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Islamic Political Thought its origins in the desert. Only tribes held together by group feeling (‘asabiyya ) can sur- N i c h o l a s T a m p i o vive the harsh climate and hostile enemies of bedouin life. One reason for the rise of Islam is Islamic political thought is a tradition of that Muhammad succeeded in converting conceptualizing affairs that originates blood group feeling into religious group with the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 ce ) feeling. instructs his readers that in seventh-century Arabia. In his lifetime royal authority and dynastic power ( dawla ) Muhammad recited the Qur’an and established presuppose strong group feeling and that civili- a precedent (sunna) that Muslims ever since zation (‘ umran) must incorporate some qual- have taken as a guide for how to establish a just ities of desert life to survive. Ibn Khaldun community. In the following centuries Muslims counsels rule by one person, the political spread the Islamic way of life ( din ) across the enforcement of , and the avoidance of Middle East, North Africa, southern Europe, pluralism, because contending allegiances tend Iran, Central Asia, and India, until today to precipitate civil war. Like many medieval approximately one and half billion people, or Muslims, Ibn Khaldun desires a one fifth of humanity, identifies as Muslim. where a Muslim leader enforces religious law Islamic political thought has consistency in all affairs touching this world and the next. insofar as certain terms – such as community For Euro-American scholars such as Bernard (umma), justice (‘ adl), and struggle (jihad) – Lewis (b. 1916) and Patricia Crone (b. 1945), recur throughout the Qur’an and Prophetic Ibn Khaldun encapsulates a worldview funda- narratives (hadith) and subsequent political mentally at odds with western . On texts. Throughout its , however, Islamic this account, the modern West sustains a dis- political thought has incorporated, as well as tinction between the secular and the religious, modified and challenged, Arab customs, Jewish regnum and sacerdotum , that originates in law, Persian statecraft, Hellenistic philosophy, Jesus’s statement: “Render unto Caesar the Christian theology, and European and things which are Caesar’s, and unto the American culture. Muslims are currently things that are God’s” (Matthew 22: 21). This debating how to reconcile (or not) Islamic thesis needs to be qualified in at least three notions of community, justice, and struggle ways. Discursive traditions such as Islamic with concepts that first appeared in ancient political thought have sustained many kinds Greece or medieval Christendom, such as of reasoning, including ones that differentiate democracy, liberty, and secularism. This entry religious and worldly power and that protect provides a background to that debate by freedom of conscience (see Qur’an 2: 256: focusing on how leading Muslim thinkers “there is no compulsion in religion”). Scholars address questions of sovereignty and law, or of must attend to the material circumstances who ought to govern according to which inter- that englobe any expression of ideas: Ibn pretation of Sharia (divine law). Khaldun’s is not of Islam per se, but Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406), a famous of Islam as lived in the fourteenth-century Mediter ranean scholar and Islamic judge Maghreb. And the task facing global citizens ( qadi), offers an account of Islam’s political today is to negotiate differences gracefully, to character in the Muqaddima , an introduction participate in what Iranian President to a history of the world (Kitab al-’Ibar ). Mohammad Khatami (r. 1997–2005) calls a According to Ibn Khaldun, Islam is colored by dialogue among .

The of Political Thought, First Edition. Edited by Michael T. Gibbons. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781118474396.wbept0542 2

The Founding error, so stay with the collective, for whoever strays from it strays into an error.” Another is The most important text for Islamic political that “after me, there will be caliphs; and after thought is the Qur’an. Between 610 and 632, in the caliphs, amirs; and after the amirs, kings; rhyming verses that his companions memo- and after the kings, tyrants …” Yet another rized, wrote down, and codified in the decades states: “Those who entrust their affairs to a after his death, Muhammad recited what woman will never know prosperity!” Muslims consider to be the eternal word of Regardless of whether these hadith are God. In the early years of his prophecy, authentic or disputed – the subject matter of Muhammad espoused primarily cosmological its own Islamic science – these hadith encap- themes such as the unity ( tawhid) of God and sulate medieval Muslim conceptions of right the Day of Judgment. After the migration and wrong governance. ( hijra) to Medina in 622 – year one of the A third significant document from the Muslim calendar – Muhammad recited verses founding period is the Constitution of Medina about social and political affairs, including (sahifat al-Madina ). In an early biography of relations between the believers (mu’minun ), the Prophet ( Sirat Rasul Allah ), Jews ( yahud), Christians ( nasara), People of (704–67) reports that, shortly after the migra- the Book (ahl al-kitab ), and hypocrites tion from Mecca to Medina, Muhammad ( munafiqun). The Qur’an does not offer wrote a charter defining the relationships bet- detailed instructions about who or what insti- ween the emigrants (muhajirun ) from Mecca, tutions ought to govern the Muslim the helpers (ansar ) in Medina, the tribes within community; instead it articulates concepts, Medina (the Khazraj and the Aws), and the themes, and narratives that are the building Jews. Although early Muslim jurists did not blocks of Islamic political thought. The Qur’an, cite the Constitution as a normative precedent, for instance, states that God appoints Adam, some recent scholars argue that the rather than the angels, as a viceroy ( khalifa ) in Constitution may lay the foundation for an the earth (Qur’an 2: 30) and that God makes Islamic theory of public law committed to the David a viceroy ( khalifa ) to judge fairly between ideal of religious pluralism. people (Qur’an 38: 26). From such materials – including the verse “Obey Allah, the Messenger and Dynasties and those in authority” (Qur’an 4: 59) – Muslims have debated the origin, nature, and Who would replace Muhammad as leader of limits of political authority. the Muslim community? Shortly after the The second most important body of work in Prophet’s death, Muslims in Medina appointed Islamic political thought is the collected words as leader Abu Bakr, an early convert to Islam and sayings (hadith) of Muhammad. The and father of the Prophet’s wife Aisha. Abu Islamic declaration of faith ( shahada ) is: Bakr (r. 632–4) was followed by Umar b. “There is no God but God, and Muhammad is al-Khattab (r. 634–44), who called himself His Messenger.” Muslims believe that, as “Commander of the Faithful” (amir al- God’s Messenger, Muhammad disclosed the mu’minin ) and conquered Syria, , Iran, fundamental principles of prayer, economic and Iraq. On his deathbed in 644, Umar insti- transactions, family life, and legal punish- tuted a method of election ( shura ) whereby ment. In the early centuries of Islam, scholars leaders of the community – “those who loosen such as Bukhari (d. 870) and Muslim (d. 875) and bind” (ahl al-hall wa-l-’aqd) – chose his assembled hadith collections that form the successor: ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan (r. 644–56). In basis of Islamic . One such 656, delegates from Egypt and Iraq met with hadith is the principle of consensus: “God will ‘Uthman and killed him. Thereupon ‘Ali b. Abi never bring my community together on an Talib (r. 656–61), Muhammad’s cousin and 3

son-in-law, became leader of the Muslim Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ (ca. 720–56) was a Zoro- community. A civil war ( fitna ) broke out bet- astrian convert to Islam who translated into ween ‘Ali and Mu’awiya (620–80), the governor key Indo-Persian works on statecraft. In of Syria and blood relative of ‘Uthman. This translating the piece sometimes known as The war divided the early Muslim community into Ordinance of Ardashir , which was attributed to three constituencies. One group held that reli- Ardashir, the founder of the Sasanian Empire, gious unity was more important than right or in the epic Khoday Namah – a late Sasanian governance; another held that Muslims ought chronicle that was to inspire Ferdowsi’s famous to have fought for the right of ‘Ali’s family to Epic of Kings (Shah Namah) – Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ rule; and a third asserted that “there is no rule used indirect speech to import Persian ideals but God’s” and that ‘Ali made a mistake by into Islamic political thought. According to agreeing to arbitration with Mu’awiya. These him, a sacral king ought to govern with the aid groupings – now known as Sunnis, Shiis, and of elite administrators over a docile political Kharijis – continue to divide the worldwide body. Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ advised the caliph to Muslim community. Sunnis compose the police thought by distributing handbooks of majority of the world’s Muslims, Shiis predom- correct doctrine and by instituting cultural inate in Iran and other sections of the Middle commissars to punish deviant opinion. If Ibn East, and, although there are few Kharijis, al-Muqaffa‘ had succeeded in convincing the revivalist movements share their aspiration to rulers of his time, then political authorities make God alone sovereign. rather than scholars and judges would have The Umayyad dynasty (661–750) and the held the center of gravity in Islamic political Abbasid dynasty (750–1258) followed what thought. As it was, Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ died a grue- Sunnis call the Rightly Guided Caliphs ( al- some death at the hands of a local governor khulafa al-rashidun). Mu’awiya moved the whom he had crossed. center of the Islamic Empire to Syria and his Abu Nasr Alfarabi (ca. 878–950) was born son, Yazid, killed Ali’s son, Hussein, on the in Turkestan and, after moving to Baghdad, fields of Karbala – an event marked by Shiis as became a famed political philosopher. In trea- “the Day of .” The leader of the Umayyads tises such as The Political Regime and The was called “the successor of God” ( khalifat Attainment of Happiness , Alfarabi argued that Allah ) – in theory the best man of his age and in a virtuous city promotes the flourishing of practice a blood relative of the reigning caliph. happiness. For this to be achieved, three things Most Muslim scholars look at the Umayyad have to happen, familiar to any reader of Plato’s dynasty as a temporary setback in the rise of Republic: philosophers should legislate on the Islamic civilization. The Abbasid dynasty (750– basis of the superiority of their theoretical- 1258), on the contrary, is widely recognized as a rational faculty; the followers of philosophers golden age – a time when Muslims were at the should enforce this legislation; and the masses forefront of science, medicine, art, architecture, with little appreciation of philosophy should be maritime navigation, and trade. The Abbasids told what to do and what to believe. Like the integrated non-Arab clients ( mawali) into human body, the political body directs each Islamic society and, at least initially, claimed a organ to accomplish its end for the well-being more modest authority for themselves as suc- of the whole, or, more precisely, for the flour- cessors to the Messenger of God (khalifat rasul ishing of its philosophical element. The perfect Allah). During the Abbasid dynasty at least man deserves to rule because of the superiority three groups competed to define the terms of his rational faculties, but he attains power by of Islamic political thought: Persian adminis- appealing to the imaginative faculties of his trators ( kuttab ), philosophers (falasifa ), and subjects. In an excellent city (al-madina scholars and jurists (, fuqaha ). A word al-fadila) the true king will be a philosopher- about the leading figures in this debate: prophet-ruler; if he is no longer alive, then 4 jurists (fuqaha ) and apologetic theologians (1075–1194) ruled over the Abbasid dynasty; ( mutakallim ) must implement and interpret the Fatimids (909–1171), an Ismaili Shii his rulings. Certain Shiite rulers in Egypt and dynasty, ruled North Africa and Egypt; and the Syria tried to actualize Alfarabi’s teachings, but Almoravids (1056–1147) and Almohads Alfarabi’s greatest influence was on Islamic (1130–1269) ruled Spain and Portugal philosophers such Ibn Sina (, 980– (Andalusia). In a society defined by Sharia- 1037) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes, 1126–98), on oriented governance (siyasa shar’iyya ), power Jewish philosophers such as Maimonides tended to be divided between a military leader (1135–1204), and on Christian theologians (sultan) or commander (amir) on one side and such as Thomas Aquinas (1225?–74). scholars and jurists on the other. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (ca. 1058–1111) was Abu al-Hasan al-Mawardi (974–1058) pro- a jurist and professor at the Nizamiyya, an vides a classic description of the late medieval institute of higher learning in Baghdad. Known Islamic caliphate in The Ordinances of as “the Proof of Islam,” Ghazali wrote a mirror and Religious Offices (al-Ahkam for princes book, The Counsel for Kings al-Sultaniyya wa-l-Wilayat al-Diniyya). Born ( Nasihat al-Muluk ), as well as a seminal text in Basra, Mawardi became a chief judge (aqda calling for a renewed spirituality in Islamic life, al-qudat ) for the Abbasids and wrote his trea- The Revival of the Religious Sciences ( Ihya’ tise to inform the caliph of his rights and ‘Ulum al-Din ). After a 10-year hiatus from aca- duties. Why is the imamate, or caliphate, oblig- demia to practice Sufi , Ghazali crit- atory on the community? Mawardi considers icized in his autobiography the thesis of the early Muslim philosophers, The Deliverer from Error. According to Ghazali, the Mu‘tazilis, that the imamate is grounded in the Islamic philosophers hold numerous het- reason (‘ aql), to stop chaos from engulfing the erodox opinions, such as that men’s bodies will state. Mawardi opts, however, for grounding not be assembled on the Last Day, that God authority in revelation, and he cites the only knows universals but not particulars, and Qur’anic verse 4: 59 as well as the hadith: “You that the world is eternal. The only reason why will be ruled after me by some who are benign, philosophers have any audience is that they and some who are depraved. Listen to them mix Islamic sources with Greek dross. Just as and obey them in all that is right.” Mawardi authorities protect people from counterfeiters, describes the duties incumbent on the caliph – they should also prevent the masses from guarding the faith, enforcing the law, protect- reading the philosophers’ books. Ghazali ing the territory, managing the treasury, extolled the study of logic, mathematics, and supervising officials, and fighting those who the natural sciences, and philosophical themes resist the supremacy of Islam after being coursed through the writings of subsequent invited to accept it. He details the conditions of theologians and logicians, particularly in eligibility for supreme leadership – justice, the Safavid Iran. And yet, for the next few cen- capacity to exercise independent legal judg- turies, jurists and scholars rather than admin- ment (ijtihad ), sound vision, prudence, istrators or philosophers would articulate the courage, and descent from the Quraysh, basic principles and concepts of Islamic Muhammad’s tribe. After describing the political thought. appointment and responsibilities of the - ate, Mawardi specifies how the sovereign should appoint judges, redress wrongs, appoint Sharia Society prayer leaders, administer the pilgrimage ( hajj ) The institution of the caliphate declined in the to Mecca, collect the land , and punish crime. middle of the tenth century as strongmen exer- In a section on provincial governors, Mawardi cised many of the executive functions in society. advises the caliph to exercise prudence when Shii Buyids (932–1075) and Sunni Seljuqs dealing with rebellious provinces or with 5

“governorship by usurpation” ( imarat al-istila). role in the so-called Circle of Justice, whereby Recognizing the necessity ( darura) of the the ruling dynasty, the military, tax collectors, situation, the caliph should grant governors farmers, and jurists each performed roles for control over their districts on condition that the well-being of the whole. they recognize the caliph as the implementer of In the fifteenth century the Islamic world the dictates of religion. Basing his views both on divided into three great empires: the Ottomans, Ash’ari deterministic theology and on the reality the Safavids, and the Mughals. In 1453 the of Buyid rule, Mawardi articulated the compro- Turkish-speaking Ottomans conquered Con- mise at the heart of Sharia society: scholars stantinople and, over time, established a Sunni would grant legitimacy to the sultan on dynasty in Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, and the condition that he enforce and obey divine law. Balkans. The Ottomans developed a millet Muhammad b. Idris al-Shafi‘i (767–820) has system that made space for Christian and been called the master architect of Islamic legal Jewish communities, as well as an institutional thought. Born in Gaza and raised in Mecca, apparatus that promulgated civic ordinances Shafi‘i developed a way to organize the 600 ( kanun). The Ottomans claimed the mantle of or so legal verses in the Qur’an that apply the caliphate and engaged in near constant to religious rituals (ibadat ), social affairs warfare with European powers until the ( mu ’ amalat ), and criminal punishments ( hudud ); empire’s official end in 1923, when Atatürk hadith reports that sometimes conflict and are founded the state of . Led by Shah Isma‘il of varying authenticity; the personal authority (1487–1524), the Safavids conquered Iran in of earlier jurists; and the local practices of cit- 1501, adopted Persian as their language, and ies such as Basra, Kufa, Mecca, and Medina. In imposed Twelver Shiism on the population. The Epistle on Legal Theory , Shafi‘i presents Safavid power was at its highest during the a guide to discover the meaning of Sharia. reign of Shah ‘Abbas (r. 1587–1629) and ended Shafi‘i explains the intricacies of Arabic with a rebellion of Sunni Afghans in Qandahar grammar, the modalities of legislative state- in 1722. Zahiruddin Muhammad Babur ments, when to abrogate verses of the Qur’an (1483–1530) founded the in or hadith, how to resolve legal disagreement, India with a victory at Panipat in 1526. Mughal and the permissible use of consensus (‘ijma ), leaders – including Akbar (d. 1605), Jahangir analogical reasoning ( ), and legal inter- (d. 1627), and Shah Jahan (d. 1666) – main- pretation (ijtihad ) as sources of the law. tained power by supporting Sufi lodges, mak- Although the content of Sharia is eternal, tran- ing military allegiances with Hindu Rajpats, scendent, and true, the jurisprudence ( ) of facilitating trade with Europe, and instituting human judges is fallible. To the question “Who the mansabdari system, whereby local elites is entitled to engage in legal interpretation?” maintained some autonomy. The Mughal Shafi‘i answers: scholars. In this way Shafi‘i Empire ended in 1857, after an Indian revolt makes constitutional theory ( usul al-fiqh) the against the English East India Company. One site of profound debates within medieval lesson from the rise and fall of the Ottoman, Islamic political thought and fiqh – rather than Safavid, and Mughal Empires is that Islam positive law – the legal basis of Sharia society. becomes a political reality through the media- The four major Sunni of law (madh- tion of human beings, cultures, traditions, and habs) are named after Shafi‘i, Abu Hanifa events that could have gone otherwise. (d. 767), Malik b. Anas (d. 795), and Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 855). For hundreds of years, Islamic Islamic Modernism law was administered by judges ( qadis) and jurisconsults (mufti ) trained in law colleges In 1798 Napoleon landed in Egypt. Though (madrassa s) who offered legal rulings (fatawa ) Muslims and Europeans had long been engaged in local contexts. As such, they played a vital in war, commerce, and intellectual exchange, 6 this event signaled a new development. ‘Abduh would advocate al-Afghani’s message of Henceforth European power would prompt intellectual reform in his book The Theology of Muslim intellectuals to rethink their relation- Unity and would try to modernize the curric- ship with the modern world. What explained ulum of al-Azhar when he was its the rise and might of European imperialism? rector. ‘Abduh maintained contact with How could Muslims acquire the scientific, European intellectuals, read Rousseau and economic, and military might to compete? How Tolstoy, visited the British House of Commons should Muslims adapt their political ideals and in 1884, and argued that Islam had equivalents practices, if at all, to new circumstances? Though for European concepts such as utility ( maslaha ), thinkers and movements are complex, scholars parliamentary democracy (shura ), and public differentiate two broad trends within Islamic opinion (ijma ’). Muhammad Rashid Rida political thought: modernism and revivalism. (1865–1935), on the contrary, popularized the One of the most important figures in Islamic idea that Muslims needed to reclaim the spirit modernism is Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838– and practices of the pious ancestors (al-salaf al- 97). Born and educated in Iran, al-Afghani salih). As editor of the Egyptian newspaper al- changed his name to appeal to a Sunni audi- Manar, author of a commentary on the Qur’an, ence and went on to become an activist in and political activist, Rida redeployed the ideas , , Paris, London, India, Russia, of Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328), criticized and Iran. In the 1880s, al-Afghani and his stu- for heresy and for weakening Islam, endorsed dent, Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849–1905), pub- the strict of law, accused Shiism lished the journal The Strongest Link (al-’Urwa of being full of fairy tales, supported the revival al-wuthqa ). In pamphlets, journals, an of Wahhabism in central Arabia, and called for exchange with Ernest Renan, and a book on the the restoration of a genuine caliphate. Although Indian materialists, al-Afghani argued that both ‘Abduh and Rida admired the earliest gen- Muslims needed to rediscover the spirit of erations of Muslims, Rida took Salafism in a philosophy ( falsafa). The French and the more conservative, traditionalist direction. English alone were not conquering One of ‘Abduh’s students, ‘Ali Abd al-Raziq and Tunisia, he asserted in his “Lecture on (1877–1966), created a controversy with his Teaching and Learning”; rather, science was 1925 book Islam and the Principles of conquering ignorance. The Sharia teaches the Governance ( al-Islam wa-Usul al-Hukm) . truth of right and wrong, but science teaches Writing in response to the fall of the Ottoman the causes of electricity, the steamboat, and rail- caliphate in 1924, al-Raziq argued that the roads. The mother of the sciences, the spirit caliphate itself was an illegitimate institution, that infuses all of them, is philosophy. Islam is the creation of Abu Bakr rather than of the the religion that is closest to science and philos- Prophet. Muhammad was a religious figure ophy, and Muslims during the Abbasid dynasty who communicated with souls and looked in were eager to translate Syriac, Persian, and upon hearts, not a sultan or a king who founded Greek texts into Arabic. The worldwide Muslim a state. Al-Raziq cites the Qur’anic verse: community needs to rediscover its philosophic spirit if it is going to be a major player on the So follow what is revealed to you by your Lord, for homage is due to no one but God, world stage again. Al-Afghani changed his and turn away from idolaters. Had He willed political strategy to strengthen the worldwide it, they would not have been idolaters. We Muslim community: before the 1880s he was have not appointed you their guardian, nor sympathetic to secular, nationalist projects of are you their pleader. (Qur’an 6: 106–7) reform; afterwards he appreciated the need of Islam to unify Muslims as a political force. Al-Raziq also offers the hadith: “Be calm, for I Al-Afghani’s ambiguous legacy is illustrated am no king nor a subduer, for I am the son of by two men whom he influenced. Muhammad Quraysh who used to eat dried meat in Mecca.” 7

From such materials, al-Raziq differentiates Brotherhood, a grassroots political organization the spheres of Islam and government. Islam is a founded by Hasan al-Banna (1906–49). In religious call to God that may bond all people 1954, after a failed assassination attempt on the earth; government is a worldly matter against Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–70), the and human beings, entrusted by God with Muslim Brotherhood was banned and reason, must determine for themselves how to would spend most of the rest of his life in structure it. Later thinkers – including the prison. While in prison, Qutb wrote Milestones Egyptian intellectual Taha Hussein (1889– ( Ma’alim fil-Tariq), a manifesto for Islamic 1973) and the Sudanese lawyer Abdullahi revivalism. Following the precedent of the Ahmed An-Na’im (b. 1946) – would take up Pakistani intellectual Abu al-A’la Mawdudi al-Raziq’s thesis and argue that Muslims should (1903–79), Qutb asserts that the modern world promote within the framework is steeped in jahiliyya . Jahiliyya is a Qur’anic of a secular state. term for Arabia before Islam; Qutb, like Another one of ‘Abduh’s protégés, Qasim Mawdudi, uses it to denote a system in which Amin (1863–1908), ignited a debate about the , rather than God, create values and status of women within Islam with his book legislate rules of collective behavior. Human The Liberation of Women . Amin argued that sovereignty, whether in the form of western Muslims needed to distinguish Islam’s egali- democracy or eastern communism, has tarian norms from Arabic customs such as the brought humanity to the edge of a precipice. seclusion of women. Amin’s position has been The remedy for this situation is to grasp the taken up by scholars such as the Moroccan meaning of the opening verse of the Islamic sociologist Fatima Mernissi (b. 1940) and the declaration of faith: “La ilaha illa Allah ” American professor Amina Wadud (b. 1952), (“There is no deity except God”). The pagan who herself stirred a controversy when she knew that this declaration threatened led Friday prayers ( salat) at a in their authority and traditions. Similarly, people Virginia. today ought to know that God is sovereign over every aspect of life and that Muslims will oppose anyone, near or far, who usurps God’s Islamic Revivalism sovereignty ( hakimiyyat Allah). Qutb envisions From the first civil war ( fitna) in the Islamic a Muslim community whose manners, ideas, community, Muslims have asserted, with the laws, and values derive from Islamic sources. Kharijites, that sovereignty belongs to God What human beings will lead this community? alone. For Muslim revivalists, the proper Qutb distrusts the scholars and the jurists, who response to European imperialism is not to have rendered Islam weak before jahiliyya . He adopt European laws or philosophies but to writes his book instead for a vanguard of peo- revive the notions, practices, and spirit of ple who will discover what they need to do in the Prophet’s companions. Revivalists advise the course of action. Milestones influenced, Muslims to learn about western science and among others, Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) technology and they propose Islam as a cure and Ayman al-Zawahari (b. 1951), leaders of for the ailments of the modern world. Sayyid the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda. Qutb and Ayatollah Khomeini are, respectively, Ayatollah Khomeini (1902–89) was born to leading Sunni and Shii revivalists of the a clerical family in Iran and studied Islamic twentieth century. law, philosophy, and mysticism as a young Sayyid Qutb (1906–66) was born in rural man. Since the greater occultation of the Egypt and began his career as a teacher and twelfth imam (940), most Shii jurists had journalist. From 1948 to 1950 Qutb travelled in adopted a stance of political quietism. the United States; upon his return to Egypt Breaking from this tradition, in the 1960s he became an ideologue for the Muslim Khomeini publicly opposed the secularizing 8 efforts of Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1941–79) and oppress their people. Revivalists reply that the American presence in Iran. While in exile Muslims need to intensify their efforts to emu- in Iraq, Khomeini delivered a series of lectures late the Prophet’s companions. on Islamic government. Islamic government is the rule of divine law over men. The rulers of Contemporary Debates on Islamic government are those who know the Islam and Democracy divine law the best: the jurists (fuqaha ) – those for whom the Prophet prayed: “O God! Have Is it possible or desirable to reconcile Islamic mercy on my successors.” According to reason, ideals and global political norms? That is to divine law, and the precedent of ‘Ali, the say, should Muslims strive for democracy or supreme ruler ought to be the most learned Sharia, pluralism or community, human or jurist. Thus Khomeini lays the foundation for divine sovereignty, piety or autonomy, or a the doctrine of the guardianship of the jurist combination of these? In 2011 these questions (wilayat al-faqih). Khomeini integrates some became urgent across the Middle East and conception of popular sovereignty when he North Africa, as local populations deposed explains that Islamic government belongs to autocratic regimes. Egypt, for instance, could the (Muslim) people. He also permits scholars go in the direction of Turkey – where there are to exercise independent reasoning (ijtihad ) regular elections, the rule of law, and when assessing the aspects and implications (imperfect) tolerance for religious minorities of a true ordinance of Islam. Nevertheless, and dissenting viewpoints – or of Saudi Arabia – when Khomeini became the leader (rahbar ) of where rulers support clerics who follow the the Iranian Revolution in 1979, he had many puritanical teachings of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd of his political opponents killed, and he al-Wahhab (1703–92). Whatever transpires enforced a strict interpretation of Sharia, will depend upon the local balance of forces, which required women to wear long coats and foreign intervention, charismatic personalities, banned the drinking of alcohol or the playing and surprising events. Yet the history of Islam of music. shows that that ideas have power. This entry Islamic revivalism is a broad category that concludes by contrasting the perspectives of encompasses differing views on the Sunni–Shii two prominent Muslim intellectuals on the split, the role of the state, the interpretation of question of Islam and democracy. legal sources, the relationship between layper- Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. 1926) is one of the sons and scholars, the use of violence, and the most important Muslim scholars and public role of women in a Muslim society. Still, Islamic intellectuals in . Born in Egypt and revivalists agree that God alone is legislator living in Qatar, al-Qaradawi earned a doctorate and sovereign; that Islam is the natural religion from al-Azhar university and reaches a wide that accords with the deepest metaphysical audience with his publications and programs yearnings within human nature ( fitra ); that on the satellite television network Aljazeera. Muslims should be wary of Greek concepts Al-Qaradawi is a leading theorist of “the cen- such as reason; that secular societies such as trist school” (al- al-wasatiyya ), which the United States are the abode of war (dar al- holds that the purposes of Sharia ( maqasid al- harb); and that the entire world should enter sharia) permit the selective appropriation of the abode of Islam ( dar al-Islam), in which foreign concepts and practices if they advance Muslims enforce divine law and religious Islamic ends. In the essay “Islamic Democracy,” minorities ( dhimmis) pay a humiliating tax al-Qaradawi argues that the essence of democ- ( jizya). Critics often point out that revivalists racy accords with the essence of Islam. Islam import or invent foreign notions into their sup- has established the principle of consultation posedly pure Islamic discourse and that Islamic ( shura ) between rulers and people, and states such as Iran or Taliban Afghanistan Muslims are enjoined by the Qur’an 9

(e.g., 3: 104) to command the right and forbid rule, individual liberty, and the protection of the wrong. Democracy permits the people to human rights. Where does this leave Sharia? advise the ruler and to depose him peacefully if Muslims should view Sharia as a divine ideal he becomes a tyrant. Through the use of rather than as a collection of positive rules independent judgment (ijtihad ), Muslims may ( ahkam), an end to be approached through freely adopt the mechanisms and procedures of debate and experimentation rather than a static western democracy, including regular elec- blueprint. Muslims may work on behalf of tions. Yet there are limits to human sovereignty. Islamic objectives in a democracy, but they In a Muslim society, Islam is the religion of the ought to recognize the crucial distinction bet- state and Sharia is the source of law. The ween God’s law (which is perfect) and state law constitution must forbid legislators to try to (which may be flawed or unjust). If citizens make the forbidden ( al- ) into the per- turn away from God, they will account to God missible ( al-halal) or vice versa, or in general to in the Hereafter. In today’s world, however, write laws that violate Sharia. Islamic democ- Muslims should endorse the rules of constitu- racy is a regime where Muslims elect the best tional democracy and stop yearning for a leaders to enforce Sharia. Qaradawi does not caliphate designed to implement God’s law. explain, however, the political status of reli- There are some Muslims around the world gious minorities in an Islamic democracy, or who wish to wage violent jihad against the west, what political responsibilities Muslims have just as there are some Muslims who embrace when they are a minority in a secular state. uncritically the political culture of Euro- Khaled Abou El Fadl (b. 1963) shifts the American liberal democracies. These positions, balance between divine and human sover- however, are outliers: the main debate right now eignty in his book Islam and the Challenge of within Islamic political thought is how to com- Democracy. Born in Kuwait, educated in bine Islamic law and democracy, divine and Islamic and American jurisprudence, and now human sovereignty. Muslims and their allies a law professor at the University of California, eagerly await new contributions to this debate. Los Angeles, Abou El Fadl argues that Muslims should refrain from using the state to enforce SEE ALSO: Alfarabi (870–950) ; Arab Political Sharia and should embrace democracy even Thought ; Averroes (Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn when they are the minority. The Qur’an exhorts Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd) (1126–98) ; social cooperation, a consultative mode of gov- Clash of Civilizations ; Comparative Political ernance, and compassion in social interactions. Thought ; Dhimmi ; Feminism and Islam ; Ibn Yet the Qur’an itself, according to a report of Khaldun (1332–1406) ; Medieval Political Theory ; Qutb, Sayyid (1906–66); Sharia ; Umma ‘Ali, is but ink and paper: human beings must decide how to interpret it and give effect to it. The Qur’an assigns all human beings to be Further Reading God’s vicegerents on earth. Sunnis have long Abou El Fadl, K. (2004 ) Islam and the Challenge of maintained that the ruler, or caliph, must make Democracy . Princeton : Princeton University a contract (‘aqd ) with community leaders. Press . Furthermore, the Islamic scholar maintains al-Mawardi. (1996 ) The Ordinances of Government . that human beings can only approximate London : Garnet Publishing. Sharia through fallible jurisprudence ( fiqh ). Arjomand , S. ( 2001 ) “ Perso-Indian Statecraft, Greek Political Science and the Muslim Idea of The Islamic sources, in sum, express values but Government ,” International Sociology , 16 ( 3 ), assign human beings – all human beings, 455 – 73 . including non-Muslims – to decide how to Arjomand , S. ( 2009 ) “ The Constitution of Medina: realize them. The political regime that best A Sociolegal Interpretation of Muhammad’s Acts institutionalizes this process is constitutional of Foundation of the Umma ,” International democracy, a system that guarantees majority Journal of Middle East Studies , 41 ( 4 ), 555 – 75 . 10

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