Modern Islamic Theorizing on Minorities: An Alternative Model

Résumé

As the Arab Spring spreads through the Arab world, many previously
ignored and taboo political and social issues are being raised and debated.
Perhaps one of the most contested issues being discussed amid the spreading
discontent is the thorny matter of minorities. In societies like Tunisia and
Egypt, where the Jewish and Coptic minorities are easily identified and
defined because of cultural separation and alienation, or were forced to
maintain over the years, the minority issue may seem straightforward
enough (Eyadat, 2014). Thus, there is a burning need for new hermeneutics
of the Qur’an as well as of the Sunna to answer to the needs imposed by new
circumstances admits which the Arab and Muslim nations find themselves,
and which necessitates a systematic and rational reconciliation between
Islam and Islamic thought and universal human rights.
A few earlier studies zeroed in on this issue including an analysis of
the writings of prominent Islamic intellectuals such as Abdallah Na’im
and Rachid al-Ghannouchi
(Eyadat, 2013). As I have already demonstrated
in other writings, the system of “dhimma” can no longer be considered
as the only paradigm to deal with the majority-minority
topic (Senturk,
2005; Eyadat, 2014). In fact, Fahmi Howeidi, one of the modern Islamic
scholars, suggests that the juristic formulations should be revised, including
the concept of ahl al-dhimma,
which he considers as a historical value
that is not in any way binding, while advocating the renunciation of the
concept of ahl al-dhimma
and replacing it with citizenship in terms of terminology
and substance (Huwaidi, 1999).