‫جامعة القاهرة‬

‫كلية القتصاد والعلوم السياسية‬

‫تمهيدي دكتوراه علوم سياسية‬

‫عرض مقال‬
‫“‪”?Can there be an Islamic Democracy‬‬

‫إعداد الطالبة‪ /‬إنجي جمال الدين عبدالمعطي بدير‬

‫‪2009‬‬

‫إشراف‬
‫أ‪.‬د‪ .‬على الدين هلل‬
‫أ‪.‬د‪ .‬عبدالعزيز شادي‬

‫‪1‬‬
 ‫التعريف بالمقال محل العرض‬

‫المقال موضوع هذا العرض بعنوان "هل يمكن أن توجد ديمقراطية إسلمية؟"‬
‫“‪”?Can there be an Islamic Democracy‬‬
‫والمقال من تأليف ديفيد بوكاي ونشر في دورية الشرق الوسط الفصلية‬
‫"‪"Middle East Quarterly‬‬
‫في عدد ربيع ‪ ، 2007‬ص ص ‪79-71‬‬
‫وعلى موقع المجلة على النترنت‪:‬‬
‫‪/http://www.meforum.org‬‬

‫‪2‬‬
 ‫التعريف بكاتب المقال‬
‫و هو أ ستاذ الدرا سات الشرق‬David Bukay” " ‫ديف يد بوكاي‬1 ‫كا تب المقال هو البروفي سور‬
‫ والعلقات‬،‫ وهو إسرائيلي متخصص في دراسة الصراع العربي السرائيلي‬.‫أوسطية بجامعة حيفا‬
‫ والقضا يا النظر ية‬،‫ والرهاب الدولي وال صولية ال سلمية‬،‫البين ية العرب ية والم سألة الفل سطينية‬
‫ وال سياسة الخارج ية ل سوريا تجاه لبنان‬،‫وإنعكا ساتها على الت طبيقات ال سياسية في الشرق الو سط‬
‫ ويعد ديفيد بوكاي من المؤيدين بشدة‬.‫ والمدخل الثقافي لفهم الصراع في الشرق الوسط‬،‫وإسرائيل‬
.‫لطروحة صموئيل هنتنجتون حول صدام الحضارات‬
-:‫•كتبه‬
• Total Terrorism in the Name of Allah: The Emergence of the New Islamic
Fundamentalists. Shaarei-Tikva: Ariel Center for Policy Research, 2002.
• Arab-Islamic Political Culture. Shaarei-Tikva: Center for Policy Research, 2003.
• Ed.: Muhammad's Monsters: A Comprehensive Guide to Radical Islam for
Western Audiences. Green Forest, Ar.: Balfour Books, 2004.
• Arafat, the Palestinian National Movement and Israel: The Politics of Masks and
Paradox. New York: Mellen Press, 2005.
• "From Muhammed to Bin Laden: Religious and ideological sources of the
homicide bombers phenomenon". New Burnswick, New Jersey: Transaction
Publishers, 2008.
-:‫•مقالته‬
• Zionists, Post-Zionists and Pseudo-Zionists: The Media Leftist Complex and the
al-Aqsa Intifadah, in: S. Sharan (ed.). Israel and the Post-Zionists. Brighton:
Sussex Academic Press, 2003.
• The New Islamic Anarchistic Groups, in: D. Bukay. Muhammad’s Monsters.
-:‫•مذكرات‬
1. ^ Bukay, David. "Cultural Fallacies in Understanding Islamic Fundamentalism
and Palestinian Radicalism", First Jerusalem Summit, October 12-14, 2003.
2. ^ Bukay, David."The First Cultural Flaw in Thinking: The Arab Personality" at
the Internet Archive , NATIV, Vol. 1, 2003.
3. ^ Rappaport, Meron. "In the name of truth", Haaretz, April 28, 2005.

‫عرض المقال‬

‫ هل هناك توافق بين السلم والديمقراطية؟ تحدثت‬:‫يبدأ ديفيد بوكاي مقاله بطرح سؤالً هاما وهو‬
‫ وكثير‬.‫الكثير من الدبيات عن أن السلم يتضمن كل مقومات الدولة الحديثة والمجتمع المعاصر‬
1
1 ‫انظر التعريف بالكاتب باللغة النجليزية في موقع موسوعة الويكيبيديا على النترنت‬
Israeli political scientists ‫" تحت تصنيف‬http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bukay"

3
‫من المثقفين المسلمين سعي لثبات أن السلم يجسد قيم الديمقراطية‪ .‬ولكن عادة ما يتحول المر‬
‫إلى محاولة تطو يع مبادئ من ال سلم لتبدو ديمقراط ية م ثل الم ستشرقين التقليد ين ول كي تتنا سب‬
‫مع النظريات الغربية‪ .‬ويرى بعض الباحثين الغربيين أن الديمقراطية البرلمانية والنتخابات ليست‬
‫القيمية الديمقراطيية الوحيدة التيي وردت فيي السيلم‪ ،‬فالسيلم يحيث على الديمقراطيية‪.‬‬
‫و من ب ين اش هر المدافع ين عن فكرة أن ال سلم ي حث على الديمقراط ية جون ا سبوزيتو‪ ،‬المد ير‬
‫المؤسيس لمركيز الولييد بين طلل للتفاهيم السيلمي المسييحي فيي جامعية جورج تاون ومؤلف‬
‫ومحرر العد يد من الك تب عن ال سلم والحركات ال سلمية‪ .‬ا سبوزيتو ومختلف المشارك ين في‬
‫تأليفها قاموا ببناء بعض الح جج والفتراضات الملتو ية والمغرضة م ثل "للديمقراطية معا ني كثيرة‬
‫ومتنوعية"‪" ،‬كيل ثقافية مسيتقلة يمكين ان تطور نموذجا للحكيم الديمقراطيي" و "ل يمكين تطويير‬
‫الديموقراطيةالدينيييييييييييييييييييييييييييييييييييييييية"‪.‬‬
‫ويقول إن الحركات ال سلمية في خطاب ها الداخلي تردد ان ها ديمقراط ية من خلل ب عض المفاه يم‬
‫مثييل الشورى والجماع والجتهاد‪ ،‬ويخلص إلى أن الديمقراطييية موجودة بالفعييل فييي العالم‬
‫السلمي‪،‬بغض النظر عن إستخدام لفظ الديمقراطية من عدمه‪ .‬ويقول اسبوزيتو انه إذا كانت هذه‬
‫الحجج صحيحة‪ ،‬فلماذا ليست واضحة في الشرق الوسط؟ويعتمد اسبوزيتو في أن المنح الدراسية‬
‫والمعاييير الغربيية هيي بطبيعتهيا متحيزة وينتقيد كيل مين العلماء الذيين يضعون هذه الحكام دون‬
‫ييلم‪.‬‬
‫يية النحياز" تجاه السي‬
‫ييه "علمانيي‬
‫ييلمية والذي يطلق عليي‬
‫يير للحركات السي‬
‫النظي‬

‫فعلى سيبيل المثال نجيد المحاولت العلميية الغربيية تحتكير تعرييف الديمقراطيية‪ ،‬ولتتقبيل إقتراح‬
‫مفهوم التحولت فيي المعنيى بمرور الوقيت والمكان‪ .‬انهيم يقولون إن كيل ثقافية يمكين ان تطور‬
‫نموذجا للحكيم الديمقراطيي‪ ،‬وهذا قيد ل يتناسيب ميع الليبراليية الغربيية إل بعيد تفرييغ مفهوم‬
‫الديموقراط ية من معناه‪ ،‬فالبلدان المتقد مة إ ستمدت الديمقراط ية من أفلطون وأر سطو في اليونان‬
‫القديمة عن طريق توماس جيفرسون وجيمس ماديسون في القرن الثامن عشر في امريكا‪ ،‬ومؤخرا‬
‫ية‪.‬‬
‫يلم والديمقراطيي‬
‫ين السي‬
‫يق بيي‬
‫يم حول نظريات التوافي‬
‫ياره وآرائهي‬
‫يبوزيتو وأنصي‬
‫يد اسي‬
‫نجي‬
‫ويطرح لري دايمونيد الذي شارك فيي تحريير مجلة الديمقراطيية وليوناردو موريلينيو وهيو‬
‫متخ صص في ال سياسة المقار نة في جام عة فلورا نس سبعة سمات للديمقراط ية ومن ها الحريات‬
‫الفردية والمدنية وسيادة القانون والسيادة المستمدة من الشعب والمساواة بين جميع المواطنين أمام‬
‫القانون وم ساءلة الم سئولين الحكومي ين والشفاف ية من ق بل الن ظم الحاك مة لتلب ية مطالب المواطن ين‬
‫وتكافؤ الفرص للمواطنين‪ .‬هذا النهج في تعريف الديمقراطية هام لنه يؤكد على الحريات المدنية‬

‫‪4‬‬
‫وحقوق النسيييان‪ ،‬بدلً مييين العتماد على النتخابات والمؤسيييسات الرسيييمية للدولة‪.‬‬
‫واسيبوزيتو يتجاهيل هذا السياس بدلً مين الديمقراطيية ويسيتلهم أفكاره مين بعيض الرجال مثيل‬
‫الفيلسيوف الهندي محميد إقبال (‪ ، )1938-1877‬والزعييم الدينيي السيوداني حسين الترابيي (‬
‫‪ ، )-- - 1932‬وعالم الجتماع اليرانيي علي شريعتيي(‪ ، )77-1933‬والرئييس اليرانيي‬
‫السيابق محميد خاتميي (‪ ، )-- -1943‬والذيين يقولون أن السيلم يوفير إطارا للجميع بيين‬
‫الديمقراطية والقيم الروحية لمعالجة الخواء الروحي في الديمقراطيات الغربية‪ .‬فالديمقراطية ليست‬
‫بالضرورة اتباع صيغة ليبرال ية ف قط‪ ،‬بل إن ها موجودة في النظ مة الشتراك ية و الدين ية ويعرض‬
‫يو العلى المودودي ومفهوم "‪Theo‬‬
‫يي هذا المجال بأفكار أبي‬
‫يي هذا المقال لتأثره في‬
‫يب في‬
‫الكاتي‬
‫‪ "dimocracy‬الذي يقوم على ثل ثة مبادئ تتم ثل في‪ :‬التوح يد ‪ ،‬والر سالة والخل فة والب عض‬
‫يضيف لهم مبدأ الحاكمية وهي المبادئ التي يقوم عليها النظام السياسي السلمي‪ .‬أي قبول الحكم‬
‫بقوانيين الشريعية السيلمية فيي كافية مناحيي الحياة السيياسية والدينيية‪ .‬وتطرق الكاتيب إلى أن‬
‫الشريعة السلمية ل تنص على المساواة بين جميع المواطنين في ظل القانون بغض النظر عن‬
‫الدين والجنس‪ .‬فهذه الصيغة‪ ،‬ومن ثم ينتفي الحق في أن يقرر الشعب القوانين التي يرتضيها‪ ،‬وهو‬
‫المفهوم الساسي للديمقراطية‪ .‬فضلً عن التناقض الذاتي الذي يرى أنه يشوب السلم حيال سيادة‬
‫ال وسيادة الش عب‪ .‬ويضيف أن الديمقراط ية ال سلمية تطرح كبديل ونق يض للديمقراط ية الغرب ية‬
‫العلمانيية‪ .‬واسيبوزيتو وفول يقولن أن المودودي وبعيض المفكريين المعاصيرين لم يرفضون‬
‫الديموقراطيية فيي إطار مفهوم وحدة ال والتيي أطلقوا عليهيا الديمقراطيية الدينيية والتيي ل تعنيي‬
‫بالضرورة دولة ديكتاتورية‪.‬‬
‫ي ستمد ا سبوزيتو أفكاره من مح مد حم يد ال (‪ )2002-1908‬وآ ية ال با قر ال صدر (‪-1935‬‬
‫‪ ،) 1980‬ومحميد إقبال (‪ ، )1938-1877‬وخورشييد أحميد نائب رئييس تنظييم الجماعية‬
‫السلمية في باكستان‪ ،‬وطه العلواني أحد علماء الفقه السلمي بالعراق‪ ،‬وأثارإستشهاد اسبوزيتو‬
‫بعلوا ني مقولت حول ز يف مقول ته ح يث أ نه في عام ‪ 2003‬أدرج مك تب التحقيقات التحادي‬
‫علواني بين المشتبه فيهم كقادة لحركة الجهاد السلمي الفلسطينية والممولين لنشاطها‪.‬‬
‫وتف ند كتابا ته كذلك فمبدأ الشورى المتم ثل في وجود مجلس الشورى هو مجلس ا ستشاري ول يس‬
‫مجلسا للمشاركة وهو إرث عن النظام القبلي‪ ،‬وليس إنعكاسا لسيادة الشعب‪ .‬والجماع ل يعبر هنا‬
‫عن توافق آراء المجتمع ككل وإنما فقط الشيوخ والزعماء‪ .‬وبالنسبة للجتهاد فإن كثير من علماء‬
‫السنة يرونه مغلقا في القرن الحادي عشر‪.‬‬

‫‪5‬‬
 ‫•مبالغة اسبوزيتو‬

‫إن الحجيج والمقولت التيي طرحهيا اسيبوزيتو لم تنطبيق إل فيي بعيض دول الشرق الوسيط‬
‫والدرا سات الكاديم ية‪ ،‬فب عض الك تب والمقالت ال صحفية عملت على هذه الفتراضات وطر حت‬
‫فكرة أن السلم يمكن أن يتحول إلى أشكال أكثر ديمقراطية‪ .‬ففي عام ‪ ، 2000‬على سبيل المثال‬
‫في الثورة اليرانية حدث تحول عميق ومازال يحدث حاليا في ايران حيث حل محل القيم الثورية‬
‫قييم الواقعيية ‪ ،‬و"الحكومية الدينيية" قررت التنازل عين علمانيية الدولة بدلً مين أن تصيبح أكثير‬
‫ديمقراط ية‪ ،‬فضلً عن أن الحقوق والحريات ال ساسية ل تزال بعيدة المنال‪ ،‬وال سجناء ال سياسيين‬
‫مازالوا فييي السييجون‪ ،‬وميين ثييم فإن الديمقراطييية السييلمية درب ميين الخيال‪.‬‬
‫ويقول راييت أن السيلم والمسيلمين وثقافتهيم ل يشكلون عقبية كيبرى أمام الحداثية السيياسية لن‬
‫الشورى والجماع والجتهاد تشكل الساس الذي جعل السلم يتوافق مع التعددية السياسية‪ .‬ومن‬
‫ثم فإن ال سلم ي عد جزءا ل يتجزأ من العالم الحد يث‪ .‬وكذلك ل يو جد أي تنا قض ب ين الحريات‬
‫الصيلة في الديمقراطية والسلم فإرتباطهما أمرا حتميا‪ .‬وظهرت العديد من الكتابات التي تنتقد‬
‫فكر كل من رايت واسبوزيتو والتي تعتبر الول على خطأ والثاني شديد المبالغة‪.‬‬
‫ولكن كل بضع سنوات يظهر وجها جديدا لحياء هذه الحجج القديمة‪ .‬ومن بينهم نوح فيلدمان وهو‬
‫أحد المعلقين بشكل متكرر في وسائل العلم الناطقة بالعربية وأستاذ القانون في جامعة هارفارد‪.‬‬
‫ف في عام ‪ ، 2003‬ن شر فيلدمان "ب عد الجهاد‪ :‬أمري كا والنضال من أ جل الديمقراط ية ال سلمية"‬
‫وهو يستكشف آفاق الديمقراطية في العالم السلمي من خلل اطروحته التي تعيد قولبة مقولت‬
‫اسيبوزيتو التيي طرحهيا عام ‪ 1992‬فيي كتاب "التهدييد السيلمي‪ :‬أسيطورة أم حقيقية؟" وكتاب‬
‫اسبوزيتو وفول عام ‪" 1996‬التعاون بين السلم والديمقراطية"‪ .‬وحتى بعد هجمات الحادي عشر‬
‫من سبتمبر الرهاب ية ‪ ،‬ويقول فيلدمان أن الجهاد العن يف كان في الما ضي‪ ،‬وال سلم في تطور‬
‫لتحقييق مزييد مين السيلم والديمقراطيية فيي كافية التجاهات‪ .‬ووضيع فيلدمان قائمية بأسيماء‬
‫الديمقراطيين السلميين وكان من بينهم يوسف القرضاوي منظر الذي يؤيد التفجيرات النتحارية‬
‫وقتل المثليون جنسيا‪.‬‬

‫في ح ين أن مع ظم المناقشات الكاديم ية تدور حول التوا فق بين ال سلم والديمقراط ية وتأث ير ذلك‬
‫على السيياسة‪ .‬ويقول فيلدمان أن الحركات السيلمية يجيب أن يسيمح لهيا بتولي الحكيم ويختتيم‬

‫‪6‬‬
‫مقولته بأن صناع القرار في الوليات المتحدة يجب أن يتبنون رؤية شاملة تجاه السلم السياسي‪.‬‬
‫"فالسلم يرى أنه ل إكراه في الدين‪ ،‬ويعامل القليات الدينية على قدم المساواة مع الديمقراطية"‪.‬‬
‫وعلى صعيد آخر يذكر الكاتب شيرين هنتر مدير مركز الدراسات الستراتيجية والدولية‪ ،‬والتي‬
‫تسيعى للتصيدي لصيموئيل هنتنجتون ومقولتيه عين صيدام الحضارات والذي يعطيي تقييما لدور‬
‫النسيبية لكيل مين عواميل الصيراع والتعاون بيين المسيلمين والغرب‪ .‬فهيي تقول أن تراجيع وتيرة‬
‫التحول الديمقراطي في البلدان السلمية ل يمكن أن ينسب إلى السلم في حد ذاته‪ ،‬فعلى الرغم‬
‫من أن البلدان السلمية لديها سجل سيء في التحديث والديمقراطية‪ ،‬فهي تتأثر بالعوامل الخارجية‬
‫مثل الستعمار ‪ ،‬والنظام القتصادي الدولي‪.‬‬
‫وكذلك جوردان كرامر رئيس معهد الدراسات السلمية في الجامعة الحرة في برلين قبل أطروحة‬
‫اسبوزيتو ح يث كتب أنه " قد حان الوقت ليقبل التيار المركزي في السلم العناصر الحا سمة في‬
‫الديمقراطيية السيياسية‪ :‬التعدديية والمشاركية السيياسية‪ ،‬والحكوميية‪ ،‬والمسياءلة‪ ،‬وسييادة القانون‪،‬‬
‫وحمايية حقوق النسيان" ويرى أن النهيج السيلمي وحقوق النسيان والحريات أكثير تقدما فيي‬
‫السلم عن كثير من الغربيين‪.‬‬

‫•رفض اسلمي لنظرية اسبوزيتو‬

‫بالرغم من كل الطروحات السابقة ومحاولت بيان مدى توافق السلم مع الديمقراطية يقول‬
‫بعض علماء المسلمين البارزين أن الديمقراطية ل تتفق مع السلم لنها تستند على أساسين‪:‬‬
‫ل القتناع بأن القانون السلمي ينظم للمسلم كل مجال من مجالت الحياة ‪ ،‬وثانيا المجتمع‬
‫أو ً‬
‫السلمي لن يحقق أهدافه إل إذا سار في طريق ال‪ ،‬وبالضافة إلى ذلك‪ ،‬يرفض بعض علماء‬
‫المسلمين كل ما ليس له جذور في القرآن الكريم مثل‪ :‬حسن البنا (‪ )1949-1906‬مؤسس‬
‫جماعة الخوان المسلمين الذي رأى أن السلم هو الحل الوحيد وظهر التكفير في السلم و‬
‫سيد ق طب (‪ )1966-1906‬الذي إعترض على فكرة ال سيادة الشعب ية‪ .‬وأعرب عن إعتقاده‬
‫بأن الدولة السيلمية يجيب أن تسيتند إلى القرآن الذي يقدم الدعيم المعنوي الكاميل لنظام ل‬
‫يحتاج إلى مزيد من التشريعات‪ .‬والقرضاوي ردد في الونة الخيرة أن الديمقراطية يجب أن‬
‫تأخذ بأن السيادة ل وحده وأن النتخابات بدعة‪ ،‬والدين هو القانون والتشريع ومن ثم فل حاجة‬
‫للهيئات التشريعية‪.‬‬

‫‪7‬‬
 ‫•هل الديمقراطية إسلمية ؟‬

‫العالم ال سلمي ل يس م ستعدا ل ستيعاب الق يم ال ساسية للديمقراط ية والحدا ثة‪ .‬وت ظل القيادة من‬
‫إخت صاص من النخ بة الحاك مة‪ .‬فالدول العربيية وال سلمية تعانيي شعوبهيا من تور يث القيادة ‪،‬‬
‫والقسير‪ ،‬والسيتبداد‪ .‬المبادئ السياسية مثيل السييادة والشرعيية والمشاركية السيياسية والتعدديية ‪،‬‬
‫والحقوق والحريات الفرد ية ال تي تنطوي علي ها الديمقراط ية ل وجود ل ها في هذه الن ظم ح يث أن‬
‫ال سلم هو الم صدر النهائي للقانون‪ .‬وال سلم يم كن أن يت فق مع الديمقراط ية ‪ ،‬ول كن ذلك يعت مد‬
‫على مين يفهيم السيلم‪ .‬فالسيلم السيياسي الذي تبنتيه جماعية الخوان المسيلمين وغيرهيم مين‬
‫السلميين ل يتفق مع الديمقراطية الليبرالية‪.‬والسلميون على إستعداد لستيعاب الديمقراطية فقط‬
‫بإعتبارها سبيلً للسلطة ‪.‬‬

‫•الخاتمة‪:‬‬

‫يتساءل الكاتب في نهاية مقاله "لماذا يحرص هذا العدد الكبير من الباحثين الغربيين على أن يظهر‬
‫التوافيق بيين السيلم والديمقراطيية؟" فالصيواب السيياسي يحول دون معالجية هذه الظاهرة فيي‬
‫الثقافات الجنب ية لثبات التوا فق ب ين السلم والديمقراط ية‪ .‬كما أن العد يد من واض عي السياسات‬
‫على عكس المفكرين الغربيين ليحاولون تخفيف حدة الخلفات من خلل السعي إلى إيجاد أرضية‬
‫مشتركة‪.‬ويحاول السلميون تصوير السلم بأنه محب للسلم‪ ،‬ويشمل الحقوق المدنية‪ ،‬وحتى في‬
‫أقل الشكال تسامحا‪ ،‬بما يتمشى مع كل القيم الديمقراطية‪.‬‬
‫ويخلص الكاتب إلى أن المشكلة تكمن في أن العالم الحر يتجاهل إحتمال أن السلم السياسي يمكن‬
‫أن يش كل خطرا على الديمقراط ية ل يس ف قط في منط قة الشرق الو سط‪ ،‬بل أيضا في المجتمعات‬
‫الغرب ية‪ .‬وإضفاء الشرع ية على ال سلم ال سياسي يتعارض مع المبادئ ال ساسية للديمقراط ية‪ .‬بل‬
‫يقول اسيبوزيتو أن "الوليات المتحدة يجيب أن تكبيح جماح الموقيف فهناك بعيد واحيد للديمقراطيية‬
‫وتعترف أن الصول الحقيقية للديمقراطية موجودة في السلم" لن هذا يظهر مدى الجهل بكل من‬
‫الديمقراطية والتعاليم السلمية ‪ .‬هذه هي الستنتاجات التي توصل إليها اسبوزيتو وتتفاقم عندما‬
‫يضع اللوم عن العدوانية والرهاب والصولية السلمية والغرب وعلى "المستشرقين"‪.‬‬

‫‪8‬‬
 ‫أصل المقال‬
Can There Be an Islamic Democracy?
Review Essay
by David Bukay
Middle East Quarterly
Spring 2007, pp. 71-79

http://www.meforum.org/1680/can-there-be-an-islamic-democracy

Are Islam and democracy compatible? A large literature has developed

arguing that Islam has all the ingredients of modern state and society.
Many Muslim intellectuals seek to prove that Islam enshrines
democratic values. But rather than lead the debate, they often follow it,
peppering their own analyses with references to Western scholars who,
casting aside traditional Orientalism for the theories of the late literary
theorist and polemicist Edward Said, twist evidence to fit their theories.
Why such efforts? For Western scholars, the answer lies both in politics
and the often lucrative desire to please a wider Middle East audience.
For Islamists, though, the motivation is to remove suspicion about the
nature and goals of Islamic movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood
and, perhaps, even Hezbollah.

Western Apologia
Some Western researchers support the Islamist claim that
parliamentary democracy and representative elections are not only
compatible with Islamic law, but that Islam actually encourages
democracy. They do this in one of two ways: either they twist definitions
to make them fit the apparatuses of Islamic government—terms such as
democracy become relative—or they bend the reality of life in Muslim
countries to fit their theories.

Among the best known advocates of the idea that Islam both is
compatible and encourages democracy is John L. Esposito, founding
director of the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding at Georgetown University and the author or editor of
more than thirty books about Islam and Islamist movements. Esposito
and his various co-authors build their arguments upon tendentious
assumptions and platitudes such as "democracy has many and varied
meanings;"[1] "every culture will mold an independent model of

9
democratic government;"[2] and "there can develop a religious
democracy."[3]

He argues that "Islamic movements have internalized the democratic

discourse through the concepts of shura [consultation], ijma'
[consensus], and ijtihad [independent interpretive judgment]"[4] and
concludes that democracy already exists in the Muslim world, "whether
the word democracy is used or not."[5]

If Esposito's arguments are true, then why is democracy not readily

apparent in the Middle East? Freedom House regularly ranks Arab
countries as among the least democratic anywhere.[6] Esposito adopts
Said's belief that Western scholarship and standards are inherently
biased and lambastes both scholars who pass such judgments without
experience with Islamic movements[7] and those who have a "secular
bias" toward Islam.[8]

For example, in Islam and Democracy,[9] Esposito and co-author John

Voll, associate director of the Prince Alwaleed Center, question Western
attempts to monopolize the definition of democracy and suggest the very
concept shifts meanings over time and place. They argue that every
culture can mold an independent model of democratic government,
which may or may not correlate to the Western liberal idea.[10]

Only after eviscerating the meaning of democracy as the concept

developed and derived from Plato and Aristotle in ancient Greece
through Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in eighteenth century
America, can Esposito and his fellow travelers advance theories of the
compatibility of Islamism and democracy.

While Esposito's arguments may be popular within the Middle East

Studies Association, democracy theorists tend to dismiss such relativism.
Larry Diamond, co-editor of the Journal of Democracy, and Leonardo
Morlino, a specialist in comparative politics at the University of
Florence, ascribe seven features to any democracy: individual freedoms
and civil liberties; rule of the law; sovereignty resting upon the people;
equality of all citizens before the law; vertical and horizontal
accountability for government officials; transparency of the ruling
systems to the demands of the citizens; and equality of opportunity for
citizens.[11] This approach is important, since it emphasizes civil

10
liberties, human rights and freedoms, instead of over-reliance on
elections and the formal institutions of the state.[12]

Esposito ignores this basic foundation of democracy and instead draws

inspiration from men such as Indian philosopher Muhammad Iqbal
(1877-1938), Sudanese religious leader Hasan al-Turabi (1932-), Iranian
sociologist Ali Shariati (1933-77), and former Iranian president
Muhammad Khatami (1943-), who argue that Islam provides a
framework for combining democracy with spirituality to remedy the
alleged spiritual vacuum in Western democracies.[13] They endorse
Khatami's view that democracies need not follow a formula and can
function not only in a liberal system but also in socialist or religious
systems; they adopt the important twentieth century Indian (and, later,
Pakistani) exegete Abu al-A'la al-Mawdudi's concept of a "theo-
democracy,"[14] in which three principles: tawhid (unity of God), risala
(prophethood) and khilafa (caliphate) underlie the Islamic political
system.[15]

But Mawdudi argues that any Islamic polity has to accept the
supremacy of Islamic law over all aspects of political and religious
life[16]—hardly a democratic concept, given that Islamic law does not
provide for equality of all citizens under the law regardless of religion
and gender. Such a formulation also denies citizens a basic right to
decide their laws, a fundamental concept of democracy. Although he
uses the phrase theo-democracy to suggest that Islam encompassed some
democratic principles, Mawdudi himself asserted Islamic democracy to
be a self-contradiction: the sovereignty of God and sovereignty of the
people are mutually exclusive. An Islamic democracy would be the
antithesis of secular Western democracy.[17]

Esposito and Voll respond by saying that Mawdudi and his

contemporaries did not so much reject democracy as frame it under the
concept of God's unity. Theo-democracy need not mean a dictatorship of
state, they argue, but rather could include joint sovereignty by all
Muslims, including ordinary citizens.[18] Esposito goes even further,
arguing that Mawdudi's Islamist system could be democratic even if it
eschews popular sovereignty, so long as it permits consultative
assemblies subordinate to Islamic law.[19]

11
While Esposito and Voll argue that Islamic democracy rests upon
concepts of consultation (shura), consensus (ijma'), and independent
interpretive judgment (ijtihad), other Muslim exegetes add hakmiya
(sovereignty).[20] To support such a conception of Islamic democracy,
Esposito and Voll rely on Muhammad Hamidullah (1908-2002), an
Indian Sufi scholar of Islam and international law; Ayatollah Baqir as-
Sadr (1935-80), an Iraqi Shi'ite cleric; Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938),
an Indian Muslim poet, philosopher and politician; Khurshid Ahmad, a
vice president of the Jama'at-e-Islami of Pakistan; and Taha al-Alwani,
an Iraqi scholar of Islamic jurisprudence.[21] The inclusion of Alwani
underscores the fallacy of Esposito's theories. In 2003, the FBI identified
Alwani as an unindicted co-conspirator in a trial of suspected
Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders and financiers.[22]

Just as Esposito eviscerates the meaning of democracy to enable his

thesis, so, too, does he twist Islamic concepts. Shura is an advisory
council, not a participatory one. It is a legacy of tribalism, not
sovereignty.[23] Nor does ijma' express the consensus of the community
at large but rather only the elders and established leaders.[24] As for
independent judgment, many Sunni scholars deem ijtihad closed in the
eleventh century.[25]

Amplifying Esposito
Esposito's arguments have not only permeated the Middle Eastern
studies academic community but also gained traction with public
intellectuals through books written by journalists and policy
practitioners.

In both journal articles and book length works as well as in underlying

assumptions within her reporting, former Los Angeles Times and
current Washington Post diplomatic correspondent Robin Wright
argues that Islamism could transform into more democratic forms. In
2000, for example, she argued in The Last Great Revolution that a
profound transformation was underway in Iran in which pragmatism
replaced revolutionary values, arrogance had given way to realism, and
the "government of God" was ceding to secular statecraft.[26] Far from
becoming more democratic, though, the supreme leader and
Revolutionary Guards consolidated control; freedoms remain elusive,
political prisoners incarcerated, and democracy imaginary.

12
Underlying Wright's work is the idea that neither Islam nor Muslim
culture is a major obstacle to political modernity. She accepts both the
Esposito school's arguments that shura, ijma', and ijtihad form a basis
on which to make Islam compatible with political pluralism.[27] She
shares John Voll's belief that Islam is an integral part of the modern
world,[28] and she says the central drama of reform is the attempt to
reconcile Islam and modernity by creating a worldview compatible with
both.[29]

In her article "Islam and Liberal Democracy," she profiles two

prominent Islamist thinkers, Rachid al-Ghannouchi, the exiled leader of
Tunisia's Hizb al-Nahda (Renaissance Party), and Iranian philosopher
and analytical chemist Abdul-Karim Soroush. While she argues that
their ideas represent a realistic confluence of Islam and democracy,[30]
she neither defines democracy nor treats her cases studies with a
dispassionate eye. Ghannouchi uses democratic terms without accepting
them let alone understanding their meaning. He remains not a
modernist but an unapologetic Islamist.

Wright ignores that Soroush led the purge of liberal intellectuals from
Iranian universities in the wake of the Islamic Revolution.[31] While
Soroush spoke of civil rights and tolerance, he applied such privileges
only to those subscribing to Islamic democracy.[32] He also argued that
although Islam means "submission," there is no contradiction to the
freedoms inherent in democracy. Islam and democracy are not only
compatible but their association inevitable. In a Muslim society, one
without the other is imperfect. He argues that the will of the majority
shapes the ideal Islamic state.[33] But, in practice, this does not occur.
As in Iran, many Islamists constrain democratic processes and crush
civil society. Those with guns, not numbers, shape the state. Among
Arab-Islamic states, there are only authoritarian regimes and
patrimonial leadership; the jury is still out on whether Iraq can be a
stable exception. Soroush, however, contradicts himself: Although Islam
should be an open religion, it must retain its essence. His argument that
Islamic law is expandable would be considered blasphemous by many
contemporaries who argue that certain principles within Islamic law are
immutable. Upon falling out of favor with revolutionary authorities in
Iran, he fled to the West. Sometimes, academics only face the fallacy of
what sounds plausible in the ivy tower when events force them to face
reality.

13
What Ghannouchi and Soroush have in common, and what remains true
with any number of other Islamist officials, is that, regardless of
rhetoric, they do not wish to reconcile Islam and modernity but to
change the political order. It is easier to adopt the rhetoric of democracy
than its principles.

While time has proven Wright wrong, the persistence of Esposito

exegetes remains. Every few years, a new face emerges to revive old
arguments. The most recent addition is Noah Feldman, a frequent media
commentator and Arabic-speaking law professor at Harvard University.
In 2003, Feldman published After Jihad: America and the Struggle for
Islamic Democracy, which explores the prospects for democracy in the
Islamic world.[34] His thesis rehashes Esposito's 1992 book The Islamic
Threat: Myth or Reality?[35] and the 1996 Esposito-Voll collaboration
Islam and Democracy.[36] Even after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Feldman
argues that the age of violent jihad is past, and Islamism is evolving in
new, more peaceful, and democratic directions.[37] Included in
Feldman's list of Islamic democrats[38] is Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an
Islamist theoretician who has endorsed suicide bombing and the murder
of homosexuals.[39]

While most academic debates do not exit the classroom, the debate over
the compatibility of Islam and democracy affects policy. Feldman pushes
the conclusion that the Islamist threat is illusionary. Accordingly, he
argues that Islamist movements should have a chance to govern.[40]
Feldman concludes with the prescription that U.S. policymakers should
adopt an inclusive attitude toward political Islam. "An established
religion that does not coerce religious belief and that treats religious
minorities as equals may be perfectly compatible with democracy," he
explained in a September 2003 interview.[41]

Shireen Hunter, a former Iranian diplomat who now directs the Islam
program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also
repackages Esposito's general arguments in her book, The Future of
Islam and the West: Clash of Civilizations or Peaceful Coexistence?,[42]
and, more recently, in Modernization, Democracy, and Islam,[43] her
edited collection with Huma Malik, the assistant director of Esposito's
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding
at Georgetown University. Both books deny the Islamist threat and try

14
to reconcile Islamic teachings with Western values. She seeks to counter
Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilization[44] and gives an assessment
of the relative role of both conflictual and cooperate factors of Muslim-
Western relations. She argues that the fusion of the spiritual and the
temporal in Islam is no greater than in other religions. Therefore, the
slower pace of democratization in Muslim countries cannot be attributed
to Islam itself. Although Hunter acknowledges that Muslim countries
have a poor record of modernization and democracy, she blames
external factors such as colonialism and the international economic
system.[45]

Other scholars take obsequiousness to new levels. Anna Jordan, who

gives no information about her expertise but is widely published on
Islamist Internet sites, argues[46] that the Qur'an supports the
principles of Western democracy as they are defined by William
Ebenstein and Edwin Fogelman, two professors of political science who
focus on the ideas and ideologies that define democracy.[47] By utilizing
various Qur'anic verses,[48] Jordan finds that the Islamic holy book
supports rational empiricism and individual rights, rejects the state as
the ultimate authority, promotes the freedom to associate with any
religious group, accepts the idea that the state is subordinate to law, and
accepts due process and basic equality.

Most of her citations, though, do not support her conclusions and, in

some cases, suggest the opposite. Rather than support the idea of
"rational empiricism," for example, Sura 17:36 mandates complete
submission to the authority of God. Other citations are irrelevant in
context and substance to her arguments. Her assertion that the Qur'an
assures the "basic equality of all human beings" rests upon verses
commanding equality among Muslims and Muslims only, plus a verse
warning against schisms among Muslims.

Gudrun Kramer, chair of the Institute of Islamic Studies at the Free

University in Berlin, also accepts the Esposito thesis. She writes that the
central stream in Islam "has come to accept crucial elements of political
democracy: pluralism, political participation, governmental
accountability, the rule of law, and the protection of human rights." In
her opinion, the Muslim approach to human rights and freedom is more
advanced than many Westerners acknowledge.[49]

15
Islamist Rejection of Esposito's Theory
Ironically, while Western scholars perform intellectual somersaults to
demonstrate the compatibility of Islam and democracy, prominent
Muslim scholars argue democracy to be incompatible with their religion.
They base their conclusion on two foundations: first, the conviction that
Islamic law regulates the believer's activities in every area of life, and
second, that the Muslim society of believers will attain all its goals only if
the believers walk in the path of God.[50] In addition, some Muslim
scholars further reject anything that does not have its origins in the
Qur'an.[51]

Hasan al-Banna (1906-49), the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood,[52]

sought to purge Western influences. He taught that Islam was the only
solution and that democracy amounted to infidelity to Islam.[53] Sayyid
Qutb (1906-66), the leading theoretician of the Muslim Brotherhood,
objected to the idea of popular sovereignty altogether. He believed that
the Islamic state must be based upon the Qur'an, which he argued
provided a complete and moral system in need of no further
legislation.[54] Consultation—in the traditional Islamic sense rather
than in the manner of Esposito's extrapolations—was sufficient.

Mawdudi, while used by Esposito, argued that Islam was the antithesis
of any secular Western democracy that based sovereignty upon the
people[55] and rejected the basics of Western democracy.[56] More
recent Islamists such as Qaradawi argue that democracy must be
subordinate to the acceptance of God as the basis of sovereignty.
Democratic elections are therefore heresy, and since religion makes law,
there is no need for legislative bodies.[57] Outlining his plans to establish
an Islamic state in Indonesia, Abu Bakar Bashir, a Muslim cleric and the
leader of the Indonesian Mujahideen Council, attacked democracy and
the West and called on Muslims to wage jihad against the ruling regimes
in the Muslim world. "It is not democracy that we want, but Allah-
cracy," he explained.[58]

Nor does acceptance of basic Western structures imply democracy.

Under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic adopted both
a constitution and a parliament, but their existence did not make Iran
more democratic. Indeed, Khomeini continued to wield supreme power

16
and formed a number of bodies—the revolutionary foundations, for
example—which remained above constitutional law.

Is Islamic Democracy Possible?

The Islamic world is not ready to absorb the basic values of modernism
and democracy. Leadership remains the prerogative of the ruling elite.
Arab and Islamic leadership are patrimonial, coercive, and
authoritarian. Such basic principles as sovereignty, legitimacy, political
participation and pluralism, and those individual rights and freedoms
inherent in democracy do not exist in a system where Islam is the
ultimate source of law.

The failure of democracies to take hold in Gaza and Iraq justify both the
1984 declaration by Samuel P. Huntington and the argument a decade
later by Gilles Kepel, a prominent French scholar and analyst of radical
Islam, that Islamic cultural traditions may prevent democratic
development.[59]

Emeritus Princeton historian Bernard Lewis is also correct in explaining

that the term democracy is often misused. It has turned up in surprising
places—the Spain of General Franco, the Greece of the colonels, the
Pakistan of the generals, the Eastern Europe of the commissars—usually
prefaced by some qualifying adjective such as "guided," "basic,"
"organic," "popular," or the like, which serves to dilute, deflect, or even
reverse the meaning of the word.[60]

Islam may be compatible with democracy, but it depends on what is

understood as Islam. This is not universally agreed on and is based on a
hope, not on reality. Both Turkey and the West African country of Mali
are democracies even though the vast majority of their citizens are
Muslim. But, the political Islam espoused by the Muslim Brotherhood
and other Islamists is incompatible with liberal democracy.

Furthermore, if language has an impact on thinking, then the Middle

East will achieve democracy only slowly, if at all. In traditional Arabic,
Persian, and Turkish, there is no word for "citizen." Rather, older texts
use cognates— in Arabic, muwatin; in Turkish, vatandaslik; in Persian,
sharunad— respectively, closer in meaning to the English "compatriot"
or "countryman." The Arabic and Turkish come from watan, meaning
"country." Muwatin, is a neologism and while it suggests progress, the

17
Western concept of freedom—understood as the ability to participate in
the formation, conduct, and lawful removal and replacement of
government—remains alien in much of the region.

Islamists themselves regard liberal democracy with contempt. They are

willing to accommodate it as an avenue to power but as an avenue that
runs only one way.[61] Hisham Sharabi (1927-2005), the influential
Palestinian scholar and political activist, has said that Islamic
fundamentalism expresses mass sentiment and belief as no nationalist or
socialist (and we may add democratic) ideology has been able to do up
until now.[62]

Conclusion
Why then are so many Western scholars keen to show the compatibility
between Islamism and democracy? The popularity of post-colonialism
and post-modernism within the academy inclines intellectuals to
accommodate Islamism. Political correctness inhibits many from
addressing the negative phenomenon in foreign cultures. It is considered
laudable to prove the compatibility of Islam and democracy; it is labeled
"Islamophobic" or racist to suggest incompatibility or to differentiate
between positive and negative interpretations of Islam.

Many policymakers are also conflict-adverse. Islamists exploit the

Western cultural desire to accommodate while Western thinkers and
policymakers attempt to ameliorate differences by seeking to find
common ground in definitions if not reality.

Into the mix comes Islamist propaganda, portraying Islam as peace-

loving, embracing of civil rights and, even in its less tolerant forms,
compatible with all democratic values. The problem is that the free
world ignores the possibility that political Islam can threaten democracy
not only in Middle Eastern societies but also in the West. The
legitimization of political Islam has lent democratic respectability to an
ideology and political system at odds with the basic tenets of democracy.

Esposito's statement that "the United States must restrain its one-
dimensional attitude to democracy and recognize [that] the authentic
roots of democracy exist in Islam"[63] shows a basic ignorance of both
democracy and Islamist teachings. These conclusions are exacerbated
when Esposito places blame for the aggressiveness and terrorism of

18
Islamic fundamentalism on the West and on Said's "Orientalists." It is
one thing to be wrong in the classroom, but it can be far more dangerous
when such wrong-headed theories begin to affect policy.

David Bukay is a lecturer in the school of political science at the

University of Haifa.

[1] John L. Esposito, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? (Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 211-2; John O. Voll and John L.
Esposito, Islam and Democracy (New York: Oxford University Press,
1996), pp. 18-21.
[2] Esposito, The Islamic Threat, pp. 211-2; Voll and Esposito, Islam and
Democracy, pp. 18-21.
[3] Esposito, The Islamic Threat, pp. 211-2; Voll and Esposito, Islam and
Democracy, pp. 18-21; John L. Esposito and John O. Voll, "Islam and
Democracy," Humanities, Nov./Dec. 2001.
[4] John L. Esposito and James Piscatory, "Democratization and Islam,"
Middle East Journal, Summer 1991, p. 434; John O. Voll and John L.
Esposito "Islam's Democratic Essence," Middle East Quarterly, Sept.
1994, pp. 7-8; Voll and Esposito, Islam and Democracy, pp. 27-30, 186;
Esposito and Voll, "Islam and Democracy"; Esposito, The Islamic
Threat, pp. 49-50; John L. Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 45, 83, 142-8.
[5] John L. Esposito, What Everybody Needs to Know about Islam
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 159-61; John L. Esposito,
"Contemporary Islam," in John L. Esposito, ed., The Oxford History of
Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 675-80; Esposito
and Piscatory, "Democratization and Islam," p. 440.
[6] "Table of Independent Countries 2006," Freedom in the World, 2006
(Washington, D.C.: Freedom House, 2006).
[7] Esposito, The Islamic Threat, pp. 203-4.
[8] John L. Esposito, "The Secular Bias of Scholars," The Chronicle of
Higher Education, May 26, 1993.
[9] New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
[10] Voll and Esposito, Islam and Democracy, pp. 6-8, 27-30.
[11] Larry Diamond, et. al., eds., Democracy in Developing Countries
(London: Adamantine Press, 1988), pp. 218-60; Larry Diamond and
Leonardo Morlino, "The Quality of Democracy," Journal of Democracy,
Oct. 2004; Robert A. Dahl, Ian Shapiro, and Jose Antonio Cheibub, eds.,
The Democracy Sourcebook (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003).

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[12] See Robert A. Dahl, On Democracy (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1998).
[13] Esposito, The Oxford History of Islam, pp. 661-7; Esposito, Islam:
The Straight Path, pp. 137, 141, 181-3, 231, 245-6; Esposito and
Piscatory, "Democratization and Islam," pp. 436-7.
[14] Abu al-A'la al-Mawdudi, "Political Theory of Islam," in Khurshid
Ahmad, ed., Islam: Its Meaning and Message (London: Islamic Council
of Europe, 1976), pp. 159-61.
[15] Abu al-A'la al-Mawdudi, Islamic Way of Life (Delhi: Markazi
Maktaba Islami, 1967), p. 40; Esposito and Piscatory, "Democratization
and Islam," pp. 436-7, 440; Esposito, The Islamic Threat, pp. 125-6; Voll
and Esposito, Islam and Democracy, pp. 23-6.
[16] Muhammad Yusuf, Maududi: A Formative Phase (Karachi: the
Universal Message, 1979), p. 35.
[17] Abu al-A'la al-Mawdudi, "Political Theory of Islam," in John J.
Donahue and John L. Esposito, eds., Islam in Transition: Muslim
Perspective (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 253.
[18] Voll and Esposito, "Islam's Democratic Essence," p. 7.
[19] Esposito, The Islamic Threat, p. 126.
[20] Taqi ad-Din Ibn Taymiyah, "Mas'alah fil-'Aql wal-Nafs," in A.A.M.
Qasim and M.A.A. Qasim, eds., Majmu'a fatawat Shaykh al-Islam Ibn
Taymiyah (Riyyad: Matba'at al-Hukumah, 1996), vol. 9, pp. 47-9; Abu
al-A'la al-Mawdudi, "Political Theory of Islam," in Ahmad, Islam, pp.
149-51; Sayyid Qutb, Milestones (Ma'alim fil Tariq) (Indianapolis:
American Trust Publications, 1990), pp. 111-3, 130-7.
[21] Voll and Esposito, Islam and Democracy, pp. 27-30, 186; Esposito,
The Islamic Threat, pp. 49-50; Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, pp.
45, 83; Esposito and Piscatory, "Democratization and Islam," p. 434.
[22] See, for example, J. Michael Waller, Annenberg Professor of
International Communication, Institute of World Politics, statement
before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland
Security, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Oct. 14, 2003.

[23] Clifford Edmond Boseworth, The Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden:

E.J. Brill, 1960), vol. 9, s.v. "shura."
[24] M. Bernard, The Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1960),
vol. 3, s.v. "idjma."
[25] Joseph Schacht, The Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden: E.J. Brill,
1960), vol. 3, s.v. "idjtihad."

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[26] Robin B. Wright, The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and
Transformation in Iran (London: Vintage, 2001), pp. 256-73, 292-9.
[27] Robin B. Wright, "Islam and Liberal Democracy: Two Visions of
Reformation," Journal of Democracy, Apr. 1996, pp. 65-7.
[28] John Voll, Islam: Continuity and Change in Modern World
(Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1994), pp. 378-87.
[29] Wright, "Islam and Liberal Democracy," p. 67.
[30] Ibid., pp. 67-75.
[31] "Soroush among Those For and Against," interview, Jameah
(Tehran), June 16, 17, 1998; John L. Esposito and John O. Voll, Makers
of Contemporary Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ch. 7.
[32] Abdol Karim Soroush, Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam:
Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2000), pp. 123-55.
[33] Ibid., pp. 245, 247.
[34] New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003.
[35] Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[36] New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
[37] Feldman, After Jihad, pp. 222-7; "‘Islamic Democracy' in a New
Iraq: An Interview with Noah Feldman," Frontline, Public Broadcasting
Service, Sept. 30, 2003.
[38] Feldman, After Jihad, p. 182.
[39] "The Qaradawi Fatwas," Middle East Quarterly, Summer 2004, pp.
78-80.
[40] Feldman, After Jihad, pp. 210-21, 228-30, 234.
[41] "‘Islamic Democracy' in a New Iraq: An Interview with Noah
Feldman."
[42] New York: Praeger, 1998.
[43] New York: Praeger, 2005.
[44] Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of
World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996).
[45] Hunter, The Future of Islam and the West, pp. 19-28, 106-14.
[46] Anna Jordan, "The Principles of Western Democracy and Islam,"
Submissions.org, Dec.1998, accessed Nov. 17, 2006.
[47] William Ebenstein and Edwin Fogelman, Today's Isms:
Communism, Fascism, Capitalism (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-
Hall, Inc., 1980), pp. 170-8.
[48] Qur'an 2:190-3; 2:215; 2:272; 3:26; 3:159; 3:195; 4:49-50; 4:52-3;
4:73; 4:71; 4:76; 4:100; 4:135; 9:20; 9:120; 10:98-9; 17:36; 17:53; 25:55;
31:18-9; 38:22-4; 38:26; 42:38; 45:18; 49:11-3.

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[49] Gudrun Kramer, "Islamic Notions of Democracy," Middle East
Report, July-August 1993.
[50] Faris Jedaane, "Notions of the State in Contemporary Arab
Political Writings," in G. Luciani, ed., The Arab State (London:
Routledge, 1990), pp. 247-83; Hamid Enayat, Modern Islamic Political
Thought (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982), pp. 69-139.
[51] Ahmad, Islam: Its Meaning and Message, pp. 159-61.
[52] Richard Mitchell, The Society of the Muslim Brothers (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1969), pp. 209-94.
[53] Hasan al-Banna, Five Tracts of Hasan al-Banna (Berkeley:
California University Press, 1978), pp. 142-54.
[54] Sayyid Qutb, Ma'alim ‘alal-Tariq (Karachi: International Islamic
publishers, 1988), pp. 73-8, 80-1, 112; Sayed Khatab, The Political
Thought of Sayyid Qutb: The Theory of Jahiliyah (London: Routledge,
2006).
[55] Abu al-A'la al-Mawdudi, Political Theory of Islam (Lahore: Islamic
Publications, 1976), pp. 13, 15-7, 38, 75-82.
[56] Abu al-A'la al-Mawdudi, "Suicide of Western Civilization," in
Wakar Ahmad Gardezi and Abdul Wahid Khan, eds., West versus Islam
(New Delhi: International Islamic Publishers, 1992), pp. 61-73.
[57] Geneive Abdo, No God but God: Egypt and the Triumph of Islam
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 107-36.
[58] Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Special Dispatch
Series, no. 1285, Sept. 8, 2006.
[59] Samuel P. Huntington, "Will More Countries Become
Democratic?" Political Science Quarterly, Summer 1984, p. 214; Gilles
Kepel, The Revenge of God (University Park: Pennsylvania State
University Press, 1994), p. 194.
[60] Bernard Lewis, "Islam and Liberal Democracy: A Historical
Overview," Journal of Democracy, Apr. 1996, p. 52.
[61] Ibid., pp. 53-7.
[62] Hisham Sharabi, Neopatriarchy: A Theory of Distorted Change in
Arab Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), p. 136.
[63] Esposito and Voll, Islam and Democracy, p. 31.

Related Topics: Democracy and Islam, Islam, Middle East politics |

David Bukay | Spring 2007 MEQ

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