On constitutions , Sharia and Muslim political thought Islam s calling is an ethical and moral one - not a search for codifying permanent power for Muslims. In the Arab Spring s aftermath, and the catastrophic divisions and violence in Egypt , Libya and Tunisia - not to forget ongoing debates in almost every Muslim majority country concerning citizenship , rights, responsibilities of citizens and the constitutional contestations in the modern nation state - Muslim political parties across the region are facing textual , interpretational and conceptual challenges . While public debates on TV and in the press across the region have simplistically focused on what aspects of Islamic law to be included , and whether the overarching objectives of Islamic Law should be the guiding principle , or to incorporate as many particulars as politically possible, if one has the power; the real challenge centres on the conceptualisation of a nation -state and how to constitute an inclusive polity . The larger debate in Muslim majority states with diverse religious and ethnic communities centres on defining the nature of citizenship . Who is a citizen, what rights do they have and what are the responsibilities of each in the modern nation -state ? More critical at this juncture is whether a modern Islamic nation - state could be constituted with different classes of citizenship that are accorded unequal rights based on religious difference? Finally, what is the nature of the constitution to be adopted and should classical Muslim state conceptualisation serve a prescriptive or descriptive role in this emerging period? While not forgetting or dismissing the problematic and constantly interventionist role played by external forces , the questions above set at the heart of the debates and contestations between various political forces in the modern Arab and Muslim worlds , and real and substantive answers must be developed to resolve these ticking political time bombs . The challenge, in reality, is not in locating the past but how to understand it, how to extract the kernels of wisdom and build upon it for the future without instrumentalising it as the only source of legitimacy to extract power at the expense of others in the society. Look to the past? Muslim majority states, be it individually or collectively , cite classical and some late 18 th and early 19 th century sources to locate authority for the existing modern nation- state structure but this utilisation of earlier text has only managed to complicate the effort . We find the utilisation of sources , covering the full spectrum from monarchy to secular nationalist states, all locate their raison d etre in revelation and definitive texts and the interpretations thereof . If the classical sources are any guide on this issue, they point to one fact that the constitutive elements of the state and political membership therein are all jihadi in nature , thus the actual structure, division of powers and responsibilities are subject to the determination of the community and its designated leadership at any given period. Even though differences of opinion exist in the classical period and numerous interpretations are found in the sources , nevertheless we can assert that the presence of these, collectively point to a lack of definitive texts as to the actual structure, delegation of powers and the role of the population in it. More importantly , when we examine the existing sources we arrive not at a revealed text per se but a negotiated and evolving set of rights and connected to it , a set of responsibilities for all those agreeing to membership in classical Muslim society and its foundational articles . An often cited text and deemed authoritative is the Medina Charter , which modern Muslim nation - state discourses have labelled as the Constitution of Medina , a term that is a critical building block for establishing modern Islamic project by relocating the 20 th and 21 st century constitutional framing into a distant and authentic past.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 07:47:04 +0000
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