{"product_id":"the-caliphate-of-man-popular-sovereignty-in-modern-islamic-thought-9780674987838","title":"The Caliphate of Man: Popular Sovereignty in Modern Islamic Thought","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA political theorist teases out the century-old ideological transformation at the heart of contemporary discourse in Muslim nations undergoing political change.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Arab Spring precipitated a crisis in political Islam. In Egypt Islamists have been crushed. In Turkey they have descended into authoritarianism. In Tunisia they govern but without the label of \"political Islam.\" Andrew March explores how, before this crisis, Islamists developed a unique theory of popular sovereignty, one that promised to determine the future of democracy in the Middle East. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis began with the claim of divine sovereignty, the demand to restore the sharīʿa in modern societies. But prominent theorists of political Islam also advanced another principle, the Quranic notion that God's authority on earth rests not with sultans or with scholars' interpretation of written law but with the entirety of the Muslim people, the \u003ci\u003eumma.\u003c\/i\u003e Drawing on this argument, utopian theorists such as Abū'l-Aʿlā Mawdūdī and Sayyid Quṭb released into the intellectual bloodstream the doctrine of the caliphate of man: while God is sovereign, He has appointed the multitude of believers as His vicegerent. \u003ci\u003eThe Caliphate of Man\u003c\/i\u003e argues that the doctrine of the universal human caliphate underpins a specific democratic theory, a kind of Islamic republic of virtue in which the people have authority over the government and religious leaders. But is this an ideal regime destined to survive only as theory?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMarch, Andrew F.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Andrew F. March is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. March's first book, \u003ci\u003eIslam and Liberal Citizenship\u003c\/i\u003e, won the Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion from the American Academy of Religion.","brand":"Belknap Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50647483810066,"sku":"9780674987838","price":53.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c56b5fae-8d8c-4323-a8c8-848ce65ce9b3.jpg?v=1734800636","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-caliphate-of-man-popular-sovereignty-in-modern-islamic-thought-9780674987838","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}