Western academic study of Islamic political theory has historically tended to place it in the category of “Oriental despotism.” This claim is part and parcel of the ideology of Western exceptionalism and served as a justification for European colonial and postcolonial domination of Muslim-majority countries. A study of Islamic political theory in the first two centuries of Islam (seventh and eighth centuries CE) demonstrates the existence of a robust conceptual safeguard against despotic and absolutist government, accompanied by the emergence of institutions to limit the power of the executive.
Read more about Prof Ahmed El Shamsy.
Read more about the Global Political Thought Research Group (Amsterdam School of Historical Studies).
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