ISLAM, MUSLIMS AND THE MODERN STATE

Also by Hussin Mutalib

ISLAM AND ETHNICITY IN MALAY POUTICS ISLAM IN MALAYSIA: From Revivalism to Islamic State?

Also by Taj ul-Islam Hashmi

PAKISTAN AS A PEASANT UTOPIA: The Communalization of Class Politics in East Bengal

COLONIAL BENGAL [Bengali]

Islam, Muslims and the Modern State Case-Studies of Muslims in Thirteen Countries

Edited by

Russin Mutalib Senior Lecturer Department 0/ Political Science National University 0/ Singapore

and

Taj ul-Islam Rashmi Senior Lecturer Department 0/ History National University 0/ Singapore

Published in Great Britain by

MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world

First edition 1994 Reprinted (with alterations) 1996

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

ISBN 978-0-333-66969-3 ISBN 978-1-349-14208-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-14208-8

First published in the United States of America 1994 by

ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INe., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010

ISBN 978-0-312-10300-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Islam, Muslims, and the modem state / edited by Hussin Mutalib and Taj ul-Islam Hashmi. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ISBN 978-0-312-10300-2

) and index.

I. Islam and the state. 2. Islamic countries-Politics and govemment. I. Hussin Mutalib. 1949- 11. Hashmi, Taj ul-Islam, 1948-JC49.185 1994 320'.08'82971-dc20 93-24000

CIP

Selection and editorial matter © Hussin Mutalib and Taj ul-Islam Hashmi 1994 Chapters 1-17 © Macmillan Press Ltd 1994

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any Iicence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W I P 9HE.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be Iiable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

10 9 8 7 6 05 04 03 02 01

54321 00 99 98 97 96

Contents

Preface

Notes on the Contributors

PART I ISLAM AND MUSLIMS IN THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

2

Towards a New World Order: US Hegemony, Client-States and Islamic Alternative

Cyrus Bina

Minority Crises: Majority Options Syed Zainal Abedin

PART 11 ISLAM AND MUSLIMS IN MUSLIM-MAJORITY STATES

3

4

5

6

Pakistan Islam in Pakistan under Bhutto and Zia-ul-Haq

Mir Zohair Hussain

Bangladesh Jamaat-i-Islami in Bangladesh: Challenges and Prospects

U. A. B. Razia Akter Banu

Islam in Bangladesh Politics Ta} ul-lslam Hashmi

South-east Asia Islam in South-east Asia: Varying Impact and Images of the Middle East

MonaAbaza

v

ix

Xli

3

31

47

80

100

139

vi Contents

Malaysia 7 Islamisation in Malaysia: Between Ideals and Realities 152

Hussin Mutalib

Indonesia 8 Muslims and the State in Indonesia 174

C. W. Watson

Iran 9 Ayatollah Khomeini' s Concept of Rightful Government:

The Velayat-e-Faqih 197 Hossein Seijzadeh

Egypt 10 Islam and Development in Egypt: Civil Society

and the State 211 Denis Sullivan

Central Asia 11 Russia and the Muslim States of Central Asia and

Afghanistan 232 Mikhail Konarovsky

Tatarstan 12 Muslim National Communism in Tatarstan: The Dream of

Sultangaliev Revisited 245 Masayuki Yamauchi

PART 111 ISLAM AND MUSLIMS IN MUSLlM-MINORITY STATES

India 13 God's Government: Jama'at-i-Islami ofIndia 259

M. S. Agwani

Israel 14 The Islamic Movement in Israel 278

Alisa Rubin Peled

Contents Vll

United States 15 Islam and Muslims in America 298

Gisela Webb

Australia 16 Islam and Muslims in Australia 317

Qazi Ashjaq Ahmad

United Kingdom 17 Islam and Muslims in Britain 339

M. Manazir Ahsan

Index 362

If we treasure The real meaning of life

If we treasure Love Peace Justice

Will we treasure Humanity The earth 's bounty Together?

Iza Riana

viii

Preface

With the revolutionary changes in Iran consequent to the sudden over­throw of the pro-Western Pahlavi dynasty in 1979 by the supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini, the whole world, especially the West, began to take a keener interest in the affairs of Muslim countries. Both the developed and rich West, and the not-so-developed and relatively poor socialistlcommunist countries as weIl as the Third W orId countries (inc1uding those with pre­dominantly Muslim populations) could no longer ignore what came to be known as the phenomenon of Islamic resurgence or revivalism. Countries in the Muslim hinterland, such as Saudi Arabia and its neighbours in the Middle East, which profess to be 'Islamic' but are often ridiculed in West­ern media, fictions and movies as remnants of the decadent feudalistic past, were similarly alarmed at the new development not only in neigh­bouring Iran but among a large seetion of their own domestic populations.

Recent changes in the socio-political and economic landscape of Muslims in countries like Sudan, Algeria, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, and even among Muslims living in non-Muslim environments such as Europe, America and Australia, have caught the attention of many people around the globe; in­c1uding many Western writers. It is still an enigma tomany scholars and laymen how 'all of a sudden' Muslim men and women, many with modern Western education, habits and worldview, have turned 'Islamic'. The way millions of young and 'Westernised' Iranians welcomed Khomeini on the streets of Tehran in 1979 baffled the West. The pro-Islamic propensity of a large number of Turkish Muslims, which, among other things, brought back the once-banned 'Islamic' custom of women wearing the veil, is equally a difficult phenomenon to explain if one has little understanding of Islam and the problems confronting Muslims in the 'modern' states of today.

Since the Islamic Revolution of Iran, and its perceived domino-effect on the rest of the Muslim World, scores of books and essays have come off the press in English and other languages, which, more often than not, have high­lighted the spectre and bogey associated with the assumed and imminent rise of 'militant Islam'. Consequently, blanket terms are liberally used, such as 'Islamic Fundamentalism' , 'Islamic Extremism', 'Political Islam' or 'Islamic Fanaticism', to describe the reassertiveness of the Islamic ethos around the world. One senses a great ambivalence, if not double-standard, in the attitude of most Western countries and their Eastern (non-Muslim as weIl as Muslim) allies towards Islamic movements and regimes. More so if such regimes are

IX

x Preface

committed to the establishment of Shariah or Islamic law, as the guiding principles of the State. We have seen, for instance, how since 1979, Iran, along with Libya, Sudan, Algeria and some other 'Islamic' countries, has been quickly stigmatised as regressive and oppressive by the West for espousing 'Islamic fundamentalism' , when the most fundamentalist country of all, Saudi Arabia, receives the most-favoured nation status from the West. Pakistan under Zia-ul-Haq and the Afghan mujahideen also receive favour­able treatment from the West because it is in Western interest (political, strategic or economic) for them to do so. Compare this to the situation in Bosnia, where Western intransigence has led to ethnic cIeansing and Croatia allowed more than 20000 Muslim women to be raped by Serbian forces. One thus finds the Islamic world today being arbitrarily segmented, if not polarised, into the 'extremist' (anti-West) and 'moderate' (pro-West) blocs.

Against the above backdrop of Islam and its adherents, this compendium of scholarly articIes is a small attempt to pI ace in perspective the common notions about Islam and Muslim political culture, and, in the process, address the myth about the so-called ummah, or the followers of Islam, as a homogeneous and united force that is assumed to be hostile to the West or to the modernisation process. Many publications have dealt only with Muslim-majority countries, especially those in the Middle East and North Africa. This book covers a much wider canvas and is an attempt to under­stand, and come to better terms with the many facets of Islam and its adherents - the orthodox and the liberal, militant and pacifist, conservative and progressive, rigid and accommodating. Within the extremes of this spectrum lie many forms of Islam. At the more macro level, the response of Muslims to prevailing events in the world today has also to be seen in the context of developments in the international arena. Hence, incIuded in this collection are two articles which address the theme as viewed through a wider lens.

This book approaches the issue of Islam and the Muslims from a micro, case-study perspective. Comparing and contrasting studies about personal­ities, regions and ideologies, especially after the decIine of East-European communism, the end of the Cold War and the inconcIusive tensions that followed the confticts in the Middle East and elsewhere, are deemed essent­ial for a more balanced understanding of Islam and its adherents, espe­cially with Islamic resurgence being increasingly perceived as the third force in the newly emerging international power configuration of the 1990s.

This study is also intended to highlight how the variables of cIass, ethnicity and communal politics are playing vital roles in inftuencing local and regional politics as weIl as Islamic movements worldwide. We see, for instance, how military rulers manipulate and even champion the cause of

Preface Xl

Islamic resurgence in Pakistan and Bangladesh, while Indonesia adopts an equi-distance strategy towards Islam-oriented groups. We also come to acknowledge the heterogeneity of the 'Muslim world': between the 'reactionary Islam' of groups in South Asia and the 'progressive Islam' of the lower classes; between the 'pro-Western Islam' ofthe kings and ameers and the radical Islam of the down-trodden in Lebanon and the West Bank. So, too, with the fact that the actions and responses of Muslims in con­fronting the vicissitudes of life in many states are very much influenced by factors such as the nature and orientation of the state, as weIl as the relative collective strength of the Muslims vis-a-vis non-Muslims and the ruling regime. It has also become apparent that while Islamic resurgence has be­come a convenient tool by which to perpetuate the hegemonic tendencies of regimes against the discontented masses, on other occasions it has given meaning and a certain unity of purpose to such masses.

The 'Muslim world' is today faced with an unenviable dilemma. On the one hand, there is widespread disenchantment with what they see as the spiritual bankruptcy and oppressive practices of the West and its allies. On the other, however, Muslims realise the necessity of acquiring Western technology and other material support to make them stand tall vis-a-vis others in the modernising environment of today. In their quest to resolve this dilemma, Muslims in different countries and settings have resorted to a variety of actions and strategies. With a commitment to their ideals and a judicious blend of ingenuity and creativity, some have succeeded. Many however, continue to grapple with the challenges posed by the harsh real­ities of modern life, achallenge which is bound to become even more acute with the approaching twenty-first century.

It remains for the editors now to acknowledge, with appreciation, the Fulbright Committee in Washington, DC, for its award of a Research Grant, which made it possible for a major part of this work to be brainstorrned and co-ordinated from Harvard University. We are certainly indebted to all the contributors for making this work possible, and we acknowledge with thanks the editorial support of Kartini Firdaus and the services of Rohani, who cheerfully typed the manuscripts.

Singapore

HUSSIN MUTALIB

TAl UL-IsLAM HASHMI

Notes on the Contributors

Mona Abaza is based in Germany after recently completing her research attachment, as Research Fellow, at the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies, Singapore. She is currently engaged in studies about the Islamisation process in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Syed Zainal Abedin is the Director of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs in London. A regular participant in many international Muslim seminars and meetings, he is also the Editor of the journal Muslim Minority Affairs (London).

M. S. Agwani is the Vice-Chancellor of the Jawarhalal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He writes regularly for international journals, mainly on issues of Islamic resurgence in South Asia. He is the author of Islamic Fundamentalism in India.

Qazi Ashfaq Ahmad is an active Muslim figure in Australia, having served the Australian Federation of Muslim Councils for many years. He was also a former member of the Regional Islamic Council of Asia and the Pacific (RISEAP), which has its headquarters in Malaysia. He is Editor of the Australian Muslim Times.

M. Manazir Ahsan is the Director-General of the Islamic Foundation at Leicester (UK). He regularly contributes papers in international conferences and journals on various aspects of Islamic movements in different parts of the world. He is the author of a book on the Abbasid dynasty.

U. A. B. Razia Akter Bann was, until recently, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. She is Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Dhaka (Bangladesh). She writes regularly for international journals on issues of Islamic resurgence in Bangladesh. She is tbe author of Islam in Bangladesh (E. J. Brill, Leiden).

Cyrus Bina is Research Associate at the Centre for Middle Eastern Stu­dies, Harvard University. He has been Professor of Economics at Providence College, Rhode Island, as weIl as Oliver College, Michigan. Bina is the

xii

Notes on the Contributors XJll

author of The Eeonomies of the Gil Crisis, and co-editor of Modern Capitalism and Islamie Ideology in Iran, as well as a founding member of the International Congress of Political Economists.

Taj ul-Islam Rashmi is Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, National University of Singapore. He is the author of Colonial Bengal (Bengali), published in Ca1cutta, and Pakistan as a Peasant Utopia: The Communalization of Class Polities in East Bengal, 1920-1947 (Westview Press, Boulder). He regularly contributes papers in international journals on issues of peasant politics, communalism and Islam in South Asia, and has taught at the universities of Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh and Curtin in Australia.

Mir Zohair Russain is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Southern Alabama (USA). He regularly con­tributes papers in international journals on Islamic revivalism in Pakistan, Iran and Egypt. He is currently engaged in writing two books, The Polities of Islam in Pakistan (1971-1991) and Prominent Islamie Revivalists.

Mikhail A. Konarovsky is a Fellow of the Centre for International Affairs, Harvard University. He is a diplomat in the Russian Foreign Ministry and was based in Afghanistan for more than a decade. A well-informed 'Soviet specialist' , he writes regularly for international journals on issues of politics and stability in Central Asia.

Russin Mutalib is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore. Hussin was recently a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Harvard University. He is the author of Islam and Ethnieity in Malay Politics (Oxford University Press) and Islam in Malaysia: From Revivalism to Islamie State? (Singapore University Press), and a regular par­ticipant in international conferences on Islam and the Muslims in Southeast Asia, as well as on the domestic politics of Singapore.

Alisa Rubin Peled is Resident Tutor at Harvard University and Member of the House Fellowship Selection Committee of Kirkland House, Harvard. A former student and fellow at Yale and Oxford respectively, she speaks Russian, Arabic, French and Hebrew. She compiled her present artic1e after extensive field research in the Middle East.

Rossein Seifzadeh is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law and Politics at the University of Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. He has just

XIV Notes on the Contributors

completed his attachment, first as Visiting Scholar, with the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, and then at the Institute of Political and International Studies, Tehran.

Denis Sullivan is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, Northeast University, Uni ted States. He has written articles on Muslims and is a keen observer of events and developments in the Muslim World, particularly the Middle East.

C. W. Watson is with the University of Kent at Canterbury, United Kingdom. A frequent visitor to Indonesia and Southeast Asia, he has written many articles about Indonesian society and politics, inc1uding State and Society in Indonesia (University of Kent, Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, occ. paper no. 8, 1987).

Gisela Webb is attached to the Department of Religious Studies, Seton Hall University, Uni ted States. She is a regular participant in seminars about Islam and the Muslims in America. Her special interest is in Sufism in America.

Masayuki Yamauchi is with the University of Tokyo, Japan. Yamauchi was recently a Fellow attached to the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University. He has written books and numerous articles about Muslims in Central Asia.