234 chapter six
As such, he was in favour of a strong caliphate and was against del-
egating unlimited powers to the governors, which, in his view, tended
to create chaos. Also, he has laid down clear principles for the elec-
tion of the caliph and the quality of the voters, among which the
attainment of a degree of intellectual level and the purity of char-
acter are particularly important.
Al-Màwardìis considered as one of the most famous thinkers in
political science in the Middle Ages. His original work influenced
the development of this science, together with the science of sociol-
ogy, which was further developed later on by Ibn-Khaldùn.
Al-Màwardìdied in 1058 A.C.
The Book
What concerns us of al-Màwardì’s works is his al-Aœkàm al-Sùltàniyyah
wa al-Wilayàt al-Dìniyyah, State Ordinance and Religious Governance.
The first general observation about al-Aœkàm is that, as indicated
previously, the title of the book relates to the new political culture
within which al-Màwardìwrote his work. It refers to a political title
that had not been used by Muslims before, until the growing influence
of the Turkish element in the Abbasìd caliphate. Whether al-Màwardì
wrote his al-Aœkàmto the Bùwayhìd ruler, in parallel to Abù-Yùsuf ’s
writing of al-Kharàj to his caliph al-Rashìd, is something that can-
not be ascertained with certainty. But judging by his choice of title
and his reference to his book by al-Sùltàniyyah, it might be inferred
that he was indicating where the centre of power was and, indi-
rectly, paying homage to the effective ruler of the state, the flulňn.
The main purpose of the book
The purpose of writing al-Aœkàm seemed to be threefold: first, to
help those implementing the law to understand it well, so that jus-
tice could be achieved, second, to help those who make the law
understand the rules of the Sharì"ah so that laws might be derived
within its rules with no deviation from the established religious rules,
and third, to help jurists and scholars understand the bases upon
which these Sùltanate rules were based and invite them to make a
contribution to the establishment of future rules if necessary. All this
was for the purpose of achieving justice.