| ID | 098379 |
| Title Proper | Ascendance of bureaucratic Islam and the secularization of the sharia in Malaysia |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Mohamad, Maznah |
| Publication | 2010. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Malaysia's trend of mounting religiosity should not be seen as merely stemming from political rivalry between its two biggest Muslim parties (UMNO and PAS) but also from another source, its Sharia-aspiring bureaucracy. The hegemony of this religious bureaucracy is based on its power as arbiter of the "right" or official Islam and its oversight over Sharia laws and Islamic public institutions. Insulated from voters' displeasure and, to a large extent through its strategy of invoking the immutability of Sharia, this bureaucracy has emerged as the lynchpin of Malaysia's state-driven Islamization. But even as Sharia proponents disavow secularism, the essence of Islamic legal and bureaucratic transformation is closer to a secularized adaptation than to a process of desecularization. Furthermore, as much as the bureaucracy is seemingly unstoppable, it is far from being fully stabilized as it confronts a dissenting section of the Muslim middle class who are also keen to capture the discursive, but highly fortified legal space of "authentic" Islam occupied by this bureaucracy. Ultimately, what surfaces in Islam's politicization is the contestation between a secularized Sharia bureaucracy and its juridical subjects, rather than a desecularization movement. |
| `In' analytical Note | Pacific Affairs Vol. 83, No. 3; Sep 2010: p505-524 |
| Journal Source | Pacific Affairs Vol. 83, No. 3; Sep 2010: p505-524 |
| Key Words | Ascendance ; Malaysia ; Islamzation - Malaysia ; Sharia Law ; Islamic Bureaucracy ; Bureaucratic Islam ; Secularization |