Canon is a foreign technical term which means the decree issued by the ruler for people to enact. It has been defined as "the group of principles which the ruler obliges the people to enact in their relationships". The basic law for every government is called a constitution; whereas law which emanates from the system decreed by the constitution, is called a canon. The term constitution has been defined as the canon which outlines the shape of the state and its ruling system, and explains the limits and functions of every authority vested in it, or the canon which organises public authority, i.e. the government, defines its relationship with its subjects, and assigns both the State's rights and duties towards the subjects and the subject's duties and rights towards the State. Constitutions have different origins. Some have been issued in the form of a canon, and some have arisen through customs and norms, such as the British constitution, while others have been drafted by a committee of a national assembly - vested with the authority at that time - which passed the constitution, defined the procedure for revising it and then dissolved itself so as to be replaced by the authority established by the constitution, as happened in America and France. Constitutions and canons are taken from two sources. The first being the source from which they directly originate, such as norms, religion, the opinions of jurists, court precedents and the principles of justice and equity. This is known as the legislative source. Examples of this type of constitution are some of the Western states like Britain and America. The second is a historical source, i.e. the source from which the constitution or canon emerges or is taken, like the French Constitution and the constitutions of some of the states in the Islamic world, like Turkey, Egypt, Iraq and Syria.

This is but a brief definition of the terms constitution and canon, which in sum means, that the State takes certain rules from either legislative or historical sources which it adopts and enacts, such that thereafter the rules adopted by the State become a constitution, if they are general, or canons if they are specific.

The question that now faces the Muslims is whether or not it is permissible to use these terms? The answer to this question is that if foreign terms contain meanings or logical connotations that contradict the terminology of Muslims, they are prohibited for use: such as the term "social justice", which implies a specific system that is manifested in the form of guaranteeing education, medical care for the poor and guaranteeing the rights of employees and workers. This connotation contradicts the Muslims terminological meaning for justice, because in Islam justice ('adl) means the opposite of injustice (DHulm). As for securing of education and medical care it is a right for rich and poor, and protecting the rights of the weak and needy is a right secured to all those who hold citizenship of the Islamic State, whether they are employees, labourers or farmers etc. However, if the meaning of the terminology is consistent with what the Muslims have then it is permissible to use that term, such as the term tax, which means the funds collected from the people for the management of the state. The Muslims do have funds collected by the State for the management of their affairs and, thus, it is correct to use the term tax. The terms constitution and canon mean that the state adopts certain rules, announces them to the people and obliges them to act according to them and it governs them on their basis. This meaning is consistent with Islam. Accordingly, we do not find anything to prevent the use of the terms constitution and canons, which means the rules adopted by the Khaleefah from the AHkam shar’aiah. However, there is a difference between the Islamic constitution and canons, on the one hand, and other constitutions and canons, on the other. The source of the other constitutions and canons is the traditions and verdicts of their courts etc. and the origin is an institutional committee which lays down the constitution, and councils elected by the people to enact canons, for they consider the people to be the source of authority and sovereignty. As for the Islamic constitution and canons, their source is the Qur'an and Sunnah only, and their origin is the ijtihad of the mujtahideen from which the Khaleefah adopts certain rules, where he enacts them and obliges the people to act according to them. This is because sovereignty is for the shar’aiah and ijtihad is a right for all Muslims and a fard kifayah upon them to deduce AHkam shar’aiah. Only the Khaleefah has the right to adopt the AHkam shar’aiah.

This is with respect to the permissibility of using the terms constitution and canon. As for the necessity of adopting rules, the Muslims, from the time of Abu Bakr (ra) up to the time of the last Khaleefah, have seen the necessity of adopting rules according to which the Muslims have been commanded to act. This adoption was for specific rules and not a comprehensive adoption of all the decrees that the state ruled with. The State only adopted comprehensively in some eras, namely, when the Ayubites adopted Ash-Shafi'i madhab and when the Uthtmani State adopted Al- Hanafi madhab.

The question which arises is, whether or not it is in the interest of the Muslims to lay down a comprehensive constitution and general canons? The answer to this question is that the presence of a comprehensive constitution and general canons for all rules hinders creativity and ijtihad. Hence, the Khulafa'a in the age of the Companions (Sahabah), the followers of the Companions (tabe'ieen), and the followers of the followers of the Companions (tab''ii et-tabe'ieen), avoided adopting all the rules. They merely restricted adoption to specific rules where adoption was required to maintain the unity of ruling, legislation and administration. Therefore, for the sake of maintaining creativity and ijtihad, it is preferable for the State not to have a comprehensive constitution which includes all the rules, but rather a constitution that includes general rules which define the form of the State and which guarantees the continuity of its unity, and leaves ijtihad and deduction to the governors and judges. This is the case if ijtihad is feasible and people are mujtahideen as in the time of the Sahabah, tabe'ieen, and tab'ii et-tabe'ieen. But if all the people are muqallideen, and mujtahideen are rare, it is obligatory for the State to adopt rules by which the State, i.e. the Khaleefah, wulah and judges govern the people. This is because otherwise ruling by what Allah (swt) has revealed would be not easy and the governors and judges will suffer from differences and contradicting taqleed. However, adoption should come after studying the subject matter and daleel. Allowing the wulah and judges to rule from their own knowledge will lead to the existence of different and contradicting rules within the same state, even in the same province, and it could even lead to them judging with other than what Allah (swt) has revealed. Therefore, because the ignorance of Islam prevails these days, it is obligatory for the Islamic State to adopt certain rules confined to the transactions and punishments, excluding adoption in ’aqeedah and the ‘ibadat. This adoption should be inclusive for all the rules so as to punctuate the state's affairs and to conduct all the affairs of the Muslims in accordance with the rules of Allah (swt). When the state adopts the rules and establishes the constitution and canons, it must restrict itself solely to the AHkam shar’aiah. It must not adopt, or even study, anything other than the AHkam shar’aiah, whether it agrees with Islam or not. For example, it must not adopt the nationalisation of property. Instead, it must lay down the rule (hukm) of public property. The state has to restrict itself by the AHkam shar’aiah in every matter connected with the thought (fikrah) and the method (Tareeqah). But as for the canons and systems that are not connected with the fikrah and method (Tareeqah) and thus do not denote a certain view point of life, such as the administrative canons and departmental structures etc. they are considered to be means and styles, like the sciences, industries and technology, which the state may adopt to manage its affairs, as happened with Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra) when he established the army registers (divans) which were taken over from the Persians. These administrative and technical matters are not part of the constitution or the AHkam shar’aiah and, therefore, are not included in the constitution. Thus, the duty of the Islamic State is to observe that its constitution be AHkam shar’aiah i.e. that its constitution and canon be Islamic.When it adopts any rule it has to adopt it based on the strength of the daleel shar’ai with the correct understanding of the subject matter. Hence, first it has to study the problem in order to understand it - because understanding the problem is essential. It must then understand the hukm shar’ai related to this problem. Then it has to study daleel of the hukm shar’ai. The state then adopts this rule, based on the strength of daleel, on condition that these AHkam shar’aiah are adopted either from the opinion of one of the mujtahids - after looking through the daleel and be sure of its strength - or through ijtihad shar’ai, even in the single issue, from the Qur'an and Sunnah, ijma'a as-sahabah, or qiyas. Thus, for example, if the State wished to adopt forbidding insurance on goods, it has first to understand the nature of insurance on goods. It must study the means of possession. Allah's (swt) law concerning property would be applied on insurance and this would subsequently be adopted as the Hukm shar’ai in this question. Accordingly, there should be an introduction to the constitution and to each canon that clearly explains the madhab from which each article has been deduced, the daleel relied upon. If the article was deduced by a correct ijtihad, an explanation of the daleel from which the article has been deduced has to be provided, so that the Muslims know that the rules which the state has adopted in the constitution and canons are AHkam shar’aiah reached by correct ijtihad. This is because the Muslims are not obliged to obey the laws of the State unless they are AHkam shar’aiah adopted by the State. According to this basis, the State adopts AHkam shar’aiah in the form of a constitution and canons in order to govern the people who hold its citizenship.

As an illustration of this, we place in the hands of Muslims a draft constitution for the Islamic State in the Islamic world, to be studied by Muslims while they are working to establish the Islamic State that will carry the Islamic da'wah to the world. It should be noticed that this constitution is not meant for a particular country or intended to be specific to any region or country but for the Islamic State in the Islamic world.