Historical and intellectual roots of the emergence of the civil state concept in the Muslim World

Abstract

The civil state is a Western term in origin. One of the mainstays in civil thought is the separation between the religious and political authorities, especially when the Church’s absolute power controlled the Middle Ages. During that period, the Popes had the authority to appoint rulers, declare wars, pass laws, etc. As a result, there emerged a revolution against the Popes’ absolute power and the idea of the civil state came into existence, calling for the separation between the Church and politics.

This idea of the civil state soon reached the Muslim World when the Islamic Caliphate was approaching its end. It was even hailed by some thinkers who called for adopting the Western government model. With the collapse of the Caliphate, promoting the idea intensified at the theoretical and practical levels. Also, the slogan of separation between religion and state was adopted. Additionally, many factors led to the wide spread of the civil state concept among people in the Muslim World, including casting suspicions to convince uncultivated people to accept the idea of separation between religion and state, and scientific missions that called for adopting the ideology.