The demand for sharia in African democratization processes: Pitfalls or opportunities?

Dr. Abdulkader Tayob is the ISIM Professor at the University of Nijmegen. He has written extensively on Islam in South Africa: Islamic Resurgence in South Africa (1995) and Mosques, Imams and Sermons (1999). He is currently working on Islam and public life in Africa in comparative perspective.

In the last ten years, a number of African countries have democratized their political spaces with more robust discussion in the media, multi-party elections and global connections. Taking a comparative approach, the speaker will argue that the demand for sharia in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria must be located in the movements for democratization from below. The latter can be seen in the many different forms that the processes have taken in these countries. The jurisdiction, content and structures evolving in these countries expose the local contexts.

The introduction of sharia, however, poses a challenge both to the democracies concerned and to the normative conceptualizations of the sharia among Muslims. An examination of the countries reveals the pitfalls and opportunities at both levels.