RECONSIDERING "AL HAKIMIYYA" IN THE ISLAMISTS' POLITICAL DISCOURSE FOR A BETTER MANAGEMENT OF MINORITIES IN THE MUSLIM WORLD: A REFERENCE TO THE TURKISH CASE

By focusing on Al hakimiyya theoretical premises in the Islamic literature starting from the most modernizing and exclusive ideological foundations to the conciliatory ones promoting the post nation-state model as the peak of political development, this study aims to analyze the indoctrination of this concept in the Islamic political thought and discourse as well as in the different Islamic literature to pave the way for its practical evolution towards the fulfillment of the democratic exigencies, notably, towards the minorities' rights in the Muslim world. In spite of the cancelation of the "Dhimmi" status imposed on the People of the Book, Jews and Christians, at the middle of the 19th century, the Islamists' political culture and intellect have fallen short to develop a governance system based on social justice and equality for all citizens. The rigid interpretation of Al hakimiyya principles by the leadership of the various Islamic forces entailed many intellectual and normative deficiencies in practice. The direct transposition of its theoretical assumptions to their political paradigm ignored the contextual factor that influenced the concept visionaries causing considerable distortions in the Islamists' self-perception and world vision. The Arab spring and the arrival of the Islamic forces to power present a necessity for the reinterpretation of Al hakimiyya, in light of the Turkish case since 2002, and the development of a critical assessment of its conceptual foundations in terms of integrating the religious minorities' normative and moral references into its intellectual paradigm. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]