Negotiating Islam Dialogues between Liberalism and Islamic Theologies in 21 st Century Britain Stephen H. Jones A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology Goldsmiths, University of London September 2010 Declaration In fulfilment of the requirements of the University of London for the presentation of a PhD thesis, I hereby declare that what follows is entirely my own work and has not been submitted for a degree at any other university. Stephen Jones, September 2010. 2 Abstract The recent intense focus upon Islam in the UK comes at a time when the religion is in a state of flux, with the traditions followed by older generations slowly giving way to new forms of religious expression. New interpretations are very gradually emerging at precisely the same time as suspicions are on the increase about Islam undermining national identity and respect for the liberal democratic division between public and private spheres. Against this tense backdrop, this thesis seeks to explore debates about religious interpretation and the relationship between Islam and liberalism that are ongoing among Britain’s Muslims. It draws upon data collected from a variety of new initiatives (focusing upon three in particular) that are involved in disseminating Islamic knowledge and discussing Islamic norms. Using this data, it examines the arguments of a wide variety of Islamic scholars, clerics and activists and highlights some of the ways in which Islam is being related to the British context. Of particular concern in the thesis are the implications these debates have for liberal traditions in the UK. It considers the effects of conventions of public discourse that seek to stifle the expression of religious ideas upon the possible future flourishing of British society and politics. The thesis argues against liberal political philosophies that aim to restrict public speech so that only “public” or “secular” reasons are offered in political debates, arguing that to do this is to risk mutual isolation between the UK’s many religious and secular moral traditions. It uses debates among Muslims in the UK on subjects such as national identity, political participation and civil and Islamic law to illustrate and give weight to this argument. 3 Contents List of illustrations 8 Notes on transliteration and style 9 Describing Islam 11 Preface and acknowledgements 13 1. Introduction 21 1.1. The changing character of Islam in Britain 22 1.2. A debate lacking in content 23 1.3. Theology and liberalism: some preliminary descriptions 26 1.4. Possible reasons for reticence 27 1.5. Theology and the multicultural question 30 1.6. Marginalising theological conceptions 34 1.7. The structure of the thesis 35 CONCEPTUAL DISCUSSION 2. Religious talk in public 39 2.1. The many meanings of secularism 40 2.2. Clarifying liberalism and religion 41 2.3. The settlement and the paradox 43 2.4. Pluralism and political liberalism 45 2.5. False tensions between liberalism and religion 47 2.6. The justification for public reason 49 2.7. Secular reason and public reason 51 2.8. The incoherence of free-standing justifications 54 2.9. The cultural specificity of public reason 59 2.10. Moral standoffs 61 2.11. Re-casting public reason 65 2.12. Reasonableness reconsidered 69 2.13. Religious reasons and religious communities 72 4 2.14. Conclusion: moderately agonistic pluralism 76 3. Researching and representing religious ideas 79 3.1. Theology and society 80 3.2. Reasons for examining religious ideas 83 3.3. Considering the research focus 86 3.4. Details of the research focus 89 3.5. Locating “floating discourses” 92 3.6. Situating the study 94 3.7. Weaknesses and limitations of the method 96 3.8. Conclusion: relating theory to reality 99 CONTEXTUALISING ISLAM IN BRITAIN 4. Intergenerational transitions and emerging Islamic theologies 101 4.1. Islam as a permanent feature 102 4.2. The settling of Islam in Britain 104 4.3. Sectarian affiliations 106 4.4. Transmitting traditions 109 4.5. Broken chains of transmission? 111 4.6. New platforms for Islamic knowledge 115 4.7. New theological voices 119 4.8. The demand for Islamic knowledge 123 4.9. Finding a place in public space 125 4.10. Conclusion: e pluribus unum ? 126 5. Emerging theologies, contested authorities 129 5.1. Religious authority and religious prejudices 130 5.2. Authority and belonging in Islam 131 5.3. Traditional structures of authority in Islam 134 5.4. The effect of modern social processes 135 5.5. New Islamic actors 137 5.6. Directions of Islamic reform 139 5.7. Challenges to the classical tradition 140 5 5.8. The genesis and influence of Wahhabism 142 5.9. The struggle to re-cast Islam 144 5.10. Liberalism, fundamentalism and tradition 146 5.11. Theological contests and social contexts 151 5.12. Creating new forms of authority? 153 5.13. “Actually existing” Islamic authority 154 5.14. Conclusion: tradition and authority 156 CONTESTING ISLAM IN BRITAIN 6. Debating civil and Islamic law 158 6.1. Communication breakdown 159 6.2. The genesis of Islamic legal tribunals 162 6.3. Claims about emancipation 164 6.4. Tradition, family and nomos 165 6.5. Aside on individuals, groups and liberal theory 168 6.6. The role of the legal tribunals 170 6.7. Negotiating within the tribunals 172 6.8. Debates and prospects for change 174 6.9. Different attitudes toward the state 176 6.10. The three stances in practice 179 6.11. Disputes over the wali 180 6.12. Conclusion: Islamic law and public debate 183 7. Emerging Islamic theologies and state support 187 7.1. Old question, new setting 188 7.2. Islam goes public 190 7.3. Community engagement or patron-client politics? 193 7.4. Government relations with “Islamists” 196 7.5. Government engagement post-7/7 198 7.6. Counter-terrorism and community engagement 199 7.7. Suspicion of government and new Islamic initiatives 202 7.8. “Empowering Muslim women” 205 7.9. Theological independence 208 6 7.10. Religious autonomy and religious wisdom 211 7.11. Conclusion: balancing competing values? 215 8. Conclusion 217 8.1. Breathing life into old traditions 218 8.2. Islam as one of the UK’s the cultural riches 220 8.3. Looking to the long term 221 8.4. Future challenges for Islam in Britain 222 8.5. The public ventilation of comprehensive conceptions 225 8.6. Arguing with the Islamic tradition 226 8.7. Careful exploration of the good 228 8.8. Asking the right questions 232 Notes 238 Bibliography 271 Appendix 1: Glossary of Arabic/Urdu terms 293 7 List of illustrations Flyer for Radical Middle Way event, “The mosque, women and God” 118 8 Notes on transliteration and style For transliteration of Arabic words I have attempted to follow a simple system based on that of the International Journal of Middle East Studies as closely as possible. The system uses the following conventions: • No diacritical marks are used • The letter ‘ayn is indicated by ‘, and hamza is indicated by ’, but only when it comes in the middle of the word • The plurals of Arabic words are written with an s, except the plural of ‘alim , which is given as ‘ulama • Doubled vowels in the middle of words are indicated by –iyya or –uwwa • Diphthongs are indicated by –aw or –ay • Al- is prefixed the first time an Arabic name is used, but omitted later This does not eliminate all confusion, as many Arabic terms are spelled in various ways by Muslims living and writing in the UK. An Islamic seminary may be described as a darul uloom , a darul ulum , a dar ul-ulum or (the style I use in the thesis) a dar al-ulum . When quoting essays that use Arabic words I have amended transliterations on occasion to keep the style consistent throughout. Of course, errors or inconsistencies in transliteration are my responsibility alone. Quotations from the Qur’an are taken from M. A. S. Abdel Haleem’s new translation, published by Oxford University Press. All dates are based upon the Gregorian calendar. All italicised words in quotations are presented that way in the original text unless I explicitly state (in the endnotes) that the emphasis has been altered. I should stress also that Yahya Birt is the same person as Jonathan Birt, and Abdal- Hakim Murad is the same person as Tim J. Winter. Both are converts to Islam and 9 publish under both names depending upon whether they are writing qua academic or qua theologian. This means that the endnotes and bibliography refer, rather confusingly, to the same people by two different names. 10 Describing Islam The English language comes ready loaded with a cargo of concepts and assumptions that can make talking about Islamic history extremely difficult. Words such as “faith,” “God,” “religion,” “secular,” “modern,” “traditional” and “medieval” carry specific connotations as a result of Europe’s Christian history and its subsequent conflicts over and attempts to rationalise religious belief. To describe something as “medieval,” for example, is to imply that it is barbarous, yet the medieval period in Islamic history witnessed several periods of cultural flowering. Various scholars recently have tried to highlight how some of the most reactionary movements in Islam have been in many ways quite “modern.” As they search for the right terminology one can almost see the English language creaking beneath the strain. Recent neologisms such as “Islamism” have tended to confuse things further, collapsing a host of different movements into one undifferentiated category. To write about Islam is to become ever more aware of the wisdom of Michel Foucault’s claim that language is “a violence which we do to things, or ..