Islamic republic

An Islamic republic is a sovereign state that is officially ruled by Islamic laws and is contrasted to Islamic monarchy. As a name or title, four states are Islamic republics, including Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania and Pakistan. Pakistan first adopted the title under the constitution of 1956; Mauritania adopted it on 28 November 1958; Iran adopted it after the 1979 Iranian Revolution that overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty; and Afghanistan adopted it in 2004 after the fall of the Taliban government.

Despite having similar names, the countries differ greatly in their governments and laws. As a term, it has come to mean several different things, some contradictory to others. To some Muslim religious leaders in the Middle East and Africa who advocate it, an Islamic republic is a state under a particular Islamic form of government. They see it as a compromise between a purely Islamic caliphate and a secular, nationalist republic. In their conception of the Islamic republic, the penal code of the state is required to be compatible with some or all laws of Sharia and the state may not be a monarchy as many Middle Eastern states are presently.

Iran officially uses it as a title in all governance names referring to the country (e.g. the Islamic Republic of Iran Army or the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) as opposed to its equivalents in Afghanistan which are called the Afghan National Army and the Radio Television Afghanistan. Unlike the others, Iran also uses the IRI acronym of the Islamic Republic of Iran as part of official acronyms.

List of Islamic republics

Current

Afghanistan 
Afghanistan is an Islamic republic consisting of three branches, the executive, the legislative and the judicial. The nation is led by the president Ashraf Ghani, with Abdul Rashid Dostum and Sarwar Danish as the vice presidents. Abdullah Abdullah serves as the chief executive officer. The National Assembly is the legislature, a bicameral body having two chambers, the House of the People and the House of Elders. The Supreme Court is led by Chief Justice Said Yusuf Halem, the former Deputy Minister of Justice for Legal Affairs.

Iraq 
Iraq, a country neighbouring Iran, is a federal Islamic republic. According to the constitution, it consists of a republican, representative, parliamentary and democratic system of government. Some Shiite leaders had proposed changing the country's official name to the Islamic Republic of Iraq, a move opposed by Iraq's secularists.

Iran 

Two months after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the new government held the Iranian Islamic Republic referendum on 10 and 11 Farvardin (30 and 31 March) to change the Pahlavi dynasty into an Islamic republic. On 12 Farvardin (1 April), it was announced that 98.2% of the Iranian voters wanted to establish the Islamic republic.

Before the referendum, some political groups suggested various names for the ideology of the Iranian revolution such as the Republic (without Islam) or the Democratic Republic. Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, asked people to vote for the name Islamic Republic, not a word more and not a word less.

According to the constitution, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a system based on the following beliefs:

Commentary 
According to a commentary on the constitution, just as the establishment of Islamic republic system is based on the beliefs of people, namely governing of right, justice and Quran. However, its continuation lasted with the same principles and there is an important role for the beliefs of Iranian people. Furthermore, those beliefs are of complete and determinate roles in all affairs. They are considered as guidelines for governors and statesmen. There is an important role for beliefs such as the principle of unity of God and believing in it. In spite of that, there are other principles are to the submission in front of Allah and His order. Therefore, legislation is limited to Allah and laws so far as correspond to divine legislation are valid. Belief in divine revelation and prophecy are essential to Islamic worldview and there are two kinds of justice. The first kind is legislative (Tashri'i) and the other kind is creative (Takivini). Creative justice is based on justice and equality. Legislative justice is respected to making divine law in Islamic society. Besides, the basis of Shia school is in terms of imamate or leadership.

According to the principle of imamate in Shia, it is indispensable to obey of the prophet of Allah and of those possessed of authority. Shia clergy believes that the conception of the term "those possessed of authority" denoted on innocent Shia imams. When the Imam is absent, the valy faghih is in charge of leadership of society. In other words, religious leaders undertake the responsibility of the imamate. There is more emphasizing on the dignity (karamat) and the high value of humans which is along with freedom and responsibility. The principle of dignity is a necessary condition of the Islamic republic in terms of existence, but there are many meanings for the term dignity. Sometimes it refers to generosity, nobleness and honor, but Islam considers it two sorts of dignity for human beings, namely essential or innate dignity and acquired dignity. According to innate dignity, human being possessed of the right of living among other creatures. The principle is also mentioned by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. On the basis of acquired dignity, the human is able to pass the degrees of perfection with the aid of actuality of his potentialities and talents.

Opinions 
For the first time, Ruhollah Khomeini referred to the terms of Islamic republic for the Iranian people. He believes that the Iranian people want an Islamic state which is a republic. Responding to a journalist's question on the ambiguity of the term Islamic republic, Khomeini stated that the term republic has the same sense as other uses and Islamic republic has considered both Islamic ideology and the choice of people.

Mauritania 
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb region of western North Africa.

Pakistan 
Pakistan was the first country to adopt the adjective Islamic to modify its republican status under its otherwise secular constitution in 1956. Despite this definition, the country did not have a state religion until 1973, when a new constitution, more democratic and less secular, was adopted. Pakistan only uses the Islamic name on its passports, visas and coins. Although Islamic Republic is specifically mentioned in the constitution of 1973, all government documents are prepared under the name of the Government of Pakistan. The Constitution of Pakistan, Part IX, Article 227 states: "All existing laws shall be brought in conformity with the Injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah,in this Part referred to as the Injunctions of Islam, and no law shall be enacted which is repugnant to such Injunctions".

Former

Chechen Republic of Ichkeria 
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria used an Islamic republic government system from 1996 to 2000.

Comoros 
Between 1978 and 2000, the Comoros was the Federal and Islamic Republic of the Comoros.

East Turkestan 
The Turkic Uyghur- and Kirghiz-controlled Turkish Islamic Republic of East Turkestan was declared in 1933 as an independent Islamic republic by Sabit Damulla Abdulbaki and Muhammad Amin Bughra. However, the Chinese Muslim 36th Division of the National Revolutionary Army defeated their armies and destroyed the republic during the Battles of Kashgar, Yangi Hissar and Yarkand. The Chinese Muslim Generals Ma Fuyuan and Ma Zhancang declared the destruction of the rebel forces and the return of the area to the control of the Republic of China in 1934, followed by the executions of the Turkic Muslim Emirs Abdullah Bughra and Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra. The Chinese Muslim General Ma Zhongying then entered the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar and lectured the Turkic Muslims on being loyal to the Nationalist Government.

Gambia 
In December 2015, the then-president Yahya Jammeh declared The Gambia to be an Islamic republic. Jammeh said that the move was designed to distance the West African state from its colonial past, that no dress code would be imposed and that citizens of other faiths would be allowed to practice freely. However, he later ordered all female government employees to wear headscarves before rescinding the decision shortly after. The announcement of an Islamic republic has been criticized as unconstitutional by at least one opposition group. After the removal of Jammeh in 2017, his successor Adama Barrow said the Gambia would no longer be an Islamic republic.

See also 
 Application of sharia by country
 Christian republic
 Halachic state
 Islamic state
 Islamism
 Islamic religious police
 Political aspects of Islam

References

External links 
 Islam and Politics from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
 Constitution of Iran as an unofficial English translation hosted at University of Bern, Switzerland (with good summaries)

 
Category:1956 introductions
Category:Political terminology in Pakistan
Republic