What do Egypt's Islamists want? Moderate Islam and the rise of Islamic constitutionalism

Middle East Journal

Volumn 60, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 707-731

  Rutherford, Bruce K ^a  

^a Department of Political Science   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ACCOUNTABILITY; CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM; GOVERNANCE APPROACH; ISLAMISM; LIBERALISM; POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT;

AFRICA; EGYPT; NORTH AFRICA;

EID: 33750865969     PISSN: 00263141     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3751/60.4.14     Document Type: Article

References (170)

1. This flexibility has not extended to its foreign policy. The MB remains highly critical of the status quo in the Middle East. The Brotherhood's leader, Muhammad Mahdi'Akif, recently called for sending 10,000 MB fighters to Lebanon to assist Hizbullah in its clash with Israel. See Muhammad Saleh, "Murshid al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin: Musta'aidun li-irsal 10,000 Mujahid ila Lubnan" ["Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood: We are Prepared to Send 10,000 Mujahids to Lebanon"], Al-Hayat, August 4, 2006.
2. For further information on al-Qaradawi, see the website that he helped to found, http://www.islamonline.net/arabic.
3. Also, see the entry about him in Philip Mattar, ed., Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa, 2nd Edition (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004), p. 1870.
4. For further detail on al-Bishri's background and views, see Ibrahim al-Bayyumi Ghanim, Tariq al-Bishri: Al-Qadi, al-Mufakkir [Tariq al-Bishri: The Judge, The Intellectual], (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 1999).
5. For further information, see the brief biography of Abu al-Majd at http://www.un.org/Dialogue/Aboulmagd.html.
6. Muhammad Salim al-'Awwa, Fi Usul al-Nizam al-Jin'i al-Islami [On the Principles of the Islamic Criminal System], (Cairo: Dar al-Ma'arif, 1979).
7. For further discussion of al-'Awwa, see Raymond William Baker, Islam without Fear: Egypt and the New Islamists (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003), particularly pp. 199-200.
8. Nathan J. Brown, Constitutions in a Nonconstitutional World: Arab Basic Laws and the Prospects for Accountable Government (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), pp. 161-193.
9. Baker, Islam without Fear, p. 1.
10. Muhammad Salim al-'Awwa, Religion and Political Structures: An Islamic Viewpoint, Occasional Papers, No. 3 (Birmingham, UK: Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 1999), p. 2.
11. Al-'Awwa, Religion and Political Structures, p. 6.
12. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla fi-l-Islam [On the Jurisprudence of the State in Islam] (Cairo: Dar al-Sharouq, 1997), p. 15.
13. Tariq al-Bishri, Dirasat fi-l-Dimuqratiyya al-Misriyya [Studies in Egyptian Democracy] (Cairo: Dar al-Sharouq, 1987), pp. 174-175;
14. Tariq al-Bishri, Al-Wada' al-Qanuni bayn al-Shari'a al-Islamiyya wa al-Qanun al-Wad'ai [The Legal Situation between Islamic Shari'a and Positive Law] (Cairo: Dar al-Sharouq, 2003), pp. 51, 54.
15. Ahmad Kamal Abu al-Majd, Nazarat hawla al-Fiqh al-Dusturi fi-l-Islam [Reflections on Constitutional Jurisprudence in Islam] (Cairo: Matba'at al-Azhar, 1962), p. 4.
16. Al-Bishri, al-Wada' al-Qanuni, p. 48.
17. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat hawla al-Fiqh, pp. 2, 4;
18. Muhammad Salim al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi li-l-Dawla al-Islamiyya [On the Political System of the Islamic State] (Cairo: Day al-Sharouq, 1989), p. 141.
19. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat Hawla al-Fiqh, p. 7.
20. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 98.
21. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat Hawla al-Fiqh, pp. 20-21;
22. Al-Bishri, Dirasat fi al-Dimaqratiyya, p. 154;
23. al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 38-39.
24. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, p. 81.
25. Malcolm H. Kerr, Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories of Muhammad Abdou and Rashid Rida (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), pp. 209-223.
26. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat Hawla al-Fiqh, p. 13;
27. al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 38.
28. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat Hawla al-Fiqh, p. 14.
29. Al-'Awwa makes a similar claim; al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, p. 61.
30. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 31-32.
31. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat Hawla al-Fiqh, p. 16.
32. Also, al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, pp. 232-233.
33. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat Hawla al-Fiqh, p. 19;
34. al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 34.
35. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, p. 233;
36. al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 34, 59.
37. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat Hawla al-Fiqh, p. 19.
38. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 62.
39. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 35.
40. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 117. If these options are not available, the believers should wait, resist the leader by whatever means are available, and gradually build the broad public support needed to change the regime. They should be careful not to overthrow the leader if this action is likely to lead to civil disorder (fitna).
41. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, p. 232.
42. Al-Qaradawi makes a similar point; al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 36.
43. Al-'Awwa invokes additional evidence from the period of the Rashidun Caliphs to support this position. He observes that the Caliphs sought the opinion of the people regarding the appointment and performance of provincial governors. If the people of a region were dissatisfied with their governor, the Caliphs replaced him. Al-'Awwa argues that this principle was soon extended to the Caliphate, and constituted the basis for some Muslims to demand the dismissal of the Caliph Othman for alleged corruption. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, pp. 87-88.
44. Tariq al-Bishri, Minhaj Al-Nizr fi Al-Nizam Al-Siyasiyya Al-Mu'aasiriyya li-l-Buldan al-'Alam al-Islami [Perspectives on the Contemporary Political Systems of the Countries of the Islamic World] (Cairo: Dar al-Sharouq, 2003), pp. 63-64;
45. also, al-Bishri, Dirasat fi al-Dimuqratiyya, pp. 166, 170, 184-190.
46. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat Hawla al-Fiqh, p. 26.
47. Also, al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 31.
48. Al-'Awwa, Religion and Political Structures, p. 7.
49. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 151, 153. He stresses that these parties should not represent competing interests of individuals.
50. Al-'Awwa holds a similar view; al-'Awwa, Religion and Political Structures, pp. 13-14.
51. Al-Bishri, Dirasat fi al-Dimuqratiyya, pp. 229-231.
52. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 132.
53. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, p. 71.
54. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, p. 79.
55. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 138.
56. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, p.209.
57. Also, Abu al-Majd, Nazarat hawla al-Fiqh, pp. 20-21.
58. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 142-143, 151. He adds that all parties must acknowledge Islam and work to strengthen it. He would not allow areligious or atheistic parties, or parties that "contradict Islam." p. 154.
59. Al-Bishri, Dirasat fi al-Dimuqratiyya, p. 225.
60. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, pp. 105-106.
61. Al-'Awwa, Religion and Political Structures, p. 9.
62. Al-'Awwa, Religion and Political Structures, p. 14.
63. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 142-143.
64. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 36.
65. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 9.
66. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat Hawla al-Fiqh, p. 26.
67. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 58.
68. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 37, 49.
69. Abu al-Majd, Nazarat Hawla al-Fiqh, p. 22.
70. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 49.
71. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, p. 179.
72. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, pp. 211-212.
73. Muhammad Salim al-'Awwa, Al-Haqq fi-l-Ta'abir [The Right of Expression] (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 1998), pp. 65-72. This book consists primarily of al-'Awwa's views on the case of Nasir Abu Zayd, a controversial scholar of the Qur'an who was accused of apostasy by some Islamic thinkers.
74. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, pp. 210-220.
75. In al-'Awwa's view, "public declaration of opinion is obligatory and not simply permitted." Al-'Awwa, Religion and Political Structures, p. 11.
76. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, pp. 211, 213.
77. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 49, 151-154.
78. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 82.
79. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 164.
80. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 165, 175.
81. Also, al-'Awwa, Religion and Political Structures, p. 7.
82. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 173.
83. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 161-163. However, in al-Qaradawi's view, a woman's testimony on matters related to child rearing should carry the same weight as a man's. And, a woman is permitted to serve as head of state of a country. Women are only prohibited from leading the entire religious community of Muslims (the umma).
84. Tariq al-Bishri, Al-Muslimun wa-l-Aqbat Fi Itar Al-Jama'a Al-Wataniyya [Muslims and Copts within the Framework of a National Society] (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 2004).
85. Al-Bishri writes that many Copts in the past have embraced the Islamic tradition as part of their Egyptian identity. He notes with particular approval a prominent scholar of Shari'a, Dr. Shafiq Shehata, who was a Copt. Al-Bishri, al-Wada' al-Qanuni, p. 47.
86. Al-Bishri, Al-Muslimun Wa-l-Aqbat, especially pp. 161-192 and 803-886.
87. Muhammad Salim al-'Awwa, Al-Aqbat wa-l-Islam [The Copts and Islam] (Cairo: Dar al-Shuruq, 1987), p. 62.
88. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 32, 195.
89. Al-'Awwa agrees that non-Muslim judges may preside over cases involving Muslims in all areas of law except personal status. Al-'Awwa, Religion and Political Structures, p. 8.
90. Al-Qaradawi writes that if a ruler acts improperly, the "people who loose and bind" should meet, discuss the matter, and issue their opinion. The ruler should then heed their opinion. He provides no further detail on who convenes the "people who loose and bind," how their deliberations unfold, or how their opinion is enforced if the ruler refuses to comply. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 66.
91. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 137.
92. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, p. 67.
93. For more detailed discussion of these developments, see Carrie Rosefsky Wickham, Mobilizing Islam: Religion, Activism, and Political Change in Egypt (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002).
94. Hesham al-Awadi, In Pursuit of Legitimacy: The Muslim Brothers and Mubarak, 1982-2000 (London: Tauris Academic Studies, 2004);
95. Raymond William Baker, Sadat and After: Struggles for Egypt's Political Soul (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990), pp. 243-270.
96. Mona El-Ghobashy, "The Metamorphosis of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers," International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 37 (2005), pp. 381-385.
97. El-Ghobashy provides a thoughtful overview of this period, "The Metamorphosis," pp. 385-387.
98. El-Ghobashy, "The Metamorphosis," p. 389.
99. The parliamentary election consisted of three rounds. The first round was relatively clean. The subsequent rounds suffered from substantial violence and vote rigging. When the dust settled, the Brotherhood had won 88 seats - roughly 20% of the total. See Independent Committee for Elections Monitoring, "A Testimony for History: Monitoring the Egyptian 2005 Parliamentary Elections," (Cairo: December 2005).
100. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin hawwal Mabad' al-Islah fi Misr [The Initiative of the Muslim Brotherhood regarding the Principles of Reform in Egypt] (Cairo: Dar al-Manara, 2004), pp. 12-13.
101. Mahmoud Ghazlan, "Khamsat Asbab 'adat ila Nijah Murashina Fi Mu'azam Al-Dawwa'ir" ["Five Reasons that Led to the Success of Our Candidates in Most Districts"], Afaq 'Arabiyya, December 10, 2005. Ghazlan is a prominent member of the Brotherhood's governing body, the Guidance Bureau (Maktab al-Irshad).
102. Ghazlan, "Khamsat Asbab 'adat."
103. Muhammad Mahdi 'Akif, "Fi Hiwar Shamil: Al-Murshid Al-Am l-il Ikhwan al-Muslimin" ["In a Comprehensive Conversation: The General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood"], Afaq Arabiyya, December 22, 2005.
104. Quoted in Noha El-Hennawy, "Around the Bloc: Mohammed Mehdi Akef," Egypt Today, January 2006, p. 32.
105. Al-Birnamij al-Intikhabi li'l-Ikwan al-Muslimin [The Electoral Program of the Muslim Brotherhood], (Cairo: n.p. Issued October 15, 2005).
106. Al-Birnamij al-Intikhabi.
107. Ghazlan, "Khamsat Asbab 'adat."
108. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 16.
109. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 16;
110. 'Akif, "Fi Hiwar Shamil;"
111. Ghazlan, "Khamsat Asbab 'adat."
112. Ghazlan, "Khamsat Asbab 'adat."
113. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 32.
114. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 16.
115. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 16.
116. Al-Birnamij al-Intikhabi.
117. 'Akif, "Fi Hiwar Shamil."
118. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 18.
119. 'Akif, "Fi Hiwar Shamil."
120. Al-Birnamij al-Intikhabi.
121. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, pp. 12-17;
122. Ghazlan, "Khamsat Asbab 'adat."
123. Al-Birnamij al-Intikhabi.
124. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 15.
125. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, pp. 19-20.
126. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, pp. 30-32.
127. Personal interview with 'Isam al-'Iryan, December 21, 2005.
128. Personal interview with 'Isam al-'Iryan, December 21, 2005.
129. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 14.
130. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 14.
131. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, pp. 16-17.
132. Also, Al-Birnamij al-Intikhabi.
133. The General Guide also has stated that the furtherance of basic rights will be the primary focus of the MB's parliamentary delegation. More specifically, the delegation will concentrate on "freedom... abolition of the emergency law, military courts, limiting the president's power, and amending articles 76 and 77 of the Constitution (which deal with the election and term of the President)." Muhammad Mahdi 'Akif, "Interview: We Take Nobody's Permission," al-Ahram Weekly, December 15-21, 2005.
134. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, pp. 35-37;
135. Al-Birnamij al-Intikhabi.
136. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 36.
137. 'Akif, "Fi Hiwar Shamil." The Brotherhood ultimately ran only one female candidate in the election.
138. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 37.
139. Ghazlan, "Khamsat Asbab 'adat."
140. Al-Birnamij al-Intikhabi.
141. This theme appears repeatedly in the coverage of the MB's campaign by its de facto weekly newspaper, Afaq Arabiyya. See the issues from November 10 through December 29, 2005.
142. Personal interview with 'Isam al-'Iryan, December 21, 2005.
143. See, for example, Majdi Khalil, "Al-Ikhwan Fi Al-Barlaman Al-Misri" ["The Brotherhood in the Egyptian Parliament"], Al-Watani, December 4, 2005.
144. Mubadirat al-Ikwan al-Muslimin, p. 11.
145. Ghazlan, "Khamsat Asbab 'adat."
146. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, pp. 9-10.
147. Also, Ghazlan, "Khamsat Asbab 'dat."
148. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 10.
149. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 12.
150. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 12.
151. Also, Al-Birnamij al-Intikhabi.
152. Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, pp. 34, 38.
153. 'Akif, "Fi Hiwar Shamil."
154. This call is present in the Reform Initiative (Mubadirat al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, p. 34) as well as in the Brotherhood's campaign platform (Al-Birnamij al-Intikhabi).
155. The obligation to enjoin good and forbid evil appears in eight Qur'anic verses: 3:104; 3:110; 3:114; 7:157; 9:71; 9:112; 22:41; and 31:17. However, the use of the term "hisba" to describe this obligation was adopted only in the 11th century. Al-Ghazzali was the first to utilize it. Michael Cook, Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic Thought (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 13, 449.
156. For a useful summary of al-Ghazzali's conception of hisba, see Cook, Commanding Right, pp. 428-459.
157. Cook, Commanding Right, pp. 470-479.
158. Also, Michael Cook, Forbidding Wrong in Islam: An Introduction (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 65-72.
159. Al-Bishri, Minhaj al-Nizr, p. 72.
160. Al-Bishri, Minhaj al-Nizr p. 74.
161. Al-Bishri, Minhaj al-Nizr p. 74.
162. Cook translates muhtasib as "official censor." Cook, Commanding Right, p. 448. The root meaning is derived from the term for keeping an account - in this case, an account of the moral shortcomings of one's fellow Muslims.
163. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 19-20.
164. Al-Quradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 19-20.
165. Al-Quradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 51, 41.
166. Al-'Awwa, Fi al-Nizam al-Siyasi, pp. 81-82.
167. For a useful summary of the Western liberal conception of constitutionalism and its role in democracy, see Walter F. Murphy, "Constitutions, Constitutionalism, and Democracy," in Douglas Greenberg, Stanley N. Katz, Melanie Beth Oliviero, and Steven C. Wheatley, eds., Constitutionalism and Democracy: Transitions in the Contemporary World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 3-25.
168. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 30.
169. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, p. 30.
170. Al-Qaradawi argues that secular observers of the Islamic world often have this misperception. It is due to their misunderstanding of the term al-hakimiya al-Islamiya. He emphasizes that this term does not mean the rule of God. Rather, it means rule in accordance with God's law. This law constrains the ruler as well as the subject. Al-Qaradawi, Min Fiqh al-Dawla, pp. 62-63.