Abstract:
In response to three issues, the leading research examines and evaluates the theory of "Istkhalaf" of Abul A'la Maududi, which seeks to establish the Islamic government according to the requirements of today's politics, inspired by the theory of Thomas Spriggans: Political fields and theoretical issues; How is the theory's response to these issues; Criticism and study of the activism of theorists and defenders of the theory and their success in implementing the theory. According to the findings, Maududi's "substitution" theory is a response to the theoretical void caused by the abolition of the caliphate and by criticizing the Indian nationalism of the scholars, the Islamic nationalism of the secular "Muslim League", criticizing Western democracy and rejecting the Christian theocracy and the Islamic "kingdom-caliphate". The main problem of this theory is the answer to the possibility of a combination of divine sovereignty and human sovereignty for the aging of the divine theocracy. Maududi pursues this goal by deconstructing the concept of "Khilafah" and presenting a new meaning of it, which considers all believing people as the representatives of the society to have the right to choose the Caliph. However, despite many theoretical efforts, his theory has problems both in historical references and determining the meaning and examples of caliphate, and in answering its problem, it is not possible to realize it in practice. Because by ignoring today's world and the realities of political action, Maududi is acting with a theoretical void and gets himself and his party caught up in complications and political games. In fact, his theory is idealistic.