Democracy & Islam – Compatible or Incompatible?
By Shais
- Introduction
- Meaning of the words “democracy” and “Islam”
- Is Democracy Compatible with Islam?
- What does the Quran say?
- Doesn't Islam have democracy, called "Shura"?
1. Introduction
Lets now talk about the topic of “democracy” which Muslims are demanding today and what
Whether democracy and Islam are compatible or incompatible, I wouldn’t be giving my personal opinion but I’ll establish my point from the Quran and you be the judge.
2. Meaning of the words “democracy” and “Islam”
Democracy:
(i) government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
(ii) American heritage dictionary : Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
Though I can copy the meaning from more dictionaries but these will suffice. You can see more here.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/democracy
In short, democracy means “rule of the people”
Islam :
Islam comes from the Arabic word “Aslama” or “silm’ which means “to submit, to surrender and to obey” Allah (SWT) with sincerity and Peace and both these words can be found in the Quran
“Who can be better in religion than one who submits (Aslama) his whole self to Allah, does good, and follows the way of Abraham the true in Faith? For Allah did take Abraham for a friend.” (Quran 4:125)
“O ye who believe! Enter into Islam (Silm) whole-heartedly;” (Quran 2:208)
“O ye who believe! Come, all of you, into submission (unto Him) (silm); and follow not the footsteps of the devil. Lo! he is an open enemy for you.” (Quran 2:208, Marmaduke Pickethall)
In short, Islam means “to submit your will to God”. One should do whatever God wants him to do.
3. Is democracy compatible with Islam?
As I mentioned that today Muslims are demanding democracy. I don’t actually have a low opinion of Muslims, but I feel they are ignorant either of what democracy is or what Islam is.
To say that Islam and democracy can go together is as similar to say “Kufr (blasphemy) and Eeman (faith) can go together”. It is as similar as to say “A human being can worship idols and still remain a Muslim”.
Democracy is “rule of the people”. It is people who decide what is halal and what is haraam. It is people who decide what is lawful and what is unlawful, by what law they should abide and by what laws they shouldn’t abide.
In short, the sovereignty belongs to people and NOT to Allah. In Islam, sovereignty belongs to Allah alone. People can pass any law they wish to. They can legalize anything they wish to.
Some time ago in the west, adultery was a crime. Then it became legalized and homosexuality was a crime. Then they legalized it and today it is a crime to condemn homosexuality.
The fallen evangelist Jimmy Swaggart had to apologize and take his words back when he joked and said this about gays during one of his sermons.
“this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic stupidity of men marrying men. … I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died."
Now is democracy compatible with Islam in any form, shape or size? Can anyone who denies and says that sovereignty shouldn’t belong to Allah and it should belong to human beings, be a Muslim?
Now lets see what the Quran says about it
4. What does the Quran says?
“They (The Jews and Christians) take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of Allah,” (Quran
There used to be one Sahaba (companion) of the Prophet (pbuh) who used to be a Christian. He said that we did not use to worship our priests, we dint use to bow down in front of them. Then the Prophet (pbuh) went on to explain the meaning of this verse.
He said that did they not make lawful what Allah (SWT) made unlawful and did they not make it unlawful what Allah made lawful and he said “yes”. The prophet (pbuh) said that it was their worship of them.
In short, any human being who believes that some other human being has a right to legislate regardless of whether it goes against Allah or not then he has done the same thing what the Jews and Christians did and he has taken that person to be as a god along with Allah!
But do you want something simpler than that? I’ll give it to you.
Allah literally declares those people who say that Allah shouldn’t be soverign as “Kafirs (unbelievers), Zalim (Wrongdoers) and Fasiq (rebels)
“If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) Unbelievers.” (Quran 5:44)
“And if any fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (No better than) wrong-doers.” (Quran 5:45)
“If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel.” (Quran 5:47)
It is also compulsory to judge by what Muhammad (pbuh) said.
“But no, by the Lord, they can have no (real) Faith, until they make thee judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against Thy decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction.” (Quran 4:65)
The best of judges is Allah (SWT). No human being has any right to legislate above the right of Allah (SWT). The Quran says
“But who, for a people whose faith is assured, can give better judgment than Allah.” (Quran 5:50)
“Is not Allah the wisest of judges?” (Quran 95:8)
Allah is questioning that is he not the wisest of judges? The answering is reposed in the question, the wisest of judges is indeed Allah.
So anyone who calls for democracy i.e.rule of people in which people can legislate anything regardless of whether it goes against Allah and his messenger (SAW) are indeed unbelievers according to the Quran and they are inviting people to disbelieve in Allah!!
The Quran says
“It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path.” (Quran 33:36)
All those people who call for democracy are indeed on the wrong. They normally opt other options in matters which have been decided by Allah and his messenger (peace be upon him).
Any Muslim who says that Sharia law shouldn’t be there but instead democracy should be there says NO to Allah and yes to man-made laws which is indeed blasphemy!!
5. Doesn't Islam have democracy, called "Shura"?
Some Muslims argue that don't we have "shura" in Islam, and they say that Shura is democracy.
Those Muslims usually bring up these arguments who are infatuated with the west. They are so embarrassed of their religion that they now say that even we got democracy in Islam. They see all this technology and all and think that it all comes with the package.
For a moment, think about it like this.
Imagine we had today a society which is very advance society, a society which is economically militarily advanced. And their social system is prostitution and this was the accepted norm of the society and they claim that prostitution is a good way, the woman gets paid and she is looked after and all and you (Muslim) are uncivilized people.
So some unfortunate Muslim comes up and says “WE GOT PROSTITUTION AS WELL, ITS CALLED ‘NIKAH’ “ You see the woman, we get married to her and pay her some mahr (dowry). We got prostitution as well, why not? Would any Muslim say that Nikah is Islamic prostitution? Would they say that the definition of ‘prostitution’ west has is different from our definition. Our definition of prostitution is that of nikah.
This is the same point Muslims bring up in case of democracy. I have heard them say that well the definition the west has of democracy is different than our definition of democracy. They say we have got “Islamic democracy”. To me it sounds like “Islamic kufr”.
Shura is a different thing. It has nothing to do with democracy. Shura means “consultation”. Shura means you take decisions by consulting your people (Without breaking any law of Allah and his messenger). The law making power is not vested with the people; they cannot pass any law they want to.
When the political leaders of Pakistan like Musharraf etc call for democracy. They don’t mean “Shura” by it. Neither do
I rest my case. Any Muslim after reading this article will never demand democracy even if he/she has mustard seed of Eeman (faith).
