Modern Islamic economic and political structures replicate rather than differ from global capitalism

Evidence

The claim, presented as an essential postulate of historical materialism, that every fluctuation of politics and ideology can be presented and expounded as an immediate expression of the structure, must be contested in theory as primitive infantilism, and combated in practice with the authentic testimony of Marx, the author of concrete political and historical works. Particularly important from this point of view are The 18th Brumaire and the writings on the Eastern Question, but also other writings (Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Germany, The Civil War in France and lesser works). An analysis of these works allows one to establish better the Marxist historical methodology, integrating, illuminating and interpreting the theoretical affirmations scattered throughout his works. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1447 (#complicates, via linked claim)

What the French saw as “cultural malaise” was in fact the cornerstone of an economic system that tied, in precolonial times, economics to a particular ethical formation of the self, a technology of inner introspection in which the agent operates on his own soul as a means of reaching a particular state of spiritual existence. This state would then dialectically reconnect back with material acts in the real world, producing ethical and moral effects in social realia, without particular regard to efficiency as the means to strictly material profit. “Cultural malaise” then was a French cultural translation of ethical thought and moral action, two “Oughts” that needed to be separated from the “Is” of economics. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 239 (#complicates, via linked claim)

The turn toward secularization and modernization was spurred on by the spread of capitalism and the encroachment of colonialism on various Muslim empires. In fact, it was only during the era of capitalist development that Islam finally ceased to play a central role in social organization. In response to the loss of their territories to European colonial powers, the Muslim rulers of the Ottoman, Egyptian, and Persian Empires introduced programs of modernization, capitalistic reforms, and Westernization. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 298 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Political Islam parallels other modern fundamentalisms rather than stemming from Islam’s essence — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 285; Capitalism and colonialism drove Muslim empires toward secularization — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 298; Islamic economic life ran on a pervasive religious ethic rather than enforceable rules alone — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 153 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Politics is not a mechanical reflection of economic structure #complicates (0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1447
• Precolonial Islamic economics fused ethics and self-cultivation with material action #complicates (0.77) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 239
• Capitalism and colonialism drove Muslim empires toward secularization #complicates (0.76) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 298
• Islamic economic life ran on a pervasive religious ethic rather than enforceable rules alone #complicates (0.73) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 153