Islam and Politics: Crash Course World History 216

Subordinated to him, and since the supreme government is God's alone, human beings, in the words of Michael Cook, “have no right to be lords of one another.” The Sharia that people talk so much about, which comes from a source outside the political process, be it God or jurists, acts as a deterrent to rulers that prevents them from dictating. For example, the Iranian government has many problems, but its president is not a dictator. But God's absolute rule over the people makes it difficult for Islamists to accept democracy, because democracy is based on the rule of the people.

Extremist Islamists, like Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of Al Qaeda, actually hate democracy. He called democracy “a new religion that deifies the people.” The extremely extremist and terrifying group Boko Haram in Nigeria declared that it “will not accept any system of government other than that which Islam has approved” and that it will “continue its opposition to democracy, capitalism, socialism and others.” Yes, "and others" is part of the quote. If you are in a group that is against "so, so, so, etc", you should leave that group. Therefore, it is easy and common for people in the West to say that Islam is hostile to political values ​​such as freedom, justice and democracy.

When we refer to certain extremist Islamic groups, this is true. But in the West we find it difficult to see others in all their complexity and understand the enormous diversity in the application of Quranic revelation. In my opinion, the clash of civilizations oversimplifies the

world

by dividing it into two groups, and their opinion is that this group sees the

world

this way and that group that way. But the matter is more complicated than that. First, modern political Islam is a very new phenomenon, partly a reaction to Western imperialism and nationalism, and does not always reflect the ideas of Islam or Islamic

history

.

Since ancient times, it has been common for people to remember parts of

history

to inspire them to achieve what they really want. Those who want to restore the caliphate want a stronger, more unified Arab and perhaps even Islamic world. You find them looking for inspiration in the story, taking parts of it and leaving others. What actually happened is that European nationalism prevailed in the Islamic world at the same time as it appeared in Europe, and this is evident in the establishment of the Turkish state. However, to understand the power of the idea of ​​the Caliphate, we must understand that Islam is not just a religion since its inception, it has been a civilization.

Historian Tamim Ansari says: “It is correct to consider Islam as part of a group that includes communism, parliamentary democracy, fascism and the like, because Islam is a social project like them, an idea of ​​political and economic management, and an integrated system. of civil and criminal laws. But it is also a very diverse system that is shaped by everything around it and what is within it, like any civilization. Therefore, when we try to discuss a topic with the complexity and sensitivity of the thought, practice and political perspective of contemporary political Islam, we must first not only be careful to familiarize ourselves with the history, but we must also be sure that we are discussing . the same thing.

There are no clear borders between

politics

, religion, history and the State. Thanks for watching, see you next week. Filmed at Chad & Stacy Imighholtz's studio in Indianapolis, Crash Course exists thanks to the hard work of these people, and also thanks to your subscription through Subbable, an optional subscription service that allows you to directly support Crash Course to continue being free for all forever. . You can also support Crash Course by purchasing some of our cool merchandise, like t-shirts and stickers. Thanks for listening. As we say in my hometown: "Don't forget to be cool."