The Islamic Union

The Islamic Union

According to the Quran, the believers in the Islamic Ideology and belief system are a single brotherhood[1]. Being a single Muslim Community (ummatan Muslimatun)[2], they are all believers in one God and are obliged to submit to the Ultimate source of Law given by the Almighty in the Quran. All this necessitates their political and economic union in the comity of nations of the world. Currently, the Muslim Community in the world is divided into 57 independent sovereign states, with a variety of political systems including kingdoms, sultanate, emirates, democratic republic, Arab republic, Islamic republic, federal republic, people’s republic, and so on.

Currently, the 57 independent sovereign states of the Muslims are joined together by (a rather ineffective) Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which was established by an initial 25 founding member states on 25 September 1969, in the wake of arson of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Notably, the European Union of 28 member states is much more effective as compared to the OIC of 57 member states. The OIC also needs to be transformed into the Islamic Union of the Muslim States.

Currently, the supreme authority of the OIC is the Islamic Summit (a counterpart of the European Council), comprising the Kings and Heads of States or Governments of the member states. The Summit convenes every three years in one of the member states unless there is need for any extraordinary session during that period. Quite a number of Kings or Heads of States or Governments of currently existing Muslim countries are not ever elected, so not the true representatives of the people living in their states.

In addition to the Islamic Summit comprising the elected heads of the Governments, the Islamic Union of the Muslim States should also have an Islamic Parliament, which could be a directly elected parliamentary institution of the Islamic Union with legislative powers. The Islamic Parliament (the Lower House) along with the Council of Foreign Ministers of all the Muslim States (the Upper House) may comprise a bicameral legislature of the Islamic Union. They should have the Islamic Constitution drafted in the light of the Quran to provide a framework for future legislations.

It is vital that all the members of the Islamic Union have joint Defense and Foreign policies. In the light of a Quranic Verses[3], there should be an Islamic Peace Force and an International Islamic Court of Justice. The Islamic Peace Force may be a joint deterrence against any possible foreign aggression as well as a means of establishing peace and security within the Muslim states against any terroristic activities or aggression of one state against the other. The Islamic Court of Justice will not only be the final arbiter in disputes among the Muslim states but also the definitive authority for the interpretation of the Islamic Law or Sharia. All the currently existing 57 Muslim States may not be willing at once to join the Islamic Union. A small number of Muslim States will have to take the initiative and others will hopefully join in later with the passage of time.



[1] Al-Quran Surah 49: Verses 10

[2] Al-Quran Surah 2: Verse 128

[3] Al-Quran Surah 49: Verses 9-10

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