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Recommended Reading
See How Islam Is Different from Other Religions by Shadi Hamdi, from the June 13, 2016 issue of Time Magazine. Copied and pasted in its entirely below the fold in case you do not have a subscription to the magazine.
How Islam Is Different from Other Religions by Shadi Hamdi
We want to believe we’re all basically the same and want the same things, but what if we’re not?
Islam, in both theory and practice, is exceptional in how it relates to politics. Because of its outsize role in law and governance, Islam has been–and will continue to be–resistant to secularization.
I am a bit uncomfortable making this claim, especially now, with anti-Muslim bigotry on the rise. But Islamic exceptionalism is neither good nor bad. It just is, and we need to understand and respect that.
Two factors are worth emphasizing: First, the founding moment of Islam looms large. Unlike Jesus Christ, the Prophet Muhammad was a theologian, a preacher, a warrior and a politician, all at once. He was also the leader and builder of a new state, capturing, holding and governing new territory. Religious and political functions, at least for the believer, were no accident. They were meant to be intertwined in the leadership of one man.
Second, for Muslims the Quran is God’s direct and literal speech, more than merely the word of God. It is difficult to overstate the centrality of divine authorship. This does not mean Muslims are literalists; most are not. But it does mean the text cannot easily be dismissed as irrelevant.
What does this mean for everyone else? Western observers will need to do something uncomfortable and difficult. They will need to accept Islam’s vital and varied role in politics and formulate policies with that in mind, rather than hope for secularizing outcomes that are unlikely anytime soon, if ever.
Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, is the author of Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam Is Reshaping the World.
This appears in the June 13, 2016 issue of TIME.
About Shadi Hamdi:
Shadi Hamid is a senior fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution and the author of Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle Over Islam is Reshaping the World (St. Martin’s Press). His previous book Temptations of Power: Islamists and Illiberal Democracy in a New Middle East was named a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2014. An expert on Islamist movements, Hamid served as director of research at the Brookings Doha Center until January 2014. Prior to joining Brookings, he was director of research at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) and a Hewlett Fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. He is currently vice-chair of POMED’s board of directors and a contributing writer to The Atlantic. Hamid received his B.S. and M.A. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and his Ph.D. in political science from Oxford University.
Source: http://alwaysonwatch3.blogspot.com/2017/02/recommended-reading_22.html
