View source for Who Speaks for the Islamic World? Religion, Identity and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (Review article))

The title is review article by  Faiz Sheikh published in Politics,  Religion  & Ideology,, 2017, Vol.  18,  No.  1,  117-121. The following is an excerpt of the review.<ref>http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ftmp21</ref>

=Religious solidarity=

Religious solidarity-a shared identity-is one of the fundamental  messages that  Islamists, from  varieties apolitical to  democratic  and  peaceful to  armed  and  violent,  use to  gather support  and justify actions.  One of the threats  of the Islamic State,  or Daesh,  has been in their appeal to this shared Islamic identity to justify their resurrection  of the Caliphate as a political institution,  but crucially,  to appeal to Muslims globally in bowing to the authority of this nascent 'state'.

The fear  of an  Islamic 'threat' -an  ideology  that  appeals to Muslims 'here'  and  'there',educated  and  uneducated,  male and female,  young and  old-is  not  new.  A similar fear of so-called 'radicalization'  of Muslims in Europe  and  the USA post  9/11  was and  is central to counter-terrorism and espionage initiatives on Muslim communities  who might be sus• ceptible to al-Qaeda's  rhetoric  of religious solidarity similar to Daesh's contemporary  one.<ref>'Arun  Kundani,  The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror (London: Verso, 2014), p. 8.</ref> Indeed,  al-Qaeda  once  had  their  own  call and  vision  for a restored  Caliphate,  rendered obsolete  by Daesh.<ref>Ibrahim Al-Marashi, 'Why the Caliphate Survives'. Accessed on 20.10.2016, at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/06/caliphate-isil-mosul-iraq-150609050758746.html.</ref>  Kayaoglu reminds  us  that  as far  back  as  1876  the  Ottoman   Sultan Abd~lhamid II attempted  something similar, using his authority as Caliph to gain leadership over Muslims worldwide (p.  11).  Each of these attempts  has been unsuccessful;  the world's 1. 7  billion Muslims have not  flocked to any of the  above banners,  despite their  assumed shared  identity.

=What the review reveals=

What this brief overview reveals is that both those who would rely upon a shared Islamic identity and those who fear it,  overestimate the power of that identity  and its ability to help actors achieve their ends.  That is not to say that the lack of effectiveness means that there is no such solidarity between (some)  Muslims.  As James  Piscatori explains,  this phenomenon I  have referred to as religious solidarity  or a shared identity is better labelled as pan-Islam,'an  idea,  a symbol, that  is  conditioned  by modern  contexts  and  is  shamelessly used  and manipulated,  but nonetheless exercises a pull on the modern Muslim imagination'  (p.  440).<ref>James  Piscatori,  'Imagining  Pan-Islam:  Religious  Activism  and  Political  Utopias',  Proceedings of the British Academy,  131 (2005),  pp. 421-442.</ref>

So while  1.7  billion Muslims  have not  joined  Daesh, for example,  between  3922 and  4294
European   Muslims  have  gone  to  fight  for  the  organization,  according  to  an  April  2016 report  by the  International Centre  for Counter-Terrorism.<ref>International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, 'The  Foreign Fighters Phenomenon in the EU-Profiles, Threats & Policies', accessed  on  20.10.2016, at:  https://icct.nl/publication/report-the-foreign-fighters-phenomenon-in-the-eu-profiles• threats-policies/.</ref>  While  such numbers  are sensa• tional  and  indeed  a cause for concern  regarding  security, multicultural  and  socio-economic realities in European  countries, there  exists a far more  tangible  and  wide-reaching  case for Islamic solidarity, which  is the topic of the three  books  under  review: The  Organisation  of Islamic Cooperation  (OIC).

=OIC from different views=

The  OIC  is an  international organization which  claims  to represent  the  entire  Muslim World.  The  first  article  of  its  chapter   states  that  the  organization's  purpose   is to  '[t] o enhance   and   consolidate   the   bonds   of  fraternity   and   solidarity   among   the   Member States'.<ref>Organization  of Islamic  Cooperation,  'Charter of the Organization  of Islamic  Cooperation',  accessed  on 15.04.2016,  at:http://www.oic-oci.org/oicv3/page/?p_id=53&p_ref=27&lan=en.</ref>    As  former  Secretary  General  of  the  OIC,  Ekmeleddin   Ihsanoglu,  relates  of the organization,  it  is  'the  concrete  manifestations  of the  concept  of  "Islamic  solidarity"  in the  contemporary world', deriving  from  shared  Islamic  experiences  (p.  13). While  placing religious  solidarity,  and  in  this  instance,  an  articulation   of a global  Muslim  community, or ummah, as central  to the organization, Naveed  Sheikh argues that  this is an 'ontological achievement', an "Islamization" of the political paradigm'  that has augmented Islam's 'secu• larization-resistant  profile   not   only  in   civil  society  but   also  in  international   society' (pp.  138-139).  Indeed,  as an  inter-state   organization that  explicitly places  pan-Islam  as a motivating force  while  also,  in  the  words  of the  OIC's  charter,  'adhere  our  commitment to  the  principles   of the  United  Nations  Charter',<ref>Organization  of Islamic Cooperation,  'Charter of the Organization  of Islamic Cooperation'.</ref>  highlights  the  peculiar  nature  of this type of pan-Islam.  Unlike the challenge of Daesh, al-Qaeda  or a restored  Caliphate  as a chal• lenge or alternative  to the international system,  the OIC's vision of Islamic solidarity works within the system.  The blend of religion and state politics perhaps  goes someway to explain• ing the lack of scholarship  on the  OIC,  given the  secular  foundations and  assumptions of the  discipline  International  Relations  (IR).<ref>Elizabeth  Hurd,  The Politics of Secularism in International Relations (Princeton:  Princeton  University  Press, 2008),  p.  10. </ref> The three  books  under  review do an excellent job of opening  up the OIC to a wider audience,  and showing the relevance of the organiz• ation  to contemporary political  studies. Before continuing, I will briefly outline  each of the three  books.

Ihsanoglu's study is a broad historical and issue-based overview of the OIC. For the historical element, he begins with efforts to foster Muslim  solidarity among  states since before the OIC,  to its founding  in 1969  (then the Organisation of the Islamic Conference)  all the way to 2009,  outlining  the key events of the time  and  decisions  of the organization.  The issues that  he touches  on are the policy fields of major  importance to the organization during  his tenure   as  OIC  Secretary  General   (2005-2013),  prominently  the  OIC's  ongoing   reform process and  combating  Islamaphobia. The Islamic  World in the New  Century: The Organis• ation of the Islamic Conference,  1969-2009, is recommended reading  for anyone  wanting  to know  more  about  the  OIC  as given its easy style and  issue-  (rather  than  theory-)  based content,  it can be read by non-academic audiences.

Kayaoglu's study also contains  a historical  dimension, but is primarily an examination of the  organization's operating procedures  (state-based  rivalries)  verses  its overarching aims and  objectives  (pan-Islamic  solidarity).  Many  of  his  insights  derive  from  the  activities associated  with  the  OIC's  Ten  Year  Programme of Action  (TYPOA),  a reform  initiative started   in  2005  which  included   the  organization's  above-mentioned  name   change.   The reasons  behind  initiating  the TYPOA,  the policy changes  and  initiatives  that  came to be part  of the  TYOPA,  and  implementation  of these  reforms  are the  laboratories  in which Kayaoglu  analyses  the   interaction  between  member   states  and   the  organization,  and between  the  member  states themselves.  The  Organisation   of Islamic  Cooperation:  Politics, Problems,  and  Potential is an engaging book which will find a readership  among academic audiences of all levels interested  in the role of Islam in IR,  and those interested  in the poli• tics of the Muslim world.

Sheikh's study is far more critical than the preceding two.  He explains how Islam, despite the name, is written  out of the OIC's DNA, and moves on to explore the ways in which an Islamic identity  is brought  back into  the  policies of the  organization.  The  subtitle  of his book, Pan-Islamic Foreign Policy in a World  of States,  indicates the slight shift in focus com• pared to the other two books, onto the different states that make up the OIC, specifically the powerful states of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, and their influence within the organization. The New Politics  of Islam: Pan-Islamic Foreign Policy in a World of States is the most special• ized book of the three in that it requires a working knowledge of IR theories, the history of the Middle East, is less issue based, and has more to say with regard to conceptual categories. The book will find readers among academics or those pursuing further degrees with an interest in post-secularism  in IR,  or how political Islam interacts with the state.

All three books seek to provide a historical overview of the OIC, its creation and its activities. This is perhaps to be expected as while taking these three books together might give the impression there is a lot of scholarly attention  on the OIC, the reality is quite the opposite. No doubt general readers of IR, Islamic Studies or Arab Studies will benefit from the backgrounds provided by the three books. Some readers will be familiar with the workings of state-based politics  and   international  organizations,  and  will  need  the  background   in  pan-Islam, ummah and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Others with a more Area Studies bent might be familiar with the latter concepts and events, but at a loss as to the relationship these issues have with an international  organization.

The three books do cover different themes, and complement each other with the narratives
that they tell. Ihsanoglu's book is fascinating as due to the privilege of his position as former Secretary General, he is able to provide 'blow-by-blow' accounts of the meetings, communi• cations and actions of various ministers,  heads  of states and international  organizations,  as they respond to a numerous  political events. Ihsanoglu is far more generous to the OIC and trusts  in the benevolence  of the OIC's  mission.  Despite this Ihsanoglu  does not  shy away from the failures of the OIC and is critical,  for example,  of the OIC's failure in managing the situation of the Danish 'cartoon  crisis', as he refers to it,  in 2005-2006  (p.  160).

Kayaoglu's work, in contrast, is more critical and analytical, reading like a textbook, complete with two text-boxes which give background information  on the Sunni-Shia split and proceedings of an influential Islamic Summit of the OIC. For Kayaoglu, it seems, the OIC is genuinely attempting  to address concerns  of Muslims globally, but cannot  do so due to the unwillingness  of member  states to  support  the  organization.  Despite this,  Kayaoglu finds some successes for the OIC, particularly in the field of Human  Rights and the organization's establishment  of an Independent  Permanent  Human  Rights Commission  in 2011. Curiously, Kayaoglu maps the OIC's position on Human  Rights as having moved away from Shari'a and an Islamic legal framework, allowing the OIC 'to discuss rights within the context of inter• national human  rights instruments  rather than exclusively within that of Islamic law and tra• dition'  (p.  107).

Finally,  Sheikh's  study is the most critical of the three,  and reading it next to the rather optimistic overview of Ihsanoglu can at times leave one thinking that the two narratives presented can hardly be describing the same phenomena.  Sheikh  convincingly argues that  the OIC is less of an actor but more of an arena, an arena in which the aggregate interests of the member states are given an Islamic legitimacy, rather than the members being 'conditioned  by any "Islamic rationale'"  (p.  129). Sheikh's damning  appraisal  of the Ole's appeal to a pan• Islamic identity,  and the differences between the three  studies which I have outlined  here, can be illustrated  with an example.  I mentioned  the Arab-Israeli  conflict earlier as this is an  issue which  was central  to the  founding  of the  OIC,  a response  in part  to the  arson attack  on August  21, 1969  on the Al-Aqsa Mosque  in Jerusalem,  the third  holiest  site in Islam. As such, it is a telling illustration  of the differences between the three  studies when dealing with the genesis of the OIC.

The first summit of the OIC took place almost exactly one month after the above mentioned
arson attack, on September 22, 1969. Ihsanoglu lauds the success of the first OIC summit as it established 'a collective Muslim position on the issue of Al-Quds and the Arab-Israeli conflict' (p.22). The conflict, specifically the attack on Al-Aqsa mosque, was the spark that brought the Muslim world together to form the OIC. Written while Ihsanoglu was Secretary General of the OIC, this narrative  of collective admonishment of the Israeli occupation  of Palestinian terri• tory, and support  for the Palestinian Liberation Organisation  in their struggle,  seems to the be the 'official' history of the OIC's founding. What Sheikh brings to the story is a subversive addendum  which catalogues the first use of Islam as a strategic tool by its member states, in this case Saudi Arabia in its battle against the Nasserite revolutionism  of Egpyt. As Sheikh explains:

In resorting to the pan-Islamic invocation as a legitimizing counter-strategy against activist pan-Arab radicalism, by design a delegitimizing discourse, he [King Faisal of Saudi Arabia] attempted  to  shroud his commitment  to  policy-prescriptions based on vulgar political realism: divide and (maintain)  rule.  (p.  35)

The plight of the Palestinians, then, was simply a convenient cause upon which more specific and decidedly un-cooperative  policies could be implemented. Kayaoglu also notes that King Faisal was 'not wholly altruistic in founding the OIC' (p.  13), but maintains that the founding's most important success was that 'Muslim states had united despite their vast political, ideologi• cal, national, sectarian,  and economic differences' (p.  15).

=Conclusion=

What this brief example of the Ole's beginnings reveals is that the OIC is more than  an
ineffective international  organization, but less than a mechanism  to enact collective 'Islamic' policies on  international  affairs.  The  OIC is an  intriguing  case of religious identity  in IR and while a much grander  exercise of pan-Islamic  solidarity, receives far less attention  than organizations  like al-Qaeda  or Daesh.  In all these examples,  however,  the utility-or  fear• of Islam as an identity that  'overwrites'  the behaviour  of actors, compelling them  to act in certain ways under  an Islamic rubric,  seems unfounded.  To this end,  Sheikh  leaves us with the sobering conclusion that the OIC member states 'can hardly be conceived as sub-entities of a cosmopolitan  Islamic supra-nation, nor does their behaviour  suggest that they identify themselves  as  such'  (p.  137).  While  the  Islamic  solidarity  of  the  OIC  might  be  found wanting,  especially given the  lofty ambitions  of the  organization,  Ihsanoglu  goes to great lengths  to point  out the concrete  instances  of cooperation  and  convergence of interests  of the member states, especially with regard to the Ole's recent reform process.  Kayaoglu's pro• vides a perspective where by 'the Ole's loose structure, flexibility and low expectations have allowed sceptical countries to attend and, in the process, socialize and increase their engage• ment with the organisation'  (p. 57). Taken together, we might see the OIC as an organization with a flawed past, and perhaps a disingenuous one with regard to a genuine' ummah-what• ever that might look like-but it is by far the most constructive example oflslamic solidarity on offer. By engaging with the realities of contemporary  IR (the nation-state),  rather than pander to pre-colonial  memories  of Caliphate, the OIC, with all its idiosyncrasies, is a fascinating example of Islamic politics which warrants  more  attention  by students  of IR and political Islam.  The three  books under  review are an excellent way to become familiar and  explore the intricacies and theoretical difficulties (and successes) that the OIC presents.

=Notes=