The Impossible State: Islam Politics and Modernity's Moral Predicament

Wael B. Hallaq boldly argues that the Islamic state judged by any standard definition of what the modern state represents is both impossible and inherently self-contradictory. Comparing the legal political moral and constitutional histories of premodern Islam and Euro-America he finds the adoption and practice of the modern state to be highly problematic for modern Muslims. He also critiques more expansively modernitys moral predicament which renders impossible any project resting solely on ethical foundations.The modern state not only suffers from serious legal political and constitutional issues Hallaq argues but also by its very nature fashions a subject inconsistent with what it means to be or to live as a Muslim. By Islamic standards the states technologies of the self are severely lacking in moral substance and todays Islamic state as Hallaq shows has done little to advance an acceptable form of genuine Sharia governance. The Islamists constitutional battles in Egypt and Pakistan the Islamic legal and political failures of the Iranian Revolution and similar disappointments underscore this fact. Nevertheless the state remains the favored template of the Islamists and the ulama (Muslim clergymen).Providing Muslims with a path toward realizing the good life Hallaq turns to the rich moral resources of Islamic history. Along the way he proves political and other crises of Islam are not unique to the Islamic world nor to the Muslim religion. These crises are integral to the modern condition of both East and West and by acknowledging these parallels Muslims can engage more productively with their Western counterparts. Review This is a bracing erudite and compelling account of the moral political and structural features of Islamic governance and the modern state as well as of the multiple incongruities that hamper any attempt to establish one in terms of the other. Wael Hallaq delivers a welcome rejoinder to much of the dogmatic bluster swirling around the subject of sharia and the Islamic state. At the same time he brings into sharp focus the often overlooked resources for reconceptualizing the modern project from within both Islamic and Euro-American traditions of moral and political thought. The historical theoretical and political richness of this account makes The Impossible State a new standard against which any claims about the possibility of establishing Islamic governance in the contemporary world must now be evaluated. -- Roxanne L. Euben Wellesley CollegeA provocative and wide-ranging rumination by one of the leading scholars of Islamic law this book poses tough questions to champions and critics of sharia alike. Wael Hallaq makes a powerful argument for the relevance of sharia as a moral discourse while remaining critical of its compatibility with the modern state. The Impossible State is bound to elicit debate among scholars of Islam moral philosophy and modernity across the Western and non-Western divide. -- Saba Mahmood author of Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist SubjectIt is an important contribution to understanding the role and potential of the sharia in the modern world. -- Mark D. Welton ―Middle East JournalA philosophical and rhetorical tour de force. ―ChoiceA refreshing take on the modern state and Islamic governance. ―Middle East Media and Book ReviewsThis book brings a detailed and impassioned exploration of key debates in Islamic law and governance into sustained conversation with canonical texts in Western political and legal theory.... The Impossible State makes an important theoretical contribution. -- Iza Hussin ―Perspectives on PoliticsAn important bold and courageous intervention that stands out not just in contemporary debates on the Shariah in the West and the Muslim world but in all modern writing about the subject. ―American Journal of Islamic Social Science