The Concept of Security in the Medieval Thinking

The sociopolitical conditions of the Muslim World took shape in the Medieval Ages when security became the main concept in the justification of overcoming and domination politics. In this period, various schools of thought appeared due to sociopolitical requirements which shared the idea of justifying absolute government according to the concept of security and necessity of removing anarchy. Such conception of politics and government became so extreme that the main principles emphasized by Islam in politics such as justice, equality, and morality were fully marginalized. In this article, examining the grounds and causes of this situation, major characteristics of dominant perception of security are explored and the opinions of a number of thinkers like Imam Moahmmad Ghazzali, Ibn Valid Tartoushi and Khajeh Nazam ul-Mulk are analyzed. As the author argues, the Islamic though in the Middle Ages gave absolute authority to Sultan in order to establish order either in the framework of Siasat-Nameh or Shariat-Nameh. It considered the preservation of religion as an important aspect of establishing security as possible through this authority. Therefore, although Sultan was not legitimate according the religious texts, the Ulema obliged people to obey him for the sake of preservation of religion.