Malika Zeghal’s book, The Making of the Modern Muslim State: Islam and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa, is a groundbreaking contribution to the dense material on the Muslim state and its relationship with society. It sheds new light on the correlation between the state and its custodianship of religion and religious institutions across different periods. Zeghal’s erudite study reframes long-held assumptions regarding secularization and historical ruptures in Muslim societies. One group of scholars (Ira Lapidus, Ali Abd al-Raziq, Abdullahi An-Naim, and Abdolkarim Soroush) contends that a de facto historical separation of religious and political institutions has existed for much of Islamic history. Conversely, other academics (Ernest Gellner, Ann Lambton, Patricia Crone, and Bernard Lewis) argue for the inherent inseparability of religion and state in Islam. Another common assumption Zeghal addresses is a perceived rupture between premodern functions of the state and contemporary Muslim state practices. This rupture emerged from the seismic challenges of colonization, modernization, secularization, and democratization.
Drawing on archival data, empirical research, and comparative analyses across several Muslim countries, Zeghal makes certain compelling arguments: First, there has been no fundamental rupture in the relationship between state and religion, and the state has maintained its custodianship of Islam as the preferred religion, despite the changes in historical periods and scope of implementation. This custodianship remains a defining feature of the modern Muslim state, which she views as neither entirely secular nor completely religious. Second, Zeghal argues that despite their differing orientations, conservatives and liberals have agreed on the role of the state as custodian of religion. Third, she highlights a correlation between the state’s size and reach and religious provisions. As the reach and capacity of the state expanded, per-capita state provisions for religious education and institutions increased, and students’ access to religious instruction grew.
Citing scholarship on the expectations of state custodianship (Patricia Crone and Kristen Stilt), Zeghal outlines the expected duties of the Muslim state toward religion and society. She calls these “agreed upon principles.” First, the state is expected to protect religion and its diverse manifestations (guaranteeing worship, maintaining ritual and celebratory practices, upholding certain interpretations of Islam, and upkeeping educational infrastructure and personnel). Second, the state is expected to ensure the preservation of the Muslim community. This duty includes defending and bolstering the borders of the umma, upholding its integrity, and preventing the conversion of its members. The last principle is the preservation of Islamic institutions, the necessary infrastructure that sustains religion and, at the same time, reaffirms state custodianship. This covers the application of Islamic law, the upholding of its structures, and the provision for Islamic institutions and personnel (courts, judges, mosques, schools, and teachers). Strikingly, the earlier articulations of state functions by classical Muslim jurists such as al-Mawardi and al-Juwayni—whose works are surprisingly absent from the book’s bibliography—provide concrete historical evidence for Zeghal’s concept of state custodianship, not merely as a continuous practice but also as a formalized political doctrine. These functions can be summarized as follows: First, the preservation of the religion by safeguarding religious doctrine from heretical innovations (bid‘ah), establishing religious observances, and ensuring public adherence to the rulings of Islamic law (al-ahkam al-shar‘iyyah). Second, the establishment of justice and adjudication of disputes, that is, resolving conflicts between litigants to guarantee societal stability and prevent injustice. Third, the protection of the domain of Islam (Defensive Security), that is, fortifying frontiers, raising armies, and preparing for the defense of the polity against external threats. Fourth, the implementation of prescribed legal punishments (Hudud), executing the canonical penalties designed to protect life, honor, and property. Fifth, the collection and disbursement of revenues by levying alms (zakat), land tax (kharaj), spoils (fay’), and their distribution to rightful beneficiaries, as well as the construction of public utilities. Sixth, the appointment of competent officials by selecting governors, judges, and functionaries based on the dual principles of trustworthiness (amanah) and capability (quwwah/competence). Jurists have emphasized that the state’s paramount purpose is ri‘ayat masalih al-khalq (the custodianship of the welfare of creation).
Zeghal identifies four main issues that drove recurring debates regarding the role of Islam in governance: the extent of the state’s commitment to the custodianship of Islam (thickness or thinness); the scale of government provisions to society; the degree to which the state should exercise control (strength) and impose its own interpretations of religion; and, finally, the implementation of the state’s custodianship. Several protagonists have been involved in this process (state officials, `ulama’, intellectuals, and foreign consuls), yet the main factions were what Zeghal labels as “conservatives” and “liberals.” Conservatives have pushed for a thicker state custodianship while defending their autonomy. Liberals, by contrast, have advocated for a thinner implementation of the state’s custodianship, but did not insist on a separation between the state and religion. Zeghal clearly demonstrates that despite their divergent orientations, both factions have agreed on the fundamental principle of state custodianship of religion. Through empirical and qualitative evidence in the Longue Durée, she highlights the historical continuity, rather than rupture, of this consensus.
Chapter 1 analyzes the foundational debates surrounding the creation of the 1861 Tunisian Constitution. The contested issues covered the Bey’s sovereignty and the equality between Muslims and non-Muslims, the new realities of a colonial influence, the existence of severe fiscal crisis, the decline of the Shari`a in governance, and the state’s role in providing for religious institutions. Zeghal argues that the new legal frameworks reaffirmed the state’s custodianship, despite differing views on its implementation.
Chapter 2 examines the constitutional projects during the French occupation (1881–1956) and the creation of the 1959 postindependence constitution. Zeghal notices a continuation of the precolonial traditions of the state’s custodianship of religion, whether under the Beylikate, imperial France, or postindependence Tunisia. President Habib Bourguiba, Zeghal maintains, imposed an “authoritarian synthesis” between liberals and conservatives regarding the state’s custodianship of religion and the role of Islam in governance.
Chapter 3 focuses on the intense debates surrounding the making of the post-Arab Spring 2014 constitution in Tunisia. The final document reflects certain enduring historical legacies: Bourguiba’s synthesis, the cultural “tug of war” between conservatives and liberals, and the agreement on the state’s custodial role. The issue of the place of Shari`a in governance, which was vigorously debated but remained unresolved, was left to be democratically decided in the future.
Chapter 4 presents a comparative analysis of the making of the 1923 Constitution of Egypt, the 1920 Constitution of Syria, and the 1926 Constitution of Lebanon—states with significant non-Muslim populations. This period was commonly regarded as the “liberal age” and witnessed the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood movement that advocated the establishment of an Islamic state. Zeghal finds a continuation of a broad agreement between conservatives and liberals on the state’s guardianship of religion.
The last chapter measures how the state’s custodianship of Islam has been concretely implemented by examining public religious expenditures over a Longue Durée, from the nineteenth to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey. Zeghal contends that these expenditures, extended mainly by the state rather than private waqfs, were modest in relation to other budgetary outlays, but nevertheless were larger in per capita real terms. The book’s appendix provides a substantial summary of the sources and methodology of the quantitative analysis.
Zeghal’s book offers significant historical insight and astute analyses. This very strength, however, invites scrutiny on certain points. First, it is important to distinguish between increased access to religious education and a corresponding rise in religious literacy. My own experience attests to this distinction: I am a product of the state’s custodianship of religion within modern public (pilot) schools, rather than private institutions. The majority, if not almost all, of what I have learned about religion comes not through my access to religious education at school (which was not even factored into our overall grades), but rather from my own exploration after graduating from the formal educational system. Second, the author’s deep understanding of the recurring debates over the state’s custodianship of religion makes the persistent use, throughout the book, of a conservative-liberal binary particularly striking. To her credit, Zeghal deftly confronts this complexity. She carefully points out the ambiguous borderlines between these categories, noting that a significant number of designated liberals have embraced authoritarianism (the “liberal” Bourguiba included) and/or sided with authoritarian regimes, while many conservatives have advocated demonstrably progressive causes. However, a critical question remains unanswered: why have liberals and political leaders (from Bourguiba to Nasser) consistently upheld this consensus and reaffirmed their commitment to Islam, given that this position was not rooted in personal piety or ideological conviction? Further, Zeghal’s estimates regarding the percentages of the contribution of private versus state waqfs to society certainly invite further investigation. Studies on Egypt, for instance, estimate private waqf contributions to society at a much larger percentage (Ibrahim Ghanem, Al-Awqaf wa al-Siyasa, 1998).
Ultimately, The Making of the Modern Muslim State presents a significant contribution to the field. Zeghal’s robust methodology and rigorous historical analysis successfully reframe intricate and often polarized debates about historical ruptures, secularization, and the relationship between state and religion. It is a work of outstanding erudition that will likely impact discussions on religion, state, and society in the Muslim world for years to come.
