Constituting Religion: Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian State

Tamir Moustafa

doi:10.1017/9781108539296

Constituting Religion

Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian State

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Most Muslim-majority countries have legal systems that enshrine both Islam and liberal rights. While not necessarily at odds, these dual commitments nonetheless provide legal and symbolic resources for activists to advance contending visions for their states and societies. Using the case study of Malaysia, Constituting Religion examines how these legal arrangements enable litigation and feed the construction of a 'rights-versus-rites binary' in law, politics, and the popular imagination. By drawing on extensive primary source material and tracing controversial cases from the court of law to the court of public opinion, this study theorizes the 'judicialization of religion' and the radiating effects of courts on popular legal and religious consciousness. The book documents how legal institutions catalyze ideological struggles, which stand to redefine the nation and its politics. Probing the links between legal pluralism, social movements, secularism, and political Islamism, Constituting Religion sheds new light on the confluence of law, religion, politics, and society. This title is also available as Open Access.

Short-listed, 2018 Hart/Socio-Legal Studies Association Book Prize

Honourable Mention, 2019 Asian Law and Society Association Book Award

'Moustafa’s fascinating book demonstrates that courts in Malaysia, as in many Muslim-majority polities, enable and catalyze as much as resolve ideological conflicts between proponents of Islamic religious principles and liberal rights. The author’s sophisticated understanding of law’s constitutive power makes the volume an important contribution to scholarship on legal mobilization, rights contestation, and popular legal consciousness. It is a brilliant achievement, and highly recommended!'

Michael McCann - Gordon Hirabayashi Professor for the Advancement of Citizenship, University of Washington

'Constituting Religion offers a strikingly innovative approach to understanding the relationship between Islam and the liberal legal order. Rather than seeing them as inherently incompatible, the book shows through a case study of Malaysia that laws and legal cases generate contests that intensify ideological differences and construct a law/religion binary that polarizes popular legal consciousness. Tamir Moustafa creatively uses socio-legal theory to provide a refreshingly new perspective on a much debated issue.'

Sally Engle Merry - New York University

'Tamir Moustafa has done his homework! Constituting Religion is teeming with insights for anyone interested in law, religion, and politics in Malaysia and beyond. He provides readers with a clear-eyed view of how 'rights versus religion' polemics are constructed, and why they matter. Moustafa does justice to an important and complex issue.'

Zainah Anwar - co-Founder of Sisters in Islam and Musawah, The Global Movement for Justice and Equality in the Muslim Family

‘The book is both slim and engaging enough to be quickly digested by policy-oriented readers as well as academics and deserves to be widely read by all those working in any form of interaction with the 'Islamic legal tradition' in Malaysia and elsewhere.’

Amrita Malhi Source: Journal of Church and State

‘Tamir Moustafa’s book, Constituting Religion: Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian State, examines the complex intertwining of law, religion, and politics in Malaysia … The book is a good example of how judicial actions continue to be explained, framed, and amplified by competing groups of political actors.’

Nurfadzilah Yahaya Source: Reading Religion

‘Moustafa provides a very interesting and detailed account of lived Islam and lived liberalism in a Muslim-majority but religiously diverse society.’

Muqtedar Khan Source: Comparative Politics

‘Constituting Religion provides a remarkable analytical model for how to study and make sense of this growing global phenomenon.’

Dörthe Engelcke Source: Journal of Law and Religion

‘… [an] important book.’

Spencer Dew Source: Religious Studies Review

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Contents

Constituting Religion
pp i-i
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Cambridge Studies in Law and Society - Series page
pp ii-ii
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Constituting Religion - Title page
pp iii-iii
Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian State
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Copyright page
pp iv-iv
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Contents
pp v-v
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Figures
pp vi-vi
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Tables
pp vii-vii
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Acknowledgments
pp viii-x
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Introduction
pp 1-12
Constituting Religion
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1 - The Constitutive Power of Law and Courts
pp 13-30
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2 - The Secular Roots of Islamic Law in Malaysia
pp 31-48
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3 - Islam and Liberal Rights in the Federal Constitution
pp 49-62
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4 - The Judicialization of Religion
pp 63-90
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5 - Constructing the Political Spectacle
pp 91-123
Liberal Rights versus Religion in the Court of Public Opinion
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6 - The Rights-versus-Rites Binary in Popular Legal Consciousness
pp 124-137
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7 - “Islam is the Religion of the Federation”
pp 138-154
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Conclusion
pp 155-158
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Appendix 1 - Religion of the State, Source Law, and Repugnancy Clause Provisions among Muslim-Majority Countries
pp 159-163
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Bibliography
pp 164-177
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Index
pp 178-187
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Books in the Series - Series page
pp 188-194
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Constituting Religion

Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian State

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Contents

Constituting Religion
pp i-i

Cambridge Studies in Law and Society - Series page
pp ii-ii

Constituting Religion - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Contents
pp v-v

Figures
pp vi-vi

Tables
pp vii-vii

Acknowledgments
pp viii-x

Introduction
pp 1-12

1 - The Constitutive Power of Law and Courts
pp 13-30

2 - The Secular Roots of Islamic Law in Malaysia
pp 31-48

3 - Islam and Liberal Rights in the Federal Constitution
pp 49-62

4 - The Judicialization of Religion
pp 63-90

5 - Constructing the Political Spectacle
pp 91-123

6 - The Rights-versus-Rites Binary in Popular Legal Consciousness
pp 124-137

7 - “Islam is the Religion of the Federation”
pp 138-154

Conclusion
pp 155-158

Appendix 1 - Religion of the State, Source Law, and Repugnancy Clause Provisions among Muslim-Majority Countries
pp 159-163

Bibliography
pp 164-177

Index
pp 178-187

Books in the Series - Series page
pp 188-194

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Constituting Religion

Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian State

Book description

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Contents

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