Editor,
With so many quarters cheering at the top of their lungs for the so-called “Arab Spring,” one has to wonder if the concepts of Islam and Democracy are compatible.
The definition of Islam is “Submission to the will of God;” the definition of democracy is “a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them.”
Let us examine the question of supreme authority in both systems.
In Islam the ultimate authority to legislate laws comes from Allah as revealed in the Quran and the way, or Sunnah, of the Prophet Muhammad. These laws are eternal and they do not change.
The role of the rulers is to implement and abide by the divine law.
In democracy, the people, through representatives, are given the power to legislate laws as they see fit without recourse to divinity or any prophet.
Laws can be voted in and out depending on what the majority of people find acceptable at any given time. Any evil can be given the protection of the law.
So, the conflict should be obvious at this point. While the lands of the Muslims are all afire with cries for democracy, do they not realize the consequences of what they are asking for?
Democracy and Islam are not compatible.
Whoever says they are either does not know the meaning of Islam or the meaning of democracy.
It is a sad fact that many Muslims do not realize that they already have the best guidance for all mankind in the form of the Quran and Sunnah.
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Muhajir Romero
UNM student