In 1903, Duncan Black Macdonald (1863-1943), a prominent early scholar of Islam in the United States, wrote that Islam does not allow constitutionalism because the caliph 'cannot set up beside... Show moreIn 1903, Duncan Black Macdonald (1863-1943), a prominent early scholar of Islam in the United States, wrote that Islam does not allow constitutionalism because the caliph 'cannot set up beside himself a constitutional assembly and give it rights against himself. He is the successor of Muhammad and must rule, within [divine] limitations, as an absolute monarch.' Yet within a few years of that statement, some of the leading scholars of the Islamic world were arguing exactly the contrary. Muhammad ' Abduh (Egypt, 1849-1905) - the highest-ranking religious official in Egypt - wrote privately in 1904 that he supported a parliamentary democracy. In 1908, Mehmed Cemaleddin Efendi (Turkey, 1848-1917) - the chief religious authority of the Ottoman Empire, appointed directly by the caliph - said that he too supported constitutionalism. Also in 1908, two senior scholars of Shi'i Islam telegraphed their support at a crucial moment in Iran's Constitutional Revolution: 'We would like to know if it would be possible to execute Islamic provisions without a constitutional regime!' Show less
Many Westerners, and many Muslims, consider ‘Liberal Islam’ to be a contradiction in terms. This is not the case. The term ‘liberal’ has negative connotations in much of the Islamic world, in part... Show moreMany Westerners, and many Muslims, consider ‘Liberal Islam’ to be a contradiction in terms. This is not the case. The term ‘liberal’ has negative connotations in much of the Islamic world, in part because of the hypocrisy of its introduction to the region by colonialists and imperialists who flouted the liberalism they touted. Yet the Islamic world is witnessing a thriving movement of Muslim thinkers who address ‘liberal’ concerns such as democracy, the separation of Church and State, the rights of women, the rights of minorities, freedom of thought, and the idea of human progress - hardly the only concerns that might be labeled ‘liberal’, but bedrock themes in the liberal tradition. Show less