The Essential Contestedness of Territorial Sovereignty in Islam

This paper focuses on the question of whether Islam and the institutions of territorial sovereignty and the nation-state system are compatible with one another. The answer to this question is more complicated than a simple yes-or-no, with the concept of territorial sovereignty being widely contested among different Islamic factions. At the root of Islam’s debate over the institution of territorial sovereignty are a number of epistemological and methodological disagreements, which preclude the creation of an unambiguous Islamic position on the issue. In light of the complexity of the question at hand, this paper will utilize Gallie’s framework of essential contestedness to analyze the so-called “Islamicness” of territorial sovereignty and thematize the deep epistemological and interpretative dimensions of the debate.No embargoAcademic Major: Political Scienc