Democracy, Human Rights and Law in Islamic Thought (Comtemporary Arab Sclarship in the Social Sciences)

265 Pages·2009·3.18 MB·English

by  Mohammad Abed al-Jabri

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Contemporary Arab Scholarship in the Social Sciences, Vol 1 2
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Democracy, Human Rights and
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Law in Islamic Thought 10
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By Mohammed Abed al-Jabri 18
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I.B.Tauris Publishers 38
In Association With 39
The Centre for Arab Unity Studies 40
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Thetranslationandpublicationofthisbookwasmadepossiblebythegenerousfinancial
supportoftheMohammedBinRashidAlMaktoumFoundation.
Theopinionsandideasexpressedinthisbookarethoseoftheauthoranddonot
necessarilyreflectthoseofeitherthepublisher,theCentreforArabUnityStudiesorthe
MohammedBinRashidAlMaktoumFoundation.
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ContemporaryArabScholarshipintheSocialSciences,Vol1
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Contents
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VOLUME I: 12
RELIGION, STATE AND THE APPLICATION OF ISLAMIC SHARI¯≤AH 13
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Introduction 3 15
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Part One: The Question of Religion and the State
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1 Religion and the State in the Authoritative Cultural Referent 31 19
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2 Religion and State in the Renaissance Authoritative Referent 47
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3 Religion, Politics and Civil War 57 22
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Part Two: The Question of Applying al-Shar¯ı≤ah
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4 Awakening and Renewal 63
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5 Traditionalism (al-salaf∞yah)...or 67
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The Historical Experience of the Nation?
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6 Extremism: Right and Left 71
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7 Extremism Between Creed and al-Shar∞≤ah 74
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8 For the Procession of IjtihÆd 77
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9 The Rationality of the Rulings of al-Shar∞≤ah 81
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10 Rulings and Dependence 86
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11 Every Age has its Special Needs 90
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12 ‘Avoid the √ud∑d Penalties when in Doubt’ 94
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13 Concerning ‘Complete Application of al-Shar∞≤ah’ 99
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iv Contents
VOLUME II:
DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Introduction 107
Part One: Democracy: Its Historical Role in the Arab World
1 A Demand in the Arab World 119
2 Al-Sh∑rÆ and Democracy are not One and the Same 122
3 The Difficult Birth 126
4 Partnership in Human Governance 130
5 Democracy and the Right to Speak 134
6 No Way Out Except Through a Historical Bloc 138
Part Two: Democracy and the Current Arab Reality
7 The Problem of the Transition to Democracy 145
8 Objective Situations Conducive to Democracy 148
9 Contemporary Arab Ideology and its Doubts about Democracy 152
10 Dispersing the Doubts about Democracy 155
11 The State that Swallows up Society 159
12 Civil Society and the Elites in the Arab Nation 162
13 Elites Fear Democracy 166
14 Democracy, a Necessity 169
Part Three: Cultural Implantation of Human Rights in the
Contemporary Arab Conscience
15 Human Rights: Particularity and Universality 175
16 Universality of Human Rights in the European Point 178
of Reference
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Contents v
17 Universality of Human Rights in the Islamic Authoritative 183 1
Point of Reference: Reason and Innate Nature 2
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18 The Universality of Human Rights in the Islamic Authoritative 188
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Point of Reference: Covenant and al-Sh∑rÆ
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19 Philosophy of Human Rights and Religion 192 6
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20 Freedom is One Thing, Apostasy Another 196
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21 Women’s Rights in Islam: Between the Fundamental Principles 201 9
of al-Shar∞≤ah and its Particular Rulings 10
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Part Four: Enhancing Awareness of Human Rights in Islam
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22 The Concept of the Human Being in Modern Thought 209
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23 The Concept of the Human Being in the Qur≥Æn 212 16
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24 The Right to Life and its Enjoyment 217
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25 The Right to Freedom of Belief, Knowledge and Difference 221 19
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26 Al-Sh∑rÆ between the Qur≥Æn and the Circumstantial 226
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Interpretations
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27 The Right to Equality and the Question of ‘Preference’ 230 23
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28 Slavery and the Rights of Women 234
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29 The Right to Justice: The Strength of the Qur≥Ænic 238 26
Text and the Vacillation of the ‘Advisory Discourse’ 27
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30 The Rights of the Weak Oppressed: The Right of the 241
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Poor to the Wealth of the Rich
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31 Social Security in Islam: Necessity of Development 245 31
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32 The Rights of God, the Rights of People:
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Application of al-Shar∞≤ah 249
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Index 252
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VOLUME I
RELIGION, STATE AND THE
APPLICATION OF ISLAMIC
SHARI¯≤AH
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Introduction
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There has been much discussion in recent years concerning ‘religion and
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thestate’inIslam,andthe‘applicationofIslamicshar∞≤ah’.Inmostofthe
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works on the subject, regardless of their authors’ different approaches,
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motives or points of view, there has been a noticeable belligerent tone,
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explicit in some, implicit in others. This belligerent discourse is usually
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motivated by a desire to invalidate the rival opinion more than anything
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else. It is a discourse of equivocation and refutation, which ultimately
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attains no new knowledge and proves no fact. Some authors have tried to
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avoid open controversy and have sought instead a ‘new point of view’ or
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a ‘contemporary reading’. In so doing, they mostly start from hypotheses
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with no basis in the religious texts or in the historical Arab-Islamic expe-
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rience, or they resort to a far-fetched interpretation of some texts.
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Some of these controversies and readings ignore, intentionallyor other-
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wise,thedifferencebetweenthecognitiveandtheideological;betweenhis-
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torical facts and mere whims or personal desires, whether in their own
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discourse or in that of the opponent; in the discourse of creeds, sects,
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‘intellectuals’ or mujtahid∑n (jurisprudents who derive legal rulings
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through the interpretive process of ijtihÆd), both past and modern.1 This
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is a serious methodological fallacy. The subject of religion and state, and
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the application of the Islamic shar∞≤ah, is influenced by politics and its
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relatedneedsandlogic.Itmaybesaidmostauthoritiesreferredtobycon-
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temporary scholars have been geared, one way or another, to suit their
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modernpoliticalsituations.Whenthescholarhascertainpoliticalpersua-
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sions to affirm, the truth will certainly be lost in a labyrinthine political
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wilderness of the past and the present.
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My aim from these cursory remarks is to emphasize the necessity of
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establishing an authority more advanced and credible than sectarian
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