THE CONCEPT OF HAKIMIYYAH ACCORDING TO TAQIYUDDIN AN-NABHANI
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Abstract
The debate on sovereignty in Western political philosophy has always been polarised between the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings (Robert Filmer), which regards the king’s power as sacred, and Popular Sovereignty (John Locke), which upholds human reason. This secular dichotomy has prompted intellectual responses from contemporary Islamic thinkers, including Sayyid Qutb, Abul A’la Maududi, and Taqiyuddin an-Nabhani. Among these figures, the thoughts of Taqiyuddin an-Nabhani are exciting to study in depth because they offer the most systematic and widely accepted conception of sovereignty in contemporary discourse. This study focuses on the construction of An-Nabhani’s thought rather than on the practical aspects of the Hizbut Tahrir movement, in order to objectively situate his concept on the map of political philosophy. This study aims to elaborate on the idea of “Islamisation of Politics” contained in Hakimiyyah An-Nabhani’s concept. Its main focus is to analyse how this concept de-Westernises Western sovereignty theory, while identifying aspects of the modern state integrated into the Islamic political structure. Through this study, the research seeks to prove that the concept of Hakimiyyah An-Nabhani is not merely historical romanticism, but rather an epistemological offer to restore the sanctity of law amid the tide of secularism. This research is qualitative library research using a political philosophy approach. The primary data sources refer to the authoritative works of Taqiyuddin an-Nabhani. The analysis method is descriptive-analytical, used to unravel the conceptual structure and conduct a critical analysis of the content of Islamisation and integration in his thinking. The results of the study show that An-Nabhani’s concept of Hakimiyyah works in two directions simultaneously: de-westernisation and integration. De-westernisation is evident in the clear separation between sovereignty (as-siyadah), which belongs exclusively to Allah, and power (as-sulthan), which belongs to the people, and in the rejection of human legislative authority in the style of liberal democracy. Integration is evident in the adoption of modern administrative mechanisms and in executive elections that include the voice of the people. However, the most fundamental finding of this study is that the creed of Laa hukma illa lillah does not deny human rights and freedoms in the management of worldly affairs. An-Nabhani emphasises that revelatory restrictions only apply to qath’iy (definite) matters. Outside this realm – namely in technical, administrative, and dynamic matters – humans are given complete freedom to formulate laws for the common good without being shackled by rigid textual arguments. In conclusion, An-Nabhani’s idea of Hakimiyyah presents a distinct blend of theology and politics: it centres on divine principles as its legal foundations. However, it adopts a rational and democratic approach in public policy areas not bound by divine revelation. This study recommends further investigation into how this balance influences governance in today’s diverse societies.