Who or what is the wali al-amr: The unposed question
Keywords:
Islam, policy state, Islamic governance, estado político, gobernanza islámicaAbstract
Modern Islamic political thought has grappled with the nature of state authority by using and reshaping the tools of classical legal and political thought. That is a tradition that gives rich guidance on what a ruler should and should not do, but it gives much less certain guidance (and all but renders invisible) the questions of administration and policy. The wali al-amr – the head of the community (a term identical to the one used for legal guardian over a minor) – has been transformed from an individual ruling to a modern bureaucratic and policy state in Islamic political writings without that transformation drawing notice. This paper explores the resulting ways in which Islamic practices and concepts, developed for a rudimentary state apparatus focused on public order, care for the poor, and some urban public services, operates in a world in which states administer and develop policy over a wide array of public affairs.
El pensamiento político islámico moderno ha lidiado con la naturaleza de la autoridad estatal mediante el uso y la remodelación de las herramientas del pensamiento político y jurídico clásico. Esa es una tradición que brinda una guía útil sobre lo que un gobernante debe y no debe hacer. Pero, si es útil para la ética del gobierno, brinda una orientación mucho menos segura (y se vuelve casi invisible) en lo tocante a las cuestiones de administración y política. El wali al-amr – el líder de la comunidad (un término idéntico al utilizado para el tutor legal de un menor de edad) –, ha pasado de significar un fallo individual, a un Estado burocrático y político moderno, sin que la transformación haya sido advertida. Este artículo explora las formas resultantes en las que las prácticas y los conceptos islámicos, desarrollados para un aparato estatal rudimentario, operan en un mundo en el cual los Estados administran y desarrollan políticas en una gran variedad de asuntos públicos.
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