Tahhan, Muhammad Jamal. “Despotism and the Disposition for Slavery,” Year 8, Issues 31-32 (Winter 1424 AH/ 2003 CE), Pp. 167-200.

Abstract

Muhammad Tahhan’s article addresses the concept of despotism and its many facets, explaining the concept from a linguistic point of view in both Arabic and English and its synonymous terms. It then proceeds to explain the concept of intellectual despotism, economic despotism, and political despotism. It addresses in detail despotism in Arab thought beginning in the Umayyad era, then the Abbasid and Ottoman eras, reaching to the last century, citing the works of Ibn Khaldūn in the Muqadimah and al-Farābī and his attempts to reconcile between religion and philosophy in Al-Madīnah Al-Fadhīlah. It also highlights Abdul Rahman al-Kawākibī's Ṭabā'iʿ Al-Istibdād (Characteristics of Despotism), his methodology in writing the book, his analysis of the concept of despotism and despots, and his portrayal of the mental, spiritual, and social life of those tyrannized.