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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Liberal Age is not entirely over . . ., July 25, 2008
It may seem at times as if Islamic political thought has been captured by Qutb, Maududi, and their intellectual descendents. It is hard to remember that from about 1840 to 1940 (the period that Hourani terms the "Liberal Age"), the dominant strain in Muslim political thinking was comprised of the work of Tahtawi, Kayr al-Din, Afghani, Abduh, and Rida, who struggled above all to combine the moral weight of Islam with the science and rationalism of the West. Their goal was to create societies that were progressive and humanist while remaining identifiably Islamic.
The failure of the Islamic modernists was not going far enough -- not finding a new understanding of Islam's relationship to both the socio-historical world and the physical universe. An-Naim is clearly working in this Islamic liberal tradition, but his work has greater promise since he offers what his precursors feared to -- a new synthesis of Islam and politics that goes beyond the traditionalist understanding of the Shariah.
His initial premise is that if Muslims are to be Muslims, the state must remain secular. The Quran tells us clearly that there is no coercion in religion. A state created along the lines set out by Maududi and Qutb, one that would coerce belief, would foreclose the only path to true religious practice -- the path of the religious seeker, finding her own way to draw near to God.
A secular state does not mean one that is outside the influence of religiously motivated Muslims. Individuals can not hope to divorce their religious beliefs from their participation in politics. But policies that incorporate religiously inspired input must be adopted as a result of open, democratic dialogue. In An-Naim's terms, policy congenial to the Muslim community must be adopted through the process of civic reason, not imposed by the state. In order to protect this process, he calls for a constitutional order, a theory of individual equal citizenship, and the guarantee of individual human rights.
One of the most valuable components of the book is An-Naim's impressive scholarship that establishes the fact that the Shariah in concept is an unchanging, comprehensive body of divine law; but that in historical terms it has always been applied by human beings who engaged in "ijtihad", or independent reasoning, to discern what the divine law actually requires of timebound human beings in historical situations. This is a useful counterpose to the position of the Islamic militants who argue, in Maududi's terms, that the Shariah "makes God's regulations very clear and specific and thus provides guidance for the regulations of how man should live". All experience with fundamental law, whether it be the Shariah, the Ten Commandments, or the American Constitution, argues that an-Naim's position is correct and Maududi's is wrong.
An-Naim goes farther than the original Islamic liberals by calling for a basic shift in the interpretation of the Shariah based on the work of Ustadh Mahmoud Mohamed Taha. The new paradigm would emphasize the verses in the Quran that were revealed to Muhammad during the Maccan period rather than the Medinan period. The revelation of the Medinan period was intended for a community surrounded by enemies and at war. That of the Maccan period emphasized more the universal doctrines of Islam. A focus on the latter is more in keeping with the requirements of an Islamic community that is a strong component of an open, democratic, and secular state.
There is more of value in this book. Suffice it to say that it is a required read for those who are interested specifically in the development of Islamic law, and more generally in identifying voices in the Islamic world who call for Muslims to find ways to embrace the future rather than reacting to the past.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Modern Islam, March 2, 2009
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im has written a book that should be read by Muslims as well as Non-Muslims. It analises the basis of Shari'a and its acceptance through generations of consensus, and in various regions of the world. Based on the studies of the Qur'an by Ustadh Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, his revered teacher, he suggests that the Qur'an and the Sunna provide the irrevocable meaning of Islam, while the Shari'a was their interpretation to establish Islamic law.
He argues that the Qur'an and Sunna provide the original and divine documents derived from the revelations and actions by Muhammad. On the other hand, he believes that Shari'a, being law, can and should continually be reviewed to bring it up to accord with the international regard for human rights, including equality of the sexes, and the separation of state and religion. In fact he argues that such a separation is essential for Islam to be a true religion, where believers join it without pressure or even threat, and quotes the Qur'an in saying that coercive enforcement promotes hypocricy (nifaq).
An-Na'im puts a convincing argument that Shari'a should not be enforced by the state, but state law should allow Islam and other religions and worldviews to be free to act in accordance with their doctrine, albeit also in accordance with the state's acceptance of international law.
I highly recommend this book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book Offers Universal Messages, October 9, 2009
This review is from: Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari`a (Paperback)
A new book by Emory Law Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na`im offers a formula for nations and peoples of the world - including the United States and its current presidential candidates -- struggling with the separation of religion and politics.
"The American Constitution got it right on the separation of church and state, but there isn't much clarity of the relationship between religion and politics," said An-Na`im, a senior fellow in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion (CSLR) at Emory University. "You can't separate religion and politics even if you try. Believers will act politically as believers."
An-Na`im wrote Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari`a (Harvard University Press) to help countries navigate this tricky and treacherous plane, no matter the religion, no matter the geography. The book was first published in Indonesia last year and is available on the Internet in eight languages spoken by Muslims. It is a product of An-Na`im's role in the CSLR's Islamic Legal Studies research project and was funded in part by a grant from the Ford Foundation.
"I want to help clarify the role of religion in society so that it is seen as a positive, humanizing force, not as a bigoted, narrow-minded, destructive force," he said. "The state is the institutional continuity. Countries must be able to keep this alive while allowing elected officials to lead, but without allowing them to take over the state."
An-Na`im, who serves as Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory, pointed to the Bush Administration's dismissal of federal prosecutors as an abuse of political power. "President Bush used the Justice Department to further his own agenda - he tried to take over the department, he didn't just lead," he said.
One of the ways An-Na`im proposes to keep religion and politics in balance is by using civic reason. "Law and public policy can't be adopted based on religious convictions alone. Non-religious reasons that can be appreciated by all people, including non-believers, should be the basis of adopting a law," he said.
An-Na`im said the abortion issue is a prime example. "Don't say it should be eliminated because it is a sin, because God says so. Give reasons beyond religious convictions so we can all share in the debate."
Another major purpose of the book, says An-Na`im, is to "rehabilitate" Islam. "I worry about the demonization of Islam, which is driven by fear of what the extremists have done and threaten to do. What I speak of in my book is closer to Islam as a religion than what the extremists talk about."
An-Na`im will have help spreading his messages. The Ford Foundation has provided a new, $100,000 grant, this one to hire a public relations firm to promote the book throughout the United States.
"I hope to help people clarify what they already know and accept about the separation of religion and politics. They know this balance is important, but they should know more about defending and working with it," he said.
***
The Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University is home to world-class scholars and forums on the religious foundations of law, politics, and society. It offers first-rank expertise on how the teachings and practices of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have shaped and can continue to transform the fundamental ideas and institutions of our public and private lives. The scholarship of CSLR faculty provides the latest perspectives, while its conferences and public forums foster reasoned and robust public debate.
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