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Must Islam Rule? Crisis in Muslim Political Thought
Key ideas from our inaugural Roundtable Discussion held on 27 May 2023.
A Spectrum of Islamist Movements
In the last few decades, Islamist political movements have called for Muslim exceptionalism or Islam(ist) rule. While there is a spectrum of ideological end goals ranging from an Islamic state to a re-establishment of the caliphate, they carry similar broad ideas about the implementation of shari’a rule, rejection of a secular state, and Muslim majoritarianism.
Within Muslim Southeast Asia, the re-establishment of the caliphate system is advocated by groups like Hizbut-Tahrir (HT) in Malaysia and Indonesia. They are Rejectionist, who refuse to participate in electoral and democratic processes. More violent forms of the ‘return to the caliphate’ movement includes terrorist organisations such as Khatiba Nusantara and other affiliates of Daesh (ISIS).
More mainstream groups do not reject participation in the democratic or electoral process. However, their main goal remains: capture state powers to implement Muslim rule. The idea of an ‘Islamic state’ may or may not be expressed. But common in their political imagination is the idea that only Muslims ought to rule (because non-Muslims cannot be expected to implement Islamic law) and that shari’a (understood as laws derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah) must be the basis for legislation in the country.
These ideas of Muslim rule and implementation of a shari’a/Islamic state is what we term as ‘Islamism’. At its root is the idea of capturing state powers and imposing one version of Islam. Islamism is a political movement and a politicised form of Islam where ideology is at its core beliefs.
Impact of Islamist Movements
The last few decades have seen a mainstreaming of Islamist ideas within the public sphere. In the Malaysian Youth Survey of 2022 by Merdeka Centre, 68% wanted an expansion and empowerment of shari’a laws, including 25% wanting it to fully replace the Constitution and Common Law. Support for the implementation of hudud law is also high at 75%. Notably, 82% of youths surveyed think that it is important for the Muslim ummah to revive the Islamic caliphate.
While there are no recent equivalent studies done in the context of Singapore or Indonesia, we cannot dismiss the circulation of Islamist ideas in Southeast Asian Muslim communities. This is tied to the observable rise in religious conservatism that strives to present Islam in a monolithic and puritanical ways. Islamist politics do affect the social life of Muslim societies and their imagination of what Islam is and should be, ideologically.
Pushback Against Narrative
Given the challenge of Islamist narratives taking root, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in Indonesia recently called upon Muslims to abandon the idea of re-establishing the caliphate and to strengthen the concept of citizenship:
“…it is essential to the well-being of Muslims to develop a new vision capable of replacing the long-established aspiration, rooted in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), of uniting Muslims throughout the world into a single universal state, or caliphate.
It is neither feasible nor desirable to re-establish a universal caliphate that would unite Muslims throughout the world in opposition to non-Muslims.” (First Congress on Fiqh of Civilisation, 2023)
Lessons from History
Understanding early Muslim history can help to counter the constructed narratives of Islamism.
Firstly, while the Qur’an spoke of values in governance, there was no specific form of government mentioned in the holy texts. Each of the first four caliphs (Abu Bakar, Umar, Uthman and Ali) were chosen differently.
Secondly, subsequent emergence of the monarchic Caliphate (Sunni) and Imamate (Shi’a) systems were a product of historical factors.
Thirdly, pre-modern Muslim thinkers (such as al-Farabi, al-Ghazali, al-Mawardi, and Ibn Taimiyyah) unquestioningly accepted the necessity of Muslim rule, even though they disagreed on several finer points concerning who should rule and how.
A Progressive Alternative
After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the majority of Muslims accepted the nation-state system. The option then was between a religious (Islamic) state or a secular (pluralist) state.
Given that diversity is a mark of modern nation-states, the issue then was also between adopting ethno-religious majoritarianism or the emerging new principle of equal citizenry. The former continues to feed into the notion of an ‘Islamic state’ where Muslims must rule because tied to that is the idea of the implementation of shari’a laws.
Up till today, the idea of an Islamic state remains vague and several experiments with it have failed. This is the crisis in political thought wrought by continued quest for power by Islamist groups and movements.
The alternative is a democratic state where religion and state is separated, all citizens are treated equally before the law, and freedom of religion is protected.
Further Readings
Abdelilah Belkeziz. The State in Contemporary Islamic Thought: A Historical Survey of the Major Muslim Political Thinkers of the Modern Era. London: I.B. Tauris, 2009.
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim. Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari’a. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Bassam Tibi. Islamism and Islam. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.
Munawir Sjadzali. Islam and Governmental System: Teachings, History, and Reflections. Jakarta: INIS, 1991.
Souad T. Ali. A Religion, Not a State: Ali ‘Abd al-Raziq’s Islamic Justification of Political Secularism. Utah: The University of Utah Press, 2009.
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