Approaching Freedom: Islamic Studies and Arab-Muslim Freedom Movements

Belhaj, Abdessamad

doi:10.52541/isiri.v64i2.6908

Research Article (Vol. 64(2)) 2025

Approaching Freedom

Islamic Studies and Arab-Muslim Freedom Movements

Islamic Studies

1 Cited by 61 References Full access

Abstract

One of the key problems of publications in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies is running the risk of producing an academic discourse that is somewhat disconnected from reality. This paper analyses freedom-related publications from the IslamicInfo and Index Islamicus databases to highlight this concern. Here, it is suggested that important ideas and moments of freedom movements in the modern history of Arabs and Muslims have been overlooked by Western publications. While the Saudi Arabian database IslamicInfo (1931–2024) indexed writings that emphasized freedom as a desired then appropriated right, Index Islamicus (1930–2024) presents a century of research in which Arab-Muslim societies were denied freedom as a reality, a dynamic, or an aspiration. The publications indexed in the two databases are compared and examined in relation to the significant political shifts that have occurred in the Arab world.

Keywords: Islamic studies; freedom; West; Middle East

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Title

Approaching Freedom

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Islamic Studies and Arab-Muslim Freedom Movements

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Islamic Studies

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421:islamicstudies

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421:islamicstudies:2025n6

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English

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30 Jun 2025

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10 Nov 2026

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10 Nov 2026

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Islamic Studies

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Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University, Islamabad

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0578-8072

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2710-5326

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64 (2)

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155-179

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Yes

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Religious Studies and Theology

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10.52541/isiri.v64i2.6908

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https://journals.iiu.edu.pk/index.php/islamicstudies/article/view/6908

References 61

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Abu-‘Uksa, Wael. Freedom in the Arab World: Concepts and Ideologies in Arabic Thought in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
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Akyol, Mustafa. Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty. New York: Norton & Company, 2011.
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Al-Muhtasib, Lamis Salih Yunus. “The Role of Intellectuals in the Making of American Foreign Policy in the Middle East: The Case of Bernard Lewis and the 2003 U.S.A. Invasion of Iraq.” Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences 47 (2020): 413-42.
Al-Muṭayrī, Ḥākim. Al-Ḥurriyyah aw al-Ṭūfān: Dirāsah Mawḍū‘iyyah. Beirut: al-Mu’assasah al-‘Arabiyyah li ’l-Dirāsāt wa ’l-Nashr, 2004.
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Avon, Dominique. La liberté de conscience: Histoire d’une notion et d’un droit. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2020.
Bahgat, Gawdat. “Democracy in the Arab World: An Elitist Approach.” International Relations 12 (1994): 49-60.
Barrat, Robert. Les Maquis de la liberteÌ. Alger: TeÌmoignages chreÌtien, 1988.
Bayart, Jean-François. “Après la chute d’Assad, les incertitudes d’une révolution.” Alternatives Économiques 454 (2025): 52-53.
Bozarslan, Hamit. “Revisiting the Middle East’s 1979.” Economy and Society 41 (2012): 558-67.
Brynen, R., B. Korany, and P. Noble. Political Liberalization and Democratization in the Arab World. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1995.
Charfi, Mohamed. Islam et liberté: Le malentendu historique. Paris: Albin Michel, 1998.
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Cherribi, Sam. “Al-Jazeera Arabic, Transnational Identity and Influence.” In The Sage Handbook of Political Communication, edited by Holli A. Semetko and Margaret Scammell, 472-83. London: Sage, 2012.
Cook, Michael. “Is Political Freedom an Islamic Value?” In Freedom and the Construction of Europe: Volume II, edited by Quentin Skinner, 283-310. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Dalacoura, Katerina. Islam, Liberalism and Human Rights: Implications for International Relations. London: I. B. Tauris, 2003.
De Elvira, Laura Ruiz. Charities and Politics in Bashar al-Asad’s Syria: The Unravelling of the Old Social Contract. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2025.
Decosimo, David. “Political Freedom as an Islamic Value.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 86 (2018): 912-52.
Devji, Faisal, and Zaheer Kazmi, eds. Islam After Liberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Ettéalbi, Abdelaziz, César Benattar, and el-Hadi Sebai. L’esprit libéral du Coran. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1905.
Farah, Caesar E. “The Dilemma of Arab Nationalism.” Die Welt des Islams 8 (1963): 140-64.
Fenwick, Stewart. Blasphemy, Islam and the State: Pluralism and Liberalism in Indonesia. London: Routledge, 2017.
Ghannam, Jeffrey. Social Media in the Arab World: Leading up to the Uprisings of 2011. Washington: Center for International Media Assistance, 2011.
Goodwin, Jeff. “Why We were Surprised (again) by the Arab Spring.” Swiss Political Science Review 17 (2011): 452-56.
Hallaq, Wael. Restating Orientalism: A Critique of Modern Knowledge. New York: Columbia University Press, 2018.
Hassan, O., and A. Hammond. “The Rise and Fall of America’s Freedom Agenda in Afghanistan: Counter-terrorism, Nation-building and Democracy.” The International Journal of Human Rights 15 (2011): 532-51.
Hatina, Meir. “Arab Liberal Discourse: Old Dilemmas, New Visions.” Middle East Critique 20 (2011): 3-20.
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Hughes, Aaron W., and Abbas Aghdassi, eds. New Methodological Perspectives in Islamic Studies. Leiden: Brill, 2023.
Jambet, Christian. La grande résurrection d’Alamût: Les formes de la liberté dans le shîʼisme ismaélien. Lagrasse: Verdier, 1990.
Jankowski, James. Nasser’s Egypt, Arab Nationalism, and the United Arab Republic. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002.
Joseph, Suad. Reporting Islam: Muslim Women in the New York Times, 1979-2011. London: I. B. Tauris, 2023.
Jung, Dietrich. Orientalists, Islamists and the Global Public Sphere: A Genealogy of the Modern Essentialist Image of Islam. Sheffield: Equinox, 2011.
Kaminski, Joseph J. Islam, Liberalism, and Ontology: A Critical Re-evaluation. London: Routledge, 2021.
Kepel, Gilles. “Islamists versus the State in Egypt and Algeria.” Daedalus 124 (1995): 109-27.
Lahbabi, Mohamed Aziz, Liberté ou libération? (Ὰ partir des libertés bergsoniennes). Paris: Aubier, 1956.
Massad, Joseph A. Islam in Liberalism. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2015.
Mosher, Lucind., ed. Freedom: Christian and Muslim Perspectives. Georgetown: Georgetown University Press, 2021.
Muḥammadī, ‘Azīzah ‘Alī. “Al-Tawajjuhāt al-Mustaqbaliyyah li Qawā‘id al-Bayānāt al-‘Arabiyyah Dhāt al-Naṣṣ al-Kāmil.” Cybrarian Journal 67 (2022): 61-73.
Nasr, Marlène Abou-Chedid. “Analyse des champs sémantiques de la notion de umma arabiyya (nation arabe) dans le discours nassérien (1952-1970).” Mots. Les langages du politique 2 (1981): 13-35.
Nte, Timothy Ubelejit. “The Algerian Crisis of 2019 and the Second Arab Spring Uprising: A Comparative Analysis.” International Journal of Public Administration and Management Research 6 (2021): 16-24.
Parks, Robert P. “Algeria and the Arab Uprisings.” In The Arab Spring: Will It Lead to Democratic Transitions? edited by Clement Henry and Jang Ji-Hyang, 101-25. Cham: Springer, 2012.
Rosenthal, Franz. The Muslim Concept of Freedom prior to the Nineteenth Century. Leiden: Brill, 1960.
Rubin, Barry. The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2006.
Saghaye-Biria, Hakimeh. “Decolonizing the “Universal” Human Rights Regime: Questioning American Exceptionalism and Orientalism.” ReOrient 4 (2018): 59-77.
Said, Edward. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. New York: Random House, 1981.
Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978).
Sardar, Ziauddin, and Robin Yassin-Kassab, eds. Dangerous Freethinkers. London: Muslim Institute, 2014.
Shalbak, Ihab. “The Roots of Bernard Lewis’ Rage.” Postcolonial Studies 21 (2018): 505-11.
Sheedy, Matt, ed. Identity, Politics and the Study of Islam: Current Dilemmas in the Study of Religions. Bristol: Equinox, 2018.
Shihade, Magid. “On the Difficulty in Predicting and Understanding the Arab Spring: Orientalism, Euro-centrism, and Modernity.” International Journal of Peace Studies 17 (2012): 57-70.
Tamer, Georges, and Ursula Männle, eds. The Concept of Freedom in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019.
Turner, Bryan S. “Class, Generation and Islamism: Towards a Global Sociology of Political Islam.” British Journal of Sociology 54 (2003): 139-47.
Von Grunebaum, Gustave E. Modern Islam: The Search for Cultural Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962.
Wittes, Tamara Cofman. “The Promise of Arab Liberalism.” Policy Review 125 (2004): 61-76.

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[1] Abū ‘Umar, Marwah Bakr Muḥammad. “Al-Dirāsāt al-Bayniyyah fī ’l-‘Ulūm al-Islāmiyyah wa ’l-Qānūniyyah al-Mutāḥah fī Qawā‘id al-Bayānāt: Qā‘idat IslamicInfo Namūdhajan.” Majallat Kulliyyat al-Lughah al-‘Arabiyyah bi l-Manūfiyyah 39 (2024): 2105-2192.

[2] Abu-‘Uksa, Wael. Freedom in the Arab World: Concepts and Ideologies in Arabic Thought in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.

[3] Abu-Rabi, Ibrahim M. Contemporary Arab Thought: Studies in Post-1967 Arab Intellectual History. London: Pluto Press, 2004.

[4] Akyol, Mustafa. Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty. New York: Norton & Company, 2011.

[5] Al-Ghannūshī, Rāshid. Al-Ḥurriyyāt al-‘Āmmah fī ’l-Dawlah al-Islāmiyyah. Beirut: Markaz Dirāsāt al-Waḥdah al-‘Arabiyyah, 1993.

[6] Allani, Alaya. “The Islamists in Tunisia between Confrontation and Participation: 1980-2008.” The Journal of North African Studies 14 (2009): 257-72.

[7] Al-Muhtasib, Lamis Salih Yunus. “The Role of Intellectuals in the Making of American Foreign Policy in the Middle East: The Case of Bernard Lewis and the 2003 U.S.A. Invasion of Iraq.” Dirasat: Human and Social Sciences 47 (2020): 413-42.

[8] Al-Muṭayrī, Ḥākim. Al-Ḥurriyyah aw al-Ṭūfān: Dirāsah Mawḍū‘iyyah. Beirut: al-Mu’assasah al-‘Arabiyyah li ’l-Dirāsāt wa ’l-Nashr, 2004.

[9] Ansari, Hamied N. “The Islamic Militants in Egyptian Politics.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 16 (1984): 123-44.

[10] Arafat, Alaa Al-Din. The Rise of Islamism in Egypt. Cham: Springer, 2017.

[11] Avon, Dominique. La liberté de conscience: Histoire d’une notion et d’un droit. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2020.

[12] Bahgat, Gawdat. “Democracy in the Arab World: An Elitist Approach.” International Relations 12 (1994): 49-60.

[13] Barrat, Robert. Les Maquis de la liberteÌ. Alger: TeÌmoignages chreÌtien, 1988.

[14] Bayart, Jean-François. “Après la chute d’Assad, les incertitudes d’une révolution.” Alternatives Économiques 454 (2025): 52-53.

[15] Bozarslan, Hamit. “Revisiting the Middle East’s 1979.” Economy and Society 41 (2012): 558-67.

[16] Brynen, R., B. Korany, and P. Noble. Political Liberalization and Democratization in the Arab World. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1995.

[17] Charfi, Mohamed. Islam et liberté: Le malentendu historique. Paris: Albin Michel, 1998.

[18] Charfi, Mohamed. Islam et liberté: Le malentendu historique. Paris: Albin Michel, 1998.

[19] Chernus, Ira. Monsters to Destroy: The Neoconservative War on Terror and Sin. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers, 2006.

[20] Cherribi, Sam. “Al-Jazeera Arabic, Transnational Identity and Influence.” In The Sage Handbook of Political Communication, edited by Holli A. Semetko and Margaret Scammell, 472-83. London: Sage, 2012.

[21] Cook, Michael. “Is Political Freedom an Islamic Value?” In Freedom and the Construction of Europe: Volume II, edited by Quentin Skinner, 283-310. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

[22] Dalacoura, Katerina. Islam, Liberalism and Human Rights: Implications for International Relations. London: I. B. Tauris, 2003.

[23] De Elvira, Laura Ruiz. Charities and Politics in Bashar al-Asad’s Syria: The Unravelling of the Old Social Contract. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2025.

[24] Decosimo, David. “Political Freedom as an Islamic Value.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 86 (2018): 912-52.

[25] Devji, Faisal, and Zaheer Kazmi, eds. Islam After Liberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.

[26] Ettéalbi, Abdelaziz, César Benattar, and el-Hadi Sebai. L’esprit libéral du Coran. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1905.

[27] Farah, Caesar E. “The Dilemma of Arab Nationalism.” Die Welt des Islams 8 (1963): 140-64.

[28] Fenwick, Stewart. Blasphemy, Islam and the State: Pluralism and Liberalism in Indonesia. London: Routledge, 2017.

[29] Ghannam, Jeffrey. Social Media in the Arab World: Leading up to the Uprisings of 2011. Washington: Center for International Media Assistance, 2011.

[30] Goodwin, Jeff. “Why We were Surprised (again) by the Arab Spring.” Swiss Political Science Review 17 (2011): 452-56.

[31] Hallaq, Wael. Restating Orientalism: A Critique of Modern Knowledge. New York: Columbia University Press, 2018.

[32] Hassan, O., and A. Hammond. “The Rise and Fall of America’s Freedom Agenda in Afghanistan: Counter-terrorism, Nation-building and Democracy.” The International Journal of Human Rights 15 (2011): 532-51.

[33] Hatina, Meir. “Arab Liberal Discourse: Old Dilemmas, New Visions.” Middle East Critique 20 (2011): 3-20.

[34] Hourani, Albert. Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

[35] Hughes, Aaron W., and Abbas Aghdassi, eds. New Methodological Perspectives in Islamic Studies. Leiden: Brill, 2023.

[36] Jambet, Christian. La grande résurrection d’Alamût: Les formes de la liberté dans le shîʼisme ismaélien. Lagrasse: Verdier, 1990.

[37] Jankowski, James. Nasser’s Egypt, Arab Nationalism, and the United Arab Republic. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002.

[38] Joseph, Suad. Reporting Islam: Muslim Women in the New York Times, 1979-2011. London: I. B. Tauris, 2023.

[39] Jung, Dietrich. Orientalists, Islamists and the Global Public Sphere: A Genealogy of the Modern Essentialist Image of Islam. Sheffield: Equinox, 2011.

[40] Kaminski, Joseph J. Islam, Liberalism, and Ontology: A Critical Re-evaluation. London: Routledge, 2021.

[41] Kepel, Gilles. “Islamists versus the State in Egypt and Algeria.” Daedalus 124 (1995): 109-27.

[42] Lahbabi, Mohamed Aziz, Liberté ou libération? (Ὰ partir des libertés bergsoniennes). Paris: Aubier, 1956.

[43] Massad, Joseph A. Islam in Liberalism. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2015.

[44] Mosher, Lucind., ed. Freedom: Christian and Muslim Perspectives. Georgetown: Georgetown University Press, 2021.

[45] Muḥammadī, ‘Azīzah ‘Alī. “Al-Tawajjuhāt al-Mustaqbaliyyah li Qawā‘id al-Bayānāt al-‘Arabiyyah Dhāt al-Naṣṣ al-Kāmil.” Cybrarian Journal 67 (2022): 61-73.

[46] Nasr, Marlène Abou-Chedid. “Analyse des champs sémantiques de la notion de umma arabiyya (nation arabe) dans le discours nassérien (1952-1970).” Mots. Les langages du politique 2 (1981): 13-35.

[47] Nte, Timothy Ubelejit. “The Algerian Crisis of 2019 and the Second Arab Spring Uprising: A Comparative Analysis.” International Journal of Public Administration and Management Research 6 (2021): 16-24.

[48] Parks, Robert P. “Algeria and the Arab Uprisings.” In The Arab Spring: Will It Lead to Democratic Transitions? edited by Clement Henry and Jang Ji-Hyang, 101-25. Cham: Springer, 2012.

[49] Rosenthal, Franz. The Muslim Concept of Freedom prior to the Nineteenth Century. Leiden: Brill, 1960.

[50] Rubin, Barry. The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2006.

[51] Saghaye-Biria, Hakimeh. “Decolonizing the “Universal” Human Rights Regime: Questioning American Exceptionalism and Orientalism.” ReOrient 4 (2018): 59-77.

[52] Said, Edward. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. New York: Random House, 1981.

[53] Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978).

[54] Sardar, Ziauddin, and Robin Yassin-Kassab, eds. Dangerous Freethinkers. London: Muslim Institute, 2014.

[55] Shalbak, Ihab. “The Roots of Bernard Lewis’ Rage.” Postcolonial Studies 21 (2018): 505-11.

[56] Sheedy, Matt, ed. Identity, Politics and the Study of Islam: Current Dilemmas in the Study of Religions. Bristol: Equinox, 2018.

[57] Shihade, Magid. “On the Difficulty in Predicting and Understanding the Arab Spring: Orientalism, Euro-centrism, and Modernity.” International Journal of Peace Studies 17 (2012): 57-70.

[58] Tamer, Georges, and Ursula Männle, eds. The Concept of Freedom in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019.

[59] Turner, Bryan S. “Class, Generation and Islamism: Towards a Global Sociology of Political Islam.” British Journal of Sociology 54 (2003): 139-47.

[60] Von Grunebaum, Gustave E. Modern Islam: The Search for Cultural Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962.

[61] Wittes, Tamara Cofman. “The Promise of Arab Liberalism.” Policy Review 125 (2004): 61-76.

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References 61