This thesis is an attempt to examine one of the most important on-going debates in contemporary Islamists' discourses, namely, the status and rights of religious minorities in an Islamic state. The call by Islamists for the establishment of such a state governed by the Shari'ah has given rise to criticism that Islamization would entail the revival of the discriminatory rulings of traditional Islamic law with respect to non-Muslim citizens and the negation of the modern principle of the right to equality for all citizens irrespective of religious belief. To provide a background to the problem, this study presents a brief review of the stance of traditional Islamic law on the status and rights of non-Muslims living within the domain of Islam. This tradition has informed the discourses of contemporary Islamists on the question. Two currents of thought are examined: radical and moderate Islamism. Radical Islamists assert that granting non-Muslim citizens equal status and rights with Muslims is inconsistent with the teachings of Islam, although in stating this they confirm the apprehensions that Islamization would result in institutionalizing discrimination against religious minorities. Moderate Islamists on the other hand maintain that the concept of equal rights for all citizens is compatible with the tenets of Islam. Nonetheless, their arguments are not without problems as there are limits to how far they are willing to go in offering equal status and rights to non-Muslims.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.79772 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Suhaila |
| Contributors | Ormsby, Eric (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Institute of Islamic Studies.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001985348, proquestno: AAIMQ88646, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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