Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari'a.

• Author: Farrar, Salim
• Position: Book review

Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari'a (2008) by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

This book represents a culmination of the author's life's work. He advances the case for a secular state cogently, with fluency and great clarity. Further, he should be commended on the great lengths he has gone to engage diverse communities in their own languages to stimulate an inclusive debate on one of the most important topics of our times.

In light of the factionalism of the Muslim world and the distant possibility of a righteous Islamic government, I have sympathies with An-Na'im's call for a transparent, inclusive political process, for neutrality between competing religious claims, protections within a framework of democracy and constitutionalism, and sensitivity towards concerns of human rights. Ultimately, however, his argument rests on rational considerations, because his so-called 'Islamic' justifications remain unconvincing. First, at the general level, there is very little engagement with the Islamic literature, contemporary or historical, theological, legal or exegetical. Whether this is due to the author's secular training, his embedding in American liberal institutions or personal preferences is unclear. In my view, the relative absence of 'Islamic' thought in the text undermines his stated goal of an 'Islamic' case (see chapter 1) for a secular state, irrespective of how you define the terms 'Islamic' or 'secular.' It reads more as an export of John Rawls with 'Islamic' packaging than a proposal rooted in the intellectual processes of Muslim communities (as diverse as they are). If he wants to spark reform and promote 'modern' values in Muslim societies that espouse Islam, it needs to have traction with 'Islamic' scholars who, as a general rule, will not have John Rawls et al as primary references.

A second, and related, problem is the ambiguity concerning his intended audience. Is his proposal for the Muslim world as a whole? Or is it merely for Muslim and secular governments grappling with 'Islamist' opposition forces? His three cases studies of India, Turkey and Indonesia are 'secular' states indicating the latter (and, perhaps, suggesting a geopolitical agenda). Yet, the controversies he points to at length (re minority rights, position of women and 'freedom of religion') are as, if not more, evident in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan which begs the question why there has...