al-Tahaluf al-Siyasi fi al-Islam
- Author died
- 1435 AH
- Editions
- Maktabat al-Manar
al-Tahaluf al-Siyasi fi al-Islam (Political Alliance in Islam) is a contemporary political and legal treatise by the Syrian Islamic scholar Munir al-Ghadban (d. 1435 AH / 2014 CE), examining the permissibility and parameters of political alliances in Islamic thought .
Background and Context
The work was published in its first edition in 1402 AH / 1982 CE by Maktabat al-Manar in Zarqa, Jordan . Al-Ghadban wrote the book to address the shifting strategic discourse of modern Islamic movements, contrasting the earlier emphasis on total ideological separation and distinctiveness (al-tamayyuz wa-l-mufasalah) with the contemporary necessity of engaging in political coalitions . The discussion was spurred particularly by the realities of political confrontation and armed struggle in Syria, where Islamic activists sought legal and historical grounds in Islamic jurisprudence and the Prophetic biography (al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah) to identify legitimate forms of alliance .
Scope and Content
The core subject of the book is political alliances and internal organizational structure (al-bina' al-dakhili) in the process of establishing an Islamic state . Al-Ghadban restricts the scope of the study primarily to the phase of weakness (marhalat al-da'f) and the phase of activism preceding statehood, drawing directly upon the events of the Prophetic biography .
Among the primary principles deduced in the work are:
- Restricted political alliances: Conditional and restricted alliances (al-tahaluf al-muqayyad) are permissible under Islamic law .
- Resistance against tyranny: Taking inspiration from historical precedents such as Hilf al-Fudul, the author asserts the permissibility of forming alliances to overthrow tyrannical regimes or confront oppressive rulers .
- Governance after coalitions: Drawing on the Prophetic stance that authority belongs to God to place where He wills (al-amr ila Allah yada'uhu haythu yasha'), an Islamic movement may ally with an adversary to remove a common enemy; once that enemy falls, the alliance terminates, and each party pursues power independently without obligations of power-sharing or joint rule unless stipulated otherwise .
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