Democracy as a Political System of Governance: An Analysis in the Light of the Fundamental Qur’anic Principles of Governance

Abstract

This article is based on the theme that modern Muslim polity should be grounded in the Qur’anic principle of “Shura” (consultation) which outlines a representative form of government. It discloses that although political system of Islam finds its chief source of legislation in the will of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad yet modern concepts of political system, ways of governance and techniques of administration of justice are not against or something strange for Islamic legal system rather Qur’an and Sunnah contain almost all modern concepts of governance and administration which are considered as prime concerns of the contemporary political systems of the world. The present Muslim world is backward only due to lack of analytical study of the Qur’anic principles in the context of the modern scientific knowledge. To provide a purposeful enterprise, this article gives a comparative analysis of both legal systems, i.e. Islamic and Western and presents some point of similarities and differences. This article suggests that the legal provisions of the Quran and the Sunnah must be re-interpreted in the light of the changed context and that the traditional interpretation of the Qur’an must not be taken as binding upon the modern Muslim societies. It was for their time and that the foreign procedural and governance laws should be re-evaluated in the light of the Qur’anic principles and should be adopted through legislation by the contemporary Muslim states and law courts if not against the objectives of Shari’ah.