The problematic notion of the ‘Islamic state’ in the discourses of contemporary Islamists: the case of Sheikh Muhammad Abu Zahra (1898–1974)

Abstract

This article examines the conceptualization of the 'Islamic state' by one reputable Arab Islamist scholar, Muhammad Abu Zahra. It contends that he fails to provide internally consistent answers to four key questions. First, does the Islamic state presently exist, or is it yet to be established; and if the latter is the case then by whom and how? Second, was the historic caliphate which allegedly extended from the death of the Prophet until the Ottoman caliphate’s dissolution an 'Islamic state'? Third, is the 'Islamic state' universal in scope, or can there be several Islamic states at the same time? Fourth, what is the relationship between the 'Islamic state' and Islamic unity; and can the latter be achieved outside the context of the 'Islamic state'? I argue that Abu Zahra’s conceptualization of the 'Islamic state' is heavily influenced by 'modern'/European ideas about the nation-state; as a sovereign entity with the authority to impose its writ over its citizens and territory. I conclude that the 'Islamic state' is a stillborn idea being a hybrid of two highly incompatible sets of genes: the Islamic tradition, which does not conceive the Umma in territorial terms, and the 'modern'/ European notion of the territorial state.