The Relationship between State and Religion in the Arab and Islamicate
Contexts: Civil State, Secular State, Religious/Islamic State
International Workshop at the Centre for Advanced Studies“Multiple Secularities – Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities”, Leipzig University
9–10 December 2021
Online event via Zoom.
Convenors: Housamedden Darwish (Leipzig University), Markus Dressler (Leipzig University)

Approach
The workshop aims at understanding the concepts of ‘civil state’, ‘secular state’ and ‘religious/Islamic state’and their relation to (the concept/ideal of) democracy in Arab and Islamicate contexts. It starts from a politicaland philosophical perspective and addresses from there normative and descriptive questions concerning theactual and/or potential forms of the relationship between (democratic) state and/or politics and religion.
In recent decades, the concept of ‘civil state’ has, next to the concepts of ‘secular state’ and ‘religious/Islamicstate’, gained prominence among religious and secular intellectuals, politicians and scholars in the Arab andIslamicate worlds. The descriptive content of the concept ‘civil state’ appears to be rather fluid and sometimes
ambivalent – it has been used as synonymous to ‘secular state’ in some contexts, and to ‘religious/Islamic state’in other contexts.
The workshop seeks to bring together case studies and theoretical reflections and discussions on the three
concepts in different disciplines and academic and political contexts in Arab and Islamicate states, with the aimof answering the following questions: How could/should we approach these concepts theoretically? What is therelationship between state and religion in the intellectual and political Arab and Islamicate Contexts? In what
sense and to what extent can we talk about a state as civil, secular and/or religious/Islamic state? Does secularism
mean separation religion (or church) from state, politics or sovereignty? Or does it mean the separation ofreligious and political authorities? What are the practical and conceptual differences between these definitions
and meanings of secularism? Can the concept of ‘civil state’ be a complementary, substitute or an alternative
concept to the concepts of ‘secular state’ and ‘religious/Islamic state’? In what sense and to what extent can (not)each of these states be democratic?
The workshop will take place as an online event. If you wish to attend the workshop, please send a
short inquiry to multiple-secularities@uni-leipzig.de.

This workshop is supported by:Workshop Programme“The Relationship between State and Religion in the Arab and Islamicate Contexts:
Civil State, Secular State, Religious/Islamic State”
Leipzig University, 9–10 December 2021

Schedule
Thursday, 9 December 2021
09:00–09:15

Welcoming and Opening Remarks
Housamedden Darwish (Leipzig University)

09:15–11:00

Panel I – Discussant and Chair: Housamedden Darwish

09:15–09:35

Mohammed Hashas (Leibniz Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin)“Religion and the State in Contemporary Moroccan Thought.”

09:35–09:55

Hiroki Okazaki (Chiba University)“How did Syrian Political Thinkers Understand an Alliance between Secularism andAuthoritarian State?”

09:55–10:15

Abdulrahman Helli (Qatar University)“The Controversy of Religion and Secularism in the Arab World: Methodological andPhilosophical approaches.“

10:15–11:00

Panel I Discussion

11:00–11:30

Coffee Break

11:30–13:15

Panel II – Discussant and Chair: Dietrich Jung

11:30–11:50

Ahmed M. F. Abd-Elsalam (Orient Institute Beirut)“The contemporary Concept of Muwāṭana and the Constitution of Medina.”

11:50–12:10

Doha Abdelgawad (University of Warwick)“Elements of Secularization and Authenticity in the Political Discourse of theEgyptian Muslim Brotherhood Members (2011-2013).”

12:10–12:30

Emilio González Ferrín (University of Seville)“The mirage State: retrospective narration and the three Islams.”

12:30–13:15

Panel II Discussion

13:15–14:45

Lunch Break

14:45–16:30

Panel III – Discussant and Chair: Markus Dressler

14:45–15:05

Limor Lavie (Bar Ilan University)“The Constitutionalization of the Civil State in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.”

15:05–15:25

Housamedden Darwish (Leipzig University)“Political Islam and its Prospects in the Arab and Islamicate World(s).”15:25–15:45

Ahmet T. Kuru (San Diego State University)“Can the ‘Civil State’ Be a Middle Ground Between Assertive Secularist and Islamist
States?”

15:45–16:30

Panel III Discussion
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Workshop Programme“The Relationship between State and Religion in the Arab and Islamicate Contexts:
Civil State, Secular State, Religious/Islamic State”
Leipzig University, 9–10 December 2021

ScheduleFriday, 10 December 2021
09:00–10:45

Panel IV – Discussant and Chair: Mohammed Hashas

09:00–09:20

Sari Hanafi (American University of Beirut)“The relationship between State and Religion in the Arab world: A
separation/connection/multiple actions approach.”

09:20–09:40

Dietrich Jung (University of Southern Denmark)“’Islamic States’: The Cases of Iran, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia.”

09:40–10:00

Mujtaba Isani (University of Mannheim)“Popular Sovereignty, the Caliphate of Man and the Flexibility of an Islamic
Democracy.“

10:00–10:45

Panel IV Discussion

10:45–11:15

Coffee Break

11:15–13:45

Panel V – Discussant and Chair: Sari Hanafi

11:15–11:35

Salim Hmimnat (Mohammed V University in Rabat)“‘Morocco is a civil state, yet with an Islamic reference’: Muslim Secularization toCircumvent the Islamism and Secularism Trap.”

11:35–11:55

Madi Elfatih Ali Ibrahim (Centre of Diplomatic and Strategic Studies)“Sudan: The Great Transition from an Islamic to a Secular State.”

11:55–12:15

Amany Abdelrazik Alsiefy (Free University of Berlin)“Secular State and Feminism in Post-Colonial Egypt: The politics of the Right toExclude.”12:15–13:45

Panel V Discussion and Closing Remarks

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