Islam and its impact on the development of the state in Libya: The valuable experience of Soviet historiography

Abstract

The paper contains an attempt to actualize experience of the Soviet school of Libyan studies and its approach to research for the role of Islam in the social and political development of Libya after the revolution of 1969. The author’s hypothesis is based on the assertion that a certain section of Soviet orientalists did not agree with the skeptical attitude to the role of Islam in the process of political modernization and state building in Libya of that period as demanded by the dogmatic and theoretical principles of Marxism and Leninism. Suggesting a different view of the problem, they managed to prove the possibility of an alternative vision of the political development and genesis of Libyan society. The author examined and compared the texts of articles and monographs published during the heyday of the discussion about the role of Islam in the process of national liberation struggle and state building in Libya (1970-1980s). We tried to reconstruct the main stages and elements of the discussion and to identify its key theses. The obtained conclusions are of interest in view of their relevance and usefulness for studying a wide range of socio-political processes in Libya in the 20th and 21st centuries. Refs 32.