Democracy In Islam

Sayed Khatab, Gary D. Bouma

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781134093830
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Democracy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Challenging the view of Islamic extremists and critics of Islam, this book explores the very topical issue of Islam's compatibility with democracy. It examines:

• principles of Islam's political theory and the notion of democracy therein
• the notion of democracy in medieval and modern Muslim thought
• Islam and human rights
• the contribution of Islamic legal ideas to European legal philosophy and law.

The book addresses the pressing need for a systematic show of an Islamic politics of human rights and democracy grounded in the Qur'an. The West wonders about Islam and human rights, and its own ability to incorporate Muslim minority communities. Many Muslims also seek to find within Islam support source for democratic governance and human rights.

1 The political theory

Studying the political theory in Islam requires us first to consider whether Islam is only a religion, or a religion and state in one. What follows investigates the Islamic concept of sovereignty, the state, its organs and the nature of its function with special attention to the identity of the state and the form of government.

Islam and polity

The relationship between religion and polity in Muslim societies has been a focus of debate among scholars of Islam. Some view Islam as simply a religion without the right to govern or to order the daily affairs of human life.¹ Others, however, view Islam as not only a religion, but also a system and social order encompassing all spheres of human life, including the state and the law.² They base their argument on the Qur’an and point out the political connotations of many of the Qur’anic terms such as mulk (domination), ummah (nation) and other terms with political connotations. For example, the Arabic word sultan, which is repeatedly mentioned in the Qur’an, is an abstract noun meaning authority and rule, and was used from the early times of Islam to denote government.³ Similarly, the term hukm (to govern and to judge) and its derivations such as ‘governor(s), ruler(s) and judge(s)’ appear in the Qur’an, explicitly more than 250 times and each has its political connotation. For example, the Qur’an (4:105) says to Muhammad, ‘We have revealed to you the Book with the truth, so that you may judge (tahkum) among people by that which Allah has shown you.’ Similarly, the Qur’an (38:26) commands: ‘We said: David, We have made you a vicegerent on earth, fa-uhkum [ judge/rule] thou between people in truth (and justice).’ The word ‘hukm’ here is a verb in a command form that commands the leader to ‘Judge’⁴ and to ‘Rule’⁵ with justice.

David and Muhammad were both leaders and judges by virtue of their divine appointment. Hence they possessed complete judicial power.⁶ However, this command for them does not mean that they judge and rule on the basis of their own wishes; their rule must be based on the text, that is, for Islam, a text of the Qur’an. If there is no Qur’anic text explicitly or implicitly relevant to the matter, the prophets give their own legal opinion on the basis of the general spirit of the revelation God has shown them.⁷ These Qur’anic texts are sufficient here to indicate the legal and governmental connotations of the Qur’anic term hukm. This also illustrates the role of religion in society and the relationship between both of them.

The relation between religion and society is not confined to what is commonly termed ‘rituals’, and there is no dichotomy between rituals and social contract; between social contract and governance; between governance and the law; between law and human affairs in general. The nature of religion, according to Bouma (1992), is well equipped with rules and programmes to develop society and to guide human life for goodness and prosperity. Religions have come to live in society, neither to be detained in one corner of it, nor to be isolated or expelled from daily life. Religions, Bouma explains, have come with ethical visions of the good, including rules, views and programmes to develop and harmonise the pulses, political or other. The pulses of religions may be seen as different from the pulses of society. That there are differences between the patterns proposed by a religion and the existing patterns in society does not mean that religions are old and to be changed to modern religions.⁸

A society, first and last, is the patterned relationships of human beings and their groups, and their pulses are the pulses of the society. Religion came with its ethical insights and eternal vision to correct and harmonise the pulses of society. In this process, human beings remained human beings and have not changed to another creature. If it is despicable to say, for instance, that humanity is an old creature and should be replaced by a modern progressive creature, it would be even more despicable to say similar things concerning religion. Misunderstanding the objective of religion is one thing and discarding religion is certainly another thing.

Islamic Law, as Schacht emphasises, does not separate religion from daily life; it does not separate religion from politics; or politics from morals; or morals from the state. In Islamic Law, the activity of individuals and their relation to the state had metaphysical and religious bases.⁹ Islam is a system for practical human life in all its aspects.¹⁰ Islam professes an ideal and convincing concept that expounds the relationship between the Creator and the creations, the universe, all of life and humankind. It expounds the nature of the universe and determines the position of humanity in this universe as well as the ultimate objectives for humanity. It includes the doctrines and practical organisations that emanate from and depend upon this ideal, and make of it a reality reflecting upon the everyday life of human beings.¹¹

Given that the Islamic conception of life is that of coordination and harmonisation between the body and the soul, it is only reasonable to expect that a very close relationship should have been established between religion and politics, between the mosque and the citadel. According to Bouma, ‘religious activity involves the whole person and the social group’.¹² On the one hand, Islam deals with the fullness of humanity, as it exists in reality, not treating humanity as an intellectual concept. In contrast with Idealism, Positivism and similar notions, Islam does not deal with propositions of no practical reality. On the other hand, Islam does not view human beings as spirit alone or as matter alone. Humans are not pure mind but integrated physical, mental and spiritual beings whose faculties are part of a unified, functional and responsible whole.¹³

Islamic social order is based on ‘the universal principle of human brotherhood and it endeavours to secure happiness, prosperity and goodness for both the individual and society. There is absolutely no place for class-war of any kind between individuals and society in this system.’¹⁴ In its social system, Islam is communal, prefers a social life, demands worship in a collectivity – a congregation in which every person turns towards one ultimate authority, one direction and one centre, fasting for one month at the same time in all parts of the globe, and performing the pilgrimage to Mecca at the same time as one of the principal duties of all Muslims. It also places emphasis on strictly personal responsibility and does not forget the development of the individual, and yet it organises all individuals into a single whole: the Muslim community. The same Law regulates the affairs of the universe, life and humankind whatever the class or wherever the country. Moreover, the ruler, as we shall see, enters the office only by free election and then takes an oath for which he is responsible before the people. It is in this context that we must interpret the frequently stated view in Western languages that Islam is not only a religion, but also both a religion and a state in one. Hegel concludes that

[t]he substance of Islamic morals may be perfect; what should be internal subjective sentiment is made a matter of external arrangement. There is no want for a will to command moral actions, but a will to perform them because they are commanded from within. Since the internal and external, Law and Moral Sense, are not yet distinguished – still form an undivided unity – so also do Religion and the State.¹⁵

In this connection, Montesquieu emphasised, in his The Spirit of the Laws, that society is not a society without law, and where there is law there must also be a government. Montesquieu based his view on Biblical and Qur’anic observations and the laws created by ‘God . . . the Creator and Preserver . . . He made them because they are related to His wisdom and His power . . . As we see the world . . . still continues to exist, its motions must have invariable laws; and, if one could imagine another world than this, it would have consistent rules or it would be destroyed.’¹⁶

Turning to the East, it is also appropriate to observe some of the stated opinions in Arabic thought as a point of cross-reference upon the relationship between Islam and politics. For example, scholar and judge ‘Ali Abd al-Raziq (1888–1966) states ‘I do not believe that the Islamic Law is merely spiritual’.¹⁷ ‘Islam is a legislative religion. The application of Islamic Law is obligatory on Muslims. This is the command of Allah to them all . . . The Muslims must establish a government to carry on this burden. Allah does not impose upon Muslims a specific type or form of government, but they are free to choose what is better for the welfare of their society at any time.’¹⁸ Similarly, Sayyid Qutb (d.1966) and Abu al-A‘la Mawdudi (d.1973) both pointed out that Islam, by its very nature, is a ‘political religion’.¹⁹

Earlier exegetes such as Ibn Kathir (d.774/1383), in his commentaries upon Qur’anic verse 4:59, points out ‘the sovereign is Allah, He alone is the legislator’.²⁰ Al-Jassas (d.370/987) refers to the Qur’anic verse 4:65 and states that ‘the role of shari‘ah is strongly bound with the Islamic creed and there is no Islam without the rule of shari‘ah.’²¹ Later we will explore what it means to live under the rule of shari‘ah today. The contemporary scholar of al-Azhar, Muhammad al-Ghazali (1917–1996), emphasised that ‘Allah is the only Legislator and that the nation (ummah) must establish a government of consultation (shurah)’.²²

Abd al-Aziz al-Maraghi, a justice and professor of Islamic legislation and Shaykh al-Azhar (1935–1947), and Rizq al-Zalabani, also a professor of law and politics, were both at al-Azhar University in 1947. Both al-Maraghi and al-Zalabani termed the highest governmental and legal authority as ‘sovereignty’, with al-Zalabani, for instance, stating that ‘the sovereignty belongs to none but Allah. He is the Creator and He alone is the legislator. All affairs are in His hands . . . Every person of the ummah must stand within the boundary of His law.’²³ Both al-Maraghi and al-Zalabani base their argument on a number of verses to which many other Muslim scholars repeatedly refer. Among these Qur’anic verses are the following: ‘those who do not judge in accordance with Allah’s revelation, those indeed are the transgressors’ (5:45). ‘Those who do not judge in accordance with Allah’s revelation, those indeed are the evil-doers’ (5:47). ‘Do they desire to be ruled by the law of pagan ignorance (jahiliyyah)?’ (5:50).

According to al-Qurtubi (d.671/1285), ‘there is no difference among the Muslim scholars (Imams) on that Allah is the Legislator and that there must be a State’.²⁴ Similarly, al-Mawardi (d.450/1067) asserts that ‘leadership is prescribed to succeed the prophethood as a means of protecting the religion and managing the affairs of this world. There is a consensus of opinion that the person who discharges the responsibilities of this position (leadership) must take on the contract of leadership of the ummah.’²⁵ Similarly, al-Nawawi Shaykh al-Azhar (1896–1900) says, ‘Yes, Islam is a state and possesses a clear political theory. Muslims must know that the sovereignty belongs to none but Allah. His shari‘ah is the constitution of the Islamic polity since the time of the Prophet. This is the opinion of the consensus of the Muslim ummah. Even those who referred to the role of human intellect in this particular matter confined their theory to the cases and affairs upon which the revelation does not offer specific regulation or necessary guidance.’²⁶

Pointing out the importance of an Islamic state, Ibn Hajar al-Haythami (d.974/1585) says, ‘You must know that the companions of the Prophet agreed that the Islamic state of the Prophet must continue and they elected their leader before the burial of the Prophet.’²⁷ Similarly, al-Juwayni (d.478/1094) maintains that ‘Muslims must have a leader to lead their state and that is the consensus of the opinion of the ummah and Imams.’²⁸ In the words of Ibn Khaldun (d.808/1421) ‘Islamic state is obligatory and that obligation is known by the consensus of the opinion of the companions of the Prophet’.²⁹

The contemporary scholar Muhammad ‘Imarah (b.1931) emphasises that ‘Islam is a state and Allah is its highest legal and governmental authority and its constitution is the Qur’an and the sunnah.’³⁰ Muhammad al-Khidr Husayn, Shaykh al-Azhar (1952–1954),³¹ added that ‘separating religion from state is an act of desecration to the truth of the religion. This attempt is a kind of act that the Muslim cannot do and remain a Muslim.’³² Similarly, Mustafa Sabri (1869–1954) the Chief of the Jurist Consult of the Ottoman State was appointed four times Shaykh al-Islam in the Ottoman State; the last appointment was terminated with the changes in the Ottoman state. In 1922, he left Turkey for Egypt and died there in 1954. Mustafa Sabri observed that separating Islam from politics is more than a conspiracy against Islam. He says: ‘separating Islam from state, in Muslim countries, is heresy brought about by those moderns who imitate the foreigners and that is but an act of rebellion against Islam. This kind of attempt is a revolution from the government against the creed of the people, because the right way is the revolution from the people against the government to impose the law of Islam. Nevertheless, if this occurred against Islam, first from the government, and second from the people, there is nothing but no Islam.’³³

Khalid Muhammad Khalid (1919–1996), al-Azhar scholar of philosophy, culture, Islam, and education, who is widely considered part of the left wing of Islam, stated that ‘Islam has a legal and governmental duty, which is to order human life and organize their affairs through its Islamic state which must be established and must remain as long as there is Islam in this world. The constitution of this state is the Qur’an and the sunnah of the Prophet and the consensus of the ummah.’³⁴ Similarly, Shaykh Muhammad al-Bahayy, professor at the University of Montreal in the 1950s and then Minister of Islamic Endowments in Egypt in 1960, who reformed al-Azhar in 1961, stated that ‘Islam, as a creed, does not restrict to the conscience! Or to the effort of conveying the message but also an organized force that was protecting the establishment of the creed in the time of revelation and after, this means that, Islam is religion and state.’³⁵

Muhammad ‘Abduh, Shaykh al-Azhar (d.1905), stated that ‘Islam is a religion of sovereignty, of authority, and of unity between this world and the hereafter. Islam is a spiritual, social, economic, political, civilian and military system. Its military force is to protect the application of shari‘ah, the general guidance, the freedom of the ummah, and not to force others to embrace Islam’.³⁶ The president of the academy of jurisprudence in Mecca, Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd, maintains that ‘Islam in its very nature is an organized state; therefore you cannot separate Islam from politics’.³⁷ Similarly, Gad El-Haq ‘Ali Gad El-Haq, Shaykh al-Azhar (1982–1996), stated that ‘separating Islam from the notion of society is undoubtedly wrong doctrine and wrong thought . . . Islam is a social system that encompasses the affairs of human life’.³⁸ According to the Gamal Abd al-Nasser Encyclopaedia of Islamic Jurisprudence (1961), ‘There is no sovereign but God; there is no rule but the rule of God, and there is no law but the law of God. This is the consensus of Muslims.’³⁹

These opinions represent a wide spectrum of Islamic both left and right, thought, whether medieval or modern, liberal or conservative, modernist or revivalist, all indicate that Islam is a political and legislative religion, that is, that Islam is both a religion and a state in one.

Sovereignty

From the perspec...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Democracy In Islam
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 The political theory
• 2 The notion of democratic participation
• 3 Democratic values in some basic Islamic legal ideas
• 4 Contribution to European law and philosophy
• 5 Islamic International Law
• 6 Historical reality in the light of the declared principles
• 7 Religion and the origins of violence and terrorism today
• Notes
• Bibliography