Liberal Rights versus Islamic Law? The Construction of a Binary in Malaysian Politics

Law & Society Review, vol. 47: 771-802 (2013)

32 Pages Posted: 26 Oct 2013

Date Written: 2013

Abstract

Why are liberal rights and Islamic law understood in binary and exclusivist terms at some moments, but not others? In this study, I trace when, why, and how an Islamic law versus liberal rights binary emerged in Malaysian political discourse and popular legal consciousness. I find that Malaysian legal institutions were hardwired to produce vexing legal questions, which competing groups of activists transformed into compelling narratives of injustice. By tracing the development of this spectacle in the courtroom and beyond, I show how the dueling binaries of liberal rights versus Islamic law, individual rights versus collective rights, and secularism versus religion were contingent on institutional design and political agency, rather than irreconcilable tensions between liberal rights and the Islamic legal tradition in some intrinsic sense. More broadly, the research contributes to our understanding of how popular legal consciousness is shaped by legal mobilization and countermobilization beyond the court of law.

Keywords: Liberal rights, Islamic law, Malaysia

Suggested Citation

Moustafa, Tamir, Liberal Rights versus Islamic Law? The Construction of a Binary in Malaysian Politics (2013). Law & Society Review, vol. 47: 771-802 (2013), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2315347

Tamir Moustafa (Contact Author)

Simon Fraser University (SFU) ( email )

Simon Fraser University
7200-515 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 5K3
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://www.sfu.ca/internationalstudies/moustafa.html

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