The Legitimacy of Republicanism in Islam

In political terms, republic is a kind of government in which government officials are elected directly or indirectly. Law scholars have introduced the validity of the majority vote, participation and distribution of power as the most important elements of a republic. The mentioned elements are considered axiomatic in council decisions of the contemporary law. The present paper seeks to evaluate the elements of republicanism based on the Islamic approach. The research, which has been conducted by using a library method, seeks to clarify the question of Islam's opinion about republic elements. The research results show that the consultation and people's participation in the Islamic government for exploring expediency and reality are of paramount importance. After seeking consultation, the Islamic ruler decides on the basis of the Islamic society's expediency whether the expediency requires any decisions to be made according to people's majority vote, such as what occurred during the Battle of Uhud, or when expediency demands decision making contrary to the majority vote, therefore, agreement with the majority vote does not guarantee better expediency than automatic expediency. Only if the arguments of two sides (the majority and the minority) are completely equal, the Islamic ruler accepts a majority vote and legitimizes it. Therefore, the vote of the Islamic leader should be obeyed and followed not the vote of majority of people. On the other hand, Islam pays attention to the distribution of power and supervision over rulers according to the rule of "Al-Nasihat al-a’emat al- Muslemin", and this can be regarded as another practical example of the participation of citizens in the Islamic system.