Arif A. Jamal - Islam, Law and the Modern State: (Re)imagining Liberal Theory in Muslim Contexts

Within the global phenomenon of the (re)emergence of religion into issues of public debate, one of the most salient issues confronting contemporary Muslim societies is how to relate the legal and political heritage that developed in pre-modern Islamic polities to the political order of the modern states in which Muslims now live. This work seeks to develop a framework for addressing this issue. The central argument is that liberal theory, and in particular justice as discourse, can be normatively useful in Muslim contexts for relating religion, law and state. Just as Muslim contexts have developed historically, and continue to develop today, the same is the case with the requisites of liberal theory, and this may allow for liberal choices to be made in a manner that is not a renunciation of Muslim heritage.

Arif A. Jamal is Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law where he teaches comparative law, legal theory, law and religion, and Islamic law. He has studied and researched in law, politics and Islamic studies in Canada, the UK and the USA, and writes on issues of law and religion, comparative law and law in Muslim contexts.

Series Editors:

Silvio Ferrari, University of Milan, Italy, Russell Sandberg, Cardiff University, UK, Pieter Coertzen, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, W. Cole Durham, Jr., Brigham Young University, USA, and Tahir Mahmood, Amity International University, India

www.routledge.com/ICLARS-Series-on-Law-and-Religion/book-series/ICLARS

The ICLARS Series on Law and Religion is a new series designed to provide a forum for the rapidly expanding field of research in law and religion. The series is published in association with the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, an international network of scholars and experts of law and religion founded in 2007 with the aim of providing a place where information, data and opinions can easily be exchanged among members and made available to the broader scientific community. The series aims to become a primary source for students and scholars while presenting authors with a valuable means to reach a wide and growing readership.

Other titles in this series:

Islam, Law and the Modern State

(Re)imagining Liberal Theory in Muslim Contexts

Arif A. Jamal, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Religious Freedom and the Australian Constitution

Origins and Future

Luke Beck, Western Sydney University, Australia

Free Exercise of Religion and the United States Constitution

The Supreme Courts Challenge

Mark P. Strasser, Capital University Law School, USA

Law and International Religious Freedom

The Rise and Decline of the American Model

Pasquale Annicchino, European University Institute, Italy

Proportionality, Equality Laws, and Religion

Conflicts in England, Canada, and the USA

Megan Pearson, University of Southampton, UK

Islam and Womens Income

Farah Deeba Chowdhury, Queens University, Canada

Blasphemy, Islam and the State

Stewart Fenwick, University of Melbourne, Australia

First published 2018

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2018 Arif A. Jamal

The right of Arif A. Jamal to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jamal, Arif A., author.

Title: Islam, law, and the modern state : (re)imagining liberal theory in Muslim contexts / by Arif A. Jamal.

Description: Abingdon, Oxon [UK] ; New York : Routledge, 2018. | Series: ICLARS series on religion and law | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017048591 | ISBN 9781138205482 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Justice, Administration of (Islamic law) | Justice, Administration of. | Islam and justice. | Religion and law.

Classification: LCC KBP1572.J36 2018 | DDC 340.5/9dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017048591

ISBN: 978-1-138-20548-2 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-46681-1 (ebk)

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Within the global phenomenon of the (re)emergence of religion into issues of public debate, one of the most salient issues confronting contemporary Muslim societies is how to relate the legal and political heritage that developed in pre-modern Islamic polities to the political order of the modern states in which Muslims now live.

This work seeks to develop a framework for addressing this issue by drawing upon two sources. The first is an interpretative understanding of the history of Muslim contexts, emphasising, in particular, the diversity of views about what Islam mandates that have always been a part of Muslim experience and the distinction between political and religio-legal authority that developed in practice in these environments. The second source is a variety of contemporary liberal theory which this work develops and calls justice as discourse.

The central argument is that liberal theory, and justice as discourse in particular, though it may have emerged in a different social and cultural milieu, can be normatively useful in Muslim contexts for relating, religion, law, state and society. It is argued first that Muslim contexts are facing issues similar to those out of which liberal theory emerged. Additionally, it is argued that both Muslim contexts and liberal theory are dynamic and continually developing, and that this shared dynamism means that there may be space for convergence of the two. Just as Muslim contexts have developed historically (and continue to develop today), the same is the case with the requisites of liberal theory and this may allow for liberal choices to be made in a manner that is not a renunciation of Muslim heritage.