A Critical Analysis of Asma Afsaruddin’s paper on Ulu al-Amr

This article examines “Ulu al-Amr” written by Asma Afsarruddin. Itadopts a library-analytical method. This study aims to pinpoint thestrengths and weaknesses of this Orientalist as a piece of Westernscholarship of Quranic studies. The positive points of this article includechoosing a practical topic and writing concisely. This article also has threenegative points. The first negative point is that it has made an incompleteinduction in the cases of the Qur'anic verses. The author mentions only oneverse about the "Ulu al-Amr", while two verses of the Holy Quran directlyrefer to it. Furthermore, other verses indirectly refer to this concept. Thesecond negative point is her use of wrong reasoning. She believes that thelack of a king at the beginning of Islam accounts for the weakness of thereport attributed to Ubayy b. Kaʿb, who relates that ulu᾽l-amr was areference to the political rulers (al-Salatin). The third negative point is thatthe author uses only the opinions of the Sunnis and ignores the Shias᾽beliefs and their interpretations of this verse. The present article tries notonly to mention the defects but also to inform the author of this entry toperfect it by providing additional content.