The Egalitarian Face of Islamic Orthodoxy: Support for Islamic Law and Economic Justice in Seven Muslim-Majority Nations

Abstract

The role that Islam plays in the economic circumstances and development of Muslim nations has been the subject of intense debate among Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Western critics of Islam or “Islamic civilization,” such as Bernard Lewis (1990) and Samuel Huntington (1993), have decried its economic irrationality, incompatibility with democracy, and failure to separate religion and state, while scholars, such as Edward Said (2001: 11), have denounced such thinking as Orientalist essentialism that ignores “the internal dynamics and plurality” of Muslim nations. The debate is not just academic. Today, there are over 1.3 billion Muslims in the world and more than 50 predominantly Muslim nations. Some of the governments of these nations are meeting their citizens’ economic needs, while many others are unable or unwilling to address these needs.

The authors are listed alphabetically. This chapter originally appeared as an extended journal article: “The Egalitarian Face of Islamic Orthodoxy: Support for Isl.unic Law and Economic Justice in Seven Muslim-Majority Nations.” American Sociological Reriew 71(2): 167–90, and is reprinted here in shortened form with permission from the American Sociological Association. We wish to thank our respective universities for financial support during our 2003–04 sabbatical in Paris and Sydney, as well as our colleagues in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney and the School of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of New South Wales. We especially thank Mansoor Moaddel, Michael Humprey, Jeff Kenney, Brian Powell, Brian Starks, Robert Van Krieken, and Melissa Wilde for their helpful comments. Address correspondence to: Robert V. Robinson, Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Ballantine Hall 744, 1020 East Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405; e-mail: robinsor@indiana.edu.