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Some Muslim scholars have questioned the validity of the
concept of Islamic state as distinct from Muslim state,
the first being an ideological proposition which has
never materialized in Muslim history because no Muslim
state has ever been theocratic and he second being a fact
of history in the past 1400 years. It would be recalled
that the possibility and desirability of an Islamic
state, that is, a state based on the Koran and the Ha- dith, had become a major issue of world-wide debate in
view of the triumph of the mullah-led revolution in Iran
in 1979.
These scholars have collected enormous historical
evidence to establish the following points: that to
Muslim state has ever been a theocracy in the proper
sense of the term; that a power struggle began in Muslim
society soon after the death of Prophet; that of the four
rightly guided caliphs, three died violent deaths; and
that with the emergence of Muawiya as the caliph after
the death of Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet, the concept
of hereditary kingship triumphed; that this reality was
not superseded in Muslim history till recently, and that
the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 represents the
first serious attempt even in Shia Islam to establish
what can be called a theocracy.
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