Politics, Religion & Ideology

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ftmp21

Islam and Democracy in South Asia: The Case of

Bangladesh
by Md Nazrul Islam and Md Saidul Islam, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave
Macmillan, 2020, 331 pp., $99.99 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-3-030-42908-9

Mohammed Khurshed Alam

To cite this article: Mohammed Khurshed Alam (2021) Islam and Democracy in South
Asia: The Case of Bangladesh, Politics, Religion & Ideology, 22:2, 256-258, DOI:
10.1080/21567689.2021.1928933

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2021.1928933

Published online: 08 Jun 2021.

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256 BOOK REVIEWS

Islam and Democracy in South Asia: The Case of Bangladesh, by Md Nazrul Islam
and Md Saidul Islam, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, 331 pp., $99.99
(hardcover), ISBN: 978-3-030-42908-9

The relationship between Islam and democracy has remained a constant debate among scho-
lars, politicians and policymakers around the world. Particularly, since the founding of the
Muslim Brotherhood by Hassan al-Banna of Egypt in the late 1920s and the establishment
of the Jamaat-e-Islami by Maulana Abul A’la Mawdudi of British India in the early 1940s,
this debate has gained considerable momentum. A number of major political and other
events in the subsequent decades, such as the Iranian revolution in the late 1970s, the collapse
of the erstwhile Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the publication of The Clash of Civilizations
in the mid-1990s, and the horrific terrorist attack of 9/11 in the US, have further pushed
serious academic discussions on the interplay between Islam, politics, and democracy
across the globe. However, Bangladesh, a South Asian country with around 90% Muslims
of its total population, has seen very little academic engagement in regard to the interplay
of Islam, Islamism and democracy.
Against this backdrop, Islam and Democracy in South Asia: The Case of Bangladesh pro-
vides critical insights into the relationship between democracy and Islam in Bangladesh
within the broader South Asian perspective. The authors have come up with the reconcilia-
tion between Islamic religious tradition and its pluralistic political view by developing a new
term ‘democratic Islamism’ as opposed to ‘militant Islamism.’ At the heart of the book, which
is largely ignored by scholars over decades, is that Bangladesh’s practice of secularism of an
extreme kind, what the authors call ‘ultra-secularism’ or ‘violent secularism’ and the suppres-
sion of ‘democratic Islamism’ may lead to the disruption of the practice of liberal democracy
and the rise of ‘militant Islamism’ in the country. Drawing insights from scholars of religion,
politics and democracy, such as Max Weber, John Esposito, Robert Dahl, Khurshid Ahmad
and others, the book begins with a critical analysis of contemporary scholarship on compat-
ibility and/or incompatibility of Islam with democracy in Muslim society; the authors have
employed sociological and political theories, such as Weberian sociology of religion, secular-
ization theory and its paradigms, modalities of secularism, and polyarchy and hybridity of
democracy, to deeply understand the intersection between Islam, secularism and democracy
within Bangladesh’s socio-political and cultural trajectories.
Through a close and rather brilliant analysis of the existing published literature, the
authors have cogently argued that both democracy and Islam are ‘essentially contested
concept’. They have appropriately pointed out that Islam’s incompatibility with liberal
democracy becomes apparent when the both terms are used ‘in an essentialist or monolithic
manner rather than acknowledging their flexibility and adaptability and the diversity of actual
experience’ (p. 70). More specifically, the authors have convincingly argued that since Islam
does not prescribe any rigid and structured political system but suggesting some fundamental
principles and as democracy is perceived as a form of political system based on people’s
consent, Islam does not necessarily contradict with democracy, at least from its normative
and philosophical viewpoints.
Throughout this book, the authors have successfully contested the dominant narratives
regarding the advent of Islam and the growth of Muslim society in Bengal: the ‘force conver-
sion’ or ‘religion of the sword’ thesis. They have asserted that the Arab merchants, the Sufis
and saints, arrived in the eighth century of the Christian era, the Muslim conquerors and
rulers were the primary agents for the vibrant growth and consolidation of Muslim society
in Bangladesh.
 POLITICS, RELIGION & IDEOLOGY 257

In their deeply-researched book, the authors have traced the root of Islamism in Bangla-
desh to the ‘Islamic response to the British Government’s policies in India which are said to
have affected the religiosity of Indian Muslims’ (p. 141). The analysis weaves through the
history of political Islam from the mid-eighteenth century through the quitting of the
British to the disintegration of Pakistan. Three historical movements in the colonial period
– the Fara’idi movement, Tariaqah -i-Muhammadiya and the Khilafat movement, which
were characterized as ‘less political and more puritanical’ (p. 141) - have reinforced the
ideals of Islamism in the Bengal Muslim society. While the Fara’idi and Tariaqah -i-Muham-
madiya movements were intended to mobilize the rural masses to the return of the classical
practices of Islam, the Khilafat movement attracted the Indian Muslims of almost all strata of
society, which subsequently turned to be an anti-British or anti-colonial nationalist
movement.
The authors have shown how, during the Pakistani period, ‘Bengali ethno-nationalism’
superseded Muslim nationalism and later on turned to be a nationalist movement as a
response to ‘internal colonialism’ and the use of ‘tactical Islam’ pursued by the Pakistani
ruling elites to suppress, what they call ‘the Bengali questions’. However, arguably, the domi-
nant binary contestation in the book is its ethno-nationalism / religious nationalism dis-
course. The authors have asserted that the narrative that Bengali nationalism was in
contradiction with Islam does not bear any historical corroboration since the ideologies
and programs of almost all nationalist political parties of East Pakistan were not marked
by anti-Islamic sentiments, has rather, shown their commitment to Islam.
The other remarkable view of this work is the way it has challenged uniquely a set of domi-
nant narratives yet unresolved highly pertinent not only to explore the nature of Bangladesh
society and politics, but to investigate under which circumstances secular state actors have
inclined to pursue a top-down process of state-led Islamization in a Muslim majority
country. Although the Bangladeshi masses in 1971 were not driven by secularism rather by
‘democratic aspirations, non-communalism and economic emancipation’ (p. 172), secularism
was made the cardinal principle of the Constitution after independence. The authors have
examined the ideological stance of the Awami League since its founding in 1949 to the dis-
integration of Pakistan in 1971, and contended that no political documents of the Awami
League were reflective of any reference of secularism. In fact, secularism was imposed from
the above, not on the basis of national consensus. Nonetheless, Mujib himself launched a
top-down Islamization process, though the State was still secular in principle, in the last
days of his rule partly due to fear of being alienated from the masses and partly due to prag-
matic reasons and thereby trying to hold public support in the wake of anarchic conditions
caused by huge governance failures. The Islamization process initiated by Mujib was later fol-
lowed and institutionalized by both the civil and military regimes to exploit religious senti-
ments of the masses largely for their political mileage.
The really innovative chapter of the book titled ‘Islam, Islamism and democracy in Ban-
gladesh’ has sought to find the answer of abiding conviction about whether Islam and democ-
racy necessarily conflict each other in Bangladesh focusing on the role of Islamist political
parties. The authors have categorized Islamist groups in Bangladesh into democratic Islamists
and militant Islamists based on their objectives and methodologies. Although democratic
Islamists differ in theological issues of Islam, all of them desire to establish an Islamic State
through the constitutional means, while militant groups intend to establish Islamic Khilafat
by bringing about an Islamic revolution and dismantling the existing constitution by violent
means. The authors have also maintained that religious tolerance and communal harmony
are at the heart of Bangladeshi society and, hence, there is no place of militancy and terrorism.
In December 2015, 100,000 Islamic leaders and scholars connected to these parties in a
258 BOOK REVIEWS

jointly-signed religious ruling ( fatwa) declared those militants as the ‘enemies of Islam and
Muslims’ (p. 256). The authors have concluded that the mainstream Islamist parties represent
the spirit of liberal democracy and categorically condemn militancy and terrorism in the
name of Islam; that the suppression of democratic Islamism and continuation of violent secu-
larism are highly likely to transform Bangladesh into a fertile ground of militancy and
terrorism.
However, the book suffers from some shortcomings: (i) one of the prime arguments of the
book that the emergence of ‘ultra-secularism’ which, according to the authors, intends to
emasculate Islamic visibility and influence from the socio-political and cultural fabric of Ban-
gladesh warrants extensive investigation; (ii) it fails to provide deep insights on why the
adherents of ‘democratic Islamism’ have been constantly unsuccessful to attract public
support to attain power of their own in Bangladesh where the majority of the population sub-
scribe to Islam, and display religious tolerance and democratic aspirations; (iii) it also disap-
points astute readers of those avid in the interplay of Islamism and democracy in Bangladesh
as it lacks to propose any alternative way whereby ‘democratic Islamism’ and secularism will
interact to strengthen democratic values, what scholars called ‘Twin Toleration’, and thus will
counter both ‘militant Islamism’ and ‘ultra- secularism’ to thrive on.
However, the book, despite some Achilles’ heels, would be of great interest for scholars of
religion, particularly Islam and democracy, who intend to spell out the distinctive character-
istics of non-Arab Muslim societies in terms of assimilation and indigenization of local
culture and tradition with religion making these societies completely different culturally
from that of the Arab societies.
The book is a remarkable addition in South Asian studies, especially on the interplay of
Islam and liberal democracy, and would considerably be a useful resource for those of
general readers and specialist observers of South Asia.

Mohammed Khurshed Alam

Uttara University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
khurshed.du.ctg@gmail.com
© 2021 Mohammed Khurshed Alam
https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2021.1928933

Catholics and Communists in Twentieth-Century Italy: Between Conflict and

Dialogue, by Daniela Saresella (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), 272 pp., £85.00
(hardback), ISBN 978-1-3500-6142-2

By focusing on the ideological divide between socialists, communists, fascists, and liberals, the
literature on twentieth-century European history had for a long time concentrated on politi-
cal traditions that were essentially secular. Scholars had thus neglected religion and its impact
on ideology and political culture. Fortunately, more recent scholarship has worked hard at
placing religion at the centre of the analysis, adding greater complexity and sophistication
to our understanding of European historical development. Broadly in line with this endea-
vour, Catholics and Communists in Twentieth-Century Italy, by Daniela Saresella, explores
the complex and fascinating relationship between Italy’s Catholic culture and the Marxist
culture of the Italian Socialists and Communists. Within this exploration, she skilfully