The Concept of Al-Ḥākimiyyah and its Divergence from the Concept of Sovereignty: An Analysis of Mawdūdī’s and Sayyid Quṭb’s Ideas

Issah Abeebllahi Obalowu; Adibah binti Abdul Rahim

doi:10.32350/jitc.112.05

Issah Abeebllahi Obalowu Department of Usul al-Din and Comparative Religion, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6165-5233
Adibah binti Abdul Rahim Department of Usul al-Din and Comparative Religion, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6033-4932

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32350/jitc.112.05

Keywords: Al-Ḥakimiyyah, Sovereignty, Legislation, Politics, Western political system

Abstract

Abstract Views: 364

The concept of al-ḥakimiyyah is a scholarly topic among different categories/discussed and debated by various types of researchers, globally. The term al-ḥakimiyyah was pronounced and brought into the Islamic and western dictionaries by Sayyid Abū ‘Alᾱ Mawdūdī and theoretically developed by Sayyid Quṭb. Sovereignty is the common and general word/term that is always used as the English word for/substitute for al-ḥakimiyyah. Thus, many researchers have analyzed al-ḥakimiyyah based on the concept of sovereignty found in the western perspective, which has led to some misconceptions regarding the concept. So, this paper intends to address the concept of al-ḥakimiyyah in the discourse of Abu ‘Alᾱ Mawdūdī and Sayyid Quṭb and its divergence from the concept of sovereignty found in the western perspective. Qualitative approach was employed in this research to collect the data from different sources and analyze it accordingly in order to determine the areas of difference between both the concepts. The findings revealed the difference between these two concepts in terms of their literal and contextual meanings. Likewise, it was revealed that the concept of al-ḥakimiyyah has some connotations which the western concept of sovereignty does not have. To summarize, the concept of sovereignty in the western perspective does not represent fully the concept of al-ḥakimiyyah as manifested by Sayyid Abū ‘Alᾱ Mawdūdī and Sayyid Quṭb.

Keywords: Al-Hakimiyyah, Sovereignty, Legislation, Politics, Western political system

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