The Impossible State: Islam, Politics and Modernity’s Moral Predicament

Research output

Complete citation

Poljarevic, Emin. Review of The Impossible State: Islam, Politics and Modernity’s Moral Predicament, by Wael B. Hallaq. Political Studies Review 12, no. 2 (2014): 303. https://doi.org/10.1111/1478-9302.12053_88.

Status

Published (2014)

Publication type

Scholarly book review

Overview

This review examines Wael B. Hallaq’s argument that the modern sovereign state is structurally incompatible with the ethical and legal order historically associated with Islamic governance. Hallaq contrasts the state’s concentration of legislative, administrative, and coercive power with a premodern legal tradition in which juristic authority and moral obligation constrained political rule. The review considers the force of this critique of the modern state while asking how its historical contrasts and normative claims should be assessed. It highlights the book’s central insight that the problem of an “Islamic state” is not simply the insufficient application of Islamic law, but the attempt to house a morally oriented legal tradition within institutions organised around sovereignty, bureaucracy, and domination. The review contributes to debates on Islamic political theology, law, and modernity.

Research question or central concern

Is the modern sovereign state structurally capable of embodying the moral and legal commitments associated with the Islamic tradition?

Main argument, approach, and contribution

The review reconstructs Hallaq’s historical and normative critique of state sovereignty, assessing its account of law, ethics, and political power. Its contribution is to shift debate from institutional labelling toward the moral architecture of governance.

Keywords

Islamic state; sovereignty; Sharīʿa; political theology; modernity; governance; law; ethics