Post-Islamist
‘Religious Secularism’
in the Muslim World
Lily Zubaidah Rahim
Department of Government and International Relations
University of Sydney
The Muslim World
http://www.islam101.com/dawah/muslim_world_map.html
Muslim Majority Countries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim-majority_countries
Muslim Majority Countries (continued)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim-majority_countries
Freedom in the World 2011
Table of Muslim-Majority Countries
Country
Afghanistan
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh*
Brunei
Egypt
Indonesia*
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Lebanon
Libya
Malaysia
Mali*
Morocco
Oman
Pakistan
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Senegal*
Somalia
Sudan
Syria
Tajikistan
Tunisia
Turkey*
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Yemen
Freedom
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Partly Free
Not Free
Not Free
Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Partly Free ▲
Partly Free
Not Free
Partly Free
Free
Partly Free
Not Free
Partly Free
Not Free
Not Free
Partly Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Partly Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Not Free
Freedom House 2011
PR
6
6
6
3
6
6
2
6
5
6
6
5▲
5
7
4
2
5
6
4
6
7
3
7
7
7
6
7
3
7
6
7
6
CL Trend Arrow
6
↓
5
5
↓
4
5
5
↓
3
6
↓
6
5
5
5
3
7
4
3
4
5
5
5
6
3
7
7
6
5
5
3
7
5
7
5
PR and CL stand for political rights and civil liberties,
respectively; 1 represents the most free
and 7 the least free rating.
▲ ▼ up or down indicates an improvement or decline in
ratings or status since the last survey.
↑ ↓ up or down indicates a trend of positive or negative
changes that took place but were not sufficient to result in a
change in political rights or civil liberties ratings.
•indicates a country’s status as an electoral democracy.
NOTE: The ratings reflect global events from January 1, 2010,
through December 31, 2010.
Freedom in the World 2011
Regional Data
Freedom House 2011
Egypt, Democracy and Islam 2011
Egypt, Democracy and Islam (Pew Research Centre Publication, 2011)
Muslim Perceptions of Islam’s Influence in Politics 2011
Islam was seen as a positive rather than negative
influence in politics by equally impressive margins in
Indonesia (91% to 6%), Nigeria (82% to 10%), Jordan
(76% to 14%) and Pakistan (69% to 6%).
In Lebanon and Turkey, close to a third said that Islam
had a negative influence in politics, but in both nations
more believed Islam's influence was positive than said it
was negative.
Respondents who had a positive view of Islam's
influence included both those who said Islam was playing
a large role in their country's political life and saw this as
a good thing and those who said Islam was playing a
small role and saw this as a bad thing. The reverse was
true for those respondents who had a negative view of
Islam's influence.
Egypt, Democracy and Islam (Pew Research Centre Publication, 2011)
Egyptian Priorities 2011
‘Egyptians Embrace Revolt Leaders, Religious Parties and Military’ (Pew Research Centre Publication, 2011)
State-Religion Regimes
State-Religion Regimes in 46 Muslim Countries
Islamic States
11
States with an
Established
Religion
(Islam)
15
Secular States
20
Ahmet T. Kuru, Secularism and State Policies Towards Religion (2009:18)
Antireligious
States
0
State-Religion Regimes
Continuum of State-Religion Regimes and Secularism
Passive
secularism
Islamic state
State with
established
religion
Assertive
secularism
Secular state
Ahmet T. Kuru, Secularism and State Policies Towards Religion (2009:31)
Antireligious
state
Key findings of the Gallop World Poll 2001-2007:
Muslim perceptions of democracy and secularism
An overwhelming number of Muslims support democracy believing that it is the
key to a more just society and to progress.
Muslims indicate that the lack of political freedom is what they least admire
about the Islamic and Arab world.
The majority of Muslims would like to see a religious form of democracy with
the sharia as one source of legislation, albeit a restricted source.
Most Muslims desire a system of government in which religious principles and
democratic values co-exist.
A significant majority in many Muslim countries say religious leaders should
play no direct role in drafting a country’s constitution, writing national
legislation, determining foreign policy, deciding how women dress in public
or what is published in newspapers.
Most Muslims do not want a rigidly secular or Islamic state.
Refer to John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, Who Speaks for Islam: What a
Billion Muslims Really Think, (NY: Gallup Press, 2007), p.29-63.
Political moderation thesis – J. Schwedler (2006); Vali Nasr
(2005)
- inclusion of Islamist parties/movements leads to
moderation
Schwedler on political inclusion
- radicals become reformers
- fence-sitters become moderates
- moderates become even more moderate
- moderates have opportunities to increase their
visibility and efficacy