Is Islam Compatible With Democracy?
The Background
In the months since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, Egyptian liberals have increasingly felt threatened by the rising influence of radical Islamists, and for good reason.
The radical Islamists are pursuing power through elections, and whilst it perhaps goes without saying that Egypt’s Islamists are preferable to both Hamas and Hezbollah, all three of them are united by the undemocratic aim of building political systems in which legal debates are inherently religious.
And in spite of the Muslim Brotherhood’s pledge to create a "state of all its citizens", a legal system based on Islamic law would certainly exclude Egyptian Christians, who comprise 10% of Egypt’s population, plus millions of others who want a secular body politic.
Enter Mickey And Minnie
Last Friday (July 1,2011), billionaire liberal party leader Naguib Sawiris, who is an Egyptian Christian telecoms mogul angered Islamic hard-liners by posting an on-line cartoon of Mickey Mouse with a beard and Minnie in a face veil.
After which an on-line campaign was launched calling on all Muslims in Egypt to boycott Sawiris’ mobile phone company Mobinil and shares of Mobilnil and Orascom Telecom.
And the shares of both companies fell on Monday on the Egyptian stock exchange.
Enter Facebook And Twitter
The ultraconservative Islamists, known as Salafis, called the cartoon posted by Naguib Sawiris on Twitter a mockery of Islam, and posts on Facebook included such things as:
"If you are really a Muslim, and you love your religion, boycott his projects. We have to cut out the tongue of any person who attacks our religion".
What Does Sawiris Want?
Sawiris, promotes a secular Egypt and after Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, he launched a political party that calls for separation of state and religion.
How Did Sawiris React?
After the cartoon stirred complaints on Twitter, Sawiris tweeted an apology on Friday and claimed he was just joking.
"I apologize for those who don’t take this as a joke; I just thought it was a funny picture; no disrespect meant. I am sorry".
And The Future?
An official at the prosecutor general’s office said that at least fifteen Salafi lawyers have filed lawsuits accusing Sawiris of religious contempt.
Whether or not Sawiris is ultimately indicted is not the pivotal issue however.
The Pivotal Issue
This episode must serve as the latest reminder that Islamism and democracy are mutually exclusive!
Democracy, requires a broad array of civil rights, including the right to criticize the state and its legal foundations, whereas Islamists are incapable of accepting such extensive liberties and broadly agree that Sharia should form the basis of their countries’ legal systems.
The Answer
Western policymakers must proceed with a clear-eyed view of Islamists’ mutual exclusivity with democracy and should avoid like the plague, Britain’s ambassador to Egypt Alistair Burt’s recent claim that the Muslim Brotherhood is a positive force for a democratic Egyptian future?!.
Alistair Burt is clearly no fool, so he’s presumably either anti-Semitic or anti-Israel, but whatever case, he’s clearly the wrong man for the job, and should be gotten rid of!
In many ways the question should not be whether or not Islam is compatible with democracy, but rather, “How can Muslims can make these concepts compatible?”.
Nothing intrinsic to Islam or any other religion makes it inherently democratic or undemocratic.
Since the late 1990s, against a backdrop of intensifying religious sentiment in the Muslim world, there has been an emerging trend to accommodate aspects of democratization, pluralism, women’s rights, youth concerns and social development
In Turkey for example, the country’s center-right AK party has sought to manifest a post-Islamist sensibility by combining modernism, nationalism and democracy while cherishing religious precepts.
Muslims could build a democratic society provided they treated Islam as a matter of personal, private belief and not as a political ideology that sought to monopolise the pubic space and regulate every aspect of individual and community life.
And if pigs could fly!
In Egypt, where the U.S. supported the removal of our ally Hosni Mubarak, a recent Pew poll shows that 79% of Egyptians view America unfavorably.
Meanwhile, 78% of Egyptians view the Muslim Brothers, the godfather organization of modern jihadism, very or somewhat favorably.
It’s high time we realize Muslims have their own worldview and belief system that drive their behavior, rather than reducing everything they do to passive reactions to our alleged offenses, or thinking we can abrogate those beliefs with our protestations of respect and admiration.
Everything about Islam makes it incompatible with Democracy, and not just Democracy but everything that isn’t Islamic.
Islam is a theocratic system with Allah alone at its head and Allah’s law is interpreted by a ruling body of clerics.
There is no room for a secular political system in which all people are treated as equals.
The Qur’an:
Qur’an (33:36) – "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".
Qur’an (45:21) – "What! Do those who seek after evil ways think that we shall hold them equal with those who believe and do righteous deeds; that equal will be their life and their death? Ill is the judgment that they make".
Unbelievers are not equal to Muslims. This is dutifully reflected in Islamic law.
Qur’an (39:9) – "Are those who know equal to those who know not?".
Qur’an (4:141) – "…and never will Allah grant to the unbelievers a way (to triumph) over the believers".
This is at odds with democracy, which allows anyone to serve in a position of power over others regardless of religious belief.
Qur’an (63:8) – "…might (power) belongeth to Allah and to His messenger and to the believers".
i.e. not to anyone else.
Qur’an (5:49) – "So judge between them by that which Allah hath revealed, and follow not their desires, but beware of them lest they seduce thee from some part of that which Allah hath revealed unto thee".
Allah’s Qur’an takes priority over the desires of the people. A democratic nation is by nature one that is not governed by Islamic law, meaning that a Muslim citizen would have divided loyalty. It’s clear from this verse which side he must choose.
Qur’an (4:123) – "Not your desires, nor those of the People of the Book (can prevail): whoever works evil, will be requited accordingly. Nor will he find, besides Allah, any protector or helper".
Qur’an (4:59) – "O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority from among you..".
Obedience is strictly limited to the government drawn only from the pool of believers, not from the broader community.
Qur’an (9:3) – "…Allah and his messenger are free from obligation to the unbelievers.."
Muhammad used this "revelation" to dissolve a standing treaty and chase non-Muslims from their homes if they wouldn’t accept Islam. This practice would be incompatible with democratic rule, in which everyone is considered equal.
Many Muslims are loyal to the non-Muslim countries in which they live, of course, but it is in spite of Islamic teaching.
Unlike other faiths, Islam is not just a religion but a political system as well.
The state is intended to be inseparable from religious rule.
Islamic law, or Sharia, is complete and not designed to coexist with or be subordinate to other legal systems.
Muslims are not meant to be ruled by non-Muslims.
The Qur’an is very clear that they are to resist unbelievers by any means until Islam establishes political supremacy.
This doesn’t mean that everyone must be forced to become Muslim, but rather that everyone must submit to Muslim rule.
Here is the problem; you have a belief system based on the subjugation of others. Women, non muslims, bad muslim anyone that the Imams find offensive. So how can you have a democracy in a region ruled by religious subjugation? Next is the problem that the religion is set up as a basis for a Government. When the belief calls for a believer to set up its model of government you have a conflict again. I would finally add that in a democracy education generally takes place and again you have a conflict with the idea of “outside ideas”. This religion is the biggest headache and blood machine in History…. if we give them time. The muslim “lites” might be able to handle a Democracy…. if they survive.