Democracy in Islam

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.

Author Notes

Sayed Khatab is a Research Fellow in the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University, Australia. His recent publications include The Political Thought of Sayyid Qutb: The Theory of Jahiliyyah (Routledge, 2006) and The Power of Sovereignty: The Political and Ideological Philosophy of Sayyid Qutb (Routledge, 2006).

Gary D. Bouma is UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations - Asia Pacific at Monash University, Australia. His research examines the management of religious diversity in plural multiculturalism societies, postmodernity as a context for doing theology, and religion and public policy.

Acknowledgements	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Governance and law in Islam: a Western view	p. 3
1 The political theory	p. 7
Islam and polity	p. 7
Sovereignty	p. 12
Constitution	p. 14
Form of government	p. 16
Organs and functions of the state	p. 17
Consultation and legislature	p. 18
The chief executive	p. 21
The authority of the state	p. 23
2 The notion of democratic participation	p. 28
Political principles	p. 29
The modernists and democracy	p. 41
The Muslim Brotherhood	p. 58
The liberals	p. 72
Concluding remarks	p. 91
3 Democratic values in some basic Islamic legal ideas	p. 93
Human relations: respect and compassion	p. 93
Property: trusteeship and charitable trust	p. 98
Ethical scope: universal and communal	p. 100
Human life: privacy and human dignity	p. 102
Work: labour and industrial relations	p. 104
Economics: free market and commercial integrity	p. 106
Gender: the status and rights of women	p. 111
4 Contribution to European law and philosophy	p. 129
Islamic philosophy and Law	p. 129
Human reason and the revealed law	p. 133
The link between civilisations	p. 136
The spirit of science and modernity	p. 143
The philosophy of liberty	p. 150
Muslim thought and the age of reason	p. 155
Concluding remarks	p. 163
5 Islamic International Law	p. 165
The nature of Islamic International Law	p. 165
Constituents of Islamic International Law	p. 176
The jihad: notion and qualification	p. 176
The attitude of Islamic Law towards war	p. 181
The value of Islamic Law to international relations	p. 189
6 Historical reality in the light of the declared principles	p. 192
7 Religion and the origins of violence and terrorism today	p. 199
The resurgence of religion in public life	p. 199
Misguided attempts to apply religious ethics	p. 204
The nature of secularity - an open market	p. 205
Conclusion	p. 210
Notes	p. 211
Bibliography	p. 243
Index	p. 256

Available:*

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Table of Contents