An old essay at eteraz's reminded me of a musing I had about the separation of Church/Mosque and state.
Separation of church and state is of course idea for a secular technocratic republic, such as we have seen the West evolve towards. However in a poostcolonial Islamic country, separation of mosque and state might be a disaster.
Turkey is an example of how poisonous the appeal of secularism has been. And the pan-Arab movement showed us how quickly ostensibly-Separated governments quickly lead to strongmen.
The end goal is a constitutionally-governed liberal state. The Constitution is the key. Why not let that document be drawn from Islam? As long as it is made flexible enough, it will suffice. When was the last time America executed someone for Treason? Or Habeus Corpus was formally rescinded?
"As long as it is made flexible enough, it will suffice."
ReplyDeleteI don't disagree with you...but define flexible. Flexible like...Pakistan's constitution?
When I look at Turkey I see a state where they needed (for a while) to suppress Islam so that a tiny amount of room could be made for democratic government.
ReplyDeleteAnd it worked. They now have a Islamic party ruling, yet the focus is rational issues rather than Sharia. What could be less poisonous than that? Isn't Turkey the most successful Muslim country in the region?
So "poisonous" how?
They also needed the army as a countermeasure.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's Musharraf's problem his army and police aren't secular enough to continue to be a counterweight - and jumped the wrong way and lost control of the army instead of losing the presidency. He's a powerless but president (for life?) instead of being a counterweight.