At the heart of Islamic civilization is an unresolved crisis which dates from the battle of Siffin in 38 AH. Dr. Mohamed El-Moctar El-Shinqiti examines this issue in The Constitutional Crisis of Islamic Civilization. Dr. Shinqiti bases his work in Islamic scripture in order to uncover what was sometimes obscured by Islamic scholarship in the shadow of monarchic, non-consultative rule, arguing that Muslim scholars often had to deal with a reality in which they sacrificed some ideals to preserve the ummah’s unity, and that such a bargain led to many adverse consequences which we witness today. Dr Shinqiti aims to show that Islam does not exhibit any deficiency in political principles, but instead provides a complete, just, and humane system of politics—and that there were historical and cultural factors that caused the divergence between principle and reality which, being understood, might be reversed. The work is ultimately, as Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi mentions in his foreword, a book of rare combination, scope, and insight—one deeply rooted in Islamic and Arab history and tradition while also connected to other major traditions from around the world and cognizant of the present challenges that face the Muslim Ummah.
