Ali Abdel Raziq

He argued that Islamic texts were and should remain neutral in political debate and civil institution building. He attended Oxford University, and he was a scholar and jurist in Al-Azhar, Cairo.

Ali Abdel Raziq was born in Minya Governorate in 1888 to a well-off family. His father, Hassan Abdel Raziq, was of Arab origin. He was a large farm-owner and was, in 1907, among the founders of the Hizb al-Umma, an influential political party in early-20th century Egypt. Ali Abdel Raziq's mother was of North African origin. His brother, Mustafa Abd al-Raziq, a well known philosopher, studied at Al-Azhar University under the famous reformer Muhammad Abduh. He later received his 'alim degree from Al-Azhar in 1911. In 1912, he traveled to Oxford University to study economics and political science, but he returned to Cairo at the outbreak of the First World War. Back at Al-Azhar in 1915, he became a qadi (religious judge) in Mansoura. Ali became famous for his book Islam and the Foundations of Governance (Al-Islam wa Usul al-Hukm), published in 1925, and Consensus and Islamic Law (Al-Ijma´ fi ash-Shari´ah al-Islamiyyah), published in 1947. Following popular debate about his 1925 book, Al-Azhar stripped him of his office, but he got it back in the 1940s. Ali, his father and his brother remained close to the Liberal Constitutional Party. He eventually became a government minister and lost his position as scholar and jurist at Al-Azhar. He twice served as Minister of Endowments, one of the three highest positions in religious administration, beside the Rector of Al-Azhar and the Grand Mufti. He died in 1966.

The argument of his 1925 book has been summarized as "Islam does not advocate a specific form of government." He focused his criticism both at those who use religious law as contemporary political proscription and at the history of rulers claiming legitimacy by the caliphate. The focus of this debate was Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal's abolition of the caliphate in 1924, and the response of some Arab Muslim scholars that it was incumbent upon Arabs, in particular, to reinstate the caliphate in Arab lands. He wrote that past rulers spread the notion of religious justification for the caliphate "so that they could use religion as a shield protecting their thrones against the attacks of rebels." The journalistic and academic debate that his book set off projected him into fame. The thesis Islam and the Foundations of Governance (Al-Islam wa Usul al-Hukm) was published recently by Hamed, the grandson of Abdel Raziq, with a familial introduction. He remains controversial, and his specific arguments are part of a longer tradition of jurisprudence and scripture. His work has since been both praised and condemned, as a precursor of secularist philosophy in Muslim societies. It has been criticized as having drawn on the works of Orientalist western writers.

He was regarded as the intellectual father of Islamic secularism (the separation of state and religion, not the secularization of society). Its controversial standpoints regarding the necessity of the caliphate and religious government made the book trigger an intellectual and political battle in Egypt. In essence, it claims that the Muslims may agree on any kind of government, religious or worldly, as long as it serves the interest and common welfare of their society.

• The two main sources of Islamic law (Sharia), the Quran and the Sunnah (the tradition of Muhammad), neither demand nor reject the rule of a caliph or imam. • There is no real ijma (consensus) on the necessity of the caliphate. • Experience shows that the caliphate was a series of disasters for the Muslim community, and there is no single rational argument for the re-establishment of the caliphate. As he recounts the horrors of the caliphate, among other things, one can conclude that he advocated a humanist kind of governance, probably a democratic state. The word 'secular' entered the Arab lexicon at the turn of the 20th century, bringing with it a host of meanings and interpretations. It was first introduced into Arab discourse, as a reference to the separation between religion and state. That later evolved to become "la dini", irreligious. In current circles, secularism is often both understood as "almaniya" and associated with immorality or the lack of ethics.