Friday's Read: Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories of Muhammad 'Abduh and Rashid Rida

Malcolm H. Kerr. Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories of Muhammad 'Abduh and Rashid Rida. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966)
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Malcolm Kerr’s Islamic Reform: The Political and Legal Theories of Muhammad 'Abduh and Rashid Rida (1966) is an analysis of Rida’s and ‘Abduh’s reformist goals and political theories about this idea of the Islamic state. It is an unusual book, the first half of which is comprised of a history and explanation of classical Islamic theology, a project for which Kerr proves to be entirely up to the task. The remainder of the volume then explores the extent to which ‘Abduh’s thought - and Rida’s later expansions upon it in his call for a revival of the caliphate and the shariah - are unsuccessful in Islamic terms because they rest on shaky theological premises; naturalism and rationalism do not make room for a God that constantly intervenes to sustain the universe. Although Kerr’s argument appears to be theologically sound, the reader is left wondering why this particular line of inquiry was pursued in the first place; it seems in many respects to be a peculiar blend of theology and political theory, the ramifications of whose conclusions are perplexing. One sees here, in both the topic and in Kerr’s (page one) call for a “resolution of tensions” between Islam and nationalism an overtone of the “Islam versus democracy” drumbeat that would take over academic discussions a few decades after his writing.