THE QUESTIONS OF COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN ISLAM, DEMOCRACY AND SECULARISM

Abstract

Islam, Democracy and Secularism has become a major debate in the current intellectual discourse. This happens due to a prevailing perception in the West that Islam and democracy are incompatible in concept and that secularism is a precondition for democracy. The Western traditions of intellectual hostility towards Islam has undoubtedly nurtured the new ideology of Islam-as-Fundamentalism. To some of the most leading Western scholars in contemporary Islamic politics, are on view that the political history of Muslim polities depicted endless power struggles rooted in historical Islam, which made total submission to political leaders as a religious duty. This consequently lead to tyranny and despotism. Western scholars in this school were certain that democracy is quite alien to the mind-set of Islam.