The Draft Constitution Volume I

General Provisions Article 1: The Islamic creed is the foundation of the state, such that nothing can exist within its entity, apparatus, accountability, or anything related to it, except by making the Islamic creed its basis. It is also the foundation of the constitution and Sharia laws, so that nothing related to either of them is allowed to exist unless it emanates from the Islamic creed. The state arises from the emergence of new ideas upon which it is based, and authority within it shifts with the transformation of these ideas. This is because when ideas become concepts – that is, when their meaning is understood and they are believed in – they influence human behavior, causing it to proceed according to these concepts, thus changing their view of life, and consequently changing their view of interests. And authority is merely the care of these interests and the supervision of their management. Therefore, the view of life is the foundation upon which the state is based, and it is the foundation upon which authority exists. However, the view of life is only created by a specific idea about life, so this specific idea about life is the basis of the state and the basis of authority. And since the specific idea about life is represented in a set of concepts, standards, and convictions, this set of concepts, standards, and convictions is what is considered the basis, and the authority only takes care of people's affairs and supervises the management of their interests according to this set. Therefore, the basis is a set of ideas and not a single idea, and this set of ideas has created the view of life in its entirety, and accordingly, the view of interests has been found, and the authority has proceeded to manage them according to this view. From here, the state is defined as an executive entity for a set of concepts, standards, and convictions that a group of people has accepted.