic, is going to create an ideal relationship between democracy and religion. The present paper will explain the religious democracy in the ideologies of leaders of the Islamic republic of Iran (Imam Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei), within three theoretical, principles and components of religious democracy, and practical realization principles of religious democracy areas. In the thoughts of Imam Khomeini and ayatollah Khamenei there is a firm link between religion and politics, and democracy originates from religion. Since democracy is in the length of God's leadership, and people have chosen religion as their democracy framework, the link between Islam and democracy materializes. The leaders of the Islamic republic believe in human dignity and in the role of public participation of all men and women in realization of democracy. For them, participation in elections and political issues is both, a right, and an obligation. Thus, it can be claimed that elections have a key position in the realization of democracy. In fact, even the protector of the Islamic juristics who in the thought of Shiism and during the absence of Imam Zaman is in charge of religious affairs is elected through the votes of the Constituent Assembly (who are elected by people). Therefore, in the thoughts of leaders of the Islamic republic there is a link between the components and bases of Islam and democracy.

Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Al Farabi is the founder of Islamic philosophy and the greatest philosopher of the Islamic world. Though, among Islamic thinkers, Farabi should be considered as a group of thinkers seeking harmony between reason and religion, but with a description of the earthly divine wisdom of man, inspired by the souls of the grace of the Plotinus, the intellect transcends the intellect beyond the imagination, and compares it with the religious version of the divine intellect and puts it to a higher rank than the creed. The study of political rationality in the sense of understanding the type of role and the flow of reason in the pillars of the political system with this Aristotelian philosopher shows that the starting point of his theory of reason is Aristotle’s book “On the Soul”; but the idealist Farabi is in favor of a unified system in utopia. Using the use of Islam and Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy, he describes the characteristics of a desirable society, a higher classification of society and the problems of the utopian system, Everywhere reason  rules  over other things, a rationale that compared with faith and religion(shariah) has some privilages. Farabi regards happiness as the ultimate goal of the political community and emphasizes the importance of intellect in individual and political ethics. The main question of the article is what is the role of reason in al-Farabi’s philosophical theorem, and how does Farabi make a relation between reason and religion in his political theory? The findings of the article show that reason and rationality play a pivotal role in theoretical philosophy of al-Farabi, being pivotal, descending, ultimate, and along with the revelation and even beyond it in Farabi’s political thought, and religion has a secondary role. Farabi’s approach in this way is philosophical.

The political thought of the contemporary Arab thinkers can be formulated in the relation between tradition and modernity. Struggle with modernity and return to the tradition of the Salafist minds, the possibility of rejuvenation of tradition by some other intellectual thinkers, the acceptance of modernity and putting the tradition aside, and the combination and compromise between tradition and modernity, are various forms of this ratiometric that can be beneficial in understanding the political thought of many contemporary Arab thinkers among the Sunni community. Meanwhile, the Council is a key word considered by many scholars from different Sunni countries, especially in the post-Ottoman Empire era, a good starting point for achieving a desirable political system. The type of impression of these thinkers from the council and the meaning given to this key sign from different perspectives, forms the mindset of many of these thinkers: reducing the meaning of council to the level of consultation and monistic view of it, the unanimity of the council with the resolution and community, the belief in the council as a society of Muslim citizens and the Islamic Ummah, and the promotion of the council from democracy are different aspects of contemporary thinkers. The result of this new look can be found in the neglect of the capacity of tradition, including the council, to systematize politics in the modern era with a thinker such as Ali Abdul Raziq, an attempt to revive the council in the new caliph-lovers, such as young Rashid Reza, and the link between Shura(council) and democracy in the moderate school of eastern scholars such as Rashid Reza Pir, Gharzavin and Ghonoushi, and finally believing in the superiority of the council to democracy under Mohammad Tofigh al-Shavi. This paper, by a documentary method, and expressing conceptual framework and different narrations of the concept of the council, seeks to reconsider the position of the council to the aforementioned thinkers.

In the religious democracy system, the election is the area of power generation and its continual. In the electoral realm, the people fulfill the democracy by choosing the rulers, and since Islam forms the essence and framework of people’s movement and life, in Islamic democracy, the executives, candidates, and supervisors of election, people, and more than others, the electoral candidates must realize the Islamic ethical principles. Politics serves morality and religion in the religious democracy. The present article evaluated some of the coordinates and requirements of electoral ethics in the religious democracy system. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this essay described some basic principles of the electoral ethics charter, which should be considered by those involved in the election process, including voters, candidates, executives, supervisors and observers, and the media.