Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies PDF
Preview Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies
Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy This page intentionally left blank Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies NADER HASHEMI 1 2009 3 OxfordUniversityPress,Inc.,publishesworksthatfurther OxfordUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellence inresearch,scholarship,andeducation. Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright#2009byOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NewYork10016 www.oup.com OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Hashemi,Nader,1966– Islam,secularism,andliberaldemocracy/NaderHashemi. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-0-19-532124-1 1. Islamandsecularism. 2. Democracy—Religiousaspects—Islam. 3. Secularism— Islamiccountries. 4. Democracy—Islamiccountries. 5. Islamandpolitics—Islamic countries. 6. Islamiccountries—Politicsandgovernment—20thcentury. I. Title. BP190.5.S35H382009 297.2072—dc22 2008026682 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica onacid-freepaper To My Parents; for All Their Sacrifices This page intentionally left blank Weshouldnot...concludefromthisthatpoliticsandreligionhaveacommon objectamongus,butthatinthebeginningstagesofnationstheoneservesas aninstrumentoftheother. —Jean-JacquesRousseau Menmaketheirownhistory,buttheydonotmakeitjustastheyplease;they donotmakeitundercircumstanceschosenbythemselves,butunder circumstancesdirectlyfound,givenandtransmittedfromthepast. —KarlMarx And,toppingdemocracy,thismostalluringrecord,thatitalonecanbind,and everseekstobind,allnations,allmen,ofhowevervariousanddistantlands, intoabrotherhood,afamily.Itistheold,yetever-moderndreamofearth,out ofhereldestandheryoungest,herfondphilosophersandpoets....ForIsay atthecoreofdemocracy,finally,isthereligiouselement.Allthereligions,old andnew,arethere. —WaltWhitman Christianityhasfunctionedforthenormativeself-understandingof modernityasmorethanamereprecursororacatalyst.Egalitarian universalism,fromwhichsprangtheideasoffreedomandsocialsolidarity,of anautonomousconductoflifeandemancipation,oftheindividualmoralityof conscience,humanrights,anddemocracy,isthedirectheirtotheJudaicethic ofjusticeandtheChristianethicoflove.Thislegacy,substantiallyunchanged, hasbeentheobjectofcontinualcriticalappropriationandreinterpretation.To thisday,thereisnoalternativetoit.Andinlightofthecurrentchallengesofa postnationalconstellation,wecontinuetodrawonthesubstanceofthis heritage.Everythingelseisjustidlepostmoderntalk. —Ju¨rgenHabermas Throughoutthenineteenthcentury,theoristsofdemocracyfounditquite naturaltodiscusswhetheronecountryoranotherwas“fitfordemocracy.” Thisthinkingchangedonlyinthetwentiethcentury,withtherecognitionthat thequestionitselfwaswrong:Acountrydoesnothavetobedeemedfitfor democracy;rather,ithastobecomefitthroughdemocracy. —AmartyaSen Secularistsarewrongwhentheyaskbelieverstoleavetheirreligionatthedoor beforeenteringintothepublicsquare.FrederickDouglass,AbrahamLincoln, WilliamJenningsBryan,DorothyDay,MartinLutherKing—indeed,the majorityofgreatreformersinAmericanhistory—werenotonlymotivatedby faith,butrepeatedlyusedreligiouslanguagetoarguefortheircause.Sotosay thatmenandwomenshouldnotinjecttheir“personalmorality”intopublic policydebatesisapracticalabsurdity.Ourlawisbydefinitionacodificationof morality,muchofitgroundedintheJudeo-Christiantradition. —BarackHusseinObama Preface Thisbookwaswrittenduringdifficulttimes.Whilethebasicpara- metersandargumentswerefirstconceivedintheaftermathof11 September2001,thecriticalquestionsthatspawnedmyinterestin thistopichavebeenpercolatinginmymindformostofmyadultlife. Theyweregivengreaterimpetusintheleaduptoandaftermath oftheUnitedStates-ledinvasionandoccupationofIraqand Afghanistan.ThenewAmericanforeignpolicythrusttopromote, atleastrhetorically,liberaldemocracyintheMuslimworldalso gavethisprojectapressingnewrelevance. Fundamentally, this is a study about the relationship between religionanddemocracy.Theprincipalgoalistopromotearethink- ingofthisrelationshipbychallenginglong-standingpremises,para- digms,andconceptualmodelsagainstthebackdropofwhatFernand Braudelcalledthelonguedure´e(thestudyofhistoryasalongdura- tion).Thefocus,therefore,isnotontheimmediatesocialconditions thatcangeneratereconciliationbetweentheclaimsofreligionand thedemandsofliberaldemocracybutontheconnectionandthe coherenceofasetofideas—specifically,howwecanstudythe connectionbetweenreligionanddemocracywithfresheyes,with asenseofhistoryandfreefromtheunexaminedassumptionsthat haveoftencloudedanunderstandingofthissubject. In pursuit of the same objective, Fred Dallmayr has observed thatoneofthemaingoalsofcomparativepoliticaltheoryisto “rekindlethecriticale´lanendemictopoliticalphilosophysincethe
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