The book “Perspectives on Contemporary Political Islam in International Relations: Dominant Voices in the Arab World from Sunni and Shiite Traditions,” authored by Sami Baroudi, shines a light on the contemporary views represented by six scholars of moderate political Islam regarding international relations. It generally presents the viewpoints of these scholars and their role in recalibrating international relations in their interaction with political Islam as a purely Arab Islamic phenomenon, driven in part by the desire to define the multiple ways in which religion influences contemporary politics and social realities in the Arab world. It is evident that solidifying this thesis in the Arab public sphere could mitigate the impact of radical political Islam that has been promoted in Western academic circles as the sole and singular face of Islam—a notion that the book systematically dismantles through ample analysis and interpretation.
Sami Baroudi’s book represents a unique research experience that embarks on a venture of writing within the “epistemic frontiers” by exploring more than one field of knowledge and investigating points of similarity and symmetry among these fields.
Despite the intellectual value of this sample of research experiences, it remains a risky endeavor, especially concerning the fields of religion and politics, as engaging with them can propel the researcher and scholar into realms of subjective biases often proliferating in interpretation and hermeneutics.
From this perspective, Baroudi’s book presents itself to the reader as an exploration of the intersection and interrelation between two fields of knowledge: political Islam and theories of international relations. The former refers to a contemporary Arab Islamic phenomenon whose theoretical and active origins can be traced back to the 1930s, yet it has witnessed radical transformations over the past nine decades in terms of its intellectual and political content as well as how this content manifests in the real world. Meanwhile, the field of politics is primarily a theoretical domain that studies the role of the state in relation to its institutions and apparatuses with the outside world, represented by society, individuals, or nations.
While noting that this research work primarily falls within the broader field of political Islam, it is nevertheless laden with the anxiety of “researching the presence of the phenomenon of political Islam in international relations and how the latter contributes to illuminating the conceptual framework surrounding this phenomenon for Western researchers and thinkers.”
Although many studies and academic theses in the West, and even in the Arab world, have sought to emphasize that political Islam is linked to a broader phenomenon of extremism in religiosity—illustrated by the experiences of organizations like al-Qaeda and the “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria”—the book’s central thesis posits the opposite by asserting that “the phenomenon of political Islam in its historical roots and cognitive manifestations is moderate and middle-ground in nature, and is by no means inherently violent; it is far removed from being confined to specific political movements.”
This theoretical endeavor by the author takes into account that most Western studies, and even some Arab studies, affirm that “radical political Islam represents the distorted face of political Islam.” However, the author disputes this perspective by stating that the focus on radical Islam, represented by extremist groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, or studying the political ideas of political Islam figures like Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, Ayman al-Zawahiri, or Sayyid Qutb, is an injustice to political Islam and a marginalization of the moderate Islamic political stream.
Thus, the book emerges as an epistemic attempt to bridge this gap through a theoretical and analytical examination of moderate political Islam and studying the intellectual, political, and social dimensions of several moderate reformist thinkers and the extent to which their ideas and visions are present within the field of international relations. Hence, Baroudi’s book takes the form of a “documentary and analytical reading of the discourses of six contemporary scholars and religious leaders from both Sunni and Shiite Arab worlds throughout the twentieth century and early twenty-first century, and their role in formulating a new yet ancient vision for international relations in the Arab and Islamic world and its relation to the West.”
Through an introduction, seven chapters, and a conclusion, academic Sami Baroudi, a professor of political science and international issues at the Lebanese University, presents his perspective on the current moderate political Islam movement and the contributions of six of its scholars and leaders in shaping a new perspective in the field of international relations. He does not criticize the phenomenon nor treats it as a dominant force; rather, he sees it as a current within Islam, reaffirming multiple times in the book that “Islam is much broader than political Islam in all its branches and classifications.”
Consequently, the author states from the early pages of the book: “My reading of the speeches of the six scholars and leaders of the moderate political Islam current aims to identify the key elements of this prevailing reformist perspective in international relations by tracing the origins of this perspective and shedding light on its development over three generations of scholars and religious leaders. I also situate the studied discourses on international relations within their historical thoughts and policies to clarify the main differences between the prevailing perspective and the radical perspective, arguing that political Islam comprises both camps: radical or extremist Islam, and moderate or reformist Islam.”
From this viewpoint, the book studies and analyzes six scholarly figures or schools from both Sunni and Shiite backgrounds: four of whom studied at Al-Azhar University and have become representative of the Al-Azhar institution—namely, Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltout, Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra, Sheikh Muhammad al-Bahi, and Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The fifth is Sheikh Wahba al-Zuhaili from Syria, while the sixth is Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, a Shiite scholar who received his religious education in the Shiite seminary in Najaf.
The author explains his selection of these six scholars particularly because they have not received the deserved attention in Western academic studies on political Islam. They also offer divergent views on the role of Islam in politics, and their perspectives on international relations are more nuanced and evolved than those from radical Islamists, thus providing a broader understanding of the diversity of political Islam and their views toward international relations, especially concerning armed conflicts and relationships with non-Muslims.
1. Variables of Political Islam and the Question of Epistemic Bias Some Western studies framed within a confrontational and antagonistic view of Islam, and other Arab studies that follow suit albeit modestly, create a state of intended conflation between Islam and political Islam or the “Islamist phenomenon” or “Islamic fundamentalism”—all concepts and expressions that fall under the same antagonistic category.
Sami Baroudi presents a group of Western researchers who have addressed this issue, such as John Esposito and Andrew March, including researchers like Mohammad Ayoub and Bassam Tibi.
Although American thinker John Esposito discussed the ongoing debate among governments, policymakers, and experts regarding whether the phenomenon of political Islam is multifaceted and diverse or merely reduces to violent thoughts and practices that must be continually suppressed or eradicated, it is clear—according to the book—that Esposito tends to lean toward the former perspective. He points out that there exist Islamic groups and experiences whose political and activist activities express the resilience of Islam, particularly political Islam.
In contrast to this perspective, the book presents a number of studies that reduce political Islam to its extremist dimensions, for instance, findings from researcher Mohammad Ayoub, who acknowledges in his study titled “The Multiple Faces of Political Islam” that these faces converge in asserting that “this phenomenon represents a form of exploiting Islam by individuals and groups and organizations.” Here, political Islam transforms into an ideology reflecting a pre-existing critical stance toward Islam. The term “exploitation” implies that Islamists strategically employ Islamic concepts for their political advantage rather than for others.
This viewpoint, as stated in the book, seems to be the most predominant and dominant among a significant number of Western researchers and academics, while its implicit goals manifest in the way it “views Islam as a religious system as if it does not possess an epistemic framework on how to organize politics and society within the contemporary Islamic world.”
From this angle, a whole array of issues emerges concerning the stereotypes and fear-mongering that dominate prevalent Western discussions about Islam and political Islam in the Middle East. Here, Islam becomes, from the Western perspective, synonymous with Islamism, which does not necessarily express Islam as much as it embodies closed sets of concepts and beliefs, deeply rooted in their minds and inner thought processes.
In contrast to this ready-made and stereotypical perspective, Baroudi posits that political Islam—particularly in its moderate and middle-ground dimensions—represents a broad and diverse framework that is not internally coherent. Here, it can be viewed as a collection of often competitive perspectives on politics and the state held by enlightened individuals or groups, which include descending order sources of importance: the Qur’an, the Sunnah, the sayings and practices of the first four caliphs, classical opinions, and modern jurisprudence and scholars. This reveals the dozens of thinkers and movements that rely on these four sources to articulate entirely disparate positions in the realms of politics, social relations, and international relations.
Thus, in this light, “moderate political Islam is the intellectual and activist realm that emerged from the intersection of politics and religion, especially in predominantly Muslim countries. This broad construction of political Islam stems from an equally comprehensive understanding of Islam itself, coupled with the requisite conditions of openness to acceptance and rejection.” Achieving this condition, according to the book’s author, may be beneficial in providing a new narrative of political Islam and its role in shaping new international relations between the Arab Islamic world and the Western world.
Despite the variation within the mainstream moderate Islamists and their differences, they share an interactive vision of international relations, which, according to the author, is based on the following characteristics:
- First: It assumes that peace, rather than war, is the default state, or guiding principle, in international relations, particularly in relationships with non-Muslims.
- Second: It encourages dialogue and cooperation with non-Islamic nations as long as the resulting interactions are beneficial for both parties and do not involve forms of domination over Muslims.
- Third: It categorically rejects the use of violence to impose Islam on non-Muslims.
- Fourth: Jihad is presented in the context of defending Muslims’ lands, lives, and freedoms, particularly the freedom of practice and advocacy.
- Fifth: It calls for a peaceful and gradual approach to achieving Islamic unity that does not necessarily take the form of a caliphate.
2. The Debate on Reform, Moderation, and Centrism The concepts of moderation, reform, and centrism are nearly present in all chapters of the book, either explicitly or implicitly. From this overwhelming presence, the reader may derive that “the problem of political Islam in international relations is a problem of concepts and the resultant patterns of thought and daily practices. Just as radical political Islam is linked to a conceptual apparatus related to violence, jihad, and suicide bombings, the mainstream in moderate political Islam finds its conceptual dimensions in the Sunnah, community, reform, moderation, and centrism.
Reform The concept of reform, or the reformist intellectual perspective, refers to the willingness and readiness to embrace change, a desirable and inevitable belief. The six scholars included in the book view Islam as a dynamic religion capable of self-renewal amidst changes in material, political, socio-economic, and intellectual domains. Unlike Salafi thinkers, reformists do not see religious renewal as a reprehensible innovation but as an urgent necessity to ensure that Islam remains central to the lives of Muslim communities. Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is frequently quoted in this regard, often cites the prophetic tradition: “God sends to this nation at the head of each hundred years someone who renews its religion.” Sami Baroudi goes further to affirm that the spirit of reform and renewal draws from the foundational thought of the first-generation moderate reformists, particularly Muhammad Abduh, who implicitly advocated for a diverse array of new interpretations that challenge tradition—both in the technical legal sense of rejecting adherence to a single school and in the broader sense of rejecting rigid adherence to past traditions.
Undoubtedly, reformists acknowledge that Islam is grounded on firm principles: that God is one, that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, that the Qur’an is the word of God, and that Muslims comprise a single nation united by a shared creed (the creed of monotheism) and known religious practices such as prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Moderation It is evident that moderation is a relative term and can be better understood in the context of its opposite, extremism. Although there is diversity within each category of Islamists, it makes sense to distinguish them based on the degree of their moderate or extremist views. The term “moderate” may primarily imply the avoidance of extremist positions without abandoning core beliefs, as it also indicates a preference for gradual and peaceful change over radical and violent change.
Centrism The concept of centrism, widely used and dominant in the book, is based on adopting a centrist position that requires avoiding excess (overzealousness) and neglect (laxity) in the interpretation of Islam.
For the scholars included in this work, Islam is viewed as a religion of centrism; Muslims are often depicted as a moderate nation (Ummah Wasat). The author discusses the concept of centrism and dedicates an entire chapter to the experience of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who champions the ideas of moderation and centrism in both fatwa and advocacy, proclaiming: “What I believe in, advocate for, and defend is the moderate methodology for the moderate nation.” He also states: “As for my approach in life, it is the middle approach.” There are three factors that carve out al-Qaradawi’s centrism: intrinsic, predetermined, and acquired.
To illustrate the adaptability of these three concepts (reform, moderation, centrism) as directed toward moderate political Islam in contrast to the ideas and propositions of radical Islam, the author explains that the prevailing characteristic of extremist Islamists is their skepticism toward the legitimacy of existing regimes, claiming they are un-Islamic. Equally important, they endorse the use of violence to bring about systemic change and establish Islamic states built on Sharia.
Moreover, extremist Islamists adopt an expansive view of jihad, viewing it as a missing duty for all able Muslims and as the primary means to achieve a range of objectives, including the dissemination of the Islamic message and the establishment of a legitimate state.
From this comparative perspective, the author concludes that the differences in the realm of international relations between moderate and radical Islamists are determined by the fact that moderate Islamists are confident in the ability of Muslim societies to adapt to prevailing international realities. They do not see international relations as a zero-sum game; instead, they seek peaceful coexistence, dialogue, and cooperation with non-Muslims, as long as these relations emerge from positions of strength and do not infringe upon the independence and sovereignty of Muslim societies, particularly their right to apply Sharia and collaborate in pursuit of greater political, economic, and cultural unity in line with Islamic principles as specified by Islamic law.
3. Between Qaradawi and Fadlallah To illustrate the book’s thesis using the six models, this reading will focus specifically on the experiences of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah as examples of moderate political Islam, even though they diverge on fundamental points.
Both scholars belong to what the study classifies as the third generation. They have demonstrated through their work that they sought to institutionalize political Islam. Both also consider themselves part of the community of religious scholars who should transcend national and sectarian bounds while taking great pride in their affiliations with the institutions of Al-Azhar and the seminary. Both have also avoided formal associations with political movements with which they have undeniable ideological ties (the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah, respectively). Such formal affiliations, had they materialized, would have undermined their status as independent scholars, as well as their roles within the esteemed religious institutions they are connected with: Al-Azhar and the seminary.
This commitment to institutionalism in the two sheikhs can be traced more broadly back to the institutional form of Islam held by the first generation of moderate scholars, such as Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Rida, who advocated for political Islam as a religious institution tasked with reinterpreting Sharia and obligating all Muslims to adhere to a unified and contemporary interpretation of its laws.
It is clear how the commitment to religious institutions and organized Islam is one of several dividing lines that differentiate moderate reformist Islamists from radical Islamists. The religious commitment to institutions and an institutional form of Islam can coexist alongside a commitment to reform and reconsideration of certain aspects of Islamic law.
The author devoted the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters to the endeavors of Qaradawi and Fadlallah. Undoubtedly, Sheikh Qaradawi is the most renowned contemporary Islamist in Egypt and the Islamic world due to the widespread publication and dissemination of his works, alongside his effective use of media and the Internet to convey a fair image and consistent message affirming the centrism of Islam and its relevance in addressing all the political and social problems faced by the Islamic nation.
Because Qaradawi has attracted the attention of many academics, his discourse on international relations has not undergone comprehensive and critical reading. A quick review of his published works, particularly “The Jurisprudence of Centrism,” “Relations with the West,” and “Jihad,” highlights many of his thoughts on contemporary international relations, particularly his emphasis on the primacy of peace and dialogue in relationships with the non-Islamic world, the defensive purposes of jihad, and the firm rejection of violence as a means to advance the Islamic agenda locally, in addition to achieving the ultimate goal of all Islamists: Islamic unity.
On the other hand, Sayyid Fadlallah, representing the only voice from the Shiite segment of the Arab world, presents views on international relations that are more radical than those of his Sunni counterparts. He profoundly reflects the revolutionary discourse of the Iranian Islamic Republic. However, a close reading of his discourse on international relations reveals many similarities with the discourses of his main Sunni counterparts, particularly al-Bahi and Qaradawi.
Qaradawi and Fadlallah share a largely realistic view of international relations governed by a normative, ethical, and legal perspective. Within this framework, intense focus is directed toward reflection and theorization about prevailing international realities, particularly the Arab-Israeli conflict, the relationships of the Islamic world with the non-Muslim West, and the ramifications of the end of the Cold War and the rise of American hegemony. Amid the risk of overestimating the issue, “the other,” especially the West, occupies a more prominent role in the discourses of the scholars and theologians belonging to the third generation. Both scholars, Qaradawi and Fadlallah, along with the other members of the third generation, engage with the West in various complex and often contradictory ways. It is clear that they seek to understand the West, albeit not on its own terms, while also warning against and combating the political, economic, and cultural violations faced by predominantly Muslim communities. According to the book’s author, the most notable characteristic distinguishing Qaradawi and Fadlallah is their proximity to the views of the Western realist school in international relations, as well as their alignment with the Western liberal international approach towards international relations.
Conclusion Undoubtedly, the book “Perspectives on Contemporary Political Islam in International Relations: Dominant Voices in the Arab World from Sunni and Shiite Traditions” by Lebanese researcher and academic Sami Baroudi represents a personal epistemic endeavor in the knowledge and political experience of six scholars and theologians from both Sunni and Shiite traditions and their position within the broader discourse of international relations.
Since Sami Baroudi chose to focus systematically and detail the work of each scholar individually—and since they all meet the criteria of legal sufficiency, which frames their religious and political perspectives—this examination presents differing origins and outcomes and fulfills the criteria of sufficient interpretation regarding the phenomenon of moderate political Islam.
Moreover, the book constitutes once again a significant milestone in restoring the status of these six scholars while attempting to present them to a Western and Arab readership as representatives of the Al-Azhar and Najaf institutions, capable of producing experiences and symbols that more truly reflect political Islam in its moderate manifestations and its alignment with the roots of Islam.
About the Book
Perspectives on Contemporary Political Islam in International Relations: Dominant Voices in the Arab World from Sunni and Shiite Traditions
Author: Sami Baroudi
Publisher: Peter Lang
Publication Date: 2022
Language: English
Edition: First
Number of Pages: 318