The Nature of the International Environment in Islamic Political Jurisprudence and Its Implications for Relations with the Islamic and Non-Islamic World

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Professor, Department of International Relations, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Khatam al-Nabiyyin University, Afghanistan

Abstract

The present study seeks to explain the nature of the international environment from
the perspective of Islamic political jurisprudence and to reconstruct the logic governing relations among political units within the framework of Islamic thought. The central question of the article is whether Islamic political jurisprudence understands the international environment as inherently conflictual and characterized by a struggle for survival, or whether it conceives of it as a peace-oriented sphere grounded in the possibility of mutual understanding and cooperation. The significance of this question lies in the fact that a substantial body of prevailing theories in international relations generally rests either on a model of conflict and competition or on a model emphasizing peace and cooperation. Yet, it appears that the logic of Islamic political jurisprudence cannot be fully reduced
to either of these two alternatives. From this perspective, the article seeks, through an examination of the foundations and implications of Islamic political jurisprudence, to offer a more precise, multilayered, and normative account of the international environment in Islamic thought. The research method employed in this article is an inferential-exegetical approach, by which the author, through reference to the conceptual and normative foundations of Islamic political jurisprudence and the extraction of their theoretical implications, seeks to uncover how the international environment is formulated within
the Islamic framework. Unlike purely descriptive approaches, this method attempts to reconstruct the underlying theoretical model from the relevant sources and foundations and to demonstrate how Islamic political jurisprudence understands its relationship with other political units and human communities. Accordingly, the principal finding of the study is that, from the perspective of Islamic political jurisprudence, the international environment does not possess a unidimensional character; rather, it has a threefold character and should be understood at three levels, or in terms of three distinct forms of relationality:
co-partisanship, coexistence, and mutual acquaintance. At the first level, namely, in relation to Islamic countries, the international environment is understood through the foundational concept of the Islamic ummah. At this level, the relationship among Islamic societies
and states is not merely legal or instrumental; rather, it is grounded in a form of
religious, civilizational, and identity-based interconnectedness that may be described as
co-partnering, or as friendly, intra-ummah solidarity. This type of relationship indicates that, within the logic of Islamic political jurisprudence, the Islamic world possesses a
form of normative unity and value-based interconnectedness that should be reflected in reciprocal relations among Muslims. At the second level, namely, in relation to non-Islamic countries, the article demonstrates that the basis of interaction is neither absolute rejection nor perpetual conflict, but social justice. On this foundation, the international environment carries the possibility of coexistence with others—a form of coexistence understood in terms of upholding justice, regulating relations, and recognizing the possibility of peaceful interaction with non-Muslims. This finding indicates that, contrary to some reductionist interpretations, Islamic political jurisprudence does not view relations with non-Muslims as inherently grounded in war and hostility; rather, it identifies significant possibilities for a just order and sustained interaction. At the third level, the article introduces the concept of mutual acquaintance, which opens up a horizon extending beyond mere coexistence. Here, mutual acquaintance refers to a form of relationship grounded in mutual recognition, the possibility of dialogue, understanding the other, and the development of human and social relations on a broader scale. Thus, the article’s tripartite model demonstrates that Islamic political jurisprudence regards the international environment as a complex and multifaceted sphere in which the nature of relations with others varies according to the parties’ identity-based relationship, normative foundations, and level of interaction. Overall, the article concludes that, in Islamic political jurisprudence, the international environment is neither merely a field of conflict nor simply a sphere of peace; rather, it constitutes a multilayered and norm-governed order grounded in two fundamental principles—the Islamic ummah and social justice—and explicable through the tripartite framework of co-partnership, coexistence, and mutual acquaintance. This model can make an important contribution to rethinking international relations theory from an Islamic perspective and open up a new horizon for understanding global relations within the framework of political jurisprudence.

Keywords

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Political Science
Volume 29, Issue 1
April 2026
Pages 76-53

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