Seeking to understand why Islamicists prize the nondemocratic and even nonliberal political rule to be found in revelation-based politics, the article first considers the older Arabic and Islamic analysis of political regimes and their goals. Then it investigates why, in a more recent past, thoughtful thinkers within that same cultural milieu called for independence while endorsing nondemocratic and nonliberal regimes. Finally, it suggests why thinkers today continue to do the same. The goal is not to apologize for Islamicist doctrines in the present or in the recent or distant past but to point to the problems with current Western analyses and critiques of political Islam.
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References
1.
1. See Rom. 13:1-2; here and in what follows, the translation is my correction of the Revised Standard Version. The next two verses (13:3-4) explain why Paul insists so adamantly on obedience to authority: “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval. For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be fearful, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute His wrath on the wrongdoer.” The rest of the exhortation (13:5-7) is also worth considering.
2.
2. See Quran 4:59; the translation is my own.
3.
3. See Matt. 22:15-22: “Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, `Teacher, we know that you are true, teach the way of God truthfully, and concern yourself about no one; for you do not regard the rank of men. Tell us, then, what do you think: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?' But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, `Why do you test me, you hypocrites? Show me the money for the tax.' And they brought him a dinar. And Jesus said to them, `Whose likeness and inscription is this?' They said, `Caesar's.' Then he said to them, `Render, then, Caesar's things to Caesar and the things that are God's to God.' When they heard it, they were astonished; and they went away and left him.” Note especially verse 21, that is, the next to the last sentence. See also Matt. 17:24-27 and compare with Mark 12:13-17, esp. 17, and Luke 20:19-26, esp. 25. Again, the translation is my correction of the Revised Standard Version.
4.
4. See 1 Sam. 8:10-21, 1-9.
5.
The complete phrase reads: “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains” (my translation). Social Contract was published in 1762.
6.
also Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (New York: Free Press, 1992), passim.
7.
7. See Quran 1:2-4, 5; 2:143; 110:1-2; the translation is mine.
8.
The first account of political science occurs in Enumeration of the Sciences, 102:4-104:15.
9.
9. The second account is set forth in Enumeration of the Sciences, 104:16-107:4.
10.
10. See Mahdi, “Science, Philosophy, and Religion,” p. 137.
11.
An English translation of this work by Charles E. Butterworth is in the new edition of Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook, ed. Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi (New York: Free Press of Glencoe, forth-coming).
12.
12. See Book of Religion, paras. 5, 10.
13.
13. See ibid., paras. 15-27, esp. para. 27 end.
14.
14. See Avicenna, Kitab al-Shifa, al-Ilahiyyat, ed. G. Anawati and S. Zayid (Cairo: al-Hai'a al-`Amma li-Shu'un al-Matabi` al-Amiriyya, 1960). The discussion of politics occurs in bk. 10, chaps. 1-5.
15.
For what follows, see the translation by Charles E. Butterworth forthcoming in the new edition of Medieval Political Philosophy, paras. 53-56.
16.
see Charles E. Butterworth, Philosophy, Ethics, and Virtuous Rule: A Study of Averroes' Commentary on Plato's “Republic” (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1986), pp. 12-13, 87-88.
17.
al-Afghani , “al-Hukuma al-istibdadiyya”[Despotic government], Misr, 2/33 (1879).
18.
Ernest Renan's own reply to al-Afghani in ibid., 19 May 1883.
19.
Hassan Bakr A. Hassan , “Islamic Revivalism and Its Impact on the Middle East and the Superpowers,” in Culture and International Relations, ed. Jongsuk Chay (New York: Praeger, 1990), pp. 207-208.
20.
In this light, Rousseau's single negative dogma needed in civil religion is instructive; see Social Contract, bk. 4, chap. 8, last three paras.
