Toward an Islamic Conception of Democracy: Islam and the Notion of Public Reason

Abstract

In recent decades Islamic political thinkers have begun to take a strong interest in democratic thought and politics. Their discussions have progressed beyond the nao ¨ve and superficial task of finding expressions, taken from traditional Islamic political thought and practice, that can be used to translate modern democratic idioms (e.g., ‘shura’ and ‘democracy’). Many of them are discussing some of the most difficult, interesting, and characteristic subjects of theoretical democratic discourse such as secularism, pluralism, popular sovereignty, individual rights, and freedom of expression. In the present article I focus on the concept of public reason. This concept has come to occupy an important place in Western discussions of democratic decision making but has yet to be discussed adequately by Islamic thinkers. I intend to ascertain Islamic views and reactions to the notion of public reason as this has been developed in the writings of John Rawls and others. I also discuss concepts of reason in Islamic discourses, including the notion of an ‘Islamic public reason.’ This discussion ought to be viewed as part of an effort to discover a common language in terms of which Islamic and democratic discourses can be seen to be mutually intelligible, or at least not completely ‘incommensurable.’ This is a complex undertaking that entails discussing questions about constitutionalism (rule of law), civil society, popular sovereignty, secularism, freedom and equality. These (difficult) questions cannot be discussed simultaneously in a brief space. Therefore, I shall allude to them only insofar as they concern the relation between democracy and public reason.