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Constituting Religion Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 27 Sep 2021 at 12:55:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/888E17F4ACC3739CE1AA443FD07C9BA8 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 27 Sep 2021 at 12:55:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/888E17F4ACC3739CE1AA443FD07C9BA8 constituting religion Most Muslim-majority countries have legal systems that enshrine both Islam and liberal rights. While not necessarily at odds, these dual commitments nonetheless provide legal and symbolic resources for activists to advance contending visions for their states and societies. Using the case study of Malaysia, Constituting Religion examines how these legal arrangements enable litigation and feed the construction of a “rights-versus-rites binary” in law, politics, and the popular imagination. By drawing on extensive primary source material and tracing controversial cases from the court of law to the court of public opinion, this study theorizes the “judicialization of religion” and examines the radiating effects of courts on popular legal and religious consciousness. The book docu- ments how legal institutions catalyze ideological struggles that stand to redefine the nation and its politics. Probing the links between legal pluralism, social movements, secularism, and political Islamism, Constituting Religion sheds new light on the con- fluence of law, religion, politics, and society. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core at https://doi.org/10.1017/ 9781108539296. Tamir Moustafa is Professor of International Studies and Stephen Jarislowsky Chair at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. His research stands at the intersection of law, religion, and politics. Among other works, he is the author of The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics, and Economic Development in Egypt (Cambridge University Press, 2007) and the co-editor of Rule by Law: The Politics of Law and Courts in Authoritarian Regimes, with Tom Ginsburg (Cambridge University Press, 2008). Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 27 Sep 2021 at 12:55:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/888E17F4ACC3739CE1AA443FD07C9BA8 CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN LAW AND SOCIETY Founded in 1997, Cambridge Studies in Law and Society is a hub for leading scholarship in socio-legal studies. Located at the intersection of law, the humanities, and the social sciences, it publishes empirically innovative and theoretically sophisticated work on law’s manifestations in everyday life: from discourses to practices, and from institutions to cultures. The series editors have longstanding expertise in the interdisciplinary study of law, and welcome contributions that place legal phenomena in national, comparative, or international perspective. Series authors come from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, history, law, literature, political science, and sociology. Series Editors Mark Fathi Massoud, University of California, Santa Cruz Jens Meierhenrich, London School of Economics and Political Science Rachel E. Stern, University of California, Berkeley A list of books in the series can be found at the back of this book. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 27 Sep 2021 at 12:55:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/888E17F4ACC3739CE1AA443FD07C9BA8 Constituting Religion islam, liberal rights, and the malaysian state TAMIR MOUSTAFA Simon Fraser University Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 27 Sep 2021 at 12:55:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/888E17F4ACC3739CE1AA443FD07C9BA8 University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, ny 10006,USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, vic 3207, Australia 314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06–04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108423946 doi: 10.1017/9781108539296 © Tamir Moustafa 2018 This work is in copyright. It is subject to statutory exceptions and to the provisions of relevant licensing agreements; with the exception of the Creative Commons version the link for which is provided below, no reproduction of any part of this work may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. An online version of this work is published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108539296 under a Creative Commons Open Access license CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 which permits re-use, distribution and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes providing appropriate credit to the original work is given. You may not distribute derivative works without permission. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 All versions of this work may contain content reproduced under license from third parties. Permission to reproduce this third-party content must be obtained from these third-parties directly. When citing this work, please include a reference to the doi 10.1017/9781108539296 First published 2018 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data names: Moustafa, Tamir, author. title: Constituting religion : Islam, liberal rights, and the Malaysian state / Tamir Moustafa. description: New York : Cambridge University Press, 2018. | Series: Cambridge studies in law and society identifiers: lccn 2018010094 | isbn 9781108423946 (hardback) subjects: lcsh: Muslims – Legal status, laws, etc. – Malaysia. | Civil rights – Malaysia. | Constitutional law – Malaysia | BISAC: LAW / General. classification: lcc kpg511.3 .m68 2018 | ddc 342.59508/5297–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018010094 isbn 978-1-108-42394-6 Hardback isbn 978-1-108-43917-6 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 27 Sep 2021 at 12:55:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/888E17F4ACC3739CE1AA443FD07C9BA8 Contents List of Figures page vi List of Tables vii Acknowledgments viii Introduction: Constituting Religion 1 1 The Constitutive Power of Law and Courts 13 2 The Secular Roots of Islamic Law in Malaysia 31 3 Islam and Liberal Rights in the Federal Constitution 49 4 The Judicialization of Religion 63 5 Constructing the Political Spectacle: Liberal Rights versus Religion in the Court of Public Opinion 91 6 The Rights-versus-Rites Binary in Popular Legal Consciousness 124 7 “Islam is the Religion of the Federation” 138 Conclusion 155 Appendix 1: Religion of the State, Source Law, and Repugnancy Clause Provisions among Muslim-Majority Countries 159 Bibliography 164 Index 178 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 27 Sep 2021 at 12:55:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. v https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/888E17F4ACC3739CE1AA443FD07C9BA8 Figures 3.1 Reported Civil Court Decisions Referencing Islam, by Year page 59 5.1 Reported Article 121 (1A) Decisions and Malaysiakini Coverage, by Year 93 5.2 Kaliammal Sinnasamy 101 5.3 Bar Council Protest 103 5.4 Hindraf Protest 109 5.5 DAP Press Conference 113 5.6 K. Shanmuga Press Briefing 116 5.7 Deepa Subramaniam Speaking with Reporters 117 7.1 Demonstration at the Court of Appeal 149 7.2 Protesters at the Court of Appeal 149 7.3 Reported Civil Court Decisions Concerning Article 3 (1), by Year 152 7.4 Reported Civil Court Decisions with the Term “Religion of the Federation” 153 7.5 Demonstration in Support of Syariah Courts Act 335 153 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 27 Sep 2021 at 12:55:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. vi https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/888E17F4ACC3739CE1AA443FD07C9BA8 Tables 6.1 Islamic law and shariah courts in popular legal consciousness page 129 6.2 Uniformity or plurality of Islamic law in popular legal consciousness 132 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 27 Sep 2021 at 12:55:29, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. vii https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/888E17F4ACC3739CE1AA443FD07C9BA8 Acknowledgments This book has been a long time coming. Constituting Religion
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