Journal of Law, Religion and State - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2013

This paper presents a global landscape of religious freedom in Islam, a crucial matter for resolving the contentious contemporary debate over whether Islam is a peaceful or violent religion. The landscape shows a general dearth of religious freedom in Islam. This does not mean, though, that Islam is incompatible with religious freedom, for a large percentage of Muslim countries are governed by regimes inspired by western secularism. The paper also argues that religious freedom is neither synonymous nor co-extensive with electoral democracy. Several democracies with low levels of religious freedom exist in Muslim-majority countries, while authoritarian regimes with relatively high levels of religious freedom exist but are rare.

This article examines how the failure to defend intra-religious accommodation from sectarian challenges in the public sphere creates structures of political opportunity for religious extremist organizations to exert a constraining influence on positive law-making and individual rights. Through a comparison of the government response to Sunni sectarian agitation during the 1950s and the early 1970s in Pakistan, each time conducted by organizations affiliated with the Deobandi movement (the movement that later created the Taliban in 1994), it will be shown how the failure to uphold intra-religious accommodation impacted the Pakistan’s constitutional development and furthered Pakistan’s shift from liberal democracy to Islamism. The article suggests that a religious discourse of intra-religious accommodation, not a prohibition of religious expression in the public sphere (laïcité), can serve as an important foundation for the development of religious liberty and civil society in newly democratizing Muslim societies.

The article presents the intricacies of an intra-Islamic debate within Europe today discussing multiple Islamic perspectives of religion, the state and the law. Analyzing the ideas of four contemporary European Muslim intellectuals the article reveals variations on how Muslims in Europe view the concept of secularism, the role of the state and the guidelines of Islamic religious practice. Through a comparative discourse analysis the article identities four distinct Islamic discourses that are compared and contrasted with each other and juxtaposed with European theory about religion, the state and the law.

As Muslims in Europe gradually overcome social cleavages and ethnic differences they at times challenge the secular nature and religious neutrality of Europe’s religious, cultural and humanist inheritance. Understanding the distinctions between the Islamic discourses elaborates the trends and ramifications the political mobilization Muslims living in Europe might have on the status quo definitions of European society; some Islamic discourses represent a direct confrontation to the construct secular identity; others suggest full integration into European society. All four are present in Europe today. Recognizing the differences between the Islamic discourses can rearrange the principles in which Europe perceives Islam while enlightening the politically sensitive and complex subject relating to the formation of an Islamic European identity.

This paper analyses the French and Belgian bans on face covering by taking a close look at the aims they are intended to serve in the eyes of the legislators in the two countries. These stated aims are the basis for a critical assessment of the bans from a human rights perspective. The authors conclude that the reasons proffered for the prohibition can legitimize at most a limited set of contextual bans, not the broad nationwide bans that are in place.