Islam and democracy

For other uses, see Islamic republic.

Part of a series on
Islamism
Fundamentals
Ideologies
Islamic fundamentalism
Concepts
Influences
Movements
Scholastic

Political

Militant

Key texts
Heads of state
Key ideologues
Criticism of Islamism
Related topics

Islam portal

icon Politics portal
Islam
and other religions
Abrahamic religions
Other religions
Islam and...
Part of the Politics series
Democracy
Types
Related topics
Region
icon Politics portal

There exist a number of perspectives on the relationship of Islam and democracy among Islamic political theorists, the general Muslim public, and Western authors.

Many Muslim scholars have argued that traditional Islamic notions such as shura (consultation), maslaha (public interest), and ʿadl (justice) justify representative government institutions which are similar to Western democracy, but reflect Islamic rather than Western liberal values. Still others have advanced liberal democratic models of Islamic politics based on pluralism and freedom of thought.[1] Some Muslim thinkers have advocated secularist views of Islam.[2]

A number of different attitudes regarding democracy are also represented among the general Muslim public, with polls indicating that majorities in the Muslim world desire a religious democracy where democratic institutions and values can coexist with the values and principles of Islam, seeing no contradiction between the two.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference OEIW was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Esposito, John L. "Rethinking Islam and Secularism" (PDF). Association of Religion Data Archives. pp. 13–15. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference polls was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference pew was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference gallup was invoked but never defined (see the help page).