Islamic Constitutionalism in the Seventh Century: The Conditional Obedience Principle – Lecture by Ahmed El Shamsy (NIAS/University of Chicago)

16 January 2026, Amsterdam

Abstract

Western academic study of Islamic political theory has historically tended to place it in the category of “Oriental despotism.” This claim is part and parcel of the ideology of Western exceptionalism and served as a justification for European colonial and postcolonial domination of Muslim-majority countries. A study of Islamic political theory in the first two centuries of Islam (seventh and eighth centuries CE) demonstrates the existence of a robust conceptual safeguard against despotic and absolutist government, accompanied by the emergence of institutions to limit the power of the executive.

This event is jointly organised by the research group Global Political Thought of the University of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Medieval Seminar.