Deontological Islamic Pacifism: ‘Abdallāh Bin Bayyah on Jurisprudence of Peace, Sufism and Covenants
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31098/jcms.v5i1.230Keywords:
Pacifism, Peace, Islamic Law, ‘Abdallāh Bin Bayyah, CovenantsAbstract
‘Abdallāh Bin Bayya (born in 1935) is probably the most significant voice of Islamic pacifism in the Middle East today. His deontological pacifism (maintaining peace is both a duty and a right), which emphasizes ethics of Islamic law, a commitment to state authority in matters of war and peace, and a critical attitude toward Islamist violence, was overlooked in academic research. In the context of the Arab Spring, some critics contended that his pacifism is a legalization of the authoritarian state in the Middle East. We challenge this claim here and argue that Bin Bayya, prior to the Arab Spring, considered safety, peace, and order as higher objectives of Islamic law. In particular, his earlier work on Sufism, jurisprudence of peace, covenantal concepts of ‘ahd and mīthāq, and safety provides the foundation for his pacifism. In terms of method, we conduct a textual study of Bin Bayya's written works, published between 1996 and 2014, paying particular attention to his pacifist arguments and critique of Islamist violence. We conclude that Bin Bayya's pacifism is based on the idea that the ultimate measure of law and ethics is the benefit of humanity, both as individuals and as a society, a principle that takes precedence over any political system or ideology.
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