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Alison Shaw
Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Oxford
E-mail: Alison.Shaw@dphpc.ox.ac.uk
doi:10.1093/jis/etn022

Islam and the Everyday World: Public Policy Dilemmas

Edited by Sohrab Behdad and Farhad Nomani (Abingdon:
Routledge, 2006), 240 pp. Price HB 70.00. ISBN 0415368235.
Reference materials related to public policy discourse within an Islamic
framework are very scarce and the prospect of reviewing a book with this title
was very enthusiastically awaited. According to the editors, this volume contains
eight updated and revised articles, chosen from contributions written originally
for a special issue (1997) of International Journal Review of Comparative Public
Policy, and covers areas of economics, human rights, family law, labour law,
commercial law, public finance and banking. The introductory article by Behdad
places the themes within the context of contemporary Islamic revivalism.
He begins by stating how contrasting interpretations of Islam, as represented by
two visions of Islamic ideology and their implications for public policy can be
traced to the time of the Prophet. Using a Shariati-like approach, Behdad
categorizes these visions as one of rebellion vs. order, one that represents a vision
of a monotheistic classless society vs. one that represents Islamic capitalism.
He uses this division to take the readers through his interpretations of siy:sa or

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a range of issues. One of these concerns the effects of patriarchy, in the negotiation of gender relations for example, and as manifested in violence against
women, as the author documents in the accounts of a few of the young women
visiting kin in Pakistan, who found themselves vulnerable to sexual advances
from men, including from men within their extended families. As the author
notes, discourses of multiculturalism in the UK have tended to reinforce rather
than challenge these aspects of gendered power relationships. Overall, the author
argues that young Pakistani/Kashmiri peoples visits to kin in Pakistan should
not be pathologized but should instead be viewed as crucial to the ways in which
they negotiate their lives across different dimensions of cultural, social, religious
and geographical space. The relevant statutory and voluntary agencies would
do well to pay closer attention to the areas in which young people could be better
supported in these negotiations.
Stylistically, the book contains many errors of phrasing, repetitions, typing
errors and unexplained terminology. For example, the Punjabi and Urdu terms
used are neither italicized nor explained at first use; some proper names are not
given initial capitals, and some non-Muslim readers may be puzzled by the form
of reference to the Prophet Mohammad p.b.u.h. All such failings could have
been put right by good copy editing; as it is, the book has the feel of an
unimproved PhD thesis and the publishers could have done the author better
service in this regard.

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public policy in Islamic history by discussing issues of prices, markets, public

interest (maBlaAa), the reform movements at the turn of the twentieth century to
the Islamic revolution in Iran. Maybe true to his own vision, the author laments
how the rebellious, classless vision of Ab< Dharr has always been countered by a
class based Pax Islamica. It is this dynamic that, the author contends, needs to
be studied by those who want to present Islam as a social order, having public
policy dimensions and which forms the discussions of the other authors in this
volume.
The article by Timur Kuran, an academic economist and critic of Islamic
economics, re-states his well-documented position that Islamic economics, being
a form of Islamism, poses a threat to free societies and the global economy.
Rather than discussing the policy implications stemming from the Islamic vision
and providing a critique of these, Kuran chooses to advise states on what policy
prescriptions they can follow in order to keep Islamism in check. From
confrontational efforts like pointing out flaws in Islamic economic discourse and
calling into question the exaggerated claims to mass appeal of the Islamists, to
the conciliatory efforts of listening to the complaints of people regarding
modernity and putting forward policy prescriptions to answer these within the
secular framework, Kuran presents his policy package to present-day governments and one cannot under-estimate the appeal that his package may have in
many countries, especially after the events of September 11, 2001.
The next three articles discuss human rights policy, Muslim family and labour
law. As far as human rights are concerned, Ann Elizabeth Mayer begins by
distinguishing between the traditional division of the rights of God and the rights
of man. Since the nineteenth century, Islamic thought had to increasingly contend
with issues arising from Western-style constitutionalism and democratic freedoms vis-a`-vis Islamic law, and later, on the compatibility or otherwise of
international declarations of human rights with those propounded by the Shar;6a.
While stating the poor human rights records of contemporary Muslim societies,
the author also puts the Islamic versions of human rights under scrutiny. Many
of these Islamic versions and declarations of human rights borrow heavily
from Western models, but, according to the author, still fall short of current
international standards. She ends by calling for greater embracing of democracy
as a way forward that would lead to improving the situation in Muslim
societiesa call that would make an interesting policy area in itself.
In the article entitled Muslim Family Law: Articulating Gender, Class and
the State, Nahla Abdo makes a distinction between Islam as an ideology
and the Muslim laws and social norms practised in various Muslim societies.
The dynamic between Islam the religion and culture/norms of different societies
was and is a two-way process. Hence, how different Muslim societies have
promulgated their family laws differs and in order to understand the status and
role of women, one has to take all these factors into account. Rather than adopt a
confrontational approach to the implementation of Shar;6a, especially family law,
Abdo tries to put forward suggestions on how to make reforms and better

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manage aspects of family law by incorporating the views of womens groups in

its development. Changes to family law codes and the status of women as a
whole must occur concurrently with the full participation of women from all
walks of life and ideological positionsnot an easy feat to achieve in many
Muslim countries today.
The following article by Karen Pfeifer on labour law sees a rather blurred
position with regards to the position of labour and labour management.
Exploring the different ways in which Islamists define the capitallabour
relationship and how varying interpretations influence legislation, she presents
distinctive country models of Islamic regimes and their labour law. Comparing
the positions in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran and Egypt, Pfeifer is of the opinion
that the legal regime in Egypt appears to reflect the most improvement as far as
organized labour is concerned. However, a very important conclusion reached
by Pfeifer is that faith alone cannot effectively benefit salaried workers. Other
pre-requisite forces such as commitment at the state level are necessary to secure
a form of labour practice that not only conforms to international laws but more
importantly to doing justice as called for in Islam.
In analysing the topic of Islam and commercial law, William Ballantyne adopts
an approach that looks at the codes of Muslim countries in the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC). He correctly observes that while the Shar;6a is taken to be
unchanging, the way it relates to actual codes of laws governing commerce varies
between countries. In one country it is silent and in the background; in another,
it forms the basis of legislation. Looking at various cases in different
jurisdictions, he concludes that there is considerable incompatibility between
the position taken in the Shar;6a and actual legislation. Hence, there is a potential
for conflict when decisions need to be made. In coming up with this new
legislation, the process of restructuring of the shar;6a to fit Western economic
concepts may continue, but Ballantyne also proposes efforts to restructur[e]
those concepts in order to meet the shariah. This suggestion made by a wellknown Western legal scholar should be welcomed by those who see the Shar;6a as
not only being flexible, but also as the basis from which to benefit modern laws.
Volker Nienhaus Zakat, Taxes and Public Finance in Islam begins by raising
the very important issue of who qualifies to interpret the Shar;6a today as a
comprehensive value system. Nienhaus has been actively writing in the field of
Islamic economics and finance for the last thirty years: he hints that the time may
be near when the monopoly of Islamic jurists in this field is complemented by
Muslim social scientists and economists competent to explain complex social
and economic relations. Hence, rather than limit discussions on public finance to
zak:h and the other traditional instruments discussed by jurists, new inputs
could help design a modern system of taxation and public finance for present-day
Islamic states. The article then undertakes a brief but generally good critical
review of literature relating to public finance, covering both revenue and
expenditure. Nienhaus points to many inadequacies, and possibly even errors,
related to the methodology applied and the lack of penetrating analysis.

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Mohamed Aslam Haneef

Department of Economics International Islamic University Malaysia
E-mail: matagbak@yahoo.com
doi:10.1093/jis/etn015

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The input of social scientists and economists would be of great help in presenting
more meaningful policy prescriptions that would take not only the ideals from
the Islamic worldview but also learn from the present realities.
The final article by co-editor Farhad Nomani discusses what he terms the
Dilemma of Riba-Free banking. He presents a good overview of both the
classical and modern views on rib:, gharar and financial contracts and tries to
present the debates on rib: in Egypt (parallel banking), Iran (nationalized
banking) and Pakistan (private banking). As with most of the themes in this
book, the central challenge is the interpretation of the Shar;6a. While rib: is
prohibited, what exactly it constitutes in the present-day economy is the point of
contention. While he discusses the proliferation of debt-based financing among
the majority of Islamic banks, he also notes an important trend in the last few
years, i.e. the creation of new institutions, including banks, that are slowly
expanding into long term investments. He rightly observes that whichever Shar;6a
compliant instruments are chosen and implemented, they must be seen to be not
only religiously acceptable but economically and financially sound and
competitive. Hence, he reemphasizes a common theme of this bookthe
importance of informed debate and the avoidance of rigid positions that do not
contribute to the development of the discipline.
As a whole, the book contains valuable inputs for anyone interested in the area
of siy:sa shar6iyya or Shar;6a-based public policy. The editors are right to point
out that not much literature is available, specially literature relevant to the
modern context. Against the background of Islamic revivalismthe editors
termand the tendency to present Islam as a complete way of life with solutions
for any and all problems, it is important to have informed discussion on the
various public policy areas covered in this book. In that respect, the editors and
contributors have done a creditable service. However, there are two issues that
need to be mentioned. The first is my discontent (arising from what proved to be
a false expectation) with the book for not trying to present answers to those
policy questions of everyday life from Islamic perspectives. What is very clear
from the stance of the editors and the majority of contributors is that there are no
satisfactory Islamic answers to these policy question and, in many cases,
looking for them is a waste of time. The second issue concerns the absence from
the book of the views of other potential contributors on Islamic economics,
human rights law, etc., who might have offered a different vision on those
questions. By including the views of those who subscribe to the vision of the
Islamists, the books credibility would have been enhanced, especially in light of
the repeated calls throughout the book for wider debate and democratic space.
That said, the book remains essential reading for scholars and policy makers
interested in learning about these topics.