Ulu Al Amr & Authority: The Central Pillars of Sunni Political Thought
General Material Designation
[Thesis]
First Statement of Responsibility
Hisseine Faradj
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
Buck-Morss, Susan
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
City University of New York
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2014
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
215
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
Committee members: Buck-Morss, Susan; Schwedler, Jillian; Wallach, John R.
NOTES PERTAINING TO PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC.
Text of Note
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-1-321-28397-6
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Discipline of degree
Political Science
Body granting the degree
City University of New York
Text preceding or following the note
2014
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
This dissertation evaluates the political history of Islam through the prism of the Sunni conception of authority. It finds an historical red thread that explains the legal and political evolution of different types of Islamic government that have, instead of a European-type sovereign, the Ulu Al Amr (those in authority). In addition, it argues that it is the authority of Ulu Al Amr that legitimizes temporal power via legal rulings such as Wilayah al ahed (allegiance to a dynastic monarchy) and Wlayah al qaher (obedience to coercive power and rule). Those rulings are essential to legitimating historical change. Historical legal opinions among Muslim scholars hold that the members of the Ulu Al Amr are the Ulama-those with knowledge, the learned, religious scholars with temporal power. This dissertation claims that contrary to the legal standards that changed historically in Fiqh al siyash al sharia (the branch Islamic jurisprudence that addresses political issues), it is the Ulama who were the Ulu Al Amr. It is Ulu Al Amr they and only they who decide on the exception through Ijma (consensus or agreement of the community, a source of Islamic law). This view of Ulu Al Amr is most consistent with the Sunni conception of authority that legitimates the force of temporal power. Finally, this dissertation argues that the historical evolution of the concept of authority and the legal role of Ulu Al Amr are an outcome of political struggles and demands between the Ulu Al Amr (qua temporal power) and Muslim subjects rather than a set of legal codes frozen in time and space.
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Law; Islamic Studies; International law
UNCONTROLLED SUBJECT TERMS
Subject Term
Social sciences;Authority;Caliphate;Islam;Sharia;Sovereignty;Ulu al amr