B_turner_-_islam__capitalism_and_the_weber_theses.pdf

Islam, Capitalism and the Weber Theses Author(s): Bryan S. Turner Source: The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Jun., 1974), pp. 230-243 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The London School of Economics and Political Science Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/589314 Accessed: 10/07/2010 06:53 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=black. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

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BryanS. Turner*

Islam,capitalismandtheWebertheses Over the last half centurya substantialtraditionof Weberianscholarship has developedin Europewhichis focusedon elaborateanalysesof Weber'sexplorationofthe relationshipbetweenreligionandcapitalism. Naturally,this scholarshiphas involvedexaminationsof Weber'sbasic contrastbetweenthe Europeantraditionof Puritanasceticismand the mysticalethics of Asian religions.One consequenceof this dominant sociologicaltraditionhas been a relativeneglectof Weber'streatment of Islam.l AlthoughWeber died before completinghis sociologyof religionwith a full studyof Islam,his commentson earlyIslamand his more elaborateinquiryinto Islamiclaw are suSciently interestingto warrantmore closeinspectionthan they have hithertoreceived.As a prophetic,egalitarian,salvationreligion with close derivationfrom Judaismand Christianity,Islam is a significanttest of Weber'sthesis on asceticismand rationaleconomicactivity.Beforeturningto Weber's argumentthat Islam was not a salvationreligion,it will be usefulto whichexistconcerningWeber's interpretations clarifythe kaleidoscopic capitalism. and religion of analysis In this studyof Weberon Islam, thereare threerelatedarguments whichneed to be distinguishedat the outset.The firstline of argument is that one can detectat leastfourdifferentWeberianthesesaboutthe connectionbetweenreligiousbeliefsand capitalism;these four theses cannot be successfullyreconciledin one coherentWeberiantheory aboutthe secularsignificanceof religiousdoctrines.Henceany attempt to considerIslamas a test caseof Weber'ssociologymustbe a complex process.My contentionis that at leastthreeof Weber'sthesesare either falseor trivial.The fourththesis,which examinesthe consequencesof patrimonialdomination,can be employedas a plausibleexplanationof some Islamicdevelopments.My secondargumentis that, apartfrom factualmistakesaboutIslam,Weberstressedthe wrongquestionabout Islam. His main concernwas to explainthe absenceof rationalcapitalism outsideEurope,but the real sociologicalissue is to explainthe transitionof Islam from a monetary economy to an agricultural, militaryregime.AlthoughWeber'sanalysisof Islam was not particu* BryanS. Turner B.A. of Aberdeen

PH.D.

Lecturerin Sociology,King'sCollege,University 230

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larlysuccessful,it is ironicthat when Muslimreformerscameto explain the decay of Islam, they employedimplicitlyWeberianarguments.It would,however,be naiveto acceptthissituationas proofof the validity of Weber'sProtestantEthic thesis. THE

WEBER

THESES

Considerabledifferencesof opinionamongsociologistshave arisenover the interpretationof Weber'sProtestantEthic thesis.These disagreeof Weber's mentscould emergeeitherthroughgrossmisunderstanding theses contains different sociologyor becauseWeber'ssociologyitself which are not necessarilyconsistent.While there certainlyhas been misconception,it can also be shownthat a numberof distincttheories emerge from Weber'ssociology.2The temptationis always to read consistencyinto a sociologist,particularlya greatsociologist,when one is concernedwith the historyof ideas.3lshereare a numberof waysby which one could bring out these differentargumentswhich Weber entertained,often simultaneously.Here it will be fruitfulto refer to AlisdairMacIntyre'sargumentin 'A Mistakeabout Causalityin the SocialSciences'wherehe observedthat, in attemptingto demonstrate the relationbetweenbeliefsand actions,sociologistshave oftenstarted with a strongthesisand endedwith a compromise.The strongthesisis thatbeliefsaresecondary(MarxandPareto)or thatbeliefsareindependent (Weber). Mostsociologistsfinishby eatingtheirownwords;thus,in MacIntyre'sview, Weber slips into 'facile interactionism'in which beliefscause actionsand vice versa. This frameworkcan be used to illustratefourdifferentargumentsin Weber'ssociologyof religion. The firstinterpretationof the ProtestantEthic thesis (PE) is that it entailsan idealistictheoryof values.The secondthesis (PEi) is that it is an argumentabout the necessaryand suicient conditionsfor the emergenceof capitalism.The Weberthesis (W) takesa widerview of Weber's sociology of civilizations,stressingthe importanceof the in Weber'sphilosophyof science.Finally, conceptof 'understanding' the secondWeberthesis(Wi) underlinesthe continuitybetweenMarx and Weberby showingthat Webercontinuouslydrawsattentionto the ways in which beliefs are shaped by their socio-economiccontexts. Webershowedthat Islamicinstitutionswere incompatiblewith capitalism becausethey had been dominatedby a long historyof patrimonialism.Islamicbeliefswere certainlyinfluentialbut still secondary to patrimonialconditioning.Unfortunately,this thesis was also held of Islamichistorywhich makeWeber's alongsideotherinterpretations theoreticalpositionunstable. Economicand social historianswere probablythe first to treat the ProtestantEthic as a strongtheoryin which Calvinistbeliefscaused moderncapitalism.H. M. Robertson,for example,attemptedto refute 23I

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what he regardedas Weber'spsychologismby showingthat capitalism arose from 'materialconditions',not from'some religiousimpulse'.4 More recently,H. R. Trevor-Roperassertedthat Weberand Werner Sombarthad reversedMarx'smaterialism.5 In attemptingto win support for this particularthesis (PE), Syed Alatasclaimedthat Talcott Parsons,Pitrim Sorokinand ReinhardBendix have all treated the ProtestantEthicthesisas an idealistictheory.6Althoughone can show that Weber thought that ideas were often causally significant,the main problem with this interpretation(PE) is that Weber himself denied that he held such a theoryabout Calvinism.In The Protestant EthicandtheSpiritof CAapitalism, he insistedthatthe theorythatcapitalism wasthe creationof the Reformationwouldbe 'a foolishand doctrinaire thesis'.7Evidencealso comes from Weber'sassociatesat Heidelberg that he was annoyed by 'idealistic'interpretationsof the Protestant Ethic thesis.8 Sociologistswho wish to rejectthe PE interpretationhave normally claimedthat the firstessayon the ProtestantEthicwas merelyan early, trialmonograph.In thisperspective(PEi),asceticismis a necessaryand sufficientconditionof rationalcapitalism,but asceticismneeds to be placedwith a numberof otherkey variables.9Hence,sociologistshave turned,for example,to Weber'sGeneralEconomicHistoryin which we find that the pre-requisitesof modern capitalisminclude capitalist modesof ownership,free labour,rationallaw and free marketmovements. It is sometimesarguedin additionthat Weberhad a general schemeto set up an experimentaltest of PEi by cross-cultural comparison. Thus Parsonshas noted that Weber,turningfromthe methodof agreementto the methodof difference,embarkedon an ambitiousseriesof comparativestudiesall directedto the question, why did modernrationalbourgeoiscapitalismappearas a dominant phenomenononly in the modernWest?10 While this interpretation(PEi) of Weberdoes morejusticeto Weber's sociologyconsideredas a wholethanwith a simple'idealist'perspective (PE), it containsat leasttwo difflculties.Firstly,it tendsto assumethat Weber acceptedJ. S. Mill's methodologyand consequentlyunderstates Weber's verstehende sociology. Secondly, it assumes that the ProtestantEthic thesis is continuousand central in Weber's later sociology.The issuesraised,however,in Ancientjrudaism,The Religion of C7hina and TheReligionof Indiaconcerningbureaucracy,patrimonialism and villageorganizationare far widerthan the restrictedthemeof the ProtestantEthicthesis.In somerespects,the problemof asceticism as an aspectof radicalsocialchangeis tangentialto Weber'sanalysis of Asiansociety.ll Sociologistswho hold that Weber'smain concernwas to explore historicalconnectionsof values and meaninghave rejectedthe view 232

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that Weber attempted,by cross-culturalcomparison,to demonstrate the causalprimacyof values.Ratherthan seekingany over-simplified causal chain, Weber was concerned,accordingto this view (W), to betweensocialmeanings. elaboratecomplex'affinities'or 'congruencies' For example,PeterBergerarguedthat Weber'sfirstconcernwas with namelywith the ways in which 'electiveaffinity'(Wahlverwandtschaft), 'certainideas and certain social processes"seek each other out" in history'.l2Similarly,FerdinandKolegarhas criticizedthose commentatorswho treat Weber'stheoryof capitalismand Protestantismas a simplecausalaccountof economicdevelopment.For Kolegar,Weber attemptedto demonstratethe 'mutualreinforcement'betweeneconomic and religiousethics.l3Weber is said to hold not a positivistor Humean view of causality;rather Weber sought to explain actions by graspingtheirsubjectivemeaning. Clearly,this view (W) does give legitimateweightto Weber'sown methodologicalpositionbut this emphasison 'electiveaffinity'rather than 'empiricalcause'does run into threeproblems.It assumesa very debatable issue, namely that Weber followed consistentlyhis own methodologicalguidelines.Weber's'interpretativeexplanation'(versteinvolvesthe philologicalinterpretationof actor'sconhendeErklarung) cepts and terms. Yet Weber never faced the problemof whether a complex meaning system such as 'Islam' can be unambiguously treatedas a 'religion'.Uncoveringthe multiplicityof meaningsencased in the term 'Islam' is part of the sociologist'sfundamentaltask.l4A furtherdifficultywith explanationsin termsof subjectivemeaningis that they rarelyget beyondplausibledescriptionsof subjectivestates without relating these meaningsto their social structuralsettings.l5 Finally, by giving priority to meaningfulcausality over empirical causality,thisinterpretation(W) findsit difficultto rescueWeberfrom the charge of 'facile interactionism'.It could be argued that Weber avoided these problemsby showing,in specificexamples,how social groupsactedas carriersof valuesand beliefsand how 'electiveaffinities' developed between the socio-economicbasis of carriergroups and particularconstellationsof beliefs. However, such an interpretation of 'electiveaffinity'comesvery close to a Marxistview that beliefsare sociallyconstructedin termsof dominanteconomicinterests. The fourthview of Weber (Wi) often startsby refutingthe facile notionthat Weberwas arguingwith 'the ghostof Marx'.For example, Hans Gerthand C. WrightMillsclaimedthat Weber'staskwas partly to complementMarx'seconomicmaterialism'bya politicalandmilitary materialism'.l6They also suggestedthat, as Weberbecamemore embitteredby Germanpolitics,he gaveincreasingprominenceto 'material' factors.A considerationof Weber'spublic lectureat Freiburgin I896 on ancient civilizationshows, however, a consistantMarxistundercurrentin Weber'ssociology.l7Similarly,NormanBirnbaumhasargued 233

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that Webercontributeda sophisticatedsociologyof motivesto Marx's analysisof interestsand ideologies.l8While contemporaryreappraisals of Marx'sParismanuscripts and Grundrisse haveenormouslycomplicated our conceptionof the relationshipbetweenMarxand Weber,Weber's view of motiveremainsan importantissue.I9RecentlyPaulWaltonhas suggestedthat Weber'ssociologyenablesus to study the possessionby particularactorsor groupsof vocabularies,phrases or outlooks,which, far frombeing rationalizationsor mystifications of interests,act as motiveforcesfor actionitself.20 Walton'sstatementfollowsC. WrightMill'stheorythatgroupsexercise social control, linguistically,by imputing good or bad motives to actions.21Mills pointed out that his approachwas compatiblewith Weber'sdefinitionof a motiveas 'a complexof subjectivemeaning'.22 The theoryof motiveimplicitin Weberand elaboratedby Mills is not incompatiblewith a Marxisttreatmentof ideasandideology.There is no contradictionin saying that vocabulariesof motive determine social actions,but these vocabulariesare lockedwithin specificsocioeconomiccontexts.Indeed,Millswas at painsto pointout that certain social settingsexclude certain types of motive. In secularsettings,a religiousvocabularyof motivesis eitherinappropriateor unavailable. It would not be difficultto imagine a situationin which traditional religious languages for describingand influencingsocial activities became obsoletewith the decline in social power of religiouselites. LikeWeber,Marx thoughtthat the religiouscultureof feudalismwas whollyirrelevantundercapitalistconditions:new motivesappropriate to capitalistsocial relationsvould evolve without an atheisticcampaign.23It is not difficult to interpretWeber's analysis of ascetic motivesin preciselythese terms. Weber himselfclaimed that it was necessaryto investigatehow asceticmotiveswereshapedby 'thetotality of social conditions,especiallyeconomic'.24The fourthWeber thesis (Wi) thus assertsthat to explain actionswe need to understandthe subjectivemeaningof socialactions,but the languageswhichare available for describingand explainingactionsare determinedby socioeconomicsettings. WEBER S CHARACTERIZATION

OF ISLAM

Weberstartedby recognizingthat Meccan Islam was a monotheistic religionbased on ethical prophecywhich rejectedmagic. Given that Allah was all powerfuland omniscient,and man predestined,asceticismcouldhaveemergedas a solutionto a potential'salvationanxiety'. Weber argued that asceticismwas blockedby two importantsocial groups:the warriorgroupwhich was the main socialcarrierof Islam and the Sufi brotherhoodswhich developeda mysticalreligiosity.In 234

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adapting Muhammad'smonotheisticQur'an to the socio-economic interestsof a warriorlife-style,the questforsalvationwas reinterpreted throughthe notionofjihad(holy war) to the questfor land. Islamwas turnedinto a 'nationalArabicwarriorreligion'.The conceptof inner salvationnever fully developedand adherenceto the outwardrituals of the communitybecame more significantthan inward conversion: AncientIslamcontenteditselfwith confessionsof loyaltyto god and to the prophet, togetherwith a few practicaland ritual primary commandments,as the basisof membership.25 Weber concluded that despite Islam's origins in Jewish-Christian monotheism,'Islamwas neverreallya religionof salvation'.26 The warriorgroup turned the religiousquest into a territorialadventureand Islamicasceticismwas basicallythe rigourand simplicity of a militarycaste. Islam did, however,develop a genuine salvation path with ultimatelyreligiousgoals, but this quest was mysticaland other-worldly.WeberregardedSufismas a massreligiositywhich enabled Islam to reach its conqueredsubjectsthroughtheir indigenous symbolismand ritual.Sufimysticismthusintroducedmagical,orgiastic elementsinto Islam and watereddown its monotheism.The combination of a warriorreligiositywith mysticalacceptanceof the worldproduced all the characteristicsof a distinctivelyfeudal spirit; the obviously unquestionedacceptanceof slavery,serEdomand polygamy . . . the great simplicity of religious requirementsand the even greater simplicityof the modestethicalrequirements.27 Given this religiousethic, Islam could not providethe socialleverage wherebythe MuslimMiddleEast could be liftedout of feudalstagnation.At thislevelof argumentit wouldbe all tooeasytointerpretWeber as postulatingthat Islam did not producecapitalismbecauseit had a cultureincompatiblewith the spiritof capitalism(PE thesis).Alternatively, one could concludethat Weberis claiming (W thesis)that therewas an electiveaffinitybetweenthe needsof a warriorgroupand the militaristicvalues which developedfrom pristineIslam. Weber's argumentwas, in fact, far more complexand when Weberturnedto an analysisof Islamiclaw it appearsthat his argumentwas constructed in termsof a stringof pre-requisiteswhich are necessaryfor capitalist development(pEi thesis). At the centre of Weber'ssociologyof law is a distinctionbetween arbitrary,ad hoclawmakingand legal judgmentswhich are derived logicallyfromgenerallaws. In the case of substantive,irrationallaw, lawmakersdo not followgeneralprinciples,butjudge eachcaseaccording to purely arbitraryfactors.The paradigmaticcase of such law, in Weber'sview, was that of the qadiwhojudgeseach caseon personal, 235

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particularisticgrounds.The law resultingfrom qadidecisionslacks generalityand stability.However,Islam did possessa universallegal code, despitedifferentlegal schools,in the form of the Shari'a(Holy Law) which Weber categorizedas substantisre, rationallaw. Law of this kind followsprincipleswhich are derivedfromsacredirevelation, ideology or a belief systemimposedby conquest.The normsof the Shari'awere 'extralegal' in the senseof being derivedultimatelyfrom prophecyand divine revelation.Whereasqadijustice was unstable, sacredjustice was inherentlyinflexibleand could not be readily extendedsystematicallyto meet new casesand situations.Afterthe first threecenturiesof Islam,the Shari'awas treatedas completeand hence thereemergeda hiatusbetweentheoryand practicewhichwasbridged by hiyal(legaldevices): innovationshad to be supportedeither by a fetwa, which could almostalwaysbe obtainedin a particularcase, sometimesin good faithandsometimesthroughtrickery,or by the disputatiouscasuistry of the severalcompetingorthodoxschools.28 Therefore,Islam lackeda necessaryconditionfor capitalistdevelopment, namelya systematicformallaw tradition(pEi thesis). The standardsociologicalinterpretationof Weberon law is that he held a strongthesis (PEi) that rationalformallaw is a necessaryprerequisiteof rationalcapitalismand,as a result,crudeeconomicexplanations of capitalismare inadequate.Despite the explicit strong thesis (PEi), Weber admittedthat, in the case of Englishjudge-madelaw, the absenceof a gaplesssystemof law had not held backthe progressof English capitalism.In England, the courts of justice of the peace resembled'khadi justice to an extent unknown on the Continent'. Weberwent on to observethat 'adjudicationby honoratores'on continentallines may thus well stand in the way of the interestsof the bourgeois classesand it may indeed be said that Englandachievedcapitalistic supremacyamong the nations not because but rather in spite of itsjudicialsystem.29 Englishcapitalismdid not sufferin thisway fortwo reasons,in Weber's view. Lawyersand entrepreneurswere drawn from the same social class and shared commoninterests;as a professionalbody, lawyers enjoyed considerablepolitical autonomy.Weber appears,therefore, to have arguedthat it was not the contentof law but the socialcontext and institutionalization of law whichwas crucialfor capitalistcontractual relations.Similarly,the instabilityof qadijustice and the inflexibility of the Shari'aare productsof patrimonialrulershipratherthan irreduciblefacts about Islamic culture. A close reading of Weber suggeststhisfinalinterpretation(Withesis).Whileoccidentalbourgeois 236

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strata preferredformalrationallaw, orientalpatrimonialrulers 'are betterserved'by substantiveqadijusticewhichrepresents'thelikelihood of absolutearbitrariness and subjectiveinstability'.30 Viewing Weber'streatmentof law in this light takes us to a final interpretationof Weber'sanalysisof Islam.This finalthesis(Wi) seems to be that Islam did not generatecapitalistindustrializationbecause for centuriesthe Muslimhomelandshad been dominatedby a system of patrimonialbureaucracycontrolled by foreign troops. It is the patrimonialeconomicandpoliticalstructurewhichexplainsthe absence of a capitalistspirit,of rationallaw and of independentcities.Furthermore,whileWeber'sdominanttheoreticalproblemseemsto be that of explaining the absence of capitalismoutside Europe, Weber does appreciatethat one majorissue in Islamic historyis to explain the relativestagnationof the economybetweenthe twelfthand nineteenth centuries.Weberattemptedto suggestan explanationin termsof the problemsof financingpatrimonialtroops: The feudalizationof the economywas facilitatedwhen the Seljuk troopsand Mamelukeswere assignedthe tax yield of land and subjects; eventuallylandwastransferred to themas serviceholdings.... The extraordinarylegal insecurity of the taxpaying population vis-a-visthe arbitrariness of the troopsto whom their tax capacity was mortgagedcould paralysecommerceand hence the money economy;indeed,sincethe periodof the Seljuks[ca. I050-I I50] the Orientalmarketeconomydeclinedor stagnated.3l The decline of the money economywas accompaniedby increasing arbitrarinessin law, land rights,propertyand civic relations.Weber summarizedthesepoliticalconditionsunderthe term'sultanism'which describedpurely arbitrarydecisions of a patrimonialruler. Since propertyholdingbecameuncertain,the urbanmerchantsinsrestedin wakfs (familytrustsconsecratedto piousworks)which were comparatively safe frominterference.These investmentsencouragedan extensive immobilizationof capitalwhich correspondedfully to the spiritof the ancienteconomywhich used accumulatedwealth as a sourceof rent, not as acquisitivecapital.32 Sincetownswere merelyarmycampsforpatrimonialtroopsand since patrimonialinterferencediscouragedinvestmentsin trade and craft industry,a bourgeoislife-styleand ethicdid not developin Islam.Thus, Weberconcludedthat the prebendalfeudalismof imperialIslam is inherentlycontemptuousof bourgeois-commercial utilitarianism and considersit as sordidgreedinessand as the life forcespecifically hostileto it.33 Accordingto this thesis (Wi), Islamic values and motives certainly influenced the way in which Muslims behaved in their economic, 237

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politicaland social activities,but we can only understandwhy these values and motives were present by studying the socio-economic conditions(patrimonialdominanceand prebendalfeudalism)which determinedIslamichistory. CRITIQUE OF WEBER S ISLAM

Weber'stheorythat the 'feudalethic'of Islamwas the resultof Islam being dependenton a warriorstratumas its social carrier(PE or W) is factuallywrong. Islam was primarilyurban, commercialand literate.Mecca was strategicallyplacedon the traderoutesbetweenthe Mediterraneanand the Indian Ocean; Muhammad'sown tribe, the Quraysh,had achieveda dominantpoliticalpositionbased on their commercialstrengthin the region. The Prophethimself had been employedon the caravanswhich broughtByzantinecommoditiesto the Meccan market.The Qur'an itself is steeped in a commercial There has been a continuousconflictin Islambetween terminology.34 the dominanturbanpiety and the valuesof the desert,but this conflict was also economic.Deserttribesthreatenedthe trade routesand extractedtaxationfrommerchants.Islam provideda culturewhich was capableof unitingBedouinsand urbanmerchantswithina singlecommunity.Islamwas thusas mucha triumphof townoverdesertas Arab over Persianand Christian. Weber'sdescriptionof Islamiclaw was far morevalid and accurate. Mostscholarshave recognizedthat the Shari'awas an ideal law which The gap couldonly alloweda gap to growbetweenidealandpractice.35 be filledby the mostcomplexinstitutionsand legal devices.The problem, then, lies not so much with Weber'sdescriptionof Islamiclaw but with how that accountwill fit into his explanationof Islamicsocial backwardness.It is not easy to insertthis view of Islamiclaw into a theorythat rationallaw is a necessaryconditionfor capitalistdevelopment (pEi thesis).Weberhas alreadyshown that Englishcapitalism developeddespiteits judge-madelegal systemso that formalrational law mayhelp capitalistdevelopment,but it cannotbe a necessarycondition. Furthermore,a numberof scholarshave concludedthat the rigidityof Islamiclaw and its prohibitionof usuryneverreallyinterfered with commerce.36The mainproblemin commerciallife was the threatthat patrimonialrulerswould seize propertyand goods to pay off theirtroops. There does, therefore,seem to be empiricalsupportfor Weber's final thesis (Wi) that the decline of Islam'smoney economyis to be explainedin termsof its patrimonialstructure.While therehave been manydifferentexplanationsof Islamicdeclinein termsof international trade,demographiccrisesandevenclimate,thereis a widelyheldtheory that the failureof the rulinginstitutionsof Islamwas closelyconnected 238

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with problemsof militaryfinance.37There is an old Orientalmaxim which saysthat a ruler can have no power without soldiers,no soldierswithout money, no money without the well-beingof his subjects,and no popularwell-beingwithoutjustice.38 By 'justice',the Ottomanjuristsmeantthat the sultanateshouldmaintain a balance between the two halves of society, between askeri (military,civil serviceand ulema)and reaya(Muslimand non-Muslim tax-payers).It was the inabilityof the sultanateto insure that each social stratum fulfilled its special functions,the inability to satisfy justice,whichweakenedthe fabricof Islamicsociety,particularlyunder Ottomanrule. Ultimatelyjusticewas dependenton successfulwarfareand a powerful sultanate.Warfareprovidedbootyand land by whichthe sultanate couldrewardandpay offretainers.Withoutnewland, tax-farmingand briberybecamemajormeansof politicalinfluenceandreward.Without a powerfulsultanate, the complex bureaucraticmachineryof the Ottomanstatelackeddirectionand purpose.Failureto extendIslam, the withdrawalof the sultanfrompubliclife and the increasinginefficiency of the militarywere interrelatedaspectsof socialdecline.When the Ottomanempirereachedits territoriallimits in I570, the state in searchof revenueto pay oSthe standingarmywasforcedto let imperial The sipahi(land-owningcavalry)went into decline fiefsto tax-farmers. becauseof the growinguse of firearms,but also becausewhen a siibahi died withoutheir,his landswereappropriatedby the Treasuryand let out for tax-farming.With the declineof the sipahi,the peasantrywere (tax-farmers). at the mercyof the growingclassof avariciousmultezims the failureof with declined As the sipahi,peasantryand merchants (Deredynasts small and (Ayan) the rulinginstitutions,local magnates was Islam entity, a political As beyis)aroseto terrorizethe provinces. to unable Balkans, the in movements unable to prevent nationalist and industry own its develop to unable and excludeEuropeancolonists trade.39 These developmentsin Islam were explainedby Weberin termsof the contradictionsand imbalancesof 'sultanism'as a politicalsystem (Wi thesis). PROTESTANT

ETHIC

AND

MUSLIM

APOLOGETIC

Thereare a numberof thesesin Weber'ssociologywhichgive different explanationsof social, especiallycapitalist,development.I have suggested that only the final thesiswhich explainsthe decline of Islamic society in termsof certainmilitary-economiccontradictions(Wi) has the supportof modernresearch.The other three theses (PE, pEi and 239

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W) suffer from damaging theoreticalambiguityand circularityor they are factuallyfalse.It is ironic,therefore,that when Muslimreformers came to explainfor themselvesthe apparentfailuresof Islamic civilization, they used implicitly Weberian arguments, especially theoriesof individualascetic motivation(thesesPE and PEi) rather than structuralexplanations(Wi). The colonial expansionof Europe created an acute problem of theodicy:if Islamis the true religion,how are infidelsso successfulin this world? The Muslimanswerto this issue has been sharedby the mostdiversereformistmovements,namely Christiansare strongbecausethey are not reallyChristian;Muslims are weakbecausethey are not reallyMuslim.40 In orderto become'reallyMuslim',it is necessaryto rid Islamof foreign accretionsand to discoveroriginal,pureIslam,whichis seento be completelycompatiblewith the modern,scientificworld. Pure Islam is basedon an ascetic,activist,this-worldlyethic. The enemy of both pureIslamand modernsocietyis a set of attitudes fatalism,passivity, mysticism which was introducedinto Islam by the Sufis, Berber maraboutsand relatedgroups.Criticismof Sufismhas been, of course, a persistentaspectof orthodoxIslamover the centuries,but thereis a new emphasisin the contemporaryrejectionof Sufimysticism,namely that it is a drainon economicresourcesandis incompatiblewith asceticismand activism.Expenditureon tombsarldfestivalshas beenwidely criticized,particularlyin North Africa. Active involvementin this world thus becamea majortheme of Islamicreformdirectedagainst Sufi quietism.A favouriteKoranictext of the reformerJamal al-Din al-Afghani(I839-97) was 'Verily,God does not changethe state of a people until they have changed themselvesinwardly'.41Similarly, Rashid Rida assertedthat the first principleof Islam was 'positive effort'. There are, therefore,certaininterestingparallelsbetweenWeber's accountof Protestantism(PE and PEi) and basic themesof Islamic reform.Pure Islam and Puritanismsoughtin the basic scripturesof their religionan ethic which would be free from mystical,ritualistic accretions.The resultwasa set of normsprescribingasceticism,activism and responsibility.Yet, the connectionbetweenPuritanasceticismin Europeand Islamicmodernismin the Middle East is superficialand derivative.Probablythe mostsignificantdifferenceis the socialcontext in whichIslamic'puritanism'is located.Islamicreformwas a response, often apologetic,to an externalmilitaryand culturalthreat;it was an attemptto answera feelingof inferiorityand frustrationresultingfrom Western colonialism.Despite the existence of pre-colonialIslamic 'puritanism'(Wahhabism,Hanbalitism),Islamicreformin the modern periodwas not so much an autonomousdevelopmentas an attemptto 240

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legitimatethe social consequencesof an exogenouscapitalism.Basic Islamictermswereconvenientlytranslatedinto Europeanoneswithout muchrespectfor etymology: Ibn Khaldun'sumrangraduallyturnedinto Guizot's'civilization', the maslahaof the Malikijuristsand Ibn Taymiyyainto the 'utility' of John Stuart Mill, the ijma of Islamicjurisprudenceinto the 'publicopinion'of democratictheory. . .42 The 'ProtestantEthic' of Islam was second-handand it was such becausethe leadersof Islamicmodernismwereeithereducatedby Europeans or accepted European traditions.Weber's ProtestantEthic theory (thesesPE and PEi) came to fit Islamicmodernizationsimply becauseMuslimscame to accepta Europeanview of how to achieve capitalistdevelopment.Reformerslike al-Afgharli,MuhammadAbduh andRashidRidaacceptedtheview,especiallyasexpressedbyM. Guizot (GeneralHistoryof Civilizationin Europe),that socialprogressin Europe had followed the ProtestantReformation.It is no surprisethat alAfghanisaw himselfas the Lutherof Islam. CONCLUSION

In this inquiryinto Weber'sview of Islam, I have attemptedto show that we can plausiblyperceivefourdiffierent thesesinWeber'ssociology of civilizations.On the basisof contemporaryresearchand theoretical discussion,threethesescan be dismissedas eitherfalseor theoretically weak.The fourththesisis that Islamdeclinedand waseventuallyforced into economicdependenceon Europebecauseit could not solve an inherent weaknessin what Weber called 'sultanism'.In this final perspective,Islamicbeliefsare still treatedas influential,but the presence of thesebeliefsratherthan some otherbeliefsis explainedby the social and economic structure of patrimonialism.When Muslim reformerscame to understandtheir own economicdecline,they often employedtheoriesof asceticmotivation,but this fact cannot be taken as evidencethat asceticismis a necessaryaspectof capitalistdevelopment. The ideologyof hard workin modernIslam was very largelya colonialimportation. Notes I. The exceptions include: Maxime Robinson, Islam et captalisme,Paris, Seuil, I966; Ernest Gellner, 'Sanctity, Puritanism, Secularization, and Nattionalism in North Africa', Archivesde Sociologie desReligions,vol. 8 (I963), pp. 7I-86; Sami Zubaida, 'Economicand 24I

politicalactivismin Islam', Economy and Society, vol. I (I972), pp. 308-38; Robert J. Bocock,'The Ismailisin Tanzania:a WeberianAnalysis'Brit. i. Sociol.,vol. 22 (I97I), pp. 36sqo. 2. A rangeof thesemisconceptions has been exposedand criticizedin Michael

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Islam,capitalismandthe Webertheses

of Religion,London, Hill, A Sociolog)J Heinemann,I973. 3. Someof theseissuesare discussedin QuentinSkinner,'The Historyof Ideas', Htstoryand Theory,vol. 8 ( I 969), pp. 3-53 4. H. M. Robertson, Aspectsof the Cambridge, Individtlalism, Riseof Economic CambridgeUniversityPress,I935, p. Xiii. 5. H. R. Trevor-Roper, Religion, London, and Social Change:, Reformation Macmillan,I967, p. 4. 6. Syed Hussein Alatas, 'The Weber de Thesis and South East Asia', Archives Sociologiedes Religions,vol. 8 ( I 963),

I6. H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (eds.), FromMax Weber:Essaysin London,Routledgeand Kegan Sociolog)1, Paul, I 96 I, p. 47 I7. Max Weber, 'The Social Causes of the Decay of Ancient Civilization' (translated by Christian Mackauer), vol. 5 (I950), pp. Education, i. of General

pp.2 7.

I - 35.

Max Weber, The ProtestantEthic (translatedby andtheSpiritof Capitalism Talcott Parsons),London, Unwin UniversityBooks,I965, p.9I. 8. Cf. Weber's comments on Hans Delbruckin Paul Honigsheim,On Max New York,FreePress,I 968, p. 43. Weber, 9. For an example of this viewpoint, cf. Niles M. Hansen, 'The Protestant Ethic as a General Precondition for jr. Econ. EconomicDevelopment',Canad. andPoliticalSci.,vol. 24 (I963), pp.462474

of Talcott Parsons, rhe Structure Social Action, Glencoe, Illinois, Free Press,I 949, p.5 I 2. II. For a commentary, cf. Hisao Otsuka, 'Max Weber's View of Asian Society', DevelopingEconomies,vol. 4 IO.

( I 966), I 2.

pp.275

- 98.

75-88. I8. Norman Birnbaum, 'Conflicting of the Rise of Capitalism: Interpretations Marx and Weber',Brit. i. Sociol.,vol. 4 (I953), I9.

pp.

I25 - 4I.

Much of the complexityis discussed in AnthonyGiddens,'Marx,Weber and the Development of Capitalism,' Sociol.,vol. 4 ( I 970), pp. 289 - 3 I 0. 20. Paul Walton, 'Ideology and the Middle Class in Marx and Weber', Sociol.,vol. 5 ( I 97I ) p 39I * 2 I. C. WrightMills, 'SituatedActions and Vocabularies of Motive', Amer. Sociol.Rev.,vol. 5 (I940), pp.904 - I3@ 22. Max Weber, Theory of Social and EconomicOrganization(translated by A. W. Henderson and Talcott Parsons),Ne^vYork, Free Press, I966, p.98. 23. Cf. Nicholas Lobkowicz,'Marx's attitudetowardsreligion',Rev.of Politics, vol. 26, ( I 964), pp.3 I 9 - 52. 24. Weber,op. cit., p. I83. 25. Max Weber, The Sociologyof (translatedby EphraimFischoff), Religion London,Methuen, I965, p.72. 26. Ibid., p. 263. 27. Ibid. p. 264. 28. Max Rheinstein(ed.), Max Weber andSociety(translated onLaw in Economy by EdwardShils and Max Rheinstein), Cambridge,Mass., HarvardUniversity Press,I964, p.24I. 29. Ibid., pp. 230-I. 30. Ibid., p. 229. 3 I . Max Weber, in Guenther Roth and and Claus Wittich (eds.), Economy Society,New York, Bedminster Press, vol. 3, p. IOI6. I968, 32. Ibid., p. I097.

Peter Berger, 'Charisma and Religious Innovation:the Social Location of IsraeliteProphecy',Amer.Sociol. Rev.,vol. 28 (I963), p.950. I 3. FerdinandKolegar,'The Concept of "Rationalization"and CulturalPessimism in Max Weber's Sociology', vol. 5 (I964), p.362. Quarterly, Sociological I4. For an analysisof the meaningof Islam, Wilfred Cantwell Smith The MeaningandEndof Religion,New York, MentorBooks,I 964. I5. On this problem, cf. John Rex, 'Typology and objectivity:a comment 33. Ibid.,p.II06. 34. This terminologyis analysed in on Weber's four sociologicalmethods' in Arun Sahay (ed.), Max Weberand Charles C. Torrey, The CommercialLondon, Routledgeand TheologicalBermsin the Koran,Leiden, Sociolog)>, Modern J. Brill, I892. Kegan Paul, I97I, pp. I7-36. 242

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Islam,catitalismandtheWebertheses

35. Various statementsof this situation in Islamic law can be found in: to Islamic J. Schacht, An Introduction Law,Oxford,ClarendonPress,I 964; N. J. Coulson, A Historyof IslamicLaw, Edinburgh,EdinburghUniversityPress, I 964; N. J. Coulson, 'Doctrine and Practicein IslamicLaw: One Aspectof the Problem', Bulletinof the Schoolof vol. I 8 ( I 956), Oriental andAfricanStudies, pp. 2 I I-26. 36. This point is emphasized by Rodinson, op. cit. Some aspects of the legal perspectiveon usurycan be found in J. Schacht's commentson 'riba' in Encyclopedia of Islam, ISt ed., Leiden, J. Brill, and London, Luzac, I936, vol. III, pp. I I48 ff. 37. Differentperspectiveson Islamic decline can be found in: Hamilton Gibb and Harold Bowen, Islamic Societyand the West, Oxford, Oxford University Press, I 960, vol. I , pt I; Halil Inalcik, 7CheOttomanEmpire:the London,WeidenClassical Age1300I600, feld and Nicolson, I 973; ClaudeCahen, 'QuelquesMotssurle DeclinCommerical du Monde Musulman a la Fin du Moyen Age' in M. A. Cook (ed.),

Historyof theMiddle Studiesin theEconomic East, London, Oxford UniversityPress, J. J. Saunders,'The I970, pp. 3I-36; Problemsof Islamic Decadence', 7. of WorldHistory,vol. 7 (I963), pp. 70I-20. 38. Halil Inalcik 'Turkey'in Robert Ward and DankwartA. Rustow (eds.), in Xapan andTurkey, PoliticalModernization New Jersey, PrincetonUniversityPress, I 964, p 43 39. The

controlof trade fell into the hands of Jews, Greeks,Armeniansand non-Ottoman merchants. Cf. Traian Stoianovich, 'The Conquering Balkan OrthodoxMerchant',i. Econ.Hist., vol. 20 (I960), pp. 234-3I3 in 40. Albert Hourani,ArabicThought

theLiberalAge,London,OxfordUniversity Press,I962, p. I29. 4I. Cf. Nikki R. Keddie, An Islamic Berkeley,UniverResponse to Imperialism, sity of CaliforniaPress,I968. On 42. Hourani, op. cit. p. 344. Islamic reform in Asia, cf. W. F. Wertheim, 'Religious Reform Movements in South and Southeast Asia', Archivesde Sociologiedes Religions,vol. I2 (I96I),

243

pp. 52-62.