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Islamic democracy

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki

For other uses, see Islamic republic.
Part of a series on:
Islamism
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Template:Islam and other religions

Part of the Politics series
Democracy
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There exist a number of perspectives on the relationship of Islam and democracy among Islamic political theorists, the general Muslim public, and Western authors. Today, a number of Muslim-majority countries are Islamic yet secular democracies.

Views of the general Muslim public[edit]

Esposito and DeLong-Bas distinguish four attitudes toward Islam and democracy prominent among Muslims today:[1]

  • Advocacy of democratic ideas, often accompanied by a belief that they are compatible with Islam, which can play a public role within a democratic system, as exemplified by many protestors who took part in the Arab Spring uprisings;
  • Support for democratic procedures such as elections, combined with religious or moral objections toward some aspects of Western democracy seen as incompatible with sharia, as exemplified by Islamic scholars like Yusuf al-Qaradawi;
  • Rejection of democracy as a Western import and advocacy of traditional Islamic institutions, such as shura (consultation) and ijma (consensus), as exemplified by supporters of absolute monarchy and radical Islamist movements;
  • Belief that democracy requires restricting religion to private life, held by a minority in the Muslim world.

Polls conducted by Gallup and PEW in Muslim-majority countries indicate that most Muslims see no contradiction between democratic values and religious principles, desiring neither a theocracy, nor a secular democracy, but rather a political model where democratic institutions and values can coexist with the values and principles of Islam.[2][3][4]

Pakistan[edit]

Early in the history of the state of Pakistan (March 12, 1949), a parliamentary resolution (the Objectives Resolution) was adopted, stating the objectives on which the future constitution of the country was to be based. It contained the basic principles of both Islam and Western Democracy, in accordance with the vision of the founders of the Pakistan Movement (Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan).[5] It proclaimed:

Sovereignty belongs to Allah alone but He has delegated it to the State of Pakistan through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him as a sacred trust.

  • The State shall exercise its powers and authority through the elected representatives of the people.
  • The principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed.
  • Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings of Islam as set out in the Quran and Sunnah.
  • Provision shall be made for the religious minorities to freely profess and practice their religions and develop their cultures.

This resolution was included in the 1956 constitution as preamble and in 1985[6] it was inserted in the constitution itself as Article 2 and Schedule item 53[7] (but with the word "freely" in Provision shall be made for the religious minorities to freely profess and practice their religions and develop their cultures, removed.[8]). The resolution was inserted again in the constitution in 2010,[9] with the word "freely" reinstated.[8]

However, Islamisation has proceeded slowly in Pakistan, and Islamists and Islamic parties and activists have expressed frustration that sharia law has not yet been fully implemented.

Practice[edit]

See also: List of Islamic political parties

Indices of democracy in Muslim countries[edit]

There are several non-governmental organizations that publish and maintain indices of democracy in the world, according to their own various definitions of the term, and rank countries as being free, partly free, or unfree using various measures of freedom, including political rights, economic rights, freedom of the press and civil liberties.

The following lists Muslim-majority countries and shows the scores given by two frequently used indices: 2022 Democracy Index (The Economist)[11] and 2023 V-Dem Democracy indices[12] for electoral democracy. These indices are frequently used in Western media, but have attracted some criticism and may not reflect recent changes.

Location Democracy Index Score Democracy Index Rank Democracy Index Category V-Dem electoral democracy index Type of government Religion and State
Afghanistan 0.32 167 Authoritarian regime 0.082 Unitary provisional theocratic Islamic emirate Islamic state
Albania 6.41 64 Flawed democracy 0.484 Parliamentary system Secular state
Algeria 3.66 113 Authoritarian regime 0.281 Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic State religion
Azerbaijan 2.87 134 Authoritarian regime 0.188 Presidential system Secular state
Bahrain 2.52 141 Authoritarian regime 0.122 Constitutional monarchy State religion
Bangladesh 5.99 73 Hybrid regime 0.274 Parliamentary republic State religion
Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.00 97 Hybrid regime 0.528 Parliamentary republic Secular state
Brunei – – Authoritarian regime - Absolute monarchy Islamic state
Burkina Faso 3.08 127 Authoritarian regime 0.295 Semi-presidential system Secular state
Chad 1.67 160 Authoritarian regime 0.14 Presidential system Secular state
Comoros 3.20 120 Authoritarian regime 0.284 Presidential system, Federal republic Islamic state (de jure)
Secular state (de facto)
Djibouti 2.74 137 Authoritarian regime 0.255 Semi-presidential system State religion
Egypt 2.93 131 Authoritarian regime 0.175 Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic State religion
Gambia 4.47 102 Hybrid regime 0.62 Presidential system Secular state
Guinea 2.32 145 Authoritarian regime 0.191 Presidential system Secular state
Guinea-Bissau 2.56 140 Authoritarian regime 0.371 Semi-presidential system Secular state
Indonesia 6.71 54 Flawed democracy 0.574 Presidential system Secular state
Iran 1.96 154 Authoritarian regime 0.182 Unitary theocratic presidential Islamic Republic Islamic state
Iraq 3.13 124 Authoritarian regime 0.362 Parliamentary republic State religion
Ivory Coast 4.22 106 Hybrid regime 0.437 Presidential system Secular state
Jordan 3.17 122 Authoritarian regime 0.259 Constitutional monarchy State religion
Kazakhstan 3.08 127 Authoritarian regime 0.277 Presidential system Secular state
Kosovo - – – 0.618 Secular state
Kuwait 3.83 111 Authoritarian regime 0.317 Constitutional monarchy State religion
Kyrgyzstan 3.62 116 Authoritarian regime 0.382 Parliamentary republic Secular state
Lebanon 3.64 115 Hybrid regime 0.426 Confessionalist Parliamentary republic Secular state
Libya 2.06 151 Authoritarian regime 0.213 Provisional government State religion
Malaysia 7.30 40 Flawed democracy 0.438 Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy State religion
Maldives – – – 0.583 State religion
Mali 3.23 119 Authoritarian regime 0.235 Semi-presidential system Secular state
Mauritania 4.03 108 Hybrid regime 0.395 Islamic republic, Semi-presidential system Islamic state
Morocco 5.04 95 Hybrid regime 0.264 Constitutional monarchy State religion
Niger 3.73 112 Authoritarian regime 0.511 Semi-presidential system Secular state
Nigeria 4.23 105 Hybrid regime 0.49 Federalism, presidential system Secular state, Islamic state (only in the northern Nigerian states)
Oman 3.12 125 Authoritarian regime 0.17 Absolute monarchy Islamic state
Pakistan 4.13 107 Hybrid regime 0.388 Islamic Republic, Federalism, parliamentary republic Islamic state[13][14][15]
‡ State of Palestine (occupied by Israel) 3.86 110 Authoritarian regime 0.26 Semi-presidential system State religion[16]
Qatar 3.65 114 Authoritarian regime 0.088 Semi-constitutional monarchy State religion
Saudi Arabia 2.08 150 Authoritarian regime 0.016 Islamic absolute monarchy Islamic state
Senegal 5.72 79 Hybrid regime 0.69 Semi-presidential system Secular state
Sierra Leone 5.03 96 Hybrid regime 0.559 Presidential system Secular state
Somalia 0.162 Federalism, Semi-presidential system State religion
‡ Somaliland (Somalia) 0.421 State religion
Sudan 2.47 144 Authoritarian regime 0.169 Federalism, presidential system Secular state (de jure), Islamic state (de facto)
Syria 1.43 163 Authoritarian regime 0.138 Semi-presidential system Secular state
Tajikistan 1.94 156 Authoritarian regime 0.175 Presidential system Secular state
Tunisia 5.51 85 Hybrid regime 0.307 Semi-presidential system Secular state
Turkey 4.35 103 Hybrid regime 0.276 Presidential system Secular state[17][18]
Turkmenistan 1.66 161 Authoritarian regime 0.149 Presidential system, one-party state Secular state
United Arab Emirates 2.90 133 Authoritarian regime 0.101 Federalism, Constitutional monarchy State religion
Uzbekistan 2.12 149 Authoritarian regime 0.221 Presidential system Secular state
‡Western Sahara (controlled by Morocco) – – – - State religion
Yemen 1.95 155 Authoritarian regime 0.123 Provisional government Islamic state
Key: ‡ – Disputed territory (according to Freedom House)

Islamic democratic parties and organizations[edit]

This is a list of parties and organizations which aim for the implementation of Sharia or an Islamic State, or subscribe to Muslim identity politics, or in some other way fulfil the definitions of political Islam, activist Islam, or Islamism laid out in this article; or have been widely described as such by others.

Country or scope Movement/s
International
 Bahrain Al Menbar[19]
 Bangladesh
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Party of Democratic Action
 Egypt
 Finland Finnish Islamic Party
 India
 Indonesia
 Iran
 Iraq
 Israel Ra'am
 Jordan Islamic Action Front[26]
 Kuwait Hadas
 Libya
 Malaysia
 Maldives
 Morocco Justice and Development Party[36][37]
 Pakistan
 Palestine
 Philippines
 Rwanda Islamic Democratic Party
 Sudan National Umma Party Sudan
 Somalia Peace and Development Party
 Syria Muslim Brotherhood of Syria[41][42][43]
 Turkey
 Yemen Al-Islah

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Esposito, John L.; DeLong-Bas, Natana J. (2018). Shariah: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press. pp. 142–143. Search this book on
  2. ↑ Esposito, John L.; DeLong-Bas, Natana J. (2018). Shariah: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press. p. 145. Search this book on
  3. ↑ "Most Muslims Want Democracy, Personal Freedoms, and Islam in Political Life". Pew Research Center. July 10, 2012. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2019. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  4. ↑ Rheault, Magali; Mogahed, Dalia (Oct 3, 2017). "Majorities See Religion and Democracy as Compatible". Gallup. Archived from the original on August 12, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2019. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  5. ↑ "Objectives Resolution, Republic of Rumi Archived November 7, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ (Revival of Constitution of 1973 Order, 1985 (President's Order No. 14 of 1985))
  7. ↑ (with effect from March 2, 1985)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Annex 731 The Objectives Resolution [Article 2(A)]". pakistan.org. Archived from the original on March 29, 2016. Retrieved 2015-01-16. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  9. ↑ (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010, Section 99 (with effect from April 19, 2010)
  10. ↑ Riaz, Ali (2003). ""God Willing": The Politics and Ideology of Islamism in Bangladesh". Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. 23 (1–2): 301–320. doi:10.1215/1089201X-23-1-2-301.
  11. ↑ "Democracy Index 2022". Economist Intelligence Unit. Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2023. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  12. ↑ Coppedge, Michael, John Gerring, Carl Henrik Knutsen, Staffan I. Lindberg, Jan Teorell, Nazifa Alizada, David Altman, Michael Bernhard, Agnes Cornell, M. Steven Fish, Lisa Gastaldi, Haakon Gjerløw, Adam Glynn, Allen Hicken, Garry Hindle, Nina Ilchenko, Joshua Krusell, Anna Lührmann, Seraphine F. Maerz, Kyle L. Marquardt, Kelly McMann, Valeriya Mechkova, Juraj Medzihorsky, Pamela Paxton, Daniel Pemstein, Josefine Pernes, Johannes von Römer, Brigitte Seim, Rachel Sigman, Svend-Erik Skaaning, Jeffrey Staton, Aksel Sundström, Eitan Tzelgov, Yi-ting Wang, Tore Wig, Steven Wilson and Daniel Ziblatt. 2021. "V-Dem [Country–Year/Country–Date] Dataset v11.1" Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. https://doi.org/10.23696/vdemds21.
  13. ↑ The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Archived from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2020 – via Wikisource. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help) Search this book on
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original (PDF) on December 26, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2020. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
  15. ↑ "ENFORCEMENT OF SHARI'AH ACT. 1991" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 18, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2020. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  16. ↑ "BASIC LAW - OF THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL AUTHORITY". Archived from the original on 30 October 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2022. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  17. ↑ "Constitution of the Republic of Turkey". Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2015 – via Wikisource. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  18. ↑ https://global.tbmm.gov.tr/docs/constitution_en.pdf Archived February 9, 2020, at the Wayback Machine[bare URL PDF]
  19. ↑ Guide to Bahrain's politics Archived February 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine – 4 Sep 2008. Ambassador Ereli, US Embassy, Bahrain/Wikileaks/The Guardian
  20. ↑ "The Tenacity of Hope". The Economist. 30 December 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2014. [The BNP] seems also to have been hurt by its alliance with Islamist parties, the largest of which, Jamaat-e-Islami, was reduced from 17 seats to just two.
  21. ↑ "Bangladesh and war crimes: Blighted at birth". The Economist. 1 July 2010. West [Pakistan]'s army had the support of many of East Pakistan's Islamist parties. They included Jamaat-e-Islami, still Bangladesh's largest Islamist party ... reinstating and enforcing that original constitution might amount to an outright ban on Jamaat, the standardbearer in Bangladesh for a conservative strain of Islam.
  22. ↑ Islamists Win 75% of Seats in the Egyptian Parliament Archived October 4, 2022, at the Wayback Machine The New York Times.
  23. ↑ Evans, Kevin R (2003). The history of political parties & general elections in Indonesia. Jakarta:Arise Consultancies.
  24. ↑ Schwarz, Adam (1994). A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia in the 1990s. Allen & Unwin. p. 172. ISBN 0-521-77326-1. Search this book on
  25. ↑ Dhume, Sadanand. (December 1, 2005). Indonesian Democracy's Enemy Within. Yale Global.
  26. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named atimes.com
  27. ↑ "Muslim Brotherhood formally launches party". Libya Herald. 3 March 2012. Archived from the original on October 16, 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2012. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  28. ↑ Soguel, Dominique (March 3, 2012). "Muslim Brother picked to lead new Libya party". The Times of India. Tripoli. Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on July 1, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  29. ↑ Beaumont, Peter (3 December 2011), "Political Islam poised to dominate the new world bequeathed by Arab spring", The Guardian, archived from the original on August 20, 2012, retrieved 31 January 2012 Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  30. ↑ Nordland, Rod; Kirkpatrick, David D. (15 September 2011). "Islamists' Growing Sway Raises Questions for Libya". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-10. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  31. ↑ Spencer, Richard (19 November 2011), "Libyan cleric announces new party on lines of 'moderate' Islamic democracy", The Telegraph, archived from the original on January 12, 2022, retrieved 31 January 2012 Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  32. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Haimzadeh
  33. ↑ Grant, George (1 July 2012), "Party Profile: The National Forces Alliance", Libya Herald, archived from the original on January 16, 2014, retrieved January 18, 2013 Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  34. ↑ [1] Archived March 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  35. ↑ UMNO Online. UMNO's Constitution: Goal 3.5. From:"Perlembagaan". umno-online. Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2013-01-05. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  36. ↑ Chen, Cherice (25 November 2011). "Morocco votes in first election since protests; Islamist party eyes victory". Taiwan News. Archived from the original on November 27, 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2011. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  37. ↑ Alami, Aida (25 November 2011). "Moroccans Vote in Election Marking Shift of Power From King". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2011. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  38. ↑ Sidrah Moiz Khan "Pakistan's creation pointless if it fails to become Islamic welfare state" Archived November 5, 2019, at the Wayback Machine "Imran Khan said on Wednesday that Pakistan's creation had been pointless if the country fails to become an Islamic welfare state" 27 June 2012.
  39. ↑ Marcus Michaelsen "Pakistan's dream catcher" Archived May 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine "Iqbal's work has influenced Imran Khan in his deliberations on an "Islamic social state" 27 March 2012.
  40. ↑ * "This is particularly the case in view of the scholarly debate on the compatibility of Islam and democracy but even more so in view of Hamas's self-definition as an Islamic national liberation movement." The Palestinian Hamas: vision, violence, and coexistence, by Shaul Mishal & Avraham Sela, 2006, p. xxviii;
  41. ↑ Syria's Muslim Brotherhood is gaining influence over anti-Assad revolt Archived December 9, 2017, at the Wayback Machine By Liz Sly, Washington Post, 12 May 2012
  42. ↑ Khaled Yacoub Oweis "Syria's Muslim Brotherhood rise from the ashes," Archived October 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Reuters (6 May 2012).
  43. ↑ "Syria Muslim Brotherhood Issues Post-Assad State-for-All Commitment Charter," Archived January 17, 2013, at the Wayback Machine ikhwanweb.com (The Muslim Brotherhood's Official English web site) (7 April 2012).
  44. ↑ "AKP explains charter changes, slams foreign descriptions". Hürriyet Daily News. Istanbul. 2010-03-28. Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2014. In the Western press, when the AK Party administration, the ruling party of the Turkish Republic, is being named, unfortunately most of the time 'Islamic,' 'Islamist,' 'mildly Islamist,' 'Islamic-oriented,' 'Islamic-leaning,' 'Islamic-based' or 'with an Islamic agenda,' and similar language is being used. These characterizations do not reflect the truth, and they sadden us," Çelik said. "Yes, the AK Party is a conservative democratic party. The AK Party's conservatism is limited to moral and social issues. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)
  45. ↑ "Arşivlenmiş kopya". Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019. Unknown parameter |url-status= ignored (help)

Bibliography[edit]

  • Mahmoud Sadri and Ahmad Sadri (eds.) 2002 Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush, Oxford University Press
  • Omid Safi (ed.) 2003 Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender and Pluralism, Oneworld
  • Azzam S. Tamimi 2001 Rachid Ghannouchi: A Democrat within Islamism, Oxford University Press
  • Khan L. Ali 2003 A Theory of Universal Democracy, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers
  • Khatab, Sayed & G. Bouma, Democracy in Islam, Routledge 2007

External links[edit]


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