Muslim Minorities and Citizenship: Authority, Communities and Islamic Law.

• Author: Roald, Anne Sofie
• Position: Book review

Muslim Minorities and Citizenship: Authority, Communities and Islamic Law

By Sean Olive-Dee

London: I.B. Taurus, 2012, 240 pages, ISBN 9781848853881.

It was autumn 1990 and Saddam Hussein had occupied Kuwait and taken western hostages, whom he called guests, to prevent retaliation. It was a stalemate, the allies could not free Kuwait due to the hostages in Iraq and Hussein refused to withdraw his troops. Then one of our professors wrote an article in the local newspaper, where he compared Hussein's tactic to the Battle of the Ditch (al-Khandaq) in 627 AD. The Muslims dug a ditch around Medina that prevented the enemies from entering the town. This battle reinforced the strength that the Muslims had lost at Uhud in 625 AD, when the Meccan army and their Bedouin allies were demoralized and their alliance dissolved. This 'theologicentered' interpretation of contemporary happenings in the Muslim world was typical at the time. In most western universities, 'Islamic Studies' was a tiny part of the much bigger subject of 'Religious Studies.' Professors in the field were mainly Protestant Theologians who tended to regard Muslim contemporary actions and behavior in terms of Islamic sources, history, and theology. As conflicts in the Muslim world increased and more and more Muslims settled in western countries, Islam and Muslims became a topic even outside of the Humanities. During the last two decades, Muslims and Islam have increasingly been studied through the lens social science concepts and theories in which theology had little or no place.

This book by Oliver-Dee is one of the few exceptions. He is a researcher of Inter-Religious Affairs at the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which explains his concern with faith and theology in dealing with social science topics such as minority issues and citizenship. His starting point is that through historical analysis of Muslim theology and politics, it is possible to "develop a framework of analysis, questions and anecdote that can form the basis of effective solutions" (p. 3). The main country focus is the UK and France. He states that he wants to deal with the perspectives both of the ruled and the rulers. This approach is in contrast to many social science studies on Muslims, which tend to deal with one or the other.

Oliver-Dee's book is divided into three parts. In section one, he discusses Koranic verses and Islamic legal concepts on loyalty to authorities, Muslims and non-Muslims. His focus...