2014-09-15
Reviewed by: Ml. Ashraf Dockrat on Radio Islam – 15 September 2014
No of pages: (272)
Price: (R190.00)
EBook: (None)
Genre: Islamic Law, Sociology, Politics, Current Affairs
Synopsis:
This book is a critique on modernity and the globalised economy. The Professor addresses the relevancy of Shariah to humanity and explains the difference between Shariah and the modern notion of “State”. The ideal person as a subject of the State is obedient to the State, the Islamic citizen however, is obedient to God/Allah and is thus required to cultivate relevant virtues. He highlights the ills of the modern world via social injustice, the economy, consumerism, and politics and how they interrelate. His premise is that Euro-American Enlightenment based on representative democracy is incompatible with the traditional norms of Islamic governance, as the Shariah was and remains a moral code. He shows how morality is not a fantasy notion, rather a systemic source which manifests itself strongly and interdependently throughout our philosophy, psychology, science, society, economics, and politics.
He concludes that Muslims should not be overwrought by bids to adopt modern state law, as it would be an adoption of backwardness. The Shariah unlike the modern state doesn’t see corporate juristic personalities, rather the value of an individual is derived from their moral worth. The purpose of citizenship is thus to create a moral community. Islam and Muslims need to contribute to this more meaningfully so as to extend a genuine form of Shariah governance.
The author, Professor Wael B. Hallaq is a prolific author and lecturer; a world-renowned scholar of Islam, with numerous contributions to the field of Islamic legal studies and Islamic intellectual history.
Published by: Columbia University Press (2012)
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