Islam and Liberal Citizenship The Search for an Overlapping Consensus By Andrew March (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 350 pages.)

Abstract

In Islam and Liberal Citizenship: The Search for an Overlapping Consensus,
Andrew March asks if Muslims can draw on Islamic doctrinal resources to
support living as a minority in secular liberal democracies? His answer is a
thoroughly researched and argued “Yes.” This work of political philosophy
provides a cogent rebuttal to the Islamophobic narrative common in certain
circles that Muslims are a fifth column – cuckoo hatchlings waiting for demographic
dominance before Islamizing their host nations.
The author’s detailed and critical analysis is long overdue, particularly
given the debates about Muslims in western countries that have polarized
opinions on such issues as France’s “burqa-bans” or the United States’ “war
on terror.” There is also a wider context: addressing how religious doctrines
can be subordinated to secular authority, which is asked by others with sacred
law-based religions, among them Orthodox Jews, Catholics, and Baha’is. Further,
for those interested in strengthening commitment to civil society, March
presents belief-sourced reasons for supporting the argument that liberal
democracy can shore up support among the religious faithful who are not necessarily
swayed by secular arguments ...