Brief introduction
This book is written by Muhammad Taqi Jafari and translated by Ali Quli Qara'i. It is published by Ahlul Bayt World Assembly and is about "Theocracy and Democracy" in Islam, includes discussion of Shura (Consensus).
Contents in brief
The concept of theocracy or the sovereignty of God, admittedly, would sound strange and remote in a society as today's. Centuries and ages have passed without such ideas and concepts making any impression on the minds of those who have ruled and administered human societies or there being any discussion about them.
Moreover, the intellectual arena has been occupied by cults of sovereignty of kings or that of the people. That is why any scheme of deliverance of mankind from the bondage of egoism and self‑alienation appears vainglorious and farfetched.
Henceforth, it is the demand of a humane and truth‑seeking logic not to surrender our search in the despair and fear of an artificial intellectual atmosphere created by power‑hungry and egocentric rulers. Undaunted by the fearsome gallery of idols, we should courageously examine every kind of beneficial and promising truth.
But before everything, let us try to clear up the heavy mists that lurk around the concept of Divine sovereignty and dissociate it from the many layers of prejudice and ignorance that conceal its real face. There are two elements in the term theocracy: God (theos, god) and sovereignty (Kratein, to rule). We shall examine each of them beginning with God.