Hakimiyya or Human Responsibility? Why Muslims Need a New Vision of Divine Power Adis Duderija For more than a century, one idea has exercised a powerful influence on Muslim political thought: hakimiyya , the belief that legislative sovereignty belongs exclusively to God. Popularised in the modern period by Islamist thinkers such as Abul A'la Mawdudi and Sayyid Qutb, but very much present in many forms of premodern Islam, the concept has become a cornerstone of many Islamist and fundamentalist visions of society. At first glance, the idea appears uncontroversial. Muslims affirm that God is the creator and sustainer of the universe. The Qur'an repeatedly reminds believers that ultimate authority belongs to God. So what is the problem? The problem begins when a theological truth is transformed into a political ideology. In many traditional and fundamentalist interpretations, hakimiyya is understood as God's unilateral and absolute control over reality. Human beings ...