Do you remember the story in the Bible when they were trying to trick Jesus by asking him about paying the tax from the Romans? It was illegal to shirk the Roman tax of course, but the Romans were pagans and so it could be considered blasphemy for a Jewish man to support them. It looked like Jesus was trapped, no matter how he answered, He would be in trouble with someone. Well, after asking someone who’s portrait was on the coin (it was Caesar’s), He came up with an amazing answer, the famous, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s.”
That utterance has had far reaching consequences. It showed that there is the realm of man and the realm of God. Most people take it to mean that money and government are man’s doing and his affair, not God’s. If they weren’t separate, they were at least different. Islam has a very different history. Starting with the prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and running all through the various Caliphs, the belief that the temporal and spiritual leader should be the same has been a constant in Sunni circles. Of course, that belief was held in Europe for a long time, but that died out along with the concept of the divine rights of kings. Even though the Caliphate has been gone for a long time, the belief is still a very strong one here. The government is expected to be the ruler here on earth, but it should also uphold all of the laws set down by God. I have yet to meet anyone here in Yemen that questions that world view. Turkey is an exception in the Sunni dominated countries, and maybe Indonesia and Malaysia are as well, but I’m not very familiar with them.
Why is this important? There are many consequences to this world view. Chief among them is the typical limits on freedom that these countries posses. It’s one thing to outlaw murder, rape, burglary, etc. and it’s quite another to outlaw conversion, proselytizing, and limits on the press. The first group of laws is all about maintaining civil order and respecting property rights. The second set of laws are about maintaining a certain world view and keeping a grip on power. In addition, investing a government with that kind of power over freedoms will always have a negative effect on the economy. As governments are wont to do, the power to regulate can quickly degenerate into bullying and intimidation in order to maintain power. They can always claim that they are doing it for God… If you think this is silly, come to Yemen. There are official limits on the press, supposedly these are to prevent any blasphemy from making it into the papers. In reality, the publishers wouldn’t do that anyway, but the limits are now being used to quash dissenting opinions. It has now progressed to the jailing of journalists and other, more thug-like actions against journalists from certain quarters. Coincidentally, these journalists are being harassed by someone after they criticize the government… Did you know it is illegal to directly criticize the president in the paper? What would The US’ papers look like with a law like that on the books?
For me, this cultural issue of the world of God vs. the world of man explains a lot about the political economy in countries in this part of the world. In most Sunni Islam circles, it is believed that there isn’t any difference, the world of man is the world of God. That has a certain appeal in some ways, but there are some really awful consequences to holding that belief.