The Origin of the Legitimacy of Sovereignty

A sovereign’s will cannot be binding without being legitimate, a condition which constitutes the basis of a sovereign's power and its nature. This differs from the legitimacy of man’s voluntary behavior or the legitimacy of man’s will (stemming from human behavior). The reason is that the legitimacy of human behavior depends on thelegitimacy of man's will and on the extent to which the will corresponds with such standards like "right" and "justice" whereas in the question of a sovereign’s will's being binding, the legitimacy of the will from which sovereignty stems is not sufficient for ensuring legitimacy. Different schools of political philosophy have proposed different bases for this important question, and Islam has introduced its basis, as well, which needs to be analysed rationally and philosophically. For this purpose, a ruler's sovereignty should be legitimate from two aspects;namely, existence of the will and obliging others. As for man's intellect, it cannot be regarded as an origin of legitimacy because intellect in turn needs another criterion and authority in order to discern whether man's voluntary behaviour is right or wrong, just or unjust, good or not.