Abstract

After an introductory reflection over the relationship between sovereignty and authority in Islamic political thought, the paper examines the influence of Hamidian authocratic yet reformist discourse on the Young Turks and on Mustafa Kemal. The author argues that by removing the concept of divine sovereignty from the Turkish political system, Mustafa Kemal did away with an instrument that could have limited the arbitrariness of the government. Rashid Rida, Hassan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb envisaged in their writings, on the contrary, a political order that would be circumscribed by Islamic principles as well as more attuned to people’s will.