ABSTRACT
The politics of a Muslim country has in a historical view always displayed a strong tendency towards centralisation – harem or palace politics – hindering transition to capitalism. Rational authority is based upon belief in the legitimacy of rules, impersonal and objective. Traditional domination holds that tradition is sacred. In this case one obeys the power holder who himself is bound by tradition. Patriarchal authority before Islam is a form of the universal traditional authority. Traditional domination sometimes employs an administrative apparatus, but not always. The solution in Islam of the succession problem concerning the passage from charismatic rule to the day-to-day administration of the group or religion was decisive for the future developments of the religion. In Islam the relation between the two forces, political authority and the religious orders, involves a fusion in the caliphate institution. This fusion closes the road to the appearance of asceticism in the world, whereas the tension opens up this possibility.
