Muslim Democracy Essay

There has been argument that democracy does not work in Muslim country 's due to religious beliefs in Islam. The world has seen democracy not work in a number of Muslim populated countries. However, the spotlight has not shined enough on country 's that have built and maintained a democratic political system in countries that are majority Muslim. Malaysia and Indonesia have been able to successfully incorporate Islam into their national identity and have a successful version of the democratic system in their countries. Pakistan provides a nice parallel as a country that explicitly announces itself as an Islamic Republic, but still has a democratic system. All three of these countries provide a good example of Muslim Democracy as described

This helped secure Malay participation and by doing this also secured the economic role for Malaysia 's indigenous population. This process was twofold. One it marginalized Islamic radicals and two it introduced Islamization program by focusing on public morality, work ethic, and Islamic finance. In summary the UMNO used Islam to socialize the Malay. The case of Malaysia demonstrates what Nasr was referring to in his article, "Rise of Muslim Democracy". In Malaysia the Malay and other indigenous people made up the private sector, as Nasr said the bourgeoisie needs the Muslim democracy and vice versa. Muslim democracy combines religious values of middle and lower class with policies that serve their economic interests. This is exactly what the government had in mind when creating the UMNO, which ultimately used Islam to appeal to the Malay and indigenous people who made up the majority of the middle and lower

Before Pakistan seceded from India the Muslim population created the Muslim League of India led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, it was created because Muslims were concerned with living in a Hindu dominated country after India gained its independence at the end of World War II. Maududi and the JI were the leading voices for Islamic political order in the new Muslim state of Pakistan. However, Jinnah 's objectives for the new Pakistan was for it to be no more than a homeland for Muslims, but Maududi viewed the new Pakistan as an opportunity to build a strict social/political order. Maududi respected Jinnah 's views and ideas for creating the government and building a republic where the constituents played a big part, but Maududi wanted heavier Islamic influence. The first version of the constitution incorporated a lot of Jinnah 's ideas and it provided an outline to the divisions of government, and mentioned Islam but no more than in a symbolic context. The constitution did state that the leader must be a Muslim, and also included a clause that held no law could be enacted if it was in anyway contradictory to Islam. From 1955 to 1977 Islam did not have as strong of an influence in