Post-Islamist

Religious Secularism
in the Muslim World
Lily Zubaidah Rahim
Department of Government and International Relations
University of Sydney

The Muslim World

http://www.islam101.com/dawah/muslim_world_map.html

Muslim Majority Countries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim-majority_countries

Muslim Majority Countries (continued)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim-majority_countries

Freedom in the World 2011

Table of Muslim-Majority Countries

PR and CL stand for political rights and civil liberties,

respectively; 1 represents the most free
and 7 the least free rating.
up or down indicates an improvement or decline in
ratings or status since the last survey.
up or down indicates a trend of positive or negative
changes that took place but were not sufficient to result in a
change in political rights or civil liberties ratings.
indicates a countrys status as an electoral democracy.
NOTE: The ratings reflect global events from January 1, 2010,
through December 31, 2010.

Freedom House 2011

Freedom in the World 2011

Regional Data

Freedom House 2011

Egypt, Democracy and Islam 2011

Egypt, Democracy and Islam (Pew Research Centre Publication, 2011)

Muslim Perceptions of Islams Influence in Politics 2011

Islam was seen as a positive rather than negative

influence in politics by equally impressive margins in
Indonesia (91% to 6%), Nigeria (82% to 10%), Jordan
(76% to 14%) and Pakistan (69% to 6%).
In Lebanon and Turkey, close to a third said that Islam
had a negative influence in politics, but in both nations
more believed Islam's influence was positive than said it
was negative.
Respondents who had a positive view of Islam's
influence included both those who said Islam was
playing a large role in their country's political life and saw
this as a good thing and those who said Islam was
playing a small role and saw this as a bad thing. The
reverse was true for those respondents who had a
negative view of Islam's influence.

Egypt, Democracy and Islam (Pew Research Centre Publication, 2011)

Egyptian Priorities 2011

Egyptians Embrace Revolt Leaders, Religious Parties and Military (Pew Research Centre Publication, 2011)

State-Religion Regimes

State-Religion Regimes in 46 Muslim Countries

Islamic States

11

States with an
Secular States
Established
Religion (Islam)
15

20

Ahmet T. Kuru, Secularism and State Policies Towards Religion (2009:18)

Antireligious
States

State-Religion Regimes

Continuum of State-Religion Regimes and Secularism

Passive
secularism
Islamic state

State with
established
religion

Assertive
secularism
Secular state

Ahmet T. Kuru, Secularism and State Policies Towards Religion (2009:31)

Antireligious
state

Key findings of the Gallop World Poll 2001-2007:

Muslim perceptions of democracy and secularism
An overwhelming number of Muslims support democracy believing that it is the
key to a more just society and to progress.
Muslims indicate that the lack of political freedom is what they least admire
about the Islamic and Arab world.
The majority of Muslims would like to see a religious form of democracy with
the sharia as one source of legislation, albeit a restricted source.
Most Muslims desire a system of government in which religious principles and
democratic values co-exist.
A significant majority in many Muslim countries say religious leaders should
play no direct role in drafting a countrys constitution, writing national
legislation, determining foreign policy, deciding how women dress in public
or what is published in newspapers.
Most Muslims do not want a rigidly secular or Islamic state.
Refer to John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, Who Speaks for Islam: What a
Billion Muslims Really Think, (NY: Gallup Press, 2007), p.29-63.

Political moderation thesis J. Schwedler (2006); Vali Nasr

(2005)
- inclusion of Islamist parties/movements leads to
moderation
Schwedler on political inclusion
- radicals become reformers
- fence-sitters become moderates
- moderates become even more moderate
- moderates have opportunities to increase their
visibility and efficacy