Modernist Islamic Political Thought and the Egyptian and Tunisian Revolutions of 2011

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 94-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Fadel
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Popular Press ◽  
Central Hypothesis ◽  
Islamic Political Thought ◽  
Islamic Modernism

As revolution in the Arab world became clear, questions were raised whether political Islam had or would hae any role in the revolutions. The popular press seemed to minimize or deny the role of Islam in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. The attempt to minimize the role of Islam in these revolutions does little to help us understand the course of Islamic political thought over the last 150 years in the Arab world, its relationship to the democratic demands of the Arab peoples, and the prospects for a reconciliation between modern Islamic political thought and certain forms of democratic secularism. The central hypothesis of this essay is that neither the Tunisian nor the Egyptian Revolutions can be properly understood without the contributions of Islamic modernism to modern political thought in the Arab world.

Rethinking the Role of Islam in Malaysian Politics: A Case Study of Parti Amanah Negara

ICR Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-472
Author(s):  
Maszlee Malik
Keyword(s):  
Political Activism ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Islamic Political Thought ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Malaysian Politics ◽  
Different Levels

In 2015, a group of sidelined and outcast progressive leaders and other activists from Parti Islam SeMalaysia (the Islamic Party of Malaysia, also known as PAS) decided to leave that organisation and form Parti Amanah Negara (AMANAH). The establishment of this new party was linked to efforts at saving the moderate form of Islamic political thought once embraced by PAS; the founders of AMANAH claimed that the new PAS leadership, elected during the 2015 Muktamar (Annual General Assembly), were too conservative and threatened the continuation of this moderate heritage. According to its founders, AMANAH has therefore been established to bring Islamic political activism into a new paradigm, with the hope of shaping a future Islamic discourse in Malaysia that is more inclusive, moderate, democratic and progressive. This article is an attempt to understand the party’s ideology, supposedly a new discourse in political Islam, and evaluate the level of adherence it enjoys amongst AMANAH members. This is done through a qualitative study conducted with 100 party members from different levels.

Political thought, modern Islamic

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew F. March
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
The West ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Islamic Political Thought ◽  
The Status ◽  
Islamic Revivalism ◽  
Islamic Modernism

For Islamic thought, the problem of modernity is inseparable from the problem of the relative power imbalance between the West and the lands of Islam. The variety of intellectual trends within Islamic thought all have as their primary stimulus (in some form or another) the imperative of providing authentic ‘Islamic answers’ to the problems of Western colonialism and imperialism and the corresponding Muslim political and economic weakness. All of the main debates which form the contours of modern Islamic political thought – the relative status of reason versus revelation, the immutability versus the reformability of Islamic law, the moral status of national or regional versus pan-Islamic political membership, the status of non-Muslim states and relationships with non-Muslims, the legitimacy of democratic forms of rule, the laws of warfare and political violence, the place of technology – have taken place in reaction to Western ascendancy and hegemony. For the purposes of studying Islamic political thought it is therefore appropriate to date the onset of modernity as late as the mid-nineteenth century. We may thus mark the beginning of a distinctly modern Islamic political intellectual tradition with the school of Islamic Modernism. This movement represents the first attempt to deal with the challenge of Western ascendancy in a non-traditionalist or purely conservative manner. While Islamic Modernism never succeeded in creating a mass political consciousness or defending a coherent intellectual and political position between outright secularism and Islamic revivalism, it marks the break between late medieval traditionalism and twentieth-century Islamic fundamentalism. The latter movement – whether known as Revivalism, fundamentalism or Salafism – represents a rejection of Modernism’s attempts to reform Islamic law and willingness to borrow from the West in mundane matters, but possesses a mass character and intellectual vitality not characteristic of traditional scholastic Islam in the nineteenth century. Islamic Modernism emerged as an elite movement in the later part of the nineteenth century as an attempt to bridge Islamic theological and epistemological commitments with Western modernity. It was an attempt both to rehabilitate Islam as a source of knowledge, identity and inspiration for Muslims, and to allow Muslims to incorporate those cultural and intellectual aspects of European modernity seen as necessary for competing with Western political and economic power. The core tenet of Islamic Modernism was that Islam itself was not the cause of nineteenth-century Muslim stagnation, but that certain theological and canonical reforms were necessary to awaken Muslims from their submissiveness and quietism. Islamic Revivalism is the broad ideological trend which insists on the centrality of religion in all aspects of Muslim family, social, economic and political life. It emerged as an explicit rejection of both inter-war secularist trends and Islamic Modernism. For revivalists, the latter represent an apologetic, pro-Western betrayal of core Islamic commitments, although Revivalism in some manifestations shares Modernism’s rejection of what it perceives as the conservative, quietist, passive nature of traditional orthodox scholarship and the insistence on direct engagement with the Qur’an. While rejecting many of Modernism’s reforms and openness to change, and reverting to many of the doctrinal positions of the medieval legal schools, Revivalism has as its central raison d’être the provision of authentic ‘Islamic solutions’ to modern social problems and the weakness of Muslim lands; this aspiration to popular support and tangible results leaves Revivalism at times at odds with the self-restraint, caution and concern with methodology which characterized the medieval religious scholars.

scholarly journals Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (Pas) in Malaysia Politics: A History of Tuan Guru Nik Aziz’s Scholarship and Leadership in Establishing an Islamic State in Kelantan

ULUMUNA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-136
Author(s):  
Muhammad Syahir Bin Md Ali ◽  
Imtiyaz Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Great Emphasis ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Islamic Movements ◽  
History Of ◽  
Malaysian Politics ◽  
Islamic Party

The study seeks to examine the brief history of political Islam in Malaysia with a focus on Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party/Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS). The emergence of PAS in the early 1950s marks the beginning of the involvement of Islamic Movements in politics as a platform for the revivalism of Islam in the region. In addition, the role of PAS leaderships also briefly discussed with a great emphasis on the leadership of PAS political maestro, Tuan Guru Nik Aziz bin Nik Mat. His piety in Islam is translated into his political thought which are influential during his involvement in politics. Tuan Guru’s upbringing and his education background had biggest influence towards his worldview on politics. This study described his contribution on Islam and in Malaysian politics, especially his grand idea on the establishment of Islamic state in Kelantan. The idea of ideal Islamic model of a state was established in Kelantan. It is in line with his perspective of how a society should operate and the functions of government in micro-managing the society. As a conclusion, Tuan Guru Nik Aziz plays an important role within PAS and to the establishment of the model of Islamic State in Kelantan.

Pemikiran Politik Islam Klasik (Studi Awal Atas Perspektif Kalangan Sunni)

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Yusuf Fadli
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
Islamic Political Thought ◽  
The Future ◽  
Religion And State ◽  
Integrated Or

One of the characteristics of Islamic political thought in classical era is not questioning the position of religion and state, whether integrated or separated. The debate that occurred in the classical era revolves around the mandatory establishment of a state, how to choose the head of state, and the conditions that must be owned by the head of state. Furthermore, the development of political thought also tends to be a response to the existing sociopolitical conditions. The emergence of Sunni itself is a form of anxiety over the perspective constructed by groups which tend to discredit the Prophet’s companion’s position which is considered by some opposing circles to have committed treason. For the Sunnis, the leadership after the Prophet Muhammad’s death was open–not limited to the possession of ahl bayt. Whatever the background, if deemed feasible and competent then he can be proposed to be a leader. Thus, the appointment of the caliph as a legitimate ruler depends on the specific qualities of the future leader. Keywords: Political Islam, sunni, religion and state, caliph

Changing Interpretations of Modern and Contemporary Islamic Political Theory

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roxanne L. Euben
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Islamic Fundamentalism ◽  
The West ◽  
Islamic Political Thought ◽  
Islamic Modernism

This article examines the interpretation of contemporary Islamic political theory. Political theory is often understood as a field and enterprise at once produced by and coterminous with the West, yet there is a rich tradition of Islamic political thought in which Muslims have long been engaged in their own ‘great conversations’ about the foundations of political life. The article also discusses Islamic modernism and Islamic fundamentalism and describes the pluralisation of Islam.

scholarly journals Power-sharing Islam?

1994 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-440
Author(s):  
Yousuf Dadoo
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
English Language ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Islamic Political Thought ◽  
English Language Publication

This work has ventured to fill a vast gap in contemporary Islamicpolitical thought. By relating relevant basic and secondary sources to contemporarycontexts in different countries, it has attempted to determinethe extent of harmony and discord between Islamic political theory andcurrent praxis. Being the first English-language publication on this subjectinevitably raises the expectations about its scholarly merit.The first paragraph of the introduction highlights the anomalousconsequences of democratization in the Muslim world: reconciliation insome and heightened adversity in others. In principle, democracy can bereconciled with Islamic political thought. The editor then gives an historicaloutline of misconceptions toward the role of democracy in Islamicpolitics, which began with the Crusades and were reaffirmed during theIranian revolution of 1979. Turning to the twentieth century, revivalism,which often has explicit political motivations, could be easily traced tothe collapse of the Islamic caliphate. It has always welcomed ...

scholarly journals War and crime as a source of moral renewal and unity - republican heritage and its transformation into a work of Emile Durkheim

Sociologija ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-313
Author(s):  
Bozidar Filipovic
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Functional Equivalence ◽  
Emile Durkheim ◽  
Integrating Factor ◽  
Central Hypothesis ◽  
Positive Effect

In this paper we wish to demonstrate how Durkheim integrates in his work the views of the classics of political thought on war as a means of moral regeneration of society. Taking into account the understanding of the consequences of war in republics - in Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, and Rousseau - we will try to offer a new way of looking at Durkheim?s sociological theory. Although he was not a supporter of war as a means of (moral) integration, Durkheim noted its positive effect on moral cohesion in the example of the study of suicide. The central hypothesis of our work relates to the functional equivalence of the republican understanding of the consequences of war and Durkheim?s theory of the origin and role of crime. Unlike his predecessors and contemporaries (Comte, Saint-Simon, and Spencer), Durkheim never completely abandoned the idea of conflict (crime) as an integrating factor within a society. The main difference between Durkheim and the abovementioned classics of philosophy and republican thought concerns the framework of conflict. While within the republican legacy it appears as conflict with an external enemy (war), in Durkheim it predominantly appears in the form of internal conflict.

scholarly journals Dialectical relationship between the civil state and the application of Sharia In contemporary Islamic political thought ج

2019 ◽  
pp. 107-129
Author(s):  
أ.م.د.امل هندي كاطع ◽  
م.د.اياد حسين
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Civil State ◽  
Islamic Political Thought ◽  
Dialectical Relationship ◽  
The Law

The political movements of Islam are among the most prominent phenomena of the popular uprisings witnessed by the Arab world. However, this rise and the rise of some movements led to many problems on the political theses of Islam, especially those associated with the ideas of Islamic ideologues and their slogan Legitimacy and the authorities as the origin of the divine, and said the application to achieve the Islamic solution, and then became the state in theses of some Islamists a tool to apply the law and then the preservation of religion.

scholarly journals Encyclopaedic Works on Islamic Political Thought and Movements in the Twenty-first Century

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 85-96
Author(s):  
Tauseef Ahmad Parray
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Islam ◽  
Modern Approach ◽  
Islam And Politics ◽  
Islamic Movements ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Islamic Political Thought ◽  
Islamic Civilization ◽  
Oxford University Press

Books Reviewed: Gerhard Bowering, et. al., eds., The Princeton Encyclopediaof Islamic Political Thought (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton UniversityPress, 2013); John L. Esposito and Emad El-Din Shahin, eds., The OxfordHandbook of Islam and Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013);Emad El-Din Shahin, ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics, 2 vols.(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).During last two decades or so, many encyclopedias have been published onIslam and its history – classical to contemporary – with a modern approach,among them Richard Martin’s two-volume Encyclopedia of Islam and theMuslim World 1 and John L. Esposito’s Oxford Encyclopedia of the ModernIslamic World.2 Other encyclopedic works focus on specific eras, like JosefMeri’s Medieval Islamic Civilization.3 One more category is that of Islam andpolitics, political Islam, and/or the various facets, complexities, and intricaciesof Islamic movements. This essay focuses on three works that discuss thethemes and issues that fall in this last category.The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought (EIPT)4 is awide-ranging one-volume publication, as well as the first encyclopedia andreference work on Islamic political thought. It includes articles ranging fromthe classical to the contemporary periods and incorporates the eras from theProphet’s time to the present. Written by prominent scholars and specialistsin the field, The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics (OHIP)5 is a singlevolumesourcebook that provides a comprehensive analysis of “whatwe knowand where we are in the study of political Islam,” thereby enabling scholars,students, and policymakers “to appreciate the interaction of Islam and politicsand the multiple and diverse roles of Islamic movements” both regionally andglobally (p. 2; italics mine). By analyzing Islam and politics through a detailedand profound study, the two-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and ...

The Many-Colored Cloak

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Malik Mufti
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Arab World ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Electoral Participation ◽  
Critical Questions ◽  
Ibn Rushd ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
The Many ◽  
Religion And Democracy

This articles argues (a) that democratic discourse has already become hegemonic among mainstream Islamist movements in Turkey and the Arab world; (b) that while this development originated in tactical calculations, it constitutes a consequential transformation in Islamist political thought; and (c) that this transformation, in turn, raises critical questions about the interaction of religion and democracy with which contemporary Islamists have not yet grappled adequately but which were anticipated by medieval philosophers such as al-Farabi and Ibn Rushd. The argument is laid out through an analysis (based on textual sources and interviews) of key decisions on electoral participation made by Turkey’s AK Party and the Muslim Brotherhoods in Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Particular attention is focused on these movements’ gradual embrace of three key democratic principles: pluralism, the people as the source of political authority, and the legitimacy of such procedural mechanisms as multiple parties and regular elections.

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