Political Fiqh Reveals Dynamic State Forms, Not Necessarily an Islamic State
Professor Masykuri Abdillah of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta has emphasised that political fiqh must be positioned as a domain of ijtihad that is open to change. According to him, Islam provides fundamental principles and values in political life, but does not prescribe a single form of state that must be uniformly applied across all Muslim societies.
The view was conveyed by Masykuri while presenting his latest book, ‘Contemporary Islamic Political Fiqh’, during a book discussion at the Faculty of Sharia and Law (FSH) of UIN Jakarta on Monday (24/8/2026). The book examines issues of the state and citizenship by bringing together Islamic intellectual heritage, modern political theory, legal science, and contemporary social developments.
According to Masykuri, political fiqh cannot be formulated merely by transferring classical concepts into present-day reality. Religious texts, he said, must be read alongside the context in which an opinion emerged, changes in the world, and the current needs of society.
‘We must look at the text, the context, and the interpretation. What was the context at that time, what is it now, and how should we respond,’ said Masykuri, who is also an alumnus of Pesantren Tebuireng Jombang, in a press statement received on Wednesday (26/8/2026).
He described the approach in his book as a normative study with a contextual fiqh character. A number of issues such as democracy, human rights, political parties, opposition, freedom of expression, equality of citizens, and political ethics are discussed as matters requiring new ijtihad.
Masykuri also distinguished between an Islamic state and a Muslim state. According to the academic definition he uses, an Islamic state is a state that formally places sharia as positive law or the primary source of law. Meanwhile, a Muslim state is a state whose majority population is Muslim, even though its state form and constitution do not use the Islamic label.
‘An Islamic state and a Muslim state must be distinguished. The task of academics is to distinguish things that are indeed different,’ he said.
This distinction, Masykuri said, is important to avoid the assumption that every Muslim-majority country must have the same institutional form. The form of the state, the system of government, and the mechanism for the transfer of power may differ according to each society’s history, culture, and consensus.