خلاصه ماشینی:
1 Since the revival of interest in the Khilafah it has been generally accept• ed as the most authoritative exposition of the Sunni Islamic political theory," and indeed the existence of other works on the subject is frequently ignored.
To discuss the subject fully would outrun the limits of an article, and I propose only to treat in outline the first and second questions, with reference to the chapter on the Khilafah and to the section of the third chapter which deals with the "Amirnte by Seizure".
Since the list of al-Mawardi's surviving works shows him to have taken an interest in matters of political conduct/ it might have been assumed without question that the reason lay in his personal pre• ferences had not he himself related otherwise.
ANALYSIS OF AL-MAWARDl'S DOCTRINE BEFORE examining in detail the views expressed 'by al-Mawardi, it would be well to summarise briefly the main factors in the development of political thought amongst the Sunni jurists.
' In the thirteenth chapter of this work, the author sums up the doctrine of the Imamah, together with the arguments on each question, in a form which is in some respects more satisfactory than that of al-Mawardi.
This is evidently directed against the argument that since the solicitation of other offices of delegated authority (walayah ) is forbidden, the same principle should apply to the Khilafah+-an argu• ment which the Sunni doctors could not accept for obvious historical reasons.