Constitutional Debates and Religious Dynamics in Early 20th Century Middle East

In her recent book, The Making of the Modern Muslim State: Islam and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa (Princeton University Press, 2024), Professor Malika Zeghal shows how Muslim states negotiated the role of Islam in governance in the 19th-21st centuries by exploring the history of constitution making, the impact of religious minorities on debates about Islam and democracy, and state expenditures on Islamic public provisions in the longue durée in Middle Eastern and North African countries. Through her qualitative and quantitative research, Professor Zeghal demonstrates that the modern Muslim state’s custodianship of Islam as the preferred religion has continued from the premodern to the modern period, with vigorous debates as to how it should be implemented.

Malika Zeghal is Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Contemporary Islamic Thought and Life in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University.

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