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interview with muhammad shahrur 535AC: Do you think that one could also solve the political crisis by allowingIslamist parties to participate in the political process?MS: I doubt that this is possible. They are politically not experiencedenough and are too impatient and want to get to power very fast.Do you know why in October 1917 Lenin refused to accept theidea that one should delay the revolution because it seemed certainthat the Bolsheviks could win the next elections anyway? Doyou know why he insisted on seizing political power by force?Because he knew that five years down the line he would have tobe reelected in the normal democratic way, but if he once tookpower by force that would be the end of it and someone elsewould have to use the same force to take it away from him. Andhe preferred this to democratic elections. The Islamists think likethat, they are not true democrats. Their model is the salaf forefathers,but think about what happened after MuÈammad’s deathwhen they gathered at ThaqÊfat BanÊ S§#ida and where theyremoved the Anߧr from power by force, or during the battles ofthe Camel and at ‘iffÊn when fifteen thousand people were killed:not for al-isl§m, not for al-Êm§n, not because of the legal aÈk§m orapostasy—they were all killed because of their ruthless fight forpolitical authority. This is what I fear when Islamists say that thisis the model they want to emulate. This is what I want to addressin my current writings.AC: You said that your current writing is applied theory. Is it true that yourperiod of writing theory is really over?MS: Yes, that is done. I am now applying the very same theory andusing it to solve the problem of jih§d, loyalty and disloyalty, apostasy,and the issue of MuÈammad’s state which will be my nextproject.