The Juristic Principle of  All Kinds of Rulership are a Trust'

In line with the ever-increasing regularity of Muslim lives on the basis of religious doctrines, it has been, and it is still, customary among Muslim scholars to write certain principles in Islamic fiqh. The juristic principle of “All Kinds of Rulership Are a Trust.” which has been formulated in this article is an attempt to arrive at a juristic-political discourse in the matter of government in Islam. This has resulted in the necessity of creating a system in governmental fiqh which has expressed itself greatly in the Islamic government established by Imam Khomeini after the Islamic Revolution gained victory. The research method used in this article is an analytic-descriptive one with reference to the Qur’anic verses ‘denoting trust’, along with the study of the opinions of the interpreters of the Qur’an intended to show the extent to which they can imply or apply to the issues related to government. Numerous references to different Qur’anic interpretations as well as the Muslim scholars’ consensus of opinions make it possible to take the final implication as evidence for the principle at hand and then apply it to the questions related to the fiqh al-amÁnat, jurisprudence of trust. The article concludes with some points about the characteristics and qualifications of a ruler and those of people, the extent to which a ruler and people should have responsibilities towards the government which is a divine trust, conditions laid down for defending it, etc.