A Survey of Four Indo-Pakistani Scholars’ Perspectives on the Islam-Democracy Discourse

Abstract

In contemporary times, the relationship between Islam and democracy –
democracy and its Islamic heritage and the process of democratization in
Muslim societies, and other related themes – is a hotly debated and discussed
topic. Throughout the Muslim world – from South, Southeast and Central
Asia to Middle East and North Africa – Muslim thinkers have undertaken
the effort of working within and cooperating with existing political regimes
and authorities ‒ from republics, monarchies and authoritarian dictatorships
to pluralistic and relativity homogeneous societies. With the desire
for democratization, along with the continuing resurgence of Islam in a dynamic
global context, the demand and desire for democracy is widespread.
Two of the major developments in the final decades of the twentieth
century to present are “religious resurgence” and “democratization.” The
debate over democracy and democratization in the Muslim societies, its
definition and fundamentals, has continued for a long time, but, as it has
acquired an impetus in recent years, and this debate has become highly
intensified.
The Muslim world at present is the most diverse in the forms of the political
systems it employs. It has traditional and constitutional monarchies,
dictatorships, Islamic republics, and secular and some liberal democracies
‒ and due to the diverse interpretations of its laws and sources of law, Islam
possesses intellectual and ideological resources that can provide justification
for a wide range of governing models from monarchy to democracy ...