Muslim Democrat www.islam-democracy.org Published by the Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy (CSID), Washington, D.C. Volume 4, No. 1, January 2002 In This Issue: ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ What’s Next For Afghanistan? 2 Reason and Freedom in Islamic Thought estroying Taliban and al-Qaeda was the easy part in the war against terrorism. The US has enough weapons and Dintelligence to destroy all of Afghanistan if it wanted to. The difficult part is what comes next. Will we leave Afghanistan destroyed, demoralized, impoverished, and hungry? Or are we going to help build Afghanistan into a 4 Interview with Sheikh Taha prosperous country and society? Are we going to impose another undemocratic regime on the Afghani people? Or are we, for a By Radwan A. Masmoudi Center for the Study of Islam change, going to help build a democratic and representative & Democracy (CSID) government in Afghanistan? The ultimate success or failure of the war on terrorism will depend on the answers to these questions. If we leave Afghanistan impoverished and devastated, the public opinion in the Muslim world will continue to see the U.S. as an enemy and the war on terrorism as revenge. However, 6 Islam & Democracy: The if we help to build a new, democratic, and prosperous nation, then people in the Muslim Struggle Continues world will begin to see the U.S. as a friend and an ally. Building a democratic regime in Afghanistan is not going to be easy because the country is in ruin. However, sometimes it is easier to build from scratch than to revamp an existing and failing system. After defeating Iraq in the Gulf War, the U.S. missed a great opportunity to either get rid of Saddam Hussein or, at the very least, help establish a democratic form of ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ government in Kuwait. This failure has led to mounting skepticism and distrust of the U.S. in the Arab and Muslim world. 7 Call for Papers: CSID’2002 We should play a leading role in establishing and contributing to a special “Marshall Plan” fund to rebuild Afghanistan. A minimum of $15 Billion must be set aside for rebuilding Afghanistan’s infrastructure (roads, schools, hospitals, mosques, universities, government buildings, etc.) that has been devastated during the last 20 years. We also need to train and educate a new generation of Afghan leaders with the concepts of tolerance, human rights, and democracy from an Islamic perspective. 8 Recovering the Core Values of A lot is at stake in not only how this war is conducted but also on how peace is estab- Islam lished. Defeating terrorism will require winning the hearts and minds of the Arab and Muslim peoples, not expanding the war to other countries. 9 Responding to Post Sept. 11 Challenges Dr. Radwan Masmoudi Executive Director CSID Second Annual Conference Keynote Speech by Dr. Abdolkarim Soroush: ReasonReason andand FreedomFreedom inin IslamicIslamic ThoughtThought The following are excerpts from the Keynote rival theological traditions, the Ash’arite speech, given by Dr. Abdolkarim Soroush, at the CSID 2nd Annual Conference, held on April 7, school and the Mu’tazilite school. Since 2001, at Georgetown University. The speaker their defeat, the Mu’tazilites have been was introduced by Professor Charles E. marginalized in Islamic societies. Butterworth, Program Committee Chair and The Ash’arite tradition has produced Director of CSID. great poets, mystics, and especially It is a great pleasure to welcome Abdolkarim theologians, but few philosophers. One of Soroush to this conference. Dr. Soroush is the main principles of Ash’arite Islam is currently a visiting research associate at the Center that there are no objective, external values; of Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. all values must come through religious Normally, he is in Tehran at the Institute for Epistemological Research. Such formal revelation. This is a crucial point for affiliations aside, Abdolkarim Soroush is known Dr. Abdolkarim Soroush, addressing the understanding the problem we have at above all for his writings on the subject of Islam CSID Second Annual Conference. hand, that is, the conflict between and democracy, and for trying to bring philosophy democracy and Islam. and theology, from both Islamic and Western tortuous when one comes to the concept of traditions, to bear on those questions. Though there are democratic values in democracy and Islam. On one hand, Islam and though there is no conflict Before turning the floor over to Dr. Soroush, democracy has its roots in ancient Greece between democracy and Islam on a let me add one quick note: a new book, “Makers and comes down to us through Western procedural level, the theoretical basis of of Contemporary Islam”, edited by John philosophers, political thinkers, leaders, and democracy is problematic. Values of Esposito and John Voll, has just been published. so on. As a result, democracy seems a It contains a chapter on the thought and impact democracy and its criteria are extra- foreign idea and, thus, alien to Muslims. religious values which Ash’arite theologians of Abdolkarim Soroush, as well as much On the other, we have our own Islamic information on other leading political thinkers in reject, which makes it very difficult to tradition, our own interpretation of religion explore this topic. Due to its secular value the Muslim world. and text. Reconciling the two can seem a ❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖❖ system, democracy cannot be reconciled futile and dubious task. with Islam without first unearthing sources hank you, Dr. Butterworth and In the past, Muslims thinkers were not for democratic values within Islam itself. everyone else. Since we are talking generally faced with secular traditions; their Otherwise, the task is futile, as without this Tabout new books, allow me to note focus was always on the Islamic tradition, or grounding, democracy will never be that a book of mine is now in print in that of another religion, such as Christianity, acceptable to a religious mind. English under the title of “Reason, Hinduism, Buddhism, and so on. Now, Freedom and Democracy in Islam”. What most reformist thinkers in the however, Muslims are before a new phase of Sunni world are trying to do is revive the There, I talk about the relationship between history, where Muslims must adapt to a great democracy and Islam. Most of the points I Mu’tazilite school of thought. Their goal is civilization that is not based on religion, i.e., to show that rationality per se is acceptable will be discussing today are dealt with in modern Western culture. There are all sorts of greater detail in this work. in the Islamic milieu, even when not based secular ideas and theories that must be on religion. They strive to demonstrate that Coming from Iran and its Shi’i addressed. Coming to terms with these non- there are values that need not be derived tradition, I have a lot of room to introduce religious ideas is the most challenging task from religion. philosophical ideas, including extra- facing Muslims in modern times. I am very happy about these develop- religious ideas. Shi’i Islam has long been Most of you are probably familiar with very comfortable with philosophy and has ments, as this moves the Sunni world closer prominent reformers in the Muslim world to a solution. We once had philosophers, produced great metaphysical philosophers. such as Muhammad Arkoun, Hasan Hanafi, The tradition lives on today in Iran, being theologians, and jurists who believed that Hamid Naser Abu Zeid and others. What they ideas could be independent of Islam taught in seminaries and universities across are doing is reviving Mu’tazilite experience the country. without being incompatible with Islam, in the Sunni Islamic world. As you know, and today their fertile work is being Things become very difficult and within the Sunni tradition there are two gradually reassessed around the Muslim 2 world. rather than reject them as foreign to Islam. Islamic thinkers in Iran are working to Having written on this subject in Iran, I We can appropriate them—they are not the show society—both the masses and the have suffered considerable hardship and exclusive property of the West—and make clerical establishment—that reformers are criticism, but one consolation is the fact that them our own. I’m not saying that we not heretical or weakening people’s faith in there is such a large, welcoming audience to should uncritically accept Western ideas, Islam. To the contrary, they argue, reformers these ideas, as there are few epistemological either; all ideas must be carefully examined are actually strengthening the faith by obstacles in the Shi’i tradition to this project. in light of our tradition. reminding believers to exercise their Of course, there is opposition, but it comes In fact, my forthcoming book is entitled religious duties, one of which is to have a largely from dogmatic traditionalists who “Reinventing the Mu’tazilite Experi- democratic system of politics. fear change, as opposed to thinkers with ment”, so this relates to my current research Muslims must be, after all, lovers of genuine philosophical problems with focus. I think that the Muslim world needs justice. ‘Adl (justice) is the floor, as it were, rationality. The majority of Iranian society the re-invention and rethinking of of ethics and ihsan (generosity) is the does not share the worldview of the dogma- Mu’tazilite tradition. Muhammad Arkoun, ceiling. Thus, ethics lies between the two tists, so stimulating dialogues and lively for example, is keen to reexamine the limits of justice and generosity. If we can philosophical debates are common in Iran defeated philosophical movements within not attain ihsan, we must at least strive to among the religious classes as well as in the Islamic tradition, giving them the implement ‘adl in society.