Islam and Democracy

When first looking at the issue of Islam and Democracy, one of the first topics that come up is what does the Koran say about politics. Many people outside of the religion believe that Islam dictates a government that is philosophically and ideally opposite of that of Democracy. But when looking more closely at the religion, one can clearly see that Islam does not dictate a specific form of government. As Muhammad Salim al-Awa put it in his essay, "in neither the Qur'an nor the Sunnah does Islam prescribe a specific form of government." On the contrary, al-Awa goes on to say that Islam does dictate guidelines that the community and its rulers should go by. This is where many people get the belief that the Qur'an dictates a style of government when in fact it does not.

One of the main setback that keeps Islam and Democracy from coming together is the fact that in Islam, Allah is the only sovereign power. God makes all the rules and regulations that His followers live by. Thus in something like a democracy, rule of the people, it is heresy to have the people make the rules instead of God. Mawdudi states that Allah "alone is the law-giver. No man has the right to order others to do or not to do certain things." This shows that no other man can tell people what to do which means that no man can be the ruler of other men. This defeats the purpose of a democracy which is basically a bunch of men telling everyone else what is considered right and wrong and what people should do. Murad Hofmann shows this belief when he quotes Sayyid Qutb and says "any legislative act of a parliament is a blasphemous presumption and rebellion against God." This is a clear sign that some Muslims believe that a democracy is a blasphemous form of government because only God can tell people what to do.