Democracy and Islam has been a debatable topic over the years and continues to be a

major point of interest for those involved within politics. Support for democracy is just as
frequent as resistance in these developing nations with both sides pitching adequate
arguments. In this essay I will address the two major barriers to democracy and why a
relationship between Islam and democracy fails before the two will even meet. To fully
understand the controversial idea of Islam and democracy, it is essential that a firm
grasp on Islam and the process of democracy is established. Both are often
misunderstood by many involved in these debates. The first difficulty is what Muslims
call ‘Divine Sovereignty’ which means that god holds the ultimate sovereignty and all are
answerable to him. Any official only holds delegated sovereignty from god himself,
which acts to challenge their respective power. Also due to the fact that Muslims see
democracy as an idea spawned by the West, it holds an aspect of cultural imperialism,
especially with the U.S. advocating the change.

The Western political structure isn’t always widely accepted as being the ‘world view’ of
democracy, but it has been accepted by a number of countries and is usually the most
supported. In fact there is at least four different varieties of democracy all adopted and
used effectively by different societies. For the purpose of this essay, I will be using the
political idea of Western democracy. Democracy is a liberal concept that seeks to
promote the freedom of choice as its underlying structure1. It was invented by the
Athens in Greece and translates roughly as being ‘the rule of people’. The three basic
grounds of democracy are interests, liberty and equality2. Those voting in a democratic
system will vote for political leaders who have their best interests in mind, which is why
it’s said citizens have a certain degree of control over the government. Their must be
adequate representation for those being ruled and also the freedom to choose, which
refers back to the liberty concept. Citizens of the state all have the right to be a part of
the formation of the government and cannot be excluded in this process; equality is a
key element within a democracy. As democracy promotes diversity, it must account for
a balance of its citizen’s beliefs, opinions and values3. This structure of democracy does
not always work effectively in all States and therefore it has been molded over the
decades to meet the demands of a developing world. However the general idea of

1
Ketchum, Richard M. What is democracy?. New York: Dutton, 1955. p.13.
2
Graham, Keith. The battle of democracy: conflict, consensus and the individual. Brighton: Wheatsheaf,
1986. p.12.
3
Ketchum, Richard M. What is democracy?. New York: Dutton, 1955. p.14.
democracy, “government of the people, by the people, for the people”4 has always
stayed central to those operating in a democratic system.

Islam is a term often misunderstood by those within the Western society and also at
times those under an Islamic nation. Islam is an Arabic word that connotes submission,
surrender & obedience5. Islam itself is the action of submitting and obeying ‘Allah’, those
who perform this action are called Muslims. Muslims believe that Islam is the natural
religion of man and creation, those who do not follow under the Islamic way are in fact
rebelling against their god-given purpose6. For a Muslim, it is not whether to ‘take up’
the religion of Islam, but rather whether to obey his/her function on earth. To call Islam
merely a religion is easy to those who don’t know the true meaning behind the
expression. However for those who practice Islam, it would be more correct to refer to it
as a way of life. The ‘instructions’ on how to fulfill your purpose is found in the form of
Islamic law which is targeted at the individual level, rather then regulating society as a
whole. The four major sources of this law are the Qu’ran, The Sunnah, Ijma and Qiyas7.
The Qu’ran is the law given to the Prophet Muhammad by Allah and contains a variety of
rules for different aspects of life. The rules can be broken down into four sections.

1. Rights of god which every man is obliged to fulfill,

2. His rights upon his own self,
3. The rights of other people over him,
4. The rights of those resources which God has placed in his service8.

These rights are all in a hierarchy, for example the rights of god are superior to the rights
of the ruling government or the rights of an individual. Even if a rule from the above
section contradicts a rule within the bottom section, it must still be adhered to. The
Sunnah is a collection of the teachings and sayings from the Prophet Muhammad. This

4
Graham, Keith. The battle of democracy: conflict, consensus and the individual. Brighton: Wheatsheaf,
1986. p.13.
5
Mawdudi, Abul A'la. Towards understanding Islam. Falls Church, Va: World Assembly of Muslim
Youth, 1980. p.1
6
Mawdudi, Abul A'la. Towards understanding Islam. Falls Church, Va: World Assembly of Muslim
Youth, 1980. p.3
7
Mawdudi, Abul A'la. Towards understanding Islam. Falls Church, Va: World Assembly of Muslim
Youth, 1980.
8
Mawdudi, Abul A'la. Towards understanding Islam. Falls Church, Va: World Assembly of Muslim
Youth, 1980. p.102
helps where the Qu’ran may have a gray area or does not have a direct rule, Muslims
will attempt to use his life as a model for their own. The Ijma and Qiyas, have been
written by Islamic scholars as a way of merging Islam into law, in the form of precedents
and common interpretations.

After outlining the basic fundamental principles behind Islam and democracy one can
begin to see where these two may compliment one another, but also where they will
clash. Though the number of barriers isn’t extensive, the issues raised are of great
significance.

One major barrier of democracy is the Islamic principle that God is sovereign.
The Quran explicitly describes God as Al-Malik meaning sovereign and Al-Malik-ul-
Mulk the eternal possessor of sovereignty.9 The idea of democracy that ‘the people’
indirectly govern themselves and thus hold some form of sovereignty is considered
blasphemous by some. The understanding is that the only power held by officials is
delegated authority from Allah10; this concept is called ‘divine sovereignty’. God is the
primary provider of law for his people and this can be found repeatedly in the four
sources of Islamic Law. However, if this is universally believed among those within a
state, then it renders it incompatible with democracy as any law passed by the
government would be considered illegitimate. The existence of a body of divine law
contradicts the western doctrine of human sovereignty, which asserts that there is no
limit on the laws that humanity can legislate11. Those who believe otherwise argue that
to suggest sovereignty as a barrier is merely assuming that the will of Allah is to regulate
all human interactions. Due to the gray areas within the divine law, there is flexibility as
to how it may be applied to different circumstances. This is why there is always
disagreement over certain aspects as it is matter of interpretation rather then being set in
stone. However, since there is nothing within the Qu’ran that acts as an answer to either
party, it is assumed that sovereignty belongs only to god. This concept is obtained
through the foundations of Islamic Law being centered around the submission to god
rather then any human power.
9
Khan, Muqtedar E. "Sovereignty in Islam as Human Agency." IJTIHAD 1, no. 10 (1980)
http://www.ijtihad.org/sovt.htm.
10
Khan, Muqtedar E. "Sovereignty in Islam as Human Agency." IJTIHAD 1, no. 10 (1980)
http://www.ijtihad.org/sovt.htm.
11
Perry, Glenn E. "Popular sovereignty, Islam and democracy."
http://www.scribd.com/doc/26965042/Popular-Sovereignty-Islam-and-Democracy-Glenn-E-Perry.
Another major barrier for democracy is the notion of cultural imperialism from the West,
mainly the U.S. Muslims have often directly opposed the West’s way of life and their
dominating culture and they tend to see democracy as a Western theory that is being
imposed on them. With the recent conflicts centered on the U.S. and Muslim nations, it
is easy to see where this negativity may have stemmed from. Muslims see the West as
merely being based on material aspects and contrast it with Islamic law which focuses
on morals. Instead of adopting a Western democratic model, they argue the need for an
Islam democracy12. As mentioned before, democracy isn’t a complete stand alone
model; it can be changed to suit a nation. However, changing democracy to suit an
Islamic nation is where the difficulty lies due to these, and various other conflicting ideas.
Also it has been noted that “despite the global diversity, Western leaders often give the
impression that a global consensus exists on the definition of democracy and the means
to attain it.”13 This strengthens the argument that the only form of democracy available
to Islam is the one developed by the West. To Muslims, this is another way in which the
U.S. is attempting to push their foreign culture into their lifestyle which directly opposes
Islam. Muslims fear that implementing a democratic system will in fact be detrimental to
the practice of their religion and open doors for the West to directly influence their
behaviour.

Therefore, from a brief description of the two major barriers to democracy in Islam, it
assists in the understanding of the issues faced by religious nations attempting to
establish a democratic government. Due to the fact that Shariah law is meant to guide
individual behaviour, it is almost impossible to incorporate this into common law by
legislating morals. Also the aspect of divine sovereignty and law, means that democracy
will always be undermined and rendered ineffective due to not being followed by those
being ruled. Without an efficient Islamic model of democracy available for these nations,
democracy will always be associated with the Western society and form a psychological
barrier to any governmental change. Even with various support for democracy within
these countries, the barriers that democracy faces are substantial enough to do more
damage then good in its current state.

12
Voll, John O., and John L. Esposito. "Islam's Democratic Essence." Middle East Quarterly 1, no. 3
(1994) http://www.meforum.org/151/islams-democratic-essence.
13
Handwerk, Brian. "Can Islam and Democracy Coexist?." National Geographic News.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1021_031021_islamicdemocracy.html.
Bibliography

Handwerk, Brian. "Can Islam and Democracy Coexist?." National Geographic

News.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1021_031021_islamicdemocracy.html

Ketchum, Richard M. What is democracy?. New York: Dutton, 1955

Khan, Muqtedar E. "Sovereignty in Islam as Human Agency." IJTIHAD 1, no. 10

(1980) http://www.ijtihad.org/sovt.htm.

Graham, Keith. The battle of democracy: conflict, consensus and the individual.
Brighton: Wheatsheaf, 1986.

Mawdudi, Abul A'la. Towards understanding Islam. Falls Church, Va: World
Assembly of Muslim Youth, 1980.

Perry, Glenn E. "Popular sovereignty, Islam and democracy."

http://www.scribd.com/doc/26965042/Popular-Sovereignty-Islam-and-Democracy-
Glenn-E-Perry.

Voll, John O., and John L. Esposito. "Islam's Democratic Essence." Middle East
Quarterly 1, no. 3 (1994) http://www.meforum.org/151/islams-democratic-essence.