Anwar and Maqasid: Forging a Muslim Democracy

Abstract

Charles Allers provides details of the Malaysian opposition leader’s construction of a liberal–democratic and pluralist vision for Malaysia drawing upon Anwar’s interpretations of the overarching objectives of sharia. Allers sketches Anwar’s background of early diverse social and educational experiences and his subsequent leadership role in Islamic activism in the 1970s prior to his joining the United Malays National Organization in 1982, where he became the Malaysian deputy prime minister in 1993. During his tenure in the mid-1990s, Allers argues that he further developed his inclusive and pluralistic perspective, appealing to the concept of maqasid al-sharia for the first time. Though sacked and imprisoned between 1998 and 2004, and 2014–present, Anwar has continued to champion his universal, pluralistic ideology promoting the compatibility of Islam and democracy.