Essay on Islam and Democracy

Running head: ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY
Islam and Democracy
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ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY1
Part I: Identification
Ijtihad: Ijtihad refers to a term pertaining to Islamic law that describes process that is
involved in making a legal decision. The legal decision is made by taking recourse to
independent interpretation of legal sources- Quran and Sunnah. It exerts the mental faculty of
the jurist that helps in finding solution to that of a legal question (Davis, 1987). The
significance of the term lie in the fact that it talks about concept of struggle that an individual
has to undergo in life. The term is important as it does not depend on traditional school in
relation to jurisprudence.
Communal Mind: The word “communal” means collective ownership as it relates to a
community. Communal mind compels an individual to go in search of political dominance in
relation to one’s religious affiliation. The communal mind compels an individual to commit
acts that caters to their own religious affiliation (Al-Hibri, 1992). It causes an individual to
act in a biased manner and choose a particular faith over the others. The importance of
communal mind lie in the fact that it conceives of intelligence to be an important part in
system. Significance of term lie in the fact that it talks about the organisational mind or the
collective consciousness. It helps in demonstrating commonality in terms of value and
purpose.
Decay Thesis: Contemporary Islam does not engage in modern scientific projects. Islam at
the initial stage was responsible for carrying light of the learning that was instrumental in
paving the way for the Renaissance prevailing in Europe. Arabic civilization began to decline
in Middle ages that is indicative of the “decay thesis” (Zakaria, 2007). The important factor
that paved the way for the decline of Arabic science was the geopolitical factor. Abassid
empire started to factionalize owing to increased provincial autonomy along with frequent

ISLAM AND DEMOCRACY2
uprising. Islam turned away from that of scholarship that paved the path for the creation of
decline thesis.
Muslim Brotherhood: Muslim brotherhood is indicative of a Sunni Islamist organization
that is transnational which was founded in Egypt. The organization has been successful in
gaining support across Arab world and it was influenced by other Islamist groups like Hamas.
Muslim Brotherhood has a model pertaining to political activism that is combined with that
of Islamic charity work. The goal of Muslim Brotherhood is to instill Quran along with
Sunnah that helps in bringing into order life of Muslim family and community (Lewis,
2002). Saudi Arabia was supportive of the concept of Muslim Brotherhood. The importance
of Muslim Brotherhood lie in the fact that it helps in providing social services. It conceives of
itself to be a democratic organization that condemns violence along with violent acts.
Pan- Arabism: Pan-Arabism refers to an ideology that espouses unification of North Africa
along with West Asia. It can be said that Pan-Arabism is connected to concept of Arab
nationalism that asserts the fact that Arabs make up a single nation. It became popular at the
time of the 1950 and the 1960s (Aslan, 2011). The advocators of pan-Arabism espouses
socialist principles and opposes Western political involvement within Arab world.
Importance of pan-Arabism is in the fact that it helps in empowering the Arab states against
that of outside forces by the formation of alliances. Pan-Arabism lays emphasis on the
concept of economic co-operation that can be useful for the Arab states.
Part II: Essay
The ideology of Islam is not concept with the principles that are inherent in a
democracy. Islam is recent of Abrahamic religions that has emerged on that of the world
stage. It helps in positing a heavenly hierarchy that has absolute authority in that of God.