Maghsood Ranjbar
Abstract
The perception and expression of state is the most important element in political thought. It is impossible to have a democratic system without a theoretical perception of state. Due to the fact that there are many different theories concerning state, the principal question of this research ...
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The perception and expression of state is the most important element in political thought. It is impossible to have a democratic system without a theoretical perception of state. Due to the fact that there are many different theories concerning state, the principal question of this research is as: within which of the theories of state does the state considered by the Islamic fundamentalists lie or to which of them is nearer? In this research, our assumption is that the theory of state from an Islamic fundamentalism point of view has more proximities to the theory of absolute state. In other words, in many features, the perception of the Islamic fundamentalists of state is near to the features of the theory of absolute state. In order to survey this subject matter, we have used a descriptive, analytical and comparative method. In this essay, the features of the Islamic fundamentalism approach to state have been surveyed with the help of the theory of absolute state based on such criteria as the kind of perception of authority, the bases of authority and its legitimacy, the expediency of state, the divine right of ruling, the base and realm of ownership, the concept and realm of the law and legislation and the goals of state and its realm. In the end, the relation of these findings and perceptions with the modern state has been studied, since the modern state has been the most important form of a democratic state.
Aliashraf Nazari; Borhan Salimi
Abstract
The Gülen movement as a religious movement rose in the early 1970s and has enormous resources, millions of fans and thousands of educational institutions, culture and numerous media outlets in Turkey and worldwide. In recent decades elements such as democracy, tolerance, inter-religious dialogue ...
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The Gülen movement as a religious movement rose in the early 1970s and has enormous resources, millions of fans and thousands of educational institutions, culture and numerous media outlets in Turkey and worldwide. In recent decades elements such as democracy, tolerance, inter-religious dialogue and market economy have been included in the discourse of the Gülen movement. Different researchers’ emphasis on civil and modern elements of movement caused the ignoring of its undemocratic and deeply political layers. In the past decade, these features have created major challenges for the Turkish government and the coup in July 2016 has been one of the main examples. The main question of this paper is whether the movement can be a democratic and non-political Islamic movement. The hypothesis is that statist understanding of Islam, and the government's lack of preference for the rights of the individual, elitist tendencies, extreme centralization of organization, hierarchical structure, top-down decisions and absolute obedience and lack of accountability of the movement against criticism reveal the repressive policy, the authoritarianism and undemocratic nature of this movement.
