ABSTRACT
In modernity there is an interconnection between the structural level of societal transformation and the normative level of value change. The latter touches on cultural change and religious reform. The related processes also include the development of law. In view of the existing civilizational diversity there exists no universal law, so what “law” are we talking about? In Europe, and generally in the West, secular legislative law made by man, with its Roman roots, is often equated with law in general. The implication is an assumed universality.1
Therefrom grows the notion of universal law which, however, is challenged in our post-bipolar age. Currently, people of different cultures are developing an awareness of the self that occurs under conditions of cultural diversity. This process is often paired with reference to one’s own legal tradition. In fact, each civilization has its own legal traditions. The cultural turn also implies the revival of these traditions. In this context of diversity and identity politics, the concept of a universal law comes under fire. In considering the fact that law is always a cultural concept, one may consent to questioning the notion of universal law, since there exists no analogous world culture. Does it make any sense to speak of Islam’s predicament with modernity if the notion of law cannot claim universality? Another question needs to be added to this one, and is based on the argument
of diversity. Does this argument apply equally to the secular and the religious? The “return of the sacred”2 creates at present a challenge to the assumptions of Max Weber regarding secularization as a rationalization that is expected to occur in the shape of a “disenchantment of the world.”3 In the course of the twenty-first century the reversal of secularization to a de-secularization4 gives rise to a question that challenges Weber’s assumption. There is a reference to multiple modernities. Is modernity no longer based on the universalization of secularity? The contemporary de-secularization is promoted by Islamism which is a strong variety of religious fundamentalism (see Chapter 6). The agenda of the religious fundamentalists in question is a remaking of the world. They are set to replace the secular order with a religious one. So what are the implications? The concept of law matters in this context. There is a competition between lex divina and a secular understanding of law as legislated law.
