Religion and State in Libya: The Politics of Identity

Striking as the role of religion has been in the modern political history of Libya, it illustrates ambiguities in political identity that are, in fact, common throughout the Muslim Arab world. The tensions between the concepts of political legitimacy bequeathed by the historical Islamic empires and Western-inspired notions of ethnic nationalism and state patriotism have created dilemmas for rulers and the ruled in the Muslim Arab world since the beginning of the twentieth century. The Libyan governments' reliance on Islamic formulas to inspire political loyalty reflects the weakness of both Arab and Libyan nationalist traditions in the country. Qadhdhafi's revolutionary ideology constitutes an effort to transcend the dilemmas of Libyan national identity, but it has not proved persuasive to most of his compatriots.