Political Islam is modern state criticism, not traditional rejection of change

Evidence

Asad argues forcefully that it does represent a modern form of political criticism of the state, which is part of a tradition of social criticism that finds expression in the Friday sermons delivered in the larger mosques (Asad, 1993:213). … The religious criticism in this chapter is an undeniably vigorous expression of political opposition to the Saudi ruling elite… I have aimed to provide an account that suggests the limitations are due not to a permanent incapacity to contemplate change, still less to an intrinsic contradiction between religion and reason. The limitations are part of the way a particular discursive tradition, and its associated disciplines, are articulated at a particular point in time. (Asad, 1993:232) It is from such a perspective, acknowledging the role of religion within a particular articulation of socioeconomic and political structures, that Asad is able to present an impressive critique of the account favored by Halliday that Western secularization is the only mode forward. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3520

Categorization

• DEFINE: Reframes ‘political Islam’ as a modern form of state criticism rather than a mere refusal of modernity.
• DEEPTHINKING: Asad’s claim that Islamic political critique is a modern discursive tradition — with its limits shaped by history rather than by any essential religion-versus-reason contradiction — is a genuinely paradigm-shifting reframing of how to analyze religious politics.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3520