ASMA AFSARUDDIN Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Indiana University, USA.

'This edited volume is a model collection. Its title identifies clearly its subject matter, political authority in the Islamic world. The chapters focus in varied and useful ways on that obviously pressing subject matter.' - Journal of Shi'a Islamic Studies

• Introduction; A.Afsaruddin Medieval Section Justification of Political Authority in Medieval Sunni Thought; H.Yucesoy Alfarabi and the Foundation of Political Theology in Islam; M.Campanini Alfarabi's Goal: Political Philosophy, not Political Theology; C.Butterworth Prophecy, Imamate, and Political Rule among the Ikhwan al-Safa; C.Baffioni Responsibilities of Political Office in a Shi'I Caliphate and the Delineation of Public Duties under the Fatimids; P.Walker Ibn Taymiyya on Islamic Governance; B.Malkawi & T.Sonn Modern Section Theologizing about Democracy: A Critical Appraisal of Mawdudi's Thought; A.Afsaruddin The Political Philosophy of Islamic Resurgence; M.Khan Rethinking the Relationship between Religion and Liberal Democracy: Overcoming the Problems of Secularism in Muslim Societies; N.Hashemi Minarchist Political Islam; A.Malik Wilayat al-Faqih and Democracy; M.Kadivar Anwar al-'Awlaqi against the Islamic Legal Tradition; A.March