Muslims Talking Politics ─ Framing Islam, Democracy, and Law in Northern Nigeria

What is the relationship between Islam and democracy? For most academics and popular writers, the answer lies in an assessment of the compatibility” of Islamic doctrine or Muslim mass values with liberal democracy. But this approach, which treats both Islam and democracy as stable, unproblematic concepts with universal meanings, often produces analyses divorced from the lived experiences of over a billion Muslims. Muslims Talking Politics, by political scientist Brandon Kendhammer, on the other hand, begins with the central axiom that the relationship between Islam and democracy is socially constructed, worked out in public and private spaces by Muslim communities with a practical interest in the potential compatibility of Islamic social goals with democratic institutions. Kendhammer explores this proposition by focusing on a pair of the most significant political developments in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last 15 yearsNigeria’s surprising democratization in 1999, and the subsequent emergence of a mass movement to implement Islamic law (sharia) in twelve of its Muslim-majority states. Kendhammer’s original analysis of how Muslims talk” about the politics of sharia implementation is drawn from a close reading of secondary sources, an analysis of several focus groups’ interpretation of the meaning of sharia, and a systematic coding of a newspaper data set that records the public’s framing” of debate among elites about the significance, meaning and democratic potential of the re-introduction of sharia law in the twelve states of Nigeria. His nuanced narrative explains why Muslims favor sharia and accept it as critical dimension of democratic governance. He accomplishes this task by integrating American democratic theory, frame analysis methodology, and Muslim scholarly commentaries on Islamic jurisprudence---epistemic communities that normally do not often talk to one another. This exceptional achievement will make a timely and original addition to theoretical and policy debates taking place in area studies, anthropology, and political science focused on the social construction of Muslim politics.”

Brandon Kendhammer is assistant professor of political science and the acting director of African Studies at Ohio University.