The Compatibility Dialectic

Mediating the Legitimate Coexistence of Islamic Law and State Law

Bibliographic Data

ID9197170
AuthorsAbdullahi Ahmed An‐Naim (Emory University, corresponding author)
Year2010
Volume73
Issue1
Pages1-29
Publication date2010-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Law Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-7961 • E-ISSN: 1468-2230
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-2230.2009.00782.x
OpenAlexW1999761827
LanguageEN
Citations received4

Islamic Law is not now and cannot be the state law of any state, whether Muslims are the majority or minority of the population. This view does not dispute the religious authority of Islamic Law for Muslims, which exists only outside the framework of the state. Still, some principles of Islamic Law should be relevant to the public discourse, provided the argument is made in terms of what the author calls ‘civic reason’ and not simply by assertions of religious conviction. While the two are different types of normative systems, each based on its own sources of authority and legitimacy, there are possibilities of compatibility and mutual influence between Islamic Law and state law as complementary normative systems, without requiring either to conform to the nature and role of the other. This lecture examines the requirements, scope and dynamics of this dialectic relationship, whether Muslims are majority or minority

Conviction · Dialectic · Epistemology · Islam · Legitimacy · Normative · Political science · Sharia · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub