under|progress

Islam and democracy: a review of Iqbal and Gülen

In this month's edition of Renaissance, the monthly English-language journal of Lahore's Al-Mawrid institute, Muzaffar K. Awan has a review of the democratic ideas of Muhammad Iqbal and the modern Turkish thinker Fethullah Gülen. Of Iqbal's view of democracy, Awan says:

"Iqbal [...] did not like the idea of importing the Western democratic system and transplanting it as such in the Islamic world because of its extreme secular stance. He still suggested in his writings that there was no alternative to democracy in the Muslim World. Iqbal observed that if the foundations of democracy were to rest upon spiritual and moral values, it would be the best political system for the world. He wrote in the "The New Era" July 28th, 1917 issue: "Democracy was born in Europe from economic renaissance that took place in most of its societies. But democracy in the Islamic context is not to be developed from the idea of economic advancement alone; it is also a spiritual principle that comes from the fact that every individual is a source of power whose potentialities are to be developed through virtue and character."

Gülen argues that democracy, whilst not perfect, is the best option available for political arrangements since it allows people to govern themselves; this he bases on the Qur'anic principle of individuals and societies being responsible for their own fate:

"As Islam holds individuals and societies responsible for their own fate, people must be responsible for governing themselves. The Qur’an addresses society with such phrases as: “O people!” and “O believers!” The duties entrusted to modern democratic system are those that Islam refers to society and classifies, in order of importance, as “absolutely necessary, relatively necessary, and commendable to carry out.” People cooperate with one another in sharing these duties and establishing the essential foundations necessary to perform them. The government is composed of all of these foundations. Thus, Islam recommends a government based on a social contract. People elect the administrators, and establish a council to debate issues. Also, the society as a whole participates in auditing the administration."

And on the subject of Al-Mawrid, the editor of its Urdu journal Ishraq, Manzoorul Hassan, has been shot in what the newspaper suggests was attempted murder (free registration required). This says something about Pakistani Islam and its violent undercurrent. Al-Mawrid has taken positions on Islamic law in Pakistan which can be described as 'liberal' (that is not confined to the paradigms of traditional authorities), although if you read the works of Al-Mawrid's founder, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, they're quite conservative. Eteraz and Haroon have more on this.

Update: Haroon has a more detailed discussion in "The Jihad for Democracy".

Sherman Jackson on the modern Muslim political mindset

Much like the term 'Islamic Ideology', I believe 'Islamic State' is a term that needs deconstructing. I am hoping sharper minds than mine can undertake this assessment -- it's long overdue. To this end, I want to cite a section from Sherman Jackson's Islam and the Blackamerica: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection, because I feel it is directly related to the questions Muslims have over political systems today and helps us begin to expose the Muslim statist fascination with the modern state. In this chapter I cite the text from, Jackson is discussing Muslim American attitudes towards the American political arrangement; but in this sub-section he concentrates on the political thought amongst modern Muslims as a backdrop for his more detailed discussion on the American constitution and Islam.

[T]he political model guiding the thinking and sensibilities of the modern Muslim world [...] is neither what the Prophet Muhammad [upon whom be peace] established in Arabia nor the system subsequently endorsed by the classical Tradition [which] are often appealed to for purposes of authentication. [T]he real source from which the popular Muslim mind draws political inspiration is the concept of the Islamic State. This is a modern construct, inspired [...] by the European concept of the nation-state. Indeed [...] the Islamic State is a nation-state that is governed by Islamic law [and] stands as the ultimate goal of almost every Muslim activist. In many ways, its establishment has come to represent for Muslims what Francis Fukuyama has termed [...] “The End of History”[. T]wo features of this political mindset call for attention. First, the Islamic State, like its secular counterpart, views itself as being indivisible as a legal authority, assuming monopoly over the enactment and implementation of law and the definition of the rights of the citizens[. All] citizens must be brought under the jurisdiction of a “uniform law of the land”, and there can be no appeal to any “higher” legal authority above the state. Legal pluralism [...] is a move away from the ideals of the modern nation-state, secular and Islamic [...] Second, the Islamic State viewed primarily not as a “political arrangement” but as a religious ideal, the apotheosis of all that the Prophet [upon whom be peace] taught and strived for. The Islamic State is not the result of any attempt to effect a compromise over competing political rights and interests [but] the result of Muslim ability to carry out their religious duty to impose their will on society at large, the only real value there could be in the institution of jihad (an understanding, incidentally, far more indebted to early ‘Abbasid history than [...] to the actual experience of the Prophet [upon whom be peace]). On this understanding, there is no legitimate political activity outside the pursuit of the kind of power that would enable Muslims to impose their will on society via the mechanism of an Islamic State. And either one is actively working for this or all of one’s political activity is effectively directed against it[.] [Sherman Jackson, Islam and the Blackamerica: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection, Oxford University Press, 2005, pp.140-41.]