Al-Jaloudi, Elian Abdulfattah. “The Evolution of the Concept of Sultanate and its Relationship to Khilāfah,” Year 13, Issue 51 (Winter 1429 AH/ 2008 CE), Pp. 209-240.

الملخص

Elian al-Jaloudi’s article begins from the premise that the ijtihad of Sunni jurists and their theorization on Khilāfah (the caliphate system) reflects in many aspects the historical reality. It contends that in the context of the jurists’ concern for legitimacy and out of fear of strife, they resorted to finding ways to reconcile between the model of the Rashidun Caliphs and the political practicality of this model. The article argues that opinions tended to accommodate the new reality from the time of al-Mawardī, then al-Juwaynī and al-Ghazālī, and later Ibn Khaldūn. The article addresses this issue from two angles: from the vantage of the practical historical development of the Khilāfah; and from the vantage of theoretical discourses on the Khilāfah by Muslim scholars and jurists, with particular attention given to the views of  Ibn Khaldūn. The article discusses the following themes: the concept of Sultanate in practice, the relationship between a Sultanate and Khilāfah in theory, and the Imamate in the thought of Ibn Khaldūn.