A Comparative Study of Governance as Viewed by Seyyed Qutb and Allameh Mohammad Mahdi Asefi

Allameh Mohammad Mahdi Asefi, one of the Shia clerics, and Seyyed Qutb, a Sunni thinker, are among the scholars who, having a maximum view of religion and Islamic teachings, consider religion to be useful for all the individual, social and political spheres of man, and believe that in order to solve the problems of humanity, one should turn to true Islam. The most important issue for returning to true Islam is sovereignty, which is the issue of the present article. From the point of view of these two scholars, the rule of Islam is based on the divinity of God and the servitude of servants, and it means ruling based on the laws of Islam and Sharia. The following article expresses the views of these two scholars in the field of governance with a descriptive analytical method and a comparative approach. The findings of the research show that the two scholars think similarly in the fields of the divine sovereignty and its realization, the general outlines of the government, the unity of authority and the government, though there are some differences in issues such as the authority, legitimacy and governor`s conditions.