Accidental Blogger

Professor Razi Azmi has an op-ed in Pakistan's Daily Times today.  The situation described by Dr. Azmi highlights one of the major failures of Islamicate thought in the last millennium: their inability to evolve a political theory beyond hereditary kingship or rule by strongman.

The earliest Islamic "state" was  a rather rudimentary affair in the early days, with minimal organizational structures until Muawiya and his successors built a more extensive state structure by fusing Byzantine and Arab tribal streams, held together by the new Islamic religious identity. There was no clearly defined notion of how to select rulers or organize the state. The prophet was everything in his time, but did not leave clear instructions about succession (or, if the Shia version is believed, gave somewhat vague instructions that were disregarded) and each of the first four caliphs was elected/selected in a different manner..and each faced some opposition with the crisis reaching its climax with the assassination of Uthman and open civil war in the time of Imam Ali (who never controlled large sections of the expanding Islamic empire).

The situation was eventually stabilized by the Ummayads by creating a hereditary kingship in all but name, but this issue was never really resolved. Most caliphs were challenged by religious rebels inspired by egalitarian and totalitarian elements in Islamic thought as well as by  supporters of the Ahle bait (the family of the prophet via Ali and Fatima), and of course, they were faced with the usual civil wars and strife seen in all empires with a hereditary kingship.

Similar crises in Europe were gradually resolved in favor of republican constitutional rule and nationalism, but remain unsolved in most of the Muslim world. Attempts are being made in places like Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Turkey to import modern state systems with minimal Islamic cover added on to soothe Islamist sentiments, but the situation is not exactly stable since the Islamic cover is liable to being challenged by Islamists with a more authentic grasp of Islamic history and theology, and the Western component is discredited by corrupt elites and their alienation from their own culture.  I personally think there ARE elements within our cultural traditions (Islamicate as well as non-Islamic) that could be used to fashion a more authentic basis for a modern democratic state but that fight is not going well..

Iran is probably the only case where a very serious attempt at "Islamic democracy" has been made from within the clerical tradition, but that attempt is not going too well either. It seems that even the shia clergy (generally more educated and more enlightened than their Sunni counterparts) has not successfully resolved enough contradictions to make the system stable and workable.

Bangladesh and Indonesia may yet escape. Turkey maybe. Lets see what happens in Pakistan..Its not looking too good right now.