Review of Religion and Politics

Marx - disintegration

Durkheim - unification

Barakat – generally agrees with Marxist approach

Din (religion) and Dawla (state)

Barakat (Society Religion)

Lewis (Religion Society)

Implications for (in)flexibility of religion

Key Issue: Relationship between religion and the state (government)

Islam vs. Islamism – Islam is a religion. Islamism is an ideology defining economic and legal systems based on Islam

Muslim vs. Islamist – Muslims follow the religion of Islam but is not necessarily an Islamist. Islamist has ideologies following Islamism

Distinct Categories of Islamists

Takfiri – radical fundamentalist

Nationalist Militant – combine Islamist ideology with specific local political demands

Institutionalist – seek political role through state institutions

Implications for democratic governance?

Islam as the basis for law

Sami Zubaida reading on the “law state”

Taqlid – imitation; following established teachings uncritically

Ijtihad – independent judgment of a qualified legal scholar (mujtahid)

Madhhab – jurisprudential school of thought

Madhab – School of Thought in Islamic Jurisprudence

Islam as a Tool (cultural “tool kit”)

Framing – “tools that lend order and sense to an otherwise confusing world by providing language that captures or constructs the meaning of problems.”

Framing in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s

What government activities were the movements challenging?• US Troops in Saudi Arabia• Corruption and decadent behavior of ruling family• Extreme economic disparities

Alternative frames – liberal, Marxist-secular, feminist, Islamic

Islamic frame only one that resonated • Led to Nasiha Petition (“memorandum of advice”

from religious scholars demanding change in government behavior)