Summary of the Roundtable on Democratic Reform and the Role of Women in the Muslim World (Held on March 29, 2004)

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Notes

Published in the weekly paper Misr on February 15, 1879; reprinted in the quarterly Al-Minar (III), 577–582 and 600–607. I have used the English translation of Professor L. M. Kenny in Journal of the American-Oriental Society, vol. 86, no. 1, March 15, 1966.

A whirl of creativity and progress characterized the first three centuries of the Muslim Empire. Then, toward the end of the eleventh century in the East and the end of the twelfth century in the West, it came to a stop. The causes are numerous, but the common denominator is the triumph of fundamentalist interpretations of the religion.

The forced, rapid “modernization” in Iran put in jeopardy the authority of the Shiite ayatollahs. It also challenged the authority of “fathers” both at social–political levels and in individual families. Hence Khomeini's appeal to the masses. Saudi Arabia, with its puritanical Wahhabi brand of Islam, was exposed to societal change after the first Persian Gulf War (as exemplified by a group of women who tried to drive their own cars). The talk of reform by King Fahd, as well as the presence of American troops on the soil of the two sacred mosques at Mecca and Medina, prompted bin Laden to create Al Qaeda.

Arab Human Development Reports (“Creating 0pportunities for the Future,” 2002, and “Building a Knowledge Society,” 2003), published by the United Nations Program for Development (UNDP). See also A Path to Arab Democracy by Marwan Muasher, Jordanian foreign minister, in The New York Times, April 26, 2003.

The Koran encourages Muslims to practice ijtihad, which means individual study and interpretation of the tenets of the faith. In the first centuries of the empire, the jurisprudents used ijtihad as a principal of jurisprudence. Clerics later “closed the doors of ijtihad.” These “doors” remain closed.

See Summary of the Roundtable on Reform and Human Development in the Muslim World held on March 20, 2003, by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, 6–7.

“The Moor's Last Laugh,” The Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2004.

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Fereydoun Hoveyda

Fereydoun Hoveyda, former ambassador of Iran to the United Nations, served as the National Committee on American Foreign Policy's project director on the Middle East from its inception until 2006. He was the author of The Broken Crescent: The “Threat” of Militant Islamic Fundamentalism (1998), The Shah and the Ayatollah (2003), and numerous other studies of Islam. He also served as a Senior Fellow and trustee of the National Committee.