From Political Practice to a Normative Model: The Sacralisation of Power in the Islamic Tradition

Abstract

Aim. To identify the specific features of the sacralisation of power in Islamic political thought and its role in the formation of fundamentalist doctrines. Methodology. The research is based on comparative – historical and systemic approaches, as well as on an analysis of the works of classical and modern authors. Islamic conceptions of power are correlated with general ideas about its sacred nature in traditional societies. Results. In the Islamic tradition, the sacralisation of power is institutional and normative, being inherently linked to the ruler’s function of ensuring the implementation of Sharia. This model of legitimation predetermines the stability of political loyalty. In modern fundamentalism, a selective actualisation and radicalisation of classical political and legal thought takes place. Research implications. The study updates the discourse on the ideological foundations of Islamic fundamentalism, demonstrating that they cannot be reduced to socio-political and economic factors. In this context, fundamentalism is understood as a form of reinterpreting the traditional model of sacralised power under the conditions of modernisation.