Abstract
The Arab World of today is not what it used to be 3 years ago. The revolutions of the Arab Spring toppled the regimes of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, while many other countries have undergone severe turmoil (Yemen, Bahrain) or even civil war as in the case of Syria. Three North African countries held elections that for the very first time in their history were relatively free of manipulation and in which candidates contested for real power. In the West, many observers welcomed these historic events as an end to the decade-long stalemate in the region that was dominated by ossified regimes.
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- 1.
In this essay, I treat the terms “Islamism” and “Political Islam” interchangeably, referring to the current of Political thought and action whose adherents see the teachings of Islam as the main source of political ideas and values and who are not only identified with “Islamism” or “Political Islam” by others but identify themselves as “Islamiyyun” (Islamists).
- 2.
Sharia inheritance law also discriminates against Muslim women, as their inheritance shares are considerably lower than those of male heirs.
- 3.
Quoting Ghannouchi and Madi, I use my English translations of the Arabic originals.
- 4.
Quoting the Quran, I follow the translation of Arthur John Arberry (1955): The Koran interpreted. London: Allen & Unwin. All references to the Quran are abbreviated as “Q”.
- 5.
‘Special citizenship’ is also accorded to Muslims abroad, although the restrictions applied to them differ from those applied to domestic Non-Muslims. For example, domestic non-Muslims can receive welfare benefits, while Muslims abroad cannot.
- 6.
The term ‘shura’ (consultation) originally referred to the pre-Islamic practice of consultation by a tribal sheikh with other leading personalities of a tribe, and the practice was continued in the early years of Islam when the leading men of the tribe of the quraish elected ‘Uthman as the third caliph (Bosworth 1997, p. 504). The Quran also advises believers to hold consultations (3:159). In modern times, thinkers like Muhammad ‘Abduh and Rashid Rida used the term to justify the introduction of parliamentary bodies as Islamic (Ayalon 1997, p. 506). The term is often used by Islamist thinkers to refer to deliberative institutions in the Islamic state.
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Klevesath, L. (2014). Religious Freedom in Current Political Islam: The Writings of Rachid al-Ghannouchi and Abu al-‘Ala Madi. In: Cavuldak, A., Hidalgo, O., Hildmann, P., Zapf, H. (eds) Demokratie und Islam. Politik und Religion. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-19833-0_3
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