An important subject of Islamic legal thought which requires further review and enquiry as it has yet received only scarce attention in the literature although it has had a significant impact in the real world is that of the usurpation of political power imāmat al-mutaghallib and the violence associated with it. This article will examine to what extent the scholars draw from past political events in evaluating political violence as a means of seizing power and how they tried to take a retrospective look at the rich past of Islamic political history to guide them towards achieving a perfect political direction in their contemporary times. The article will rely on analyzing rich texts from many original sources1 in two main fields: Islamic law and Islamic history which closely relate to the usurpation of power and political violence. In this regard, the article is going to present the different directions in Islamic jurisprudence and their proofs along with the historical context that accommodates this issue.
The article also will discuss the claim of consensus among jurists on this issue, which was highlighted in many jurisprudential discourses as a fixed fact and indicated that this claim is incorrect. Nevertheless, there was quite a challenge in exploring different scholars’ opinions and how they recall the past, to support their points of view from the early beginning of the Islamic era to our present day.