Dr Andrew March presents on Islam and the State, our final episode of the Trinity Term 2025 Oxford Islam and Justice programme, on Friday 20 June 2025.
The Oxford Islam and Justice Programme aims to provide a grounding in the academic and debates about the relationship between Islamic views of justice and the modern political order.
This is the fourth and final seminar of Trinity Term 2025, with associated short pre-readings, and is taught by leading academic in the field Dr Andrew March. The theme for this week's lecture is Islam and the State: What is the ‘state’, and is it best viewed as a neutral tool that can be turned to a variety of ends, Islamic or otherwise, or as a social form that contains its own implicit normative assumptions? What form, if any, should an ‘Islamic’ state take? We explore different perspectives on the moral ontology of the modern state with a view to determining how Muslims ought to engage with it.
In this Trinity Term 2025 series we are exploring some of the deepest questions about Islam and political justice, including the ideas of political liberalism, natural law, statecraft, political theology, and 'secularism'. In all cases, we aim to expose students to a variety of competing perspectives that are grounded in the Islamic tradition. Recommended readings are provided for each seminar; completing at least the core readings beforehand will provide the richest possible learning experience. Additional, optional readings are provided for students who want to explore topics in greater depth.
