Unraveling theological concepts and political categories through the Prophetic tradition

Recently, I wrote an article in Fair Observer, ‘Through the Eyes of Yusuf,’ where I offered an alternative lens to view and understand the meaning of ‘Muslim’ as a religious category, through an exegesis of the story of Yusuf (Joseph) in the Qur’an. In the piece I briefly touched on the political implications of the Prophetic tradition within Islamic theology. But I want to elaborate more here.

As much as the term ‘Muslim’ exists as a socio-political category, it is simultaneously a theological concept that signifies wholehearted submission or acceptance, through faith and through actions, to the One God. The terms ‘Islam’ (submission to the One God) and ‘Muslims’ (those who wilfully submit to the One God) are scattered throughout the text of the Qur’an as preceding the historical development of a Muslim political community and the institutionalisation of Islam as a religion.

There is, undoubtedly, a strong nexus between theological concepts and politico-religious categories, the latter often viewed as necessarily and inevitably predicated on the former. But while there is merit in reading this connection in order to understand organised religion in all its forms, there exists simultaneously a tendency to overdetermine theological concepts by falling into the trap of teleology. The sui generis lens of institutionalised religion ex post facto cannot always be sufficient in explaining theological concepts; and there is a need, time and time again, to examine and assess religious concepts philosophically, in their own right, so that we may arrive at a more holistic understanding of the meanings they ought to generate.
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