A revisit to Islamic inter-polity legal theory

This article delves into the jurisprudential and legal theory aspects of the religion of Islam in regard to inter-polity laws and relations. The conceptualisation of Islamic inter-polity commands and laws follows a bright line criterion, for it clearly defines non-Muslim polities and people, categorises them, and commands Islamic polity’s approach in regard to non-Muslims in unequivocal terms. The approach of this article is neither polemic nor protectionist; though it indeed is critical. To recognise veneration of an ideology is not tantamount to discrediting or hampering critical explorations about it, and Islam is not an exception. The concern of this article is to shed light on fundamental pillars upon which Islam’s inter-polity commands are formed and textually reinforced as being legally unquestionable and intrinsically legitimate. The discourses through which the Islamic inter-polity legal theory is scrutinised; in this piece, are the following: intrinsic legitimacy of the territorial and ideological expansionism of Islam, and Islam’s ‘group identity’ politics in its private and public laws under the notion of ‘Ummah’ or Islamic community.