Islamic Parties between Sacred and Profane: Transformation of the Concept of Party in the Muslim Political Discourse

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the transformation of the concept of Islamic party in the Muslim political discourse. Considering the processes of separation of Islam and politics as the formation of independent communication systems, the authors try to find an answer to the question of how, despite doctrinal restrictions, the notion “Islamic party” managed to acquire the features of a stable political concept. The authors propose a hypothesis, according to which, as the socio-political modernization of the Arab countries proceeds, the political system appropriates this concept, thereby specifying Islamic values at the level that allows to combine these values with new power institutions and fulfill specific political actions with these values. To test this hypothesis, the authors turn to the analysis of the temporal structure of the concept of party in Quran (Sunnah), the texts of the first ideologues of the Muslim Brotherhood and the rhetoric of the modern Islamic movements that occupy stable positions in the national parliaments. As a result of the study, the authors document the polysemantics inherent in the Islamic doctrine and identify the main parameters of the temporalization and pragmatization of the concept. According to their conclusion, the Islamic parties’ abandonment of Quranic time and placement in the national-historical contexts, as well as the erosion of their initial core values, determine the mo dern perception and functional significance of such parties: they act as an institution that differentiates Islamic norms and ensures their combination with the institutions of the nation state that emerged in the process of moder nization.