Religious Minorities ‘the Self’ or ‘the Other’ in the Islamic Government as Presented in the Shi‘a School of Thought

Is Islam a religion which acknowledges different voices specially those of religious nature within its jurisdiction or it is the other way around? Alluding to some narratives existing in Islamic sources some orientalists assert that there is no room for a religious minority within an Islamic government. Furthermore, due to the conduct shown by some so called ‘Islamic groups’ who claim to be seeking the establishment of an Islamic government while being utterly intolerant towards religious minorities, it has become a stereotype presented by the media that Islam does not acknowledge other voices including those of religious nature as ‘the Self’ within the Islamic country. Whereas, a fair yet deep look at Islamic sources as well as the genuine history of Islam proves the contrary to this claim. In this article thus, the Islamic heritage mainly as viewed by the Shi‘a school of thought will be explored and it hopefully will become evident that contrary to that which has been presented in all the media about Islam the religious minorities are considered as ‘the Self’ and not ‘the Other’ and thus are given their rights when living under the jurisdiction of an Islamic government so long as they abide by internal constitutional laws.