Teocrazia e tecnocrazia in società occidentali e islamiche. A proposito di un recente dibattito

The article aims to analyze the categories of theocracy and technocracy in light of a recent debate on the subject. The rst part of the essay examines the peculiar features of transcendence in Western society, highlighting the relationship between sacred and temporality in order to understand analogies and differences between the horizons of meaning of theocracy and technocracy. The second part of the paper aims to shed light on a particular kind of juridical technocracy that was widespread in the Maghrebian societies until the 1950s-1960s: the theory of sleeping fetus. According to this theory, which is not supported by scientific evidence and Islamic religious texts, the maximum length of pregnancy can be seven years. Muslim jurists of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia called into play the sleeping fetus, argument to protect women from the severe consequences originated from an out-of-marriage pregnancy.