Ali Abdel Raziq

Ali Abdel Raziq (1888–1966) was an Egyptian scholar of Islam, judge and government minister. His writings, some controversial, debated the role of religion and Islamic history in 20th-century politics and government.

He argued that Islamic texts were and should remain neutral in political debate and civil institution building. to a well-off family. His father, Hassan Abdel Raziq, was of Arab origin. He eventually became a government minister and lost his position as scholar and jurist at Al-Azhar. He focused his criticism both at those who use religious law as contemporary political proscription and at the history of rulers claiming legitimacy by the caliphate.

The focus of this debate was Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal's abolition of the caliphate in 1924, and the response of some Arab Muslim scholars that it was incumbent upon Arabs, in particular, to reinstate the caliphate in Arab lands.

The journalistic and academic debate that his book set off projected him into fame.

The thesis Islam and the Foundations of Governance (Al-Islam wa Usul al-Hukm) was published recently by Hamed, the grandson of Abdel Raziq, with a familial introduction.

He remains controversial, and his specific arguments are part of a longer tradition of jurisprudence and scripture. His work has since been both praised and condemned, as a precursor of secularist philosophy in Muslim societies.

It has been criticized as having drawn on the works of Orientalist western writers.

Secularism

He was regarded as the intellectual father of Islamic secularism (the separation of state and religion, not the secularization of society).

Its controversial standpoints regarding the necessity of the caliphate and religious government made the book trigger an intellectual and political battle in Egypt. In essence, it claims that the Muslims may agree on any kind of government, religious or worldly, as long as it serves the interest and common welfare of their society.

Arguments The two main sources of Islamic law (Sharia), the Quran and the Sunnah (the tradition of Muhammad), neither demand nor reject the rule of a caliph or imam. There is no real ijma (consensus) on the necessity of the caliphate. Experience shows that the caliphate was a series of disasters for the Muslim community, and there is no single rational argument for the re-establishment of the caliphate.

As he recounts the horrors of the caliphate, among other things, one can conclude that he advocated a humanist kind of governance, probably a democratic state.

The word 'secular' entered the Arab lexicon at the turn of the 20th century, bringing with it a host of meanings and interpretations. It was first introduced into Arab discourse, as a reference to the separation between religion and state. That later evolved to become "la dini", irreligious.

In current circles, secularism is often both understood as "almaniya" and associated with immorality or the lack of ethics.

Criticism Syrian Islamic theologian Muhammad Rashid Rida (d. 1935) was one of the most fierce critics of 'Ali Abd al-Raziq and his ideas. Rida described the reaction to his controversial work al-Islam wa 'Usul al-Hukm [Islam and the Foundations of Political Power] to the "sudden arrival of the Day of Judgment". Through Al-Manar, Rashid Rida charged 'Abd al-Raziq with blasphemy and kufr (disbelief) that no Batini, Mu'tazili, or Jahmi have ever uttered before. Excommunicating 'Ali Abd al-Raziq as an apostate (murtad), Rida praised the Azhari court verdict stripping Abd al-Raziq of his scholarly titles as a "great manifest victory for the believers over the atheists". Rida condemned the work as: “...a destruction and uprooting of the Islamic regime and its legislation; a tearing apart of its community, and a complete endorsement of disobedience of Allah and His messenger and all religious rules pertaining to the secular order, whether personal, political, civil or criminal ... it considers ignorant all generations of Muslims: The Companions, Successors, Imams, Mujtahids, Hadith scholars, and theologians. All in all, it calls for taking a path other than that of the believers, one at a conflict with Islam as it is understood by Muslims from the first generations to the present."