Qur’an and Social Sciences

Qur’an and Social Sciences

A Critical Analytical Evaluation of the Authoritarianism Allegation in the Governance Approach and Social Practice of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUHH)

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Abolfazl Sadeghi 1
seyed Mohammad Naqib 2
sakineh akhond 3
1 Ph.D. Candidate, Comparative Exegesis, University of Qur’anic Sciences and Studies, Qom, Iran (Corresponding Author)
2 Associate Professor, Department of Exegesis and Qurʾanic Sciences, University of Qur’anic Sciences and Studies, Qom, Iran
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Exegesis and Qurʾanic Sciences, University of Qur’anic Sciences and Studies, Qom, Iran
10.22034/arq.2024.442506.1306
Abstract
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) is the most perfect creature and a guide for humankind, characterized by gentleness and compassion toward all people. His conduct and demeanor reflect the essence of Qur’anic teachings and are imbued with kindness, mercy, and benevolence. One issue within his governance approach and social conduct that calls for careful examination and analysis is the question of whether authoritarianism existed in his practice—a matter that has fueled numerous allegations aimed at character assassination and distortion of his esteemed status. The central problem of the present study lies in the fact that certain individuals, by appealing to specific Qur’anic verses and historical sources, have raised doubts and sought thereby to establish the claim of authoritarianism in the person of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), which in turn has undermined faith and religious convictions. Therefore, to defend the sanctity of the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him and his family), an accurate understanding of these allegations and a well-reasoned and convincing response to them is deemed essential. The findings of this study indicate that numerous Qur’anic verses, hadiths, and historical accounts underscore the absence of authoritarianism or despotism in his social conduct and governance approach. Furthermore, all objections and allegations raised in this regard are unfounded, and no trace of authoritarianism—particularly in the events of the Battle of Badr and the Conquest of Mecca—can be discerned.
Keywords
Authoritarianism
Battle of Badr
Conquest of Mecca
Prophet Muhammad (PBUHH)
Critical Analysis
Study of Objections

Subjects

Holy Qur’an
Nahj al-Balāghah
Abū al-Ḥamd, ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd. (1974). Mabānī-yi Sīyāsat. Tehran: Ṭūs Publications.
ʿAlī, Ṣāliḥ Aḥmad. (1961). Dawlat Rasūl Allāh. Trans. Hādī Anṣārī. Qom: Hawza and University Research Institute.
ʿĀmilī, Sayyid Jaʿfar Murtaḍā. (2005). al-Ṣaḥīḥ min Sīrat al-Nabīyy al-Aʿẓam. Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth.
Āshūrī, Dāryūsh. (1995). Dāneshnāme-i Sīyāsī. Tehran: Morvarid Publications.
Āyatī, Muḥammad Ibrāhīm. (2012). Tārīkh-i Payāmbar-i Islām. Tehran: Tehran University Press.
Bahmanī, Saʿīd. (2015). Manṭiq-i Pāsukh-dahī-i Qur’ān al-Karīm. Qom: Research Institute for Islamic Sciences and Culture.
Balʿamī, Abū ʿAlī. (1994). Tārīkh-nāme-i Ṭabarī. Ed. Muḥammad Rowshan. Tehran: Alborz Publications.
Bayhaqī, Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Ḥusayn. (1985). Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl. (2001). Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. Beirut: Dār al-Najāḥ.
Bustānī, Fuʾād Afrām. (1996). Farhang-i Abjadī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Islāmī.
Dhahabī, Shams al-Dīn. (2006). Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ. Cairo: Dār al-Ḥadīth.
Dilshād Tehrānī, Muṣṭafā. (1994). Sīra-yi Nabawī. Tehran: Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Printing and Publications Organization.
Doucet, Mathieu. (1995). “Sanjish-i mafhūm-i mashrūʿiyyat va iʿtimād.” Trans. Parvīz Pīrān. Journal of Iṭṭilāʿāt-i Sīyāsī va Iqtiṣādī, (97–98), 4–12.
Edak, Saber. (2008). “Rūvikardī nu bih nabardhā-yi Payāmbar (ṣ), barresī-i moridī-i Ghazveh Badr.” Quarterly Journal of Tārīkh va Tamaddun-i Islāmī, 4(8), 3–18.
Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar. (2000). Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Fārsī, Jalāl al-Dīn. (1983). Payāmbarī va Jihād. Tehran: Shafaq Publications.
Ḥamīdullāh, Muḥammad. (1958). Nāmehā va Paymānhā-yi Sīyāsī-yi Ḥaḍrat Muḥammad (Ṣ) va Asnād-i Ṣadr-i Islām. Trans. Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusaynī. Tehran: Surūsh Publications.
Ḥasan-Beygī, Muḥammad; Qādirī, ʿAbd al-Wāḥid. (2016). “Ghazveh Badr dar nigāh-i mutafāvit-i Qurʾān va sīreh-navīsān.” Quarterly Journal of Muṭālaʿāt-i Tārīkhī-i Jang, 1(1), 1–18.
Ḥimyarī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar. (1992). Qurb al-Isnād. Qom: Āl al-Bayt Institute.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Abū ʿUmar Yūsuf ibn ʿAbd Allāh. (1992). al-Istīʿāb. Ed. Muḥammad al-Bajāwī. Beirut: Dār al-Jīl.
Ibn al-Athīr, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Jazarī. (1965). al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
Ibn Fāris, Abū al-Ḥusayn. (1984). Maʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn. Qom: Maktab al-Iʿlām.
Ibn Ḥajar ʿAsqalānī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī. (1982). Fatḥ al-Bārī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Ibn Hishām, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Malik. (1992). al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya. Ed. Suhayl Zakkār. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr.
Ibn Kathīr al-Dimashqī, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar. (1998). Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Ibn Khaldūn, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. (1944). al-ʿIbar. Trans. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd Āyatī. Tehran: Cultural studies and research Institute.
Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. (1994). Lisān al-ʿArab. Ed. Jamāl al-Dīn Mīrdāmādī. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
Ibn Qutayba, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muslim al-Dīnawarī. (1993). al-Maʿārif. Cairo: al-Hayʾa al-Miṣriyya.
Ibn Saʿd, Muḥammad ibn Manīʿ al-Baghdādī. (1968). Ṭabaqāt al-Kubrā. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
Intezari, Mahbube; Muṭīʿ, Mahdī. (2019). “Naqd-i Qurʾān-miḥvar-i sīreh-navīsān bih ghanīmat-jūyāneh būdan-i Jang-i Badr.” Quarterly Journal of Qayyim, 9(20), 251–271.
Jaʿfariyān, Rasūl. (2007). Āthār-i Islāmī-i Makke va Madīne. Tehran: Nashr-i Mashʿar.
Jawharī, Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād. (1984). al-Ṣiḥāḥ al-Lugha. Ed. Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Ghafūr. Beirut: Nashr Dār al-ʿIlm.
Lārījānī, Muḥammad-Javād. (1993). Naqd-i Dīndārī va Modarnism. Tehran: Iṭṭilāʿāt Publications.
Majlisī, Muḥammad-Bāqir. (1983). Biḥār al-Anwār. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Makāram Shīrāzī, Nāṣir and et al. (1992). Tafsīr-i Nemūneh. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya.
Maʿluf, Louis. (2010). al-Munjid. Trans. Muḥammad Bandar Rīgī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Islāmī.
Maqrīzī, Taqī al-Dīn. (2000). Imtāʿ al-Asmāʿ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Māzandarānī, Mullā Ṣāliḥ. (1513/1895). Sharḥ Uṣūl al-Kāfī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
McLean, Iain. (2002). Farhang-i ʿUlūm-i Sīyāsī-yi Āksfūrd. Trans. Ḥamīd Aḥmadī. Tehran: Nashr-i Mīzān.
Mīr-Sharīfī, Sayyid ʿAlī. (2011). Payām-Āvar-i Raḥm. Tehran: SAMT Publications.
Muʿādīkhvāh, ʿAbd al-Majīd. (1993). Farhang-i Āftāb. Tehran: Zarreh Publications.
Muʿīn, Muḥammad. (1992). Farhang-i Fārsī-yi Muʿīn. Tehran: Amīr Kabir Press.
Mūsavī, Leilā; Tavasṣulī, Majīd. (2016). “Farhang-i Sīyāsī, Fardiyyat va Bāztūlīd-i Iqtidārgarāʾī dar Īrān.” Quarterly Journal of ʿUlūm-i Sīyāsī, 12(37), 183–204.
Mutahhari, Murteza. (1998). Majmūʿe-i Āthār. Tehran: Ṣadra Publications.
Muttaqī al-Hindī, ʿAlī ibn Ḥusām al-Dīn. (1989). Kanz al-ʿUmmāl. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risāla.
Rāghib Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad. (1992). Mufradāt Alfāẓ al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-Shāmiyya.
Ṣadūq, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Bābawayh. (1983). Maʿānī al-Akhbār. Qom: Intishārāt-i Jāmiʿa-yi Mudarrisīn Ḥawza-i ʿIlmiyya-yi Qom.
Sayyid-Bāqirī, Sayyid Kāẓim. (2011). “Māhiyyat va muʾallafeh-hā-yi qudrat-i siyāsī az manẓar-i Qurʾān-i Karīm.” Quarterly Journal of Kitāb-i Naqd, 13(59–60), 67–111.
Shahīdī, Sayyid Jaʿfar. (2013). Tārīkh-i Taḥlīlī-i Islām. Tehran: Markaz-i Nashr-i Dānishgāhī.
Shawkānī, Badr al-Dīn. (1994). Fatḥ al-Qadīr. Damascus: Dār Ibn Kathīr.
Shojāʿī-Zand, ʿAlī-Reza. (1997). “Iqtidār dar Islām.” Quarterly Journal of Ḥukūmat-i Islāmī, (5), 207–219.
Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. (2006). Furūgh-i Abadiyyat. Qom: Bustan-i Kitab.
Sulṭānīya, Muḥammad; Qāʾimī-Nīk, Muḥammad. (2022). “Muvājaheh-yi Qurʾān bā sunan-i ijtimāʿī-i jāhilī bā taʾkīd bar andīsheh-hā-i ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī (r.a.).” Journal of Qur’ān va ʿUlūm-i Ijtimāʿī, 1(4), 137–164. doi:10.22064/arq.2022.344595.1092
Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. (1988). Tārīkh al-Ṭabarī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Javad. (2002). Mafhūm-i Vilāyat-i Muṭlaqe. Tehran: Nashr-i Nigāh-i Muʿāṣir.
Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad-Ḥusayn. (1982). al-Mīzān. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī lil-Maṭbūʿāt.
Ṭabrisī, Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. (1993). Majmaʿ al-Bayān. Tehran: Nāṣir-i Khosrow Publications.
Thaqafī Kūfī, Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad. (1990). al-Ghārāt. Qom: Dār al-Kitāb.
Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn. (1996). Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn. Tehran: Nashr-i Murtaḍawī.
Vincent, Andrew. (1992). Naẓariyeha-i Dawlat. Trans. Ḥusayn Bashīriyya. Tehran: Nashr-i Ney.
Wāqidī, Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar. (1966). al-Maghāzī. Ed. Marsden Jones. London: Oxford University Press.
Yaʿqūbī, Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq. (n.d.). Tārīkh al-Yaʿqūbī. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar. (1987). al-Kashshāf. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī.
Zarrīnkūb, ʿAbd al-Ḥusayn. (1990). Bāmdād-i Islām. Tehran: Amir Kabir Publications.
Websites
https://www.porseman.com/article.
https://www.valiasr-aj.com/persian/shownews.
Qur’an and Social Sciences

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 22 June 2025

  • Receive Date 20 February 2024
  • Revise Date 11 April 2024
  • Accept Date 01 June 2024