Islam and Civil Society From the Paradigm of Compatibility to Critical Engagement

Abstract

Book Reviewed: Sohail H. Hashmi, ed. Islamic Political Ethics: Civil
Society, Pluralism, and Conflict. Foreword by Jack Miles. Princeton and
Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2002. 227 pages.
This edited volume is a welcome addition to the growing literature of
Islamic political ethics. These collected essays address some of the most
difficult and urgent issues facing the Islamic world today. Political rule, pluralism,
civil society, nation-states, constitutionalism, and the religio-ethical
foundations oflslamic politics are just a few of the issues that the contributors
analyze in their respective chapters.
The essays' overall tone is affirmative, for the apparent tension
between Islamic politics and the universally accepted values of democracy
and civil society is reducible to historical and political factors rather
than to an innate incompatibility between the two. While there is some
wisdom in emphasizing this, it considerably weakens the articles' critical
nature.
Given the political situation of present-day Muslim countries, it may be
considered a luxury to question the virtues of parliamentary democracy,
openness, and civil society. Nevertheless, a selective reading of both the
Islamic tradition and the modern notions of open society is not sufficient for reconstructing an Islamic political ethics that will be legitimate in the eyes of most Muslims as well as responding to the pressing issues of mod­ern politics and international relations. The book under review is a solid step in this direction, but falls short of going beyond the "paradigm of com­patibility." With the exception of Hasan Hanafi's essay, others seem to assume a fixed and standard definition of democracy, civil society, and plu­ralism without giving any indepth analyses of these concepts ...