Government Neutrality in Islamic Political Philosophy

This paper aims primarily to study the concept and nature of neutrality in Islamic political philosophy. Although neutrality is primarily in conflict with the religious government, which claims to fulfill the teachings of a particular religion, but the other side of the coin is that, this concept is debatable in aspects of Islamic political philosophy. One of these aspects is the existence of different minorities within the political community who are considered citizens and want the government to treat the citizens equally and neutrally towards all citizens. On the other hand, how Islamic political philosophy deals with the challenges that have led to neutrality in Western countries can further reveal the strengths and weaknesses of Islamic political philosophy. The author will examine this from the perspective of transcendental political philosophy. In this regard, the issues that in the minds of transcendental philosophers can help to clarify neutrality are examined and analyzed. The concept of right and good, human self-determination, and dealing with the political institutions of the community are among the most important topics of neutrality in Western political thought. In transcendental philosophy, these issues will be discussed around topics such as the type of look at human, society, religion, and universe. Accordingly, the most important issue of the present paper is what are the claims of the political neutrality and how can this issue be coped with from the perspective of Islamic political philosophy?