The fascinating interview with Imad A. Ahmad that LRC points to today had an additional surprise. Not only does Mr. Ahmad seem to have reconciled his Islamic beliefs with a thorough-going Rothbardian libertarianism, but he ends up sounding rather more libertarian and more sophisticated than his interviewer from Reason, Tim Cavanaugh.
Cavanaugh asserts that “natural law is a completely discredited theory”, while Mr. Ahmad hearkens back to the great tradition of the Scholastics, (and argues that they may have learned a few things from the medieval Muslim scholars). Cavanaugh seems confused about property rights, seeming to think there is something terrible about the Muslim pilgramage sites being off limits, while Mr. Ahmed correctly defends the right of religious groups to have restrictive rules of entry in regards to their holy sites. Mr. Ahmed makes the important distinction between public officials being open about their religious commitments and imposing them on others by force. Cavanaugh notes Mr. Ahmad’s questions about school vouchers… I note that Mr. Ahmad is a signer of the Proclamation for the Separation of School and State.
If this is Islamo-libertarianism, then it may be far preferable to Rando-libertarianism.
1:25 pm on July 29, 2003
