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Ibn-Taymiyyah's theory of political legitimacy
Abstract
What constitutes a legitimate political authority in Muslim societies? The objective of this study is to show to what extent the political thought of the medieval Muslim jurist, Taqi ad-Din Ahmmad Ibn-Taymiyyah, can shed light on this question. Our understanding of Islamic political theory is incomplete without incorporating the theoretical contributions of Ibn-Taymiyyah regarding the issue of political legitimacy. Throughout Islamic history the sunni theory of califate and the shiete theory of immamate dominated Islamic political thought with two different models for political legitimacy. Ibn-Taymiyyah's theory of political legitimacy provides a critical framework for not only these two major models, but also for the models provided by Muslim philosophers and sufists theologians. Following the introduction, the material is grounded in four chapters which deal sequentially with Ibn-Taymiyyah's biography, his theological orientations, his functional approach to the state, and his democratic approach to the political process. After a discussion in the first chapter of Ibn-Taymiyyah's intellectual background and the social and political situations that provoked his political thought as reflected in his methodology, the second chapter analyzes Ibn-Taymiyyah's theological orientations and its political significance. The major theme in this chapter is Ibn-Taymiyyah's attempt to draw dissimilarity between man and God in order to proclaim God's sovereignty over the universe and declare man's servitude to God. Accordingly, a paradigm for man's duties is set forth through discussing Ibn-Taymiyyah's ideas of human nature. The remaining chapters outline Ibn-Taymiyyah's practical approach to the problem of political legitimacy based on his theological orientations and his utilitarian approach to the nature of man as opposed to the ineffectiveness of the sunni theory of califate, and to the metaphysical approach of the other models. The concluding chapter highlights the critical and prescriptive dimension of Ibn-Taymiyyah's theory of political legitimacy and illustrates how it can serve as a framework of analysis to evaluate the present political regimes in Muslim societies.
Subject Area
Political science
Recommended Citation
Bannan, Talal Saleh, "Ibn-Taymiyyah's theory of political legitimacy" (1988). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8824911.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8824911