Vlast i autoritet: je li moguća sakralizacija vlasti?

Abstract

There are significant inconsistencies in the interpretation of the āyah 59, surah 4 (al-Nisā’), as well as in its translation. In that verse, God commands that the faithful obey Allah, His Messenger, and the category of people He calls ‘ūlū al-’amri. Many believe that the category ‘ūlū al-’amri refers to rulers, to power, but the general context of the Qur’an and reality indicate that this category denotes authorities in an ethical and scientific sense and not necessarily only in the sense of ruling. Rulers are neither always ethical nor always learned, so it does not have to be that all rulers have authority. Sometimes they are even tyrants, and, therefore, Allah would not order believers to obey tyrants, i. e. violent rulers. In this paper, the author reinterprets the phrase ‘ūlū al-’amri by critically considering the relatively frequent and incorrect understanding of it as God’s command that believers must obey rulers. Key words: Qur’an, Hadith, ruler, authority, dynasty, position of power.