In an era when political science often remains reluctant to take religion seriously or insists on maintaining rigid distinctions between the secular and the religious—despite anthropologists' persistent arguments to the contrary—Sumita Pahwa offers a refreshing approach to studying religion in politics, particularly in Muslim-majority countries. In her new book Politics as Worship: Righteous Activism and the Egyptian Muslim Brothers, Pahwa challenges conventional wisdom by presenting a nuanced analysis of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's evolution. Politics as Worship addresses a compelling puzzle: How did the Muslim Brotherhood, historically wary of state power and focused on grassroots religious outreach (da'wa), come to embrace electoral politics and power-seeking as compatible with its religious mission?
Pahwa's central argument challenges the conventional wisdom that the Brotherhood's political engagement represented a departure from its religious roots or a pragmatic adaptation to political incentives. Through a careful and rigorous examination of the MB's internal documents, public statements, and educational materials over several decades, Pahwa explains the evolving justifications for political engagement within the movement. She demonstrates how the Brotherhood's leadership strategically reframed electoral participation using religious concepts, presenting campaigning and parliamentary work as extensions of their core religious missions. The Brotherhood's framing of political engagement as a religious duty had lasting effects. Pahwa argues that these justifications became embedded in the movement's “discursive tradition” (3-4), expanding its concept of righteous action and collective religious obligations to include political participation.
Politics as Worship explains that in the 1980s, leaders began to portray political involvement as supporting the movement's foundational concept of da'wa. They argued that parliament could serve as a platform for spreading their message to a wider audience. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the discourse expanded to include the idea of political work as a form of tarbiya (ethical cultivation), suggesting that engagement in politics could help develop righteous Muslim citizens. As the movement became more deeply involved in electoral politics, its leaders further developed these justifications. They began to frame political participation as a way to "command the right and counter the forbidden” (71) in society and apply Islamic principles to governance. By the 2000s, the Brotherhood's educational curricula were presenting political engagement as a religious duty and a form of worship. Pahwa analyzes how, by the early 2000s, new training materials "framed public work as a religious duty, shura as a kind of worship, and political outreach as a jihad that increased the spiritual merits of the doer and the recipient" (25). This reframing allowed the movement to maintain its religious identity while adapting to new political realities. It also explains why the MB's religious and electoral missions did not "diverge fully after 2011" because the "ideals of ethical cultivation" had driven their political work since the 1980s (2-3).
A key strength of Pahwa's analysis is her attention to the internal tensions and debates within the Muslim Brotherhood as it navigated its transformation towards greater political engagement. Pahwa highlights the emergence of a "middle generation" (46) of Brotherhood activists in the 1970s and 1980s who were more comfortable with pluralist politics and pushed for greater electoral participation. However, she argues that this generational divide alone does not fully explain the movement's evolution. As she notes, "a more pragmatic approach to political and public engagement also grew out of the MB's organizational rebuilding process and was debated as part of its religious minhaj [method]" (4). Particularly insightful is Pahwa's analysis of how the conservative "tanzimi" leadership, traditionally focused on religious education and organizational discipline, embraced political work. She argues that they incorporated politics into the movement's educational framework as a form of "practical tarbiya" (129), seeing it as a way to build capacity for the Islamic mission. This allowed them to justify political engagement while maintaining control over the movement's religious identity.
Pahwa makes a significant methodological contribution by proposing a new way to study religion and politics in political science. She argues for moving beyond the conventional focus on religious ideology or doctrine as fixed variables and examining how religious concepts and practices are dynamically reinterpreted and mobilized in political contexts. Pahwa states, "I propose to study religion's impact on politics not through individually located beliefs or specialized networks, but through frames and discourses that position some kinds of action as more Islamic than others" (10). Her approach also challenges simplistic notions of secularization or the separation of religion and politics. Instead, she shows how religious and political domains can be mutually constitutive, with religious concepts being reinterpreted to encompass political action and political engagement being framed as a form of religious practice.
Pahwa's analysis, while comprehensive, could delve deeper into gender dynamics of the Muslim Brotherhood's evolving ideology. The movement's stance on women's political participation has been contentious. It's crucial to examine how reframing politics as a religious duty affected women members. Did this open new avenues for participation or reinforce traditional roles? A gendered perspective would enrich our understanding of the Brotherhood's transformation in electoral politics.
Finally, Pahwa repeatedly uses phrases like "godly society" (150), "godly political order” (205), and "working for God" (229) throughout her analysis. This framing may oversimplify the Brotherhood's goals. The distinction between a "godly" and an "Islamic" order is significant. While "godly" might imply a more abstract, spiritually-oriented goal, "Islamic" refers to a concrete set of legal, social, and political arrangements derived from Islamic sources. This difference is significant in the Egyptian context, where debates about the role of Islam in public life and governance have been central to political discourse. The use of "godly" may inadvertently obscure the specific nature of the Brotherhood's objectives and how they differ from other religiously influenced political movements, such as the "godly nationalism" seen in Indonesia.
Politics as Worship is a significant and creative contribution to the study of religion in politics. It offers a nuanced alternative to binary secular-religious discussions and the problem-solving political science mentality that often characterizes approaches to Islamist movements. The book provides essential insights for anyone interested in social movements, Islamism, or the broader relationship between religion and politics.
Farah Adeed is a PhD student at Boston University.
Farah Adeed
Date Of Review:
October 24, 2024
