In the book, al-Mawardi really dig in into details. He was not only use Quran and Sunnah as the references, but also he shows a real life example in the past for how the leadership system has to be done. It gives the reader a clear picture about the condition of Quran and Sunnah that had been interpreted. This book depicts a stage of development of Islam which in this early date, was already manifesting toward strong governance and bureaucracy.
Ahkam al-Sultaniyyah
What I like to highlight in this book is the system of leadership that al-Mawardi offered. In this book, al-Mawardi spend a lot to explain of the relationship between Imam and Wazirs. He wrote that there are two ways to choose an Imam which the first is chosen by the previous Imam and the second is elected by majority vote. However, wazirs or ministry, is a position that must be appoint by the Imam. Meaning to say, wazirs is a tool for Imam to control his government.
Furthermore, the situation that happen now is there are many wazirs that have more power than the Imam. This situation is usually happen in the monarchy system with the King/Queen as the Imam and the Prime Minister as the delegation wazirs. For instance the Brexit situation that happened recently. Royal Family has done nothing over this situation and it literally nothing as they do not even have a right to vote for the Brexit. Moreover, it get worse when all the blame over this circumstances is taken by David Cameron, The Prime Minister. This situation is really contradict with the Islamic value that explain in this book. Because in the end of the day, the one that took judgement for all the decisions taken within the nation is not the wazirs (prime minister), it is the Imam.
In the liberal country, this value is more practicable since their Imam is The President and the wazirs is more on the execution, not delegation. Hence, when the time the President elected, he appoint some people to represent him in the field they expert on which for example appointment as Minister of Finance or Minister of Education. However, this system relatively easy affected for sudden change of leadership style. For example the transformation of Bush Era to Obama. This means there will be some unstable political situation within the country and it affect any decisions taken. We still remember in 2008 that politics has bailed out the wall street, which people who think themselves as an institution that 'too big to fail'.
In conclusion, al-Mawardi really gives some insightful writing in this al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah. All the ideas that came form Quran and Sunnah makes this book as a proof to people that everything has an answer and we just have to believe for what is right.
