Political theology

In both theory and practice, political participation is considered to be one of the most significant political challenges. The Qur'an is the main religious source that makes it possible for political explanations to be given in respect of such issues. This study aims to formulate the types of political participation in an illegitimate political system in order to identify acceptable types in the light of the teachings of the Qur'an. The hypothesis of this research, carried out with the method of thematic interpretation, is that from the Qur'anic perspective, in an illegitimate political system, diverse types of positive and negative participation are authorised, depending on the circumstances, from participation in power structures to conflicting with the aim of reducing or eliminating oppression. In this regard, seven types of positive and negative political participation in an illegitimate political system have been identified in the Qur'an; positive political participation such as criticism and objection, guidance through dialogue and debate, and participation through <em>taqīyah</em> (religious dissimulation); negative political participation such as non-cooperation, civil disobedience, declaration of aversion, and struggle and overthrow. Based on this, the article concludes that according to the Qur'an, various types of positive and negative political participation are permissible in confronting an illegitimate political system. The Qur'an describes the behavior of the prophets and Qur'anic figures in the confrontation with an illegitimate system as a wide range of minimal to maximal participation with the aim of eliminating oppression.

Mohammadreza Hakimi is one of the contemporary Shia thinkers who is in the continuation of the "Tafkik School". Tafkik School as a stream originating from the Shia Islam, is theologically based on special foundations that can be influential in the political; That is, it is something that can be traced to the field of "political theology". Theology is a knowledge that seeks to explain God's relationship with the universe, especially humans. But political theology seeks to find the theological foundations of the political; That is, it examines how the political is articulated according to the way of looking at God's relationship with man and the world. Different religions can have their own political theology according to the way they explain this relationship. The present article seeks to answer the question that what formulation of the political is represented by Mohammadreza Hakimi's interpretation of the theological foundations of Shia? In line with the answer, first the relationship between God and man is depicted in the Shiite approach. Because of His grace, God sends prophets to guide man to the ultimate goal of the creation. These prophets actually provide the correct model of human life to achieve the goal. In this approach, after the death of the Prophet, it is the Imam who continues the model of guidance. In addition to receiving and delivering revelation, he has other roles of the prophet, including political and social leadership. During the period of the Major Occultation, the Imam's deputy is someone whose rule is similar to his rule; It means government based on justice, especially on social justice.

Political theology in every religion encompasses a system of political imagination that must first be understood to grasp the politics within that faith. The political forces in societies are each shaped by a utopia and work toward realizing a specific future vision. Politics essentially represents a competition to establish order for what is to come. The Holy Quran also presents distinct frameworks of political imagination, the exploration of which is vital for understanding politics through the lens of the Holy Quran. Consequently, this article addresses how politics in the Holy Quran is formulated based on the utopias articulated within it. The data analysis method in the article is thematic interpretation, and the data collection method is based on documentary studies. The article does not test a hypothesis or use a theoretical framework but ultimately presents a Quranic theoretical framework for analyzing politics. The article's findings can also be expressed as follows: by drawing two different utopias, the Holy Quran has expressed the formation of politics as a confrontation between two distinct logic governing societies. Accordingly, the communities of the righteous move within the framework of the "logic of blessings" and have utopias such as King David and Solomon, while the people of the world move within the framework of the worldly "logic of boon" and have utopias such as the Garden of Shaddad. The competition between the two utopias, achieved with different logics of life, forms the fundamental conflict of politics from the perspective of the Holy Quran.

The main question of the article is what approach to political participation is the existing or desired approach in Qur'anic thought. The research hypothesis, using the Jane Hampton model in theories of the state as a theoretical framework, is that in religious state, political participation and competition within the political regime are not against or solely for it, and among the delegative and agential approaches; the desired approach of the Qur’an is closer to what can be called "conditional maximum" or de-agential approach, which is conditional in the emergence and survival of religious state; a participation that is original as a causal element but is conditional and bound to some prior conditions and circumstances. The research approach in the two categories of verses of Shūrā and Bayʿah clearly has some differences with some other interpretative perspectives, and in the stage of choosing a leader, despite accepting the divine text and appointment, it also considers the political participation of the people to be relevant. In the research, in addition to the verses of Shūrā  and Bayʿah, other verses such as the verses of keeping the contract, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, public speeches of the Qur’an, caliphate and trust, etc. have been compared with political and agency participation. Accordingly, the validity of the political contract between the ruler and the people, the requirement of the Shūrā  institution in the public arena, active political participation as enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong and interfering in determining destiny, the right to choose and general selection of the people, the caliphate as a kind of doubt from God in line with the right to participate, and also the right to leave the government to the worthy as a trust are among the findings of the research as components and pillars of the "Conditional Maximum" (delegative- Agential) political participation approach.