Abstract
The poor performance of Islamists once in power together with the failed Arab Spring protests has resulted in some scholars positing the Islamic exceptionalism thesis. According to this, Muslim societies are unique in their inherent rejection of modernity, democracy and secularism. Flowing from the Islamic exceptionalism thesis is the argument that Islam itself needs to be reformed. Rejecting such a position, this chapter argues that one needs to make a distinction between the political aspects of Islam and the distorted view of the faith as promoted by Islamists. What is needed is not an Islamic Reformation but reformation of Muslim interpretations of Islamic teachings. Surveys have also demonstrated that Muslims desire to be both religiously observant and politically free. Drawing from the works of John Locke, Alfred Stepan and Juan Linz, this chapter argues that a polity is possible which is both Islamic and democratic. What is key to realize this happy outcome is what Alfred Stepan refers to as the “twin tolerations”. Recognizing that secularism has little appeal in the Muslim world and that it hardly exists in the West, what is needed is significant institutional differentiation between religious establishment and the political sphere.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Jonathan Fox defines full separation as no support is given to any religion and conversely that there are no restrictions imposed by the state on any religion.
- 2.
Sharia law refers to Islamic law based on the Qur’an and hadith . The latter refers to the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad .
Literature
Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2013). Why nations fail: The origin of power, prosperity and poverty. London: Profile Books.
Akyol, M. (2017). The Islamic world does not need a reformation. Retrieved June 11, 2018, from https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/muslim-reformation/544343/
Andalusi, A. (2016). Islam needs a restoration, not a reformation. Retrieved June 15, 2017, from https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/islam-needs-restoration-not-reformation
Barro, R. (2004). Spirit of capitalism: Religion and economic development. Harvard International Review: Religion, 24(2), 17.
Benard, C. (2003). Civil democratic Islam: Partners, resources and strategies. Santa Monica: Rand National Security Research Division.
Bostom, A. G. (2012, December 25). Benghazi: From ‘See no Sharia’ to Ansar al-Sharia. The American Thinker.
Brookner, S. (2013). The golden age of Islam. Retrieved February 20, 2019, from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-golden-age-of-islam_b_1941608
Burke, J. (2017). Rise and fall of ISIS: Its dream of a caliphate is over, so what’s new? Retrieved July 10, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/21/isis-caliphate-islamic-state-raqqa-iraq-islamist
Christianity in View. (2018). Background to the reformation. Retrieved April 27, 2018, from http://protestantism.co.uk/background
Dajani, H. (2015). Outdated religious laws must be changed, forum hears. Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://www.thenational.ae/uae/outdated-religious-laws-must-be-changed-forum-hears-1.12969
Friedman, T. (2003). Longitudes and attitudes: Exploring the world before and after September 11. London: Penguin Books.
Gozaydin, I. B. (2009). The Fetulleh Gulen movement and politics in Turkey: A chance for democratization or Trojan horse? Democratization, 16(6), 1215.
Hashemi, N. (2009). Islam, secularism and liberal democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hefner, R. W. (2012). Rethinking Islam and democracy. In T. S. Shah, A. Stepan, & M. Duffy (Eds.), Rethinking religion and world affairs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
House, F. (2016). Freedom in the world 2015: Discarding democracy: Return to the iron fist. New York: Freedom House.
Huntington, S. P. (1991). Democracy’s third wave. Journal of Democracy, 2(2), 12–34.
Kazmi, Z. (2017). Beyond liberal Islam. Retrieved December 12, 2018, from http://aeon.co/essays/is-it-time-to-look-beyond-the-idea-of-liberal-islam
Koran, L. (2012). Pew survey: Middle East muslims support democracy, Islam in politics. Retrieved June 12, 2018, from http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/11/pew-survey-middle-east-muslims-support-democracy-islam-in-politics/
Lewis, B. (1995). A brief history of the last 2,500 years. New York: Scribner.
Manji, I. (2013). The trouble with Islam today. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Meddeb, A. (2003). Islam and its discontents. London: William Heinemann.
Nadvi, L. (2005). Islam and politics in the 21st century. In H. Solomon & F. Butler (Eds.), Islam in the 21 st century: Perspectives and challenges. Pretoria: Centre for International Political Studies, University of Pretoria.
Ofek, H. (2011). Why the Arabic world turned away from science. The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology and Science, 30(Winter), 3–23. Retrieved December 5, 2015, from https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/why-the-arabic-world-turned-away-from-science
Rehman, S. S., & Askari, H. (2010). An economic Islamicity index. Global Economy Journal, 24(4), 17.
Rhoden, T. F. (2013). The liberal in liberal democracy. Democratization, 22(3), 572–573.
Roy, O. (2007). The failure of political Islam. London: I.B Tauris.
Rubin, J. (2017). Rulers, religion and riches: Why the West got rich and the Middle East did not. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ruthven, M. (2017). The Islamic road to the modern world. Retrieved June 30, 2017, from http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/06/22/islamic-road-to-modern-world
Shariatmadari, D. (2017). Tariq Ramadan: Muslims need to reform their minds. Retrieved March 1, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/28/tariq-ramadan-muslims-need-to-reform-their-minds
Solomon, H. (2013). Jihad: A South African perspective. Bloemfontein: Sun Media.
Stepan, A., & Linz, J. J. (2013). Democratization theory and the Arab Spring. Journal of Democracy, 24(2), 20.
The Economist. (2013, July 6–13). Egypt’s tragedy, p. 11.
The Economist. (2017). The future of Islamism: Can political Islam make it in the modern world? Retrieved August 28, 2017, from http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/2172061-auguries-are-mixed-political-islam-make-it-in-the-modern-world
The Holy Quran.
World Bank Group. (2016). Global economic prospects: Spillovers amid weak growth. Washington, DC, 128.
World Value Survey Database. (2018). Findings and insight. Retrieved June 12, 2019, from http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp
Zemni, S. (2007). 9/11: The end of Islamism? Islamism, a concept in need of a definition or hermeneutical fight over an object of study. Retrieved March 10, 2018, from http://www.menarg.ugent.be/media/4460/defining-islamism.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Solomon, H., Tausch, A. (2020). Political Islam: Between Luther and Locke. In: Islamism, Crisis and Democratization. Perspectives on Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22849-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22849-1_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-22848-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-22849-1
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)