Islam and Secularism in Post-Colonial Thought: A Cartography of Asadian Genealogies

126 Pages·2017·6.308 MB·English

by  Hadi Enayat (auth.)

Islam and Secularism
in Post-Colonial Thought
“Hadi Enayat’s incisive and timely intervention demonstrates convincingly that
contemporaryscholarshiponIslamandsecularismoftenendsupreproducingthe
same aporias and essentialisms that it claims to oppose, sometimes lapsing into
positions of theoretical incoherence. This book is a must-read for anyone who
wants to think clearly about contemporary questions of religion, reason, politics
andpower.”
—ZiadElmarsafy,HeadofDepartment,PostgraduateandResearchChair,
DepartmentofComparativeLiterature,King’sCollegeLondon
“ThreeyearsagoHadiEnayatredrewthefieldofjudicialstudiesinPahlaviIranby
providing, based on copious documentation, counter-narratives to prevailing
views of the inherently political character of justice under Reza Pahlavi. Now he
hastakenontheapproachesputforthbyTalalAsadandsomeofhisfollowers—a
communityofscholarsEnayatreferstoas‘Asadian’—todrawattentiontosomeof
the misguided assumptions underlying their work and problematic conclusions
followingfromit.EnayatdocumentsthetendencyinAsadianperspectivestoread
IslamichistorybackwardsthroughthelensofcontemporaryIslamistmovements.
HeshowshowAsadianperspectivesre-essentializeboththeWestandtheMuslim
world in sweeping statements and binary thinking. He also adumbrates the con-
descension involved when critical thinkers in the Muslim world are accused of
‘buying’ into Western secularist discourses, and as such presumed to lack the
autonomy for formulating independent ideas for internal reform. As Enayat per-
suasively shows, such a perspective amounts to nothing less than assuming the
authorityofdiscerningwhoisandwhoisnota‘true’Muslim,whostandsinside,
whostandsoutsidethetradition.”
—MirjamKünkler,ProfessorattheSwedishCollegiumforAdvancedStudy
HadiEnayat
Islam and Secularism
in Post-Colonial
Thought
A Cartography of Asadian Genealogies
HadiEnayat
AgaKhanUniversity
London,UnitedKingdom
ISBN978-3-319-52610-2 ISBN978-3-319-52611-9(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-52611-9
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017937898
©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017
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For Nahid jan
P A
REFACE AND CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book will critically assess the work of a group of post-colonial
scholars whose work constitutes a powerful and increasingly influential
critiqueofsecularismandliberalismasWesternimpositionsonMuslim
societies.Itarguesthatthisbodyofscholarshiprepresentsanemerging
traditiondesignatedhereas‘Asadian’afteritsmostinfluentialexponent
Talal Asad. Six themes are identified in the work of these scholars in
connection with the secular: (i) Christianity, colonialism and imperial-
ism, (ii) violence, governmentality and the ‘othering’ of the modern
nation-state(iii)religiousandsecularcriticismandIslamasa‘discursive
tradition’ (iv) the body, the self and agency (v) secularization theory
and its discontents (vi) genealogies of religious freedom and minority
rights.Inexploringthesethemes,thebookhighlightsthecontribution
of this tradition of thinking about the secular as well as some of its
omissions and inconsistencies. More broadly, it attempts to to bring
clarity to the debates surrounding these genealogies of the secular as
well as advancing a qualified defense of secularism and assessing its
possibility in Muslim-majority societies.
I would like to thank the following people for reading the
manuscript and providing invaluable comments: Phillip Wood, Sami
Zubaida, Mirjam Künkler, Joanna De Groot, Ziad Elmarsafy, Charine
John, Deniz Kandiyoti, Jean Louise Cohen and Anna Enayat.
Conversations with Farid Panjwani were also very helpful in helping
me formulate my views. Last but not least, I would like to thank
vii
viii PREFACEANDACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alina Yurova and Ben Bailey at Palgrave Macmillan for their assis-
tance and Ayswaraya Nagarajan for her patient and meticulous
editorial input. It goes without saying that any errors, mistakes or
misjudgments are entirely my own.
Transliteration of Arabic words is done according to the IJMES system.
Finalhamazashavebeenomitted.
C
ONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
2 Secularism,Christianity andImperialism 7
3 Violence,Governmentality andthe ‘Othering’
ofthe Modern Nation-State 21
4 SecularandReligious ReasonandIslam asa ‘Discursive
Tradition’ 39
5 SecularizationTheory andits Discontents 55
6 TheBody, Pain andAgency 65
7 Genealogiesof ‘ReligiousFreedom’ and‘Minority Rights’ 77
8 Conclusion: TheLimits of Asadian Genealogies
ofthe Secular 89
9 Epilogue:ProspectsforSecularPluralisminMuslim-majority
Societies 97
ix
x CONTENTS
Bibliography 105
Index 117
CHAPTER1
Introduction
Religious toleration was a political means to the formation of strong
state power that emerged from the sectarian wars of the 16th and
17th century rather than the gift of a benign intention to defend
pluralism.
The ideology of political representation in liberal democracies makes it
difficultifnotimpossibletorepresentMuslimsasMuslims.
TalalAsad
InordertobeaMuslimbyconvictionandfreechoice,whichistheonly
waytobeaMuslim,Ineedasecularstate.
AbdullahiAn-Na‘im
Abstract Themainthemesandparametersofthestudyareintroduced.The
‘Asadian’traditionofpost-colonialscholarshipofthesecularisidentifiedand
situated in the following three streams of thought: (i) post-colonialism
(especially the work of the Subaltern Studies Group), (ii) genealogy as a
methodofhistoricalandphilosophicalinquiryand(iii)communitarianism,
especially,theworkofAlisdairMacIntyre.
Keywords Genealogy (cid:1)Post-colonialism (cid:1)Communitarianism (cid:1)
Anti-liberal (cid:1)Secularism
©TheAuthor(s)2017 1
H.Enayat,IslamandSecularisminPost-ColonialThought,
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-52611-9_1