The Honorary Editor's preface to the Maududi special collection

The special collection appearing in this issue of the Journal Royal Asiatic Society makes a valuable contribution to lively ongoing discussions centred on explorations concept sovereignty God within contemporary Islamic traditions. As its Guest Editors Humeira Iqtidar and Oliver Scharbrodt highlight their introductory essay, divine has come occupy key place Islamist thinking, with writings Abul A‘la Maududi playing hugely significant role twentieth- twenty-first century articulations. Comprising articles based papers first presented September 2019 at an ERC-funded workshop organised jointly by King's College London University Birmingham, it offers cutting-edge scholarly reflections how Maududi's articulation ḥākimiyyat-i ilāhiyya been received multiplicity Muslim contexts communities. Hence, authors—Humeira Iqtidar, Scharbrodt, Usaama Al-Azmi, Simon Wolfgang Fuchs—grapple far thinking can be understood as response perceived challenges ‘modernity’, well ways which ideas linked notion connect debates going back much further time.