Islam and Democracy - Essay Example

? 23 May Islam and democracy: This paper is primarily based on a largely spoken and interestingly controversial topic that has quite many facets for considering and discussing at length. The relation between Islam and democracy is one that has been scrutinized by the scholars and researchers for ages, and this relation was even vibrant and favored in the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad. The roots of democracy also originate from the medieval Islamic period, when then rulers were ruling the public of Medina democratically. Democracy is basically such a ruling pattern in which great emphasis is laid on assigning rights to the common public and endowing the people who construct the nation with the benefits achieved by those in authority. Democracy unequivocally lays emphasis on the large and significant role that should be played by the common public with not many authorities in building up the societal and national structure. What with myriad clear and admirable philosophies regarding equity, brotherhood, compassion, and teamwork that are identified in the holy book Quran, no one can possibly remain oblivious to the fact that Islam favors democracy over authoritarian rule. This is because Islam has always stressed on the contribution of not only the authoritative and powerful people, but it always stresses that every single person should contribute at least something that would help largely in the makeup of the society and the nation, at large. Islam and democracy are compatible for each other in a variety of ways, and those ways are scrutinized in this paper backed up with the views of various Muslim scholars. Actually, what makes the bedrock of the growing interest seen in assessing the relationship between Islam and democracy is that the religion of Islam is largely observed in the West as being phenomenally incompatible with democracy. What with the growing number of atrocious terrorism based issues that have their roots in the notorious group Al-Qaeda and that have spawned huge violence and hatred across the globe, a large percentage of people in the West believe Islam to be an eastern religion that has certainly no compatibility with the American constitutionalism based on democracy. Historical interaction between East and West is not obscured from the eye of the world and thereby, all the Western countries especially United States has always been trying to export its democratic principles to the Eastern world, in an order to make Islam compatible with democracy for the overall betterment of the world. Actually, Islam is the dominant religion of the eastern world and for this reason, myriad efforts to inculcate the democratic governing pattern in the minds of the Muslim rulers have always been supported by US. (Al-Hibri 505) claims that the concept of democracy is not what could be called a production of a modernized world, rather it was prevalent in the period of medieval Islam as well. Democracy was a prominent feature of the city Medina where Prophet Muhammad resided and it continued to be strengthening, until its progress and life came to an abrupt halt when Sunnis and Shi’as separated on the basis of various conflicts regarding the Islamic Caliphate. This means that the doctrine of democracy is not altogether a new concept for the followers of Islam and it has always been an essential feature of the Islamic principles, even before its importance and significance was stressed by the Western rulers. Governance under Islamic Caliphate was en emblem of democracy in which taking care of the choice of the common public meant to be the most important priority for the governors. Islamic Caliphate was truly inspired by the democratic principles and wanted every layman of the society to take active part in the betterment of the nation so that a rich repertoire of innovative constructive ideas could be enhanced and encouraged. After Islam Caliphate however, monarchy based governing system pursued which was largely and visibly devoid of the golden democratic laws and systems, due to which Muslims at large remained unsatisfied with their rulers after Caliphate ended and engaged in petty fights fueled by rebellion with each other. Non-democratic or authoritarian based governing system stimulates emergence of ferocious aggressiveness and defiant rebellion in the society due to which unity and harmony fade away completely. People in West should realize the unequivocal fact that the Islamic teachings are totally against this negative turn down that results because of the governing system that does not go in harmony with democracy. Only because of the various atrocities and unjustified activities carried out by some terrorists in the East, it does not really mean that Islam is incompatible with democracy due to which terrorism and violence are stimulated in the world. The formation of popularly elected legislative assemblies in the Muslim world by public voting in the time of world renowned poet Muhammad Iqbal, was also mentioned by Iqbal to be a great comeback to the original purity of Islam, thus referring to the vibrant democracy that was the dearest feature of the Islamic Caliphate. (Bontekoe and Stepaniants 253). Iqbal heavily argued against the Western scholars who were of the point of view that Islam has no compatibility with democracy. He argued that had it not been for the inborn and original germs of Islam for an economic and democratic organization of society, this religion would never have spread at an astounding and unprecedented rate in the world. Democracy is actually one of the elements that lays the foundation for the natural purity of Islam, thus it supports the application of democratic laws and principles in every possible way. Owing to the considerable amount of research and analysis undertaken to speculate the nature of political Islam, it will be a hyperbolic statement if it is said that various alarming myths and fake Western beliefs regarding the nature of Islam and its compatibility with democracy have been removed by now. The patterns of Islamic politics present a continuously shuffling scene in which the politics have been constantly affected by various issues, thus supporting the fact that Islamic politics have never been democratic throughout the history. Regretfully, it has been a united effort of various Western scholars to undermine the nature and original purity of Islamic politics, due to which many people have been led over time to think negatively about the relationship of Islam with democracy. Islam has been tried to be presented as an inherently authoritarian, intolerable, aggressive, and anti-democratic religion with the combined efforts of the prejudiced Western scholars, bribed secular Muslim rulers, and violent Osama bin Laden-directed terrorist attacks. This is the reason why considerable research has been done on this issue. (Yasin). Islam certainly does not promote a set of indifferent values that are devastating for the progress and safety of the world, and it also does not antagonize the Western concept of liberalism. Islam believes in the concept of individual freedom because no pressures or enforcements are justified by the actual Islamic teachings, and that is what democracy is all about. Turkey and Malaysia are two worth mentioning examples of Muslim countries in which the fast and riveting rate with which success is strengthening, is clearly representative of the compatibility of democracy with Islam. Majority of the Muslims residing in Islamic states see democracy as their main hope and consider dictatorship to be the main hurdle in the pathway of progress. According to an eminent professor Vali Nasr at Tufts University (cited in BOSTON AND ISTANBUL), Muslim democracy is a force that is viewed to have an out-and-out newish and decisive nature especially in the non-Arab parts of the world. He expressed this view in support of the relation between Islam and democracy particularly in regard to the recent political experiences seen in Turkey, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. All the experiences and political turn of events point to one fact which claims that whenever democracy surfaces in the Muslim culture due to the combined efforts made by the Democratic Parties, which strive to establish the public rule, success is achieved over the violent varieties of political Islamic parties. Currently highly popular Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan is also strongly vocal about the compatibility between Islam and democracy and the importance of democratic rule for ensuring peace and progress in a society. Ramadan is of Egyptian origin and talking about the negative consequences of political government in Egypt that is authoritarian in nature in an interview with (Furstenberg), he said that the system in Egypt is corrupt because it is not democratic. He said that the difficulty is that this authoritarian-based government style is not going to be changed because the present ruler is to be replaced by his son, in contrast to what the Egyptian public demands. He said that the Egyptian regime is highly unpopular among the common public because it is based on self-interests and does not promote democracy and public’s freedom. Large democratic demonstrations are being organized in Egypt against the dictatorship, people are killing each other and themselves just to provoke some change, but Ramadan does not himself think that this would bring any significant change considering the weak display of disapproval by the American supporters of the Egyptian regime. The economic and political state of Egypt is suffering in an adverse way, owing to the disturbed conditions resulting by the unjustified action taken by the forced government. This interview of Ramadan shows that where there is democracy, peace, harmony, and individual freedom rule. There remains no aggression and conflict in the society when democracy is made number one priority, and where the government is forced on the public, rebellion ensues while strengthening progressively. Though a particular group comprising Al-Qaeda terrorists and radical Islamists lay stress on the unjustified oppression by taking support of Islam, it is purely their effort to misguide many people around the globe by mutilating the Islamic teachings and spreading them. The religious ideals within Islam have always emphasized on the establishment of democratic rule free of unjustified notions and one which does not set in contrast to the Western concept of democracy. According to Safi (cited in Handwerk), who is also a member of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in US, democracy promotes self-government and self-government has its roots in the Islamic world. The old Muslim communities were more vigorously representative of the democratic style than the modern Islamic nations. The old Muslim society was highly representative of democracy because back then, the government focused more on issue of law, order, and security, while public was left to deal with the rest of the issues. There used to be a lot of public freedom which shows that Islam has always been compatible with democracy, though a few authoritarian governments have and are still marring the democratic rule from time to time. Works cited: Al-Hibri, Azizah Y. “ISLAMIC AND AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW: BORROWING POSSIBILITIES OR A HISTORY OF BORROWING?” University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 1:3 (1999): 492-527. Print. Bontekoe, Ronald and Stepaniants, Marietta T. Justice and Democracy. University of Hawaii Press, 1997. Print. BOSTON AND ISTANBUL. “The practice—and the theory.” 10 Jan. 2008. Web. 23 May. 2011. < http://www.economist.com/node/10499167?story_id=E1_TDQJJTGS> Furstenberg, Nina Z. “Change is possible after Tunisia, but Egypt is different.” 21 Jan. 2011. Web. 23 May. 2011. < http://www.resetdoc.org/story/00000021454> Handwerk, Brian. “Can Islam and Democracy Coexist?” 24 Oct. 2003. Web. 23 May. 2011. Yasin, Rahil. “Are Islam And Democracy Compatible?” 2009. Web. 23 May. 2011. < http://www.countercurrents.org/yasin210309.htm> Read More