Mohamed Ali Abouelsabaa

This PhD project examines the Islamic state (al-dawla al-islāmiyya) as an independent legal personality (shakhṣiyya iʿtibāriyya mustaqilla) through the conceptual apparatus of Islamic jurisprudence (uṣūl al-fiqh) and comparative legal theory. Chapter One delineates the juristic foundations of statehood within classical Islamic thought. Chapter Two establishes textual and rational evidence (adillat sharʿiyya wa ʿaqliyya) affirming the state’s distinct legal existence separate from individual rulers. Chapter Three analyzes the constitutional mechanisms (ālıyāt dustūriyya)—including separation of powers (tafṣīl al-sulṭāt), consultation (shūrā), and public welfare (maṣlaḥa ʿāmmma)—that operationalize this personality, ensuring institutional continuity and moral accountability. Chapter Four offers a comparative assessment with Western doctrines of statehood and corporate personality, elucidating convergences in legal fiction (iʿtibār) and divergences in normative purpose.The study advances the thesis that the Islamic dawla is not merely a personal dominion but a juristically constructed entity bound by sharīʿa constraints, offering normative resources for contemporary debates on sovereignty, legitimacy, and constitutional design across civilizational contexts.