Civil society and Islam: a sociological perspective

Abstract

Recent political developments in Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Algeria, among others, suggest the possible emergence of an indigenous Islamic path of democratic formation. However, the conventional western interpretations, of religion, and in particular of Islam, leave little room for the recognition of the actual, complex development of such Islamic countries. Defining Islam and modernity as two more or less incompatible phenomena fails to recognize the potentialities of developing modern democratic Islamic societies with their cultural elements and particularities. Many Muslim countries themselves fail to see or are unwilling to recognize their own civil societies and their dynamic potentialities and to accept, in Locke's term, ‘the sovereignty of civil society’. Although the notion of a traditional civil society in the Islamic countries is controversial, I contend that neither individualism nor democratic institutions have been or are necessary for a civil society to exist. The basis of a civil society is the existence of influential civil groups and their institutions that can, through established mechanisms counterbalance state power. Analyzing civil society in Muslim countries requires that we recognize Islam not only as a religion, but also as a political theory and the major source of a legitimization of political power.

Religion, Religiosity, and Democratic Values

“…Contrary to some theorists who postulate that civil society can grow only on the basis of an individualistic and democratic tradition, which is the fruit of Western culture, Kamali (2001) asserts that civil society is not a "Western monopoly" and its emergence is not conditional on the translation of Occidental legacy. Islamic communities have a long history of civil society.…”

Constructing Civil Society: An Islamic Cultural Perspective

“…Those are sociological perspective (Fukuyama, 2001), political view (Lipschutz, 1992;Newton, 2001), and social coherent perspective (Norton, 1993;Orjuela, 2003). In particular, civil society is not directly conditioned by the existence of 'sovereign' and 'free' individuals, but by groups or communities and their institutions enjoying a significant degree of autonomy from the state in many Islamic countries (Kamali, 2001). As a result, the level of autonomy to cooperate with these civic society groups has to do usually with social authority, legitimacy and socioeconomic institutions (Kamali, 2010).…”

“…We can see this phenomenon in many different fields and places, as will be clear from the following examples. First of all, it occurred in the field of politics (Kamali, 2001). Muslim power in relatively short time conquered the surrounding countries like Egypt, Syria and Persia (Norton, 1993).…”

Civil society in beweging: Vier moskeeorganisaties in Amsterdam Slotervaart

“…Daarnaast worden migranten afkomstig uit niet-westerse islamitische landen in het publieke debat en door beleidsmedewerkers vaak bestempeld als groepsgeoriënteerd tegenover individualistisch. Omdat moskeeën in Nederland en in andere Europese landen zich anders ontwikkelen dan moskeeën in de herkomstlanden, moeten deze organisaties niet worden bestudeerd vanuit het perspectief van civil society in de context van islamitische landen (Kamali, 2001;Herbert, 2003;Sajoo, 2002 (Schuyt, 2002: 87). Civil society staat min of meer los van de sferen markt, overheid en privésfeer maar staat er niet volledig los van omdat er overgangsgebieden aan te wijzen zijn.…”