Sovereignty and Natural Rights: A Comparative Review Based on Hobbes' Interpretations of the Holy Scriptures and Allāma Tabātabā’ī's Exegeses of the Qur'an

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is a comparative analysis between the interpretations of Hobbes and Allāma Tabātabā’ī of the Holy Books on the issues of sovereignty and natural law and the different orientations of these two concepts in Islam and Christianity. In this regard, the following main research questions were answered: What outcomes have the interpretations of Hobbes and Allāma Tabātabā’ī of the Holy Scriptures had for political sovereignty? What is the interpretation of these two figures of natural law and natural rights? What is the correlation between God's treaty with humans and social contract in the exegetical texts of these two philosophers? How do religious statements become binding and legal? The method of study is descriptive analysis and it is conducted comparatively. The research results indicate that despite motivating similarities between the theories of Hobbes and Allāma Tabātabā’ī on concepts such as human's aggressive essence, motion, power, social contract, obedience, and …., their philosophical doctrine is quite different in introduction and conclusion that is evident in their outlook to the relationship between religion and politics/sovereignty as well as the exegesis of the Holy Scriptures. Hobbes inserts the main component of his theory that is social contract in his exegesis of the Holy Text and interprets that in favor the authority of a sovereign ruler who seeks peace and security for the individuals and the maintenance of individuals' natural rights in general, whereas Allāma Tabātabā’ī in the discussion of sovereignty, infers from the Qur'an adherence to the rules of Sharīat (religion).

Keywords

• sovereignty
• natural rights
• hobbes
• holy scriptures
• allāma tabātabā’ī
• the noble qur'an
• social contract
• fitrat (nature)