Social Justice in Islam

Abstract

The dynamics of Islamic revival/activism have been the subject of renewedinterest in the aftermath of the 9/ I I tragedy. Most of this interest has beenconfined to media sound bites that present little or no appreciation for thelinkages between cause and effect, despite appeals by some conscientiouscommentators for balanced analysis. Deina Abdelkader's Social Justice inIslam, therefore, is a fresh contribution to studies on Islamic revivalism inits contemporary context. Even though the study covers the period from1988 to 1993, its examination of revivalist (or, as Abdelkader prefers,activist) sentiment and activities in Egypt, Algeria, and Turkey through thedual lens of maqasid al-Shari 'ah (aims of Shari'ah) and the legal doctrineof maslahah (public good) is timely, for it connects popular sentiment toexpression. The legal convention of maslahah and the paradigm of themaqasid serve as baselines from which the author seeks to create a methodto understand the revivalists' thoughts and actions, as well as the feedbackmechanisms created by them to understand how they must function infuture contexts.Abdelkader uses statistical analyses to examine the data in order tostudy the relationship between the maqasid and the levels of activism measuredin each country. This lends her work credibility beyond the use ofanecdotes, which is needed in contemporary social science research. Thework is comprised of seven chapters followed by appendices that presentthe data collected for Egypt, Algeria, and Turkey. The chapters focus ontheories of Islamic activism, the relationship between activism and publicexpectations, and the research methodology used. A glossary of Arabictenns is included, as well as an extensive bibliography. A preface is pr<rvided by Taha Jabir al-Alwani.Abdelkader's first task is to review theories of lslamic activism/revivalin order to provide the reader with an understanding of its real causes. Shereviews three approaches used in the study of l slamic activism/revival: themodernization/economic development approach, which focuses on thedynamics of modernization; the popular discontent approach, which examinesthe sources and degree of mobilization oflslamic activism/revival; andthe cultural studies approach, which emphasizes the customs and traditions ...