Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law

'Khaled Abou El Fadl's book is an exciting, thought-provoking and, ultimately, hugely successful attempt to break away from these paradigms. First, as Abou El Fadl points out, they make no sense. If any usurpation is legitimated, then the rebellion leading to the usurpation could not be categorically condemned. Second, the history of the early Muslim community is replete with rebellions and civil wars, championed by some of the most venerated figures in Islam. The attitude to rebellion in the generations that followed could not have been but ambiguous. Third, and this is the main argument of the book, the Islamic legal system actually has a law of rebellion that treats rebels with a confounding measure of tolerance … The author does a wonderful job of placing the discourse on rebellion in the context of a legal culture, where jurists are first and foremost loyal to the legal order and to the rule of law … Abou El Fadl's primary achievement of offering a fresh new perspective on the legacy of Islamic political thought, and one that is painfully relevant to our own days, in more than one way. The Islamic laws regarding banditry, for example, are effectively an attempt to classify and penalize acts of terror against defenceless civilians. In a fascinating postscript, the author also notes that the Islamic law of rebellion was completely excluded from the legal systems of the Arab world. He suggests, convincingly I think, that classical and post-classical Islamic law offers rebels leniency that would be unthinkable in many modern Middle Eastern states. In sum, Abou El Fadl's book demonstrates how an inquiry into the medieval Islamic past can be not only intellectually stimulating, but also a liberating exercise.' Middle Eastern Studies