Islam and Liberal Citizenship

Abstract

In Islam and Liberal Citizenship: The Search for an Overlapping Consensus, Andrew March asks if Muslims can draw on Islamic doctrinal resources to support living as a minority in secular liberal democracies? His answer is a thoroughly researched and argued “Yes.” This work of political philosophy provides a cogent rebuttal to the Islamophobic narrative common in certain circles that Muslims are a fifth column – cuckoo hatchlings waiting for demographic dominance before Islamizing their host nations. The author’s detailed and critical analysis is long overdue, particularly given the debates about Muslims in western countries that have polarized opinions on such issues as France’s “burqa-bans” or the United States’ “war on terror.” There is also a wider context: addressing how religious doctrines can be subordinated to secular authority, which is asked by others with sacred law-based religions, among them Orthodox Jews, Catholics, and Baha’is. Further, for those interested in strengthening commitment to civil society, March presents belief-sourced reasons for supporting the argument that liberal democracy can shore up support among the religious faithful who are not necessarily swayed by secular arguments ...