Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Gilles Kepel, Jihad: The Trail of Politi-

cal Islam (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 

2002); Omar Abd al-Rahman, “Umar Abdul Rahman: 

A Self-Portrait.” Afkar Inquiry (3 November 1986): 

56–57.

Abd al-Raziq, Ali

 

(1888–1966)  liberal 

Egyptian jurist and political reformer

A reform-minded judge in Egypt’s 

sharia

 courts, 

Ali Abd al-Raziq was the author of a controversial 

book that advocated the separation of Islam from 

politics. He came from a prominent landholding 

family in the district of Minya in Upper e

gypt

 that 

favored the creation of a constitutional monarchy 

and other liberal secular reforms. After studying 

at al-a

zhar

 and Oxford University, he began his 

career as a judge in the Egyptian court system. In 

his book Islam and the Principles of Government,

published in 1925, he argued that m

Uhammad

’s 

mission was a moral and spiritual one only, and 

that neither the q

Uran

 nor the 

hadith

 had ever 

authorized the establishment of a 

caliphate

, or 

Islamic state. Abd al-Raziq developed his thesis 

after the new republican government in t

Urkey

had formally abolished the caliphate in 1924, a 

time when there were strong secular and national-

ist currents in the Middle East. Nevertheless, his 

book outraged religious authorities and tradition-

ally minded Muslims who wanted to hold on to 

the ideal of united Muslim polity, even though 

the caliphate had long before ceased to be an 

effective political institution in Muslim coun-

tries. They were even more offended that he was 

contesting the role of religious law in public life 

and traditional doctrines about Muhammad’s role 

as a prophet-ruler. They accused Abd al-Raziq 

of undermining Islam with European ideas, for 

which he paid a high price: A council of al-Azhar 

religious scholars condemned his book, stripped 

him of his degree, and dismissed him from judi-

cial office. He continued to write but stayed out of 

public affairs for the rest of his life.

See also  a

bdUh

,  m

Uhammad

; 

government

, 

i

slamic

; 

secUlarism

.