Islam And Democracy Research Articles

Visions of the Islamic State

Proponents of reform in Islamic political thought and practice frequently describe the work of Fazlur Rahman, the twentieth-century modernist scholar of Islam, and his method of Qur’ānic interpretation as a source of intellectual and political rejuvenation for contemporary Muslims. This article describes the ethicist underpinnings and content of Fazlur Rahman’s democratic vision of the Islamic state, as expressed in his major writings of the 1960s, and contrasts that vision with other proposals for establishing an Islamic nomocracy in contemporary Pakistan. The context of state building fundamentally shaped Fazlur Rahman’s constitutional theory, and his arguments expressly repudiate the traditional, independent position of the religious elites or ‘ulamā’ and aim at absorbing them into the state apparatus. This article contributes to the literature by explicating in a systematic way Fazlur Rahman’s constitutional theory, clearly drawing the connection between the ethicist content of his double-movement hermeneutic with the statism of his vision of Islamic democracy. Fazlur Rahman’s theory fails to establish a framework for an Islamic nomocracy, posing a significant challenge for advocates of intellectual and constitutional reform who champion the ethicist approach.

Democracy In Islam from The Political to The Religious and Ethical Perspective: Turkiye as A Model

The study discusses the problem of democracy in Islam, from the political to the religious and ethical perspective in an Islamic country with a strict secular system (Turkiye). The study is aiming to monitor the role of democracy as a fair movement for peoples, especially Muslims, in secular regimes, in which it affects their lives by reconstructing the political system and its legislations and authorities in a way that consider their beliefs and moral ethics. Taking that into consideration as Muslims to answer the question: Can we, as Muslims, take a fair stance on democracy and other Western theories that can be benefited the lives of Muslims? As an analytical study, we will follow the Qualitative Methodology to achieve the goal of the study, which led us to the result of elaborating on the possible ways to benefit as Muslims from political concepts particularly democracy without allowing for these Western concepts to eliminate Islam and its ethics from our lives from one hand or make the extremists Muslims alienate others from this religion from another hand; by considering two main points: 1) Being convinced of the historicism of political practice in Islam and reconsidering the legal texts according only to Islamic ethics and the Shariah objectives. 2) Dismantling the relevant terms coming to us and activating the functional view of these interests and their abstract principles and giving them priority over the textual and idiomatic definition. Therefore, it is necessary for us as Muslims to develop new concepts in politics which are compatible with Islam and its ethical principles and stem from reality and civilizational requirements, to play the leading role in achieving both intellectual and applied advancement for the Muslim nation, which leads it to return to the forefront of its civilized role that combines Islamic values and civilized development.

Democracy In Islam from The Political to The Religious and Ethical Perspective: Turkiye as A Model

The study discusses the problem of democracy in Islam, from the political to the religious and ethical perspective in an Islamic country with a strict secular system (Turkiye). The study is aiming to monitor the role of democracy as a fair movement for peoples, especially Muslims, in secular regimes, in which it affects their lives by reconstructing the political system and its legislations and authorities in a way that consider their beliefs and moral ethics. Taking that into consideration as Muslims to answer the question: Can we, as Muslims, take a fair stance on democracy and other Western theories that can be benefited the lives of Muslims? As an analytical study, we will follow the Qualitative Methodology to achieve the goal of the study, which led us to the result of elaborating on the possible ways to benefit as Muslims from political concepts particularly democracy without allowing for these Western concepts to eliminate Islam and its ethics from our lives from one hand or make the extremists Muslims alienate others from this religion from another hand; by considering two main points: 1) Being convinced of the historicism of political practice in Islam and reconsidering the legal texts according only to Islamic ethics and the Shariah objectives. 2) Dismantling the relevant terms coming to us and activating the functional view of these interests and their abstract principles and giving them priority over the textual and idiomatic definition. Therefore, it is necessary for us as Muslims to develop new concepts in politics which are compatible with Islam and its ethical principles and stem from reality and civilizational requirements, to play the leading role in achieving both intellectual and applied advancement for the Muslim nation, which leads it to return to the forefront of its civilized role that combines Islamic values and civilized development.

Self-perception and Gender Change in Pakistan. Who Else?

The constitution of Pakistan, an Islamic democracy, upholds the legal rights of its citizens. However, globalization and liberalization have led the nation to recognize the presence of the third gender, also known as transgender. According to the Transgender (Protection of Rights) Act 2018, Pakistani people are permitted to change their gender from male to female, female to male, or male/female to transgender. The person's perspective of themselves may play a role in the choice to change gender. By all rights, Pakistan is not the first country to use self-perception as a method for decision-making in order to effect gender change. Therefore, this study is conducted to investigate which other nations are using self-perception as a method for gender change. The study is conducted using quantitative content analysis. The contents of transgender-related acts enacted by numerous nations, including Pakistan will be analyzed using manifest analysis. It is anticipated that the study will provide some insight into how self-perception for gender change is being implemented in Pakistan. Recommendations for future studies are also suggested.

Book Review: A Political Theory of Muslim Democracy

Book Review: A Political Theory of Muslim Democracy

Beyond Fixed Political Models of Religion–State Relations

Some of the dominant academic approaches to Muslim politics continue to assume the centrality of Islam on the question religion’s relationship to the state and the possibility of successful democracy in Muslim-majority states. On the one hand, based on findings from large N-surveys, some scholars have argued that most Muslims in many Muslim-majority states desire a political ‘third model’ that is neither secular nor theocratic. Instead, they want democracy and a public role for shari’a and Islam. However, this literature does not fully explain what such a third model would mean for certain individual rights in practice. It also assumes a normative position that tends to favour one or another version of ‘Islamic’ democracy. On the other hand, some other scholars have argued that one or another form of a secular Muslim democracy is possible. Both views assume that the reinterpretation of religious resources is crucial to achieve the desired ends. This ‘reformist Islam approach’ to Muslim politics does not seriously consider the implications of servicing Islam, even in its more reformist forms, for political ends. Through a combination of theoretical and normative arguments and in-depth interviews conducted in the Maldives, this article argues that the plurality of viewpoints and underlying reasonings for those viewpoints among ordinary people suggest the necessity to move ‘beyond Islam’. As such, an alternative discursive democratisation approach that considers this plurality and takes discourses more neutrally without privileging religious discourses can be more capacious. Instead of fixating on a particular model of the religion–state relationship and a particular type of discourse (e.g., reformist Islamic), a discursive democratisation approach points to democratic possibilities and how the religion–politics and religion–state nexuses may be shaped and reshaped through discourse contestations within public spheres in Muslim-majority states such as the Maldives.

The Juristic Perspectives of Democracy in Islam

The Juristic Perspectives of Democracy in Islam

A Successful Model of Acculturation: Historic Overview of Baloch Migration from West and South Asia to East Africa

By examining the historic settlement of the Balochi people from West Asia to East Africa, this article seeks to study and examine their past immigration patterns, presence and current socio-political situation as a minority Muslim population. The Balochi people are an Indo-European ethnic Sunni Muslim minority population located in a region currently shared and divided by modern Islamic republics of Iran in West Asia and Pakistan in South Asia. The Balochis have formed a significant part of the non-indigenous Muslim population in East Africa since the late 17th century. Yet, there is not much written on them as a distinct Sunni Muslim minority group originating from historic Iran (including parts of South Asia) to Africa. Being part of a larger project, this study will explore the chief reasons behind the immigration of the Balochis to the regions of East Africa and how did their presence affect the local population and vice versa. The hypothesis is that the Balochis were formerly welcomed by the indigenous and non-indigenous population of East Africa and established amicable relationships with them. Using the method of qualitative content analysis combined with historical analysis, this article highlights the reciprocal impacts of the Balochi immigrants and indigenous people of East Africa.

THE JURISTIC PERSPECTIVES OF DEMOCRACY IN ISLAM

The term democracy has been the most celebrated political term in contemporary world owing to the massive support and debates that it has been attracting. One area where democracy has been creating debates and contradicting perspectives is Islam. The Islamic system of governance is being perceived as democratic while other dimensions believed that it has no room for accommodating democracy. This study examined the various juristic perspectives of democracy in Islam to ascertain its acceptability and usability based on the strongest viewpoints from the Shari’ah principles. The study utilised documented sources of data for analysis while content analysis method was used for discussing the ideas in the work. The study uncovered that there are many perspectives from juridical perspectives on the accommodation of democracy in Islam and the various views, the most appealing of them could not see any wrong with operating democracy in Shari’ah principles. The study recommends that Muslims should not run away from a political system but strategise on methods of domesticating the system to fit into the Islamic principles of governance without contradicting the Shari’ah provisions.

Turkey’s State Crisis: Institutions, Reform and Conflict

Turkey’s State Crisis: Institutions, Reform and Conflict

When the East Meets the West: Analysing Rached Ghannouci’s Synthesis of Democracy in Islam

Democracy is being pushed aggressively on a global scale as the best and final form of government without even an alternative offered to the opposing views by the champions of the system in the 21st century. The main arguments presented by the apologies of democracy is its feasibility of providing and guaranteeing freedom of speech, liberty of choosing a leadership, accountability and transparency. However, this view is being perceived with cynicism in other parts of the world particularly the Islamic world where the absolute sovereignty and laws are referred to from a divine source. Most of the contemporary Islamic scholars are not against democracy except where its principles such as man-made laws are regarded as supreme over the Shari’ah law. But, Rached Ghannouchi, a Tunisian activist and a political leader believed that there is a perfect way to synthesise between the Western liberal democracy and Islamic governance through the side line of political Islam and the full Islamisation of democracy in practice. Ghannouchi’s combination of ideology, philosophy and activism earned him a status of an Islamic democratic philosopher in the 21st century. This study critically examined the efforts made by Ghannouchi in Islamizing democracy using a rhetorical analytical approach of linking and comparing the early Islamic philosophy on democracy and Ghannouchi’s ideas to arrive at a position of policy implication for democratic governance in the Muslim world.

Erdogan's Foreign Policy Against Kurds in Syria: A Turkish Military and Political Strategy

The situation in the Middle East is complicated by the need for Turkey to formulate a new military and political strategy . Relations between the Kurds and Turkey since the collapse of the Ottoman caliphate have been strained by the Kurds' desire for autonomous power. Until now, Kurds are still struggling to gain this legitimacy and are transforming into radical and separatist groups. Turkey under Erdogan's leadership underwent political reform from secular to democratic Islam. This includes changing Turkey's strategy to deal with Kurdish militias in Syria because Kurdish militias in Syria are considered dangerous by forming the PKK. The PKK occupies Syria's border with Turkey, so Erdogan devised a special military and political- strategic framework to stem the power of Kurdish militias. Since Turkey was ruled by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's foreign policy has used the concept of "strategic depth" which is essential "zero problems with neighbors". Turkey in the Erdogan era tries to represent a modern and Muslim country that encourages democracy and social justice. This affected the perspective and strategy of Turkey being used to paralyze the Kurds. In the political strategy, Turkey conducts relations with various state and non-state actors to be able to exert influence at the international level. This research aims to know how Erdogan’s foreign policy against Kurd in Syria. This research method is using normative legal research with data analyzing using case approach. This research will explain on; a) The conflict between Turkey and Kurds, b) Characteristics of Erdogan's Government, c) Turkey's Involvement in the Syrian Conflict. This research finding will be the discussion analysis on Turkey's Military and Political Strategy against Kurds in Syria and Implications of Military and Political Strategy.

Syura Sebagai Basis Etis Politik Islam

This article tries to examine explore the concept of shura and its relevance to the Islamic Political Thought. In order to discuss this issue, the main focus will be directed on two main discussions; The ground concepts of Islamic Political Thought, and The Islamic concepts: shura (consultation) It is already known that shura concepts has been widely interpreted as a theoretical basis for electoral democracy in Islam. The main purpose is to present a more philosopical view of Islamic political thought throught it ethical basis and to show that there are and possibilities for an enrichment the discourse on Islamic political though with ethical concept within Islamic dogma.

Nilai-Nilai Pendidikan Islam Berbasis Multikultural dalam Film Upin dan Ipin

This study aims to analyze the values of multicultural-based Islamic education in the film Upin and Ipin episodes of fasting experience, gong xi fa cai, and Deepavali. There are five values in multicultural-based Islamic education, namely tolerance, pluralism, humanism, equality, democracy, and justice. The fasting experience episode has two values, then the gong xi fa cai episode has five values while the Deepavalii episode has four values. The data analysis of this research used content analysis with a semiotic approach. The results of the research on the Upin and Ipin films of this fasting experience episode, gong xi fa cai and Deepavali contain all these values that can be used by children as examples in instilling the value of multicultural-based Islamic education as an effort to prevent the division of mankind.

O postislamizmu općenito / Post-Islamism at large

In an earlier work Making Islam Democratic (2007), I attempted to interrogate the infamous question of whether Islam was compatible with democracy. I concluded that whereas Islamism (understood as deploying Islam as a political project to establish Islamic state) was unlikely to embrace democratic polity, ‘post-Islamism’ could. My early formulation of ‘post-Islamism’ was based primarily on the experience of Iran in the late 1990s. In this essay I try to see how much this concept has a broader resonance, given that Islamist movements in the Muslim world have experienced significant changes in the past three decades. Basing itself on numerous empirical studies of shift in the political Islam, the essay focuses on revisiting the concept of ‘post-Islamism’ by addressing the questions that its application to other experiences of Islamist politics may raise, as well as the questions that critiques have raised since the concept’s inception. Post-Islamism emerges as a critique from within and without of Islamist politics.

Internet sebagai Ruang Baru Kontestasi Diskursus Agama dan Politik: Kajian atas Diskursus Islam, Demokrasi dan Pancasila pada Website Keislaman Populer di Indonesia

The internet as a new medium has now become a contested space for political discourse. Focusing its analysis on eight popular Islamic websites in Indonesia, this paper examines how popular Islamic websites promote the concept of Islam and politic as seen in the issues of Pancasila, democracy, and Islamic state. The required data were collected through the method of web scraping. By using Lutfi Assyaukani's theory of three models of democracy in Indonesia, the results of this study indicate that the selected eight websites were classified into three variants of the political ideology model: First, websites that support religious democracy that are represented by the websites Nu.or.id, Islami.co, Ibtimes.id, and Bincangsyariah.com; second, websites that support Islamic democracy that are represented by Hidayatullah.com and Eramuslim.co.; and third, websites that support the Islamic caliphate that are represented by Voa-Islam.com and Nahimunkar.org, which rejected the form of a democratic state, both Islamic democracy and religious democracy, but accepted the Pancasila version of the Jakarta Charter.

Islamic Political Thought after the Arab Uprising: Post-“Islamic Democracy” and the Role of the Theory of the “Objectives of Shariah （Maqāṣid al-Sharī ‘a）” in Khaled Abou El Fadl’s Political Thought

Islamic Political Thought after the Arab Uprising: Post-“Islamic Democracy” and the Role of the Theory of the “Objectives of Shariah （Maqāṣid al-Sharī ‘a）” in Khaled Abou El Fadl’s Political Thought

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO ALLAMA MUHAMMAD IQBAL’S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

In Iqbal’s political philosophy and practice, parliamentary spiritual democratic system is universalistic and particularistic in its range. Global in nature, it is anchored in the religion of Islam that gives it a universal look. In 1926, when he entered politics to realize this ideal in practice, his ideas started to reflect the political scenario of the subcontinent. Besides Islam, Iqbal had made use of a good deal of western political concepts of nationalism, democracy, secularism, sovereignty, ethics of politics and communism. But he neither fully appreciates nor discards out rightly all these concepts. On the other hand, he has expounded his own political ideals of Tauhid, Khudi, Marde Momin, Islamic democracy, Millat, etc. Through these patterns of thought, Iqbal try to train an individual, a society and a global Islamic order. This universal order as it is construed from the concept of ummah will strive for the promotion of pan-humanism, i.e., freedom, brotherhood, and equality of humanity. In this paper Iqbal’s political philosophy, his concept of Khudi, how he perceives an ideal society will be analyzed. It will also be highlight that how his political philosophy changed from one stage to another. Keywords: Allama Iqbal, Political Philosophy, Muslim Society in India, Islam, Nation-State

Recalibrating Our Levels of Analysis: Working towards Islamic Democracy from the Ground-Up

Abstract This review article aims to challenge Andrew March’s pessimism regarding the possibility of Islamic democracy in the modern world. It will argue that instead of conceptualizing the possibilities for Islamic democracy in a top-down manner, rooted in the language and imaginary of sovereignty, discussions about Islamic democracy ought to first focus on more empirically measurable and less theologically controversial things such as economic development, educational achievement, institutional functionality, and good governance. Such an approach removes the need for future Islamic political theorizing to be post-sovereigntist and/or post-statist as March contends. Instead, the future of Islamic political theorizing needs to actually be ‘political,’ addressing the same policy and administrative issues that any other form of contemporary democratic political thought aims to address.

Ultimate Sovereignty and the Flexibility of the Islamic Caliphate/Democracy

Abstract March’s exceptional book profoundly deals with the ideas of popular sovereignty and the Caliphate in modern Islamic political thought. While this book covers the concept of popular sovereignty in quite detail, March’s portrayal fails to convince the reader whether or not Islamic democracies are possible as a result. Based on previous work on medieval Islamic political thought and public attitudes towards the Caliphate, I argue that conceptions of Islamic government have differed according to context, place and time, and in the modern era the public views the Caliphate as a vehicle for justice and welfare. This implies that Islamic government can still be broadly based on the principles of modern Islamic political thought while the exact institutional configurations may still be able to differ according to place, time and context. In conclusion, while March’s book carefully synthesizes the theoretical debates, it might not have far-reaching practical implications for Islamic democracy.