Seyed Mahdi Alizadeh Mousavi - Assistant Professor in University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran

The present study aims at investigating the sovereignty and Theo-democracy in Sayyid Abul-Aꜥla Mawdudi’s thought. The research method is descriptive-analytical and shows that Sayyid Abul-Aꜥla Mawdudi has founded his political theory on the divine absolute sovereignty, but along with the divine absolute sovereignty, it tries to use mechanisms such as caliphate and council to fix the people’s position in that theory. According to his theory, although sovereignty belongs specifically to God, the man can be enforcer of divine commands if he has the qualifications for divine caliphate. Accordingly, one cannot classify Mawdudi’s theory merely under the theories pertaining to theocracy. Mawdudi who was attentive of this fact, fabricated the term theo-democracy in addition to using theocracy. Altogether, we can consider Mawdudi’s view as the closest one to the Shiite view among the Sunnites’ views. This is while in the position of comparison, Mawdudi has not remained faithful to his own theoretical foundations.

Sayyid Abul Aꜥla Mawdudi, divine sovereignty, theocracy, theo-democracy, caliphate, council