Formulation of the claim
Political legitimacy, in this context, is based on its being ascribed to divine sovereignty.
Explanation
This claim means that political authority is not presented as a purely human product, but as connected to a higher source that grants it validity and acceptance. In Arkoun’s thought, this formulation appears within the analysis of the relationship between the sacred and the political, where legitimacy is understood through reference to the divine authority.
The atom reveals a mode of thinking that links rule to the exalted status of religious sovereignty, such that legitimacy is not separated from the doctrinal sphere. In this sense, it is less a direct political description than a statement of the bond that makes authority capable of justification within a religious horizon.
Its place in the book’s argument
This atom belongs to the theses in which Arkoun follows the formation of conceptions that merge the religious and the political, and confer on rule a quality derived from beyond the human sphere. It illuminates one aspect of his critique of forms of foundationalism that make divine authority the basis of both rule and legitimacy.
Limits of the claim
This atom should not be read as attributing a detailed position on any specific political system, nor as a final judgment on all forms of legitimacy in Islamic history. It summarizes a conceptual relationship more than it offers a comprehensive historical description.