A study on the compatibility of Islam and democracy: theory and practice

Abstract

Whether democracy is compatible with Islam or not has been under discussion for more than a century. The issue has again come into focus in the wake of the war on terrorism, since the assumption is that terrorism is a consequence of undemocratic and authoritarian polities. Broadly speaking, two views have emerged in this regard. One view holds that democracy is a foreign Western concept and does not go along with Islamic teachings and hence Muslim countries have not been able to achieve democracy. The other view claims that democracy is not only compatible with Islamic teachings but also that Islamic polities in history have been democratic. This essay studies these two divergent views, and comparing the general principles and ideas of both Islam and democracy, tries to answer the question of compatibility of these two.