Islam and Politics

Religion and politics share an intimate and complex relationship.
Religion is a set of beliefs and practices that are determined by one's view of reality and the supernatural.
Politics is the process by which groups make decisions.
Because one's view of reality has a powerful effect on decision-making, the two realms are tightly intertwined in a number of ways. Some of these ways include:

• The political processes that occur within religious organizations, known as the organization's internal politics;
• The effects of various religious beliefs and practices on civic processes, or the organization's external politics;
• The effects of various secular political actions on religious organizations and people;
• Formal relationships between politics and religion, such as in the case of state religions or theocracies.

Political aspects of Islam are derived from the Quran, the Sunna, Muslim history and sometimes elements of political movements outside Islam.
Traditional political concepts in Islam include leadership by successors to the Prophet known as Caliphs, the importance of following Islamic law or Sharia; the duty of rulers to seek Shura or consultation from their subjects; and the importance of rebuking unjust rulers but not encouraging rebellion against them.

A religion will experience internal politics only to the extent that is has an organized system of leadership and management. The politics are the ways in which that administrative hierarchy allocates authority and accountability, and it is the framework for organizing and controlling all individual and group leadership. Because its form is ultimately dependent, either directly or indirectly, on the principles of the religion, different religions have vastly different systems