The Shifting Politics of Identity 275foreign cultures and civilisation. More importantly, he also eliminates the rich
complexity of the history of juristic thought that dealt with these diffi culties. A
personal piety centred on the fear of God dominates the fatawa of the Deoband
school (Moosagie 1995).
Traditionalists stand apart from reformists and Islamists in their disregard
for modernity and the political projects associated with it. Mufti Shafi ’s attitude
towards technology is symbolic not simply of a rejection, but of a certain level
of contempt towards those who proclaim the great inventions of science and
technology. But traditionalists are also distinct from Islamists who want to trans-
late the values of Islam onto modern politics. By appealing to the naturalness of
Islam, Mawdudi wants to extend his appeal to standards and measures outside
the tradition. Mufti Shafi , on the other hand, is consistent. What is interesting
is his juridical view on the Jamaat-i Islami, which he criticises for the disparag-
ing attitude that its members display towards the early Muslims. He singles out
Mawdudi’s book Khilafat awr Mulukiyyat for special mention, because of its views
on the early generation of Muslims, particularly the companions of the Prophet.
I see not only a fi delity to the past, but also a critical attitude towards the modern
political project of the Islamic state. This does not mean that the ulama were
not interested in the state and its laws. Mufti Shafi himself was engaged in
extensive discussions on the early state of Pakistan, but he seemed hardly inter-
ested in either the modernist state of the founders of Pakistan, or the Islamist
state of Mawdudi. In his response, the Mufti also reveals a keen awareness of
reformist arguments that one may apply juristic deductive reasoning (ijtihad) to
modern conditions. This would suit well the reformist approach to permit the
introduction of new forms and approaches in the light of a broader universalist
project. Mufti Shafi ’s position is that, not only should ijtihad be avoided, but
also in doing so Muslims should be committed to focusing on one dimension
of personal belief and piety. For the sake of the self, Muslims are bound faith-
fully to adhere to one juristic school. And any attempt to break this tradition
would open the fl oodgates of individual passions, whims and caprice, and would
inevitably lead to the destruction of religion.
Reformists, Islamists and traditionalists vary immensely in their approaches
to particular issues and positions. And further nuances can be detected within
their ranks. Taken as a broad style of action in Voll’s sense, however, their
distinctive approaches to Islam can shed light on identity constructions in the
modern world. The ‘styles of action’ were developed in relation to the reality of
modernity and colonialism. The modernists/reformists were closest in illustrat-
ing the tension between the universal and the particular that Islam could offer to
modern Muslims. The Islamists collapsed the distinction between the universal
and the particular, but embraced the universal that modernity presented. The
contradiction that this solution produced was to be resolved in an existentialist
leap. And the traditionalists seemed to ignore the modern, content with warning