Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) described, in his powerful treatise The Social Contract of 1762, another version of the theory of social contract as the basis of political rights based on unlimited popular sovereignty. Although Rousseau wrote that the British were perhaps the freest people in the world at the time, he did not accept their representative government. Rousseau believed that freedom was only possible if the people as a whole governed directly through legislation, where popular sovereignty was indivisible and inalienable. However, he also stated that people often did not know their “true will” and that a true society would only occur when a great leader (“the legislator”) was born to change people`s values and customs, probably through the strategic use of religion. The social contract begins with Rousseau`s most frequently mentioned line: “Man was born free, and he is chained everywhere” (49). This requirement is the conceptual bridge between the descriptive work of the second speech and the temporary work to come. Humans are essentially free and free in the state of nature, but the “progress” of civilization has replaced submission to others with dependence, economic and social inequalities, and the extent to which we judge ourselves by comparisons with others. As a return to the state of nature is neither feasible nor desirable, the aim of the policy is to restore freedom and thus reconcile who we really and essentially are with coexistence. This is the fundamental philosophical problem that the social contract wants to address: how can we be free and live together? In other words, how can we live together without succumbing to the violence and coercion of others? We can do this, says Rousseau, by submitting our individual and special will to the collective or general will created by the agreement with other free and equal people. Like Hobbes and Locke before him and unlike ancient philosophers, all men are naturally made equal, therefore no one has the natural right to govern others, and therefore the only justified authority is the authority that arises from agreements or covenants. Once the Bay`ah is over, the elected sovereign should stand up to carry out his duties. It will, however, do so as part of a process of mutual consultation with popular leaders.
Indeed, this procedure is a fundamental principle of the Koran, which should characterize not only the relationship between the sovereign and the governed, but also all aspects of the behavior of believers in the Muslim community.