International Fund of al-Imam al-Bukhari Friedrich Ebert Foundation

part of Islamic life they do not consider the Caliphate as reflected in history
to be necessarily its concrete form. This opinion is shared by, at least,
most Sunnite Islamists while Shi’ites following the so-called Imamate
theories have created a special system of concepts relating to religious
and political authority which differs considerably from that of the Sunnites.
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It is believed that the Qur’an (which, by the way, says nothing about the
Caliphate) should, to use a common slogan, become “the constitution” of
the Islamic state: “The Qur’an is our constitution” (al-Qur’an – dusturuna).
Actually, neither the Qur’an nor the Sunna contain any clear indication
regarding the form of a political order and thus it can be said that there
exists no obligatory Islamic political theory.
Among Sunnites today the dominant view is that the Qur’an and the
Sunna provide Muslims with general political guidance, i.e. rule by
consultation (shura) which allows for if not democracy, at least