Islamic concept of Sovereignty and Western Concept

The notion and ideology of sovereignty plays an integral role in the affairs of state. The way Islam explains the concept of sovereignty, it is completely different from the western ideas and notion of sovereignty. According to west, the sovereignty means all power and authority are linked with people of the state while Islamic concept of sovereignty deals with attributes of Allah Almighty. This ideology of sovereignty is taken from the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him).
Latin word “Superanus” is the root word of the sovereignty and it means the supremacy or authority of one over other beings. The term of sovereignty can be defined two domains. One is general meaning and other is Islamic meaning of sovereignty. According to general meaning, the greatest and supreme power of authority of a person and a group of people which is obediently followed the bulk of people in the in the country.

Islam has given a unique and different concept of sovereignty. It is the fundamental belief and faith of the Muslims that Allah Almighty is the only sovereign authority. It is the only Allah Almighty which has all supreme powers and authorities. And He is alone in His sovereignty. There are many verses of the holy Quran which have described the sovereignty of Allah Almighty. According to meaning of the verse number of 42:48 i.e. the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth belongs to one and only Allah Almighty. The Concept of sovereignty in the western countries is totally contrary to Islamic concept of sovereignty. When Muslims arrive at holy places of Makkah through Umrah Package, they announce Sovereignty of Allah Almighty. The idea of sovereignty is a contemporary concept, born with the contemporary state. It was advocated by Jean Bodin first in 1576. He states sovereignty not only the control to legislate law and rules, but also to be itself directly above rule. The western idea of sovereignty is flawed and there are boundaries on it.

According to western idea the sovereign is about determinate people with limitless controls and the dominion is debated with orientation to the state. It means there can be as numerous sovereigns as states. This entire idea is too unclear as we can see that there are numerous restrictions on state, such as global, human ethical etc. as associated to this, Islamic idea of sovereignty is more truthful and rational. The dominion of Allah is unrestricted and spreads to whole cosmos, skies and the earth.

There is a great difference between Islamic concept and western concept of sovereignty. As an authority, whole and entire universe and systems of the Universe belongs to Allah Almighty. While, in the western countries, people are the only authority being sovereign power. Islam has not mentioned any kind of sovereignty while there are many and different kinds of sovereignty in the west. To accomplish, it can be said that the Islamic philosophy of sovereignty is fundamentally dissimilar from the western philosophies of sovereignty. It is drafted from the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), which are its primary and fundamental.