"The Making of the Modern Muslim State" by Malika Zeghal (REVIEW)
95% of Middle Eastern Muslim-majority polities enshrine a state-preferred religion. Among Muslim-majority polities worldwide, that figure is also pretty high - 71%. But for non-Muslim majority polities? Just 45%. What explains this great religious divergence? Why are Muslim, especially MENA, countries more likely enshrine religious laws?
Is this an inevitable feature of Islamic states, or was it enabled by a particular set of circumstances? If so, which? Hypotheses vary! Existing scholarship on the Global Islamic Revival tends to focus on country-specific factors – Egypt’s economic stagnation, Turkey’s religious associations, Iran’s religious authoritarianism, Sahelian state weakness, Pakistani return migration from the Gulf, repression in Uzbekistan, Indonesian’s resistance to secular schooling. But could there be a common thread?
Let me strongly recommend Malika Zeghal’s new book, “The Making of the Modern Muslim State: Islam and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa”.
Seriously, it will rock your priors!
