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Reviewed by:
  • African Constitutionalism and the Role of Islam
  • Bereket Habte Selassie
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im. African Constitutionalism and the Role of Islam. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. xii + 199 pp. References. Index. $65.00. Cloth.

To place this review in proper historical context, I begin with a signal event: Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolution of 1979, overthrowing the regime of the Shah of Iran. That unexpected transformation marked a new and decisive moment in the post–Cold War period, giving birth to an Islamic theocracy in one state and inspiring the spread of political Islam in many other countries. It is conceivable that without that decisive event and its inspirational capacity, September 11, 2001, and similar terrorist activities might not have occurred.

Since the September 11 attack, scholars of Islamic studies have tried to explain the source of the disaffection of those who participated. While Western policy analysts seek national security solutions, some non-Western scholars analyze the plight of Muslims in Europe as they face ostracism and discrimination in the context of the so-called war on terror. (See, for example, Javaid Rehman, “Islam, ‘War on Terror’ and the Future of Muslim Minorities in the United Kingdom: Dilemmas of Multiculturalism in the Aftermath of the London Bombing,” Human Rights Quarterly 29, 4 [2007]: 831–78).

Abdullahi An-Na’im goes beyond these two types of analysis. Over the years he has made many illustrious contributions to the field of “crafting law”—particularly human rights law—in Africa. In several publications, including the book under review, he propounds a theory that aims at accommodating Islam in modern constitutional systems, and more specifically at incorporating Islam within the complicated process of constructing constitutions. In considering the question of how Islam fits into this process, An-Na’im begins with a narrative of the constitutional experience of African countries, in which he posits the notion of incremental success of the gradual application of principles, institutions, and mechanisms of such “constitutionalism.” He points to the difficulties of what he calls the “indigenization” of the principles of law in an alien context composed most [End Page 179] notably of two characteristics: the (Westphalian) notion of the nation-state imposed by colonial rule on African societies, and the democratic principle of popular sovereignty, as espoused by modern constitutional governments. Citing other African scholars on the subject, he argues, however, that some of the basic ideas and institutions of modern constitutionalism are “indeed part of the historical experience of African societies” (38).

An-Na’im contends that there are specific values and institutions that characterize predominantly Islamic societies in Africa. In presenting this argument, he distinguishes between Islam and Shari’a, asserting that whereas Shari’a refers to the normative system of Islam in general, the specific content of local systems of law “is necessarily a product of the history of their own societies” (100). Shari’a refers to human interpretation of the Qur’an and Sunna or hadith (tradition of the Prophet), and as such is not immutable. But therein, I think, lies not just the strength of An-Na’im’s thesis but also its weakness. The content of the Shari’a prevalent among Muslim societies today contains principles that are incompatible with constitutionalism. Thus the possibility of integrating the principles of Shari’a with constitutionalism will depend on the interpretation (or reinterpretation) of Islamic principles to make them compatible with the principles of constitutionalism. An-Na’im’s basic point is that Islam and constitutionalism are not necessarily in contradiction; it is interpretation that is in play. (Hence the title of his chapter on this topic, “The Contingent Role of Islam.”)

Presented in this manner, the role of Islam appears open to challenge—as are traditional African laws and customs that governed the lives of precolonial communities. Indeed, An-Na’im argues that any success in the process of adaptation will necessarily be incremental. Pointing to a number of such gradual successes achieved in Africa, he claims that Islam can play a role in the long-term sustainability of African constitutionalism.

An-Na’im’s argument sounds plausible, even though in the short term, at least in light of recent political...

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