نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
عنوان مقاله English
نویسندگان English
The central concern of this study is to understand the position of Shūrā (consultation) and Shūrācracy within the political thought of the Iranian Ahl al-Sunnah. The relationship between Shūrā and governance has consistently occupied a central place in the discussions of Muslim scholars, giving rise to a wide range of interpretations and theoretical perspectives. In one classification, contemporary theories of Shūrā may be distinguished into two principal categories: the General Theory of Shūrā (Shūrā al-Jamāʿah) and the elitist theory of Shūrā. The General Theory of Shūrā (Shūrācracy) advocates the authoritative nature of consultative governance in contrast to elitist mechanisms centered on an individual ruler or governing institution. As a concept derived from the revealed texts, Shūrā has likewise occupied a prominent position among the Iranian Ahl al-Sunnah, serving as both a theoretical and practical foundation. At the same time, a review of the political and social history of the Iranian Ahl al-Sunnah reveals a spectrum of views and theories advanced by different scholars and intellectual movements, each of which may be classified according to its underlying orientation and its degree of conformity with Shūrācracy. This study seeks to examine the Iranian Sunni interpretation of Shūrā and to evaluate its points of convergence and divergence with the theoretical foundations of Shūrācracy. The principal research question is how, through an examination of the nature and implications of the political reason of the Iranian Ahl al-Sunnah, the theoretical foundations of Shūrācracy may be conceptualized and its relationship to political system-building determined. Employing a qualitative methodology based on thematic analysis, the study analyzes published works, written sources, and available scholarly investigations, complemented by field observations and in-depth interviews with twenty-five Sunni religious and political scholars. The findings indicate that an examination of the concept of Shūrā within the religious culture and political tradition of the Iranian Ahl al-Sunnah gives rise to the theories of the Shūrā of Ulī al-Amr, the Civil Shūrā, the Salafi Shūrā, and Collective Ijtihād (Ijtihād Shūrāʾī). Each of these theories reflects either a maximalist or a minimalist approach to the principles of Shūrācracy (the General Theory of Shūrā).
کلیدواژهها English
