Public Reason and Islamic Public Reason

In addition to recognizing public reason, John Rawls also recognized the existence of ‘nonpublic’ reason –the reason of churches and universities and other associations in civil society. The understanding of ‘non public reason’ by the reason of churches will take us to a step toward an understanding of religious reason. Religious reason is different from other reasons in that it involves belief in the divine, the affirmation of theological propositions, or the pronouncement of persons and institutions qua religious authority also includes values conceptions of good, rights, and duties ordered in certain way. In brief, the content of religious reason is based on religion, while public reason is based on a concept of political justice that is broadly liberal in character. The ideal of Rawls’s concept of public reason is a reflection of certain aspect of democratic practice in contemporary Western liberal democracy that is characterized by a certain measure of openness, freedom, pluralism, and secularism. Therefore, Rawls’s concept of public reason is not freed by critics especially from the opponent of religious reason. The discussion about democracy, constitutionalism (rule of law), civil society, popular sovereignty, secularism, freedom and equality is the subjects that are debated between public reason and the Islamic public reason.
There are two reasons why debates took place; the first is in Rawsian conception of public reason that is based on liberal conception of justice is relevant to be criticized; the second is some of the objections to the notion of public reason are formulated best in communitarian terms.
The matter that is criticized is in public reason the citizen have two identities; public identity and non-public identity. In public identity, the citizen is a free and equal person that is apart from certain religious, philosophical and moral convictions, or from certain enduring attachment and loyalties. Nevertheless, as a non-public identity, s/he is allowed to use religion rather than public reason in his dealing with the world. Islamic thinkers rejected these classifications. They distinguish the citizens between the believers and non-believers. Religious belief is politically relevant to resist all attempts to turn religion into a private matter.