The University of Toronto's Institute of Islamic Studies Annual Public Lecture delivered by Professor Brinkley Messick.
This lecture addresses the contemporary and historical problem of Islamic governance. The talk will first offer a quick review that moves back in time from such disparate contemporary phenomena as the ISIS Caliphate, the several present day kingdoms, and the status of minority communities of Muslims as citizens of nation states. It will then turn to discuss in brief the earlier advent of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic in Iran, and before that, the twentieth century Khilafat Movement and the last decades of rule by sultan-caliphs under the Ottoman Empire. This historical context will serve as backdrop to Dr. Messick’s presentation of a little known but instructive case of legitimate Islamic sovereignty. He will treat the audience to a penetrating discussion of this curious polity, both in terms of its doctrinal conception and its lengthy experience of on-the-ground governance.
