Is Democracy Islamic?

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Yesterday, Rangkaian Web Marhaen published a most interesting and thought provoking piece in Bahasa Melayu written by Sri Bunian called ISLAMKAH DEMOKRASI? (Is Democracy Islamic?). Amongst what he said was: Democracy is a Greek invention and popularised by the West and it conflicts with Islam. Islam pursues truth whereas Democracy is about respecting the rights of the majority which may not necessarily defend truth.

Sri Bunian then goes on to argue his case quoting examples of (unIslamic) practices in Malaysia plus verses from the Koran that contradict these practices. I shall not repeat what he says in detail but would, however, like to point out that Sri Bunian has raised an extremely interesting issue that has kept the secularists and Islamists locked in battle for centuries.


In the late 1970s-early 1980s, I used to engage in hours of debates and discussions with Ustaz Haji Harun Jusoh, the one-time PAS (Islamic Party of Malaysia) State Assemblyman for Kuala Terengganu. And amongst the many issues we thrashed out till the wee hours of the morning was the issue of Democracy vs. Islam.

And this is basically what Haji Harun had to say on the matter:

“If Prophet Muhammad had to stand for election to become the leader of Mecca, he would have lost. The majority in Mecca then rejected Prophet Muhammad and regarded him as a dangerous ‘deviant’ who was out to corrupt the religion that their ancestors had left them. Therefore there was no way Prophet Muhammad could have been democratically elected. Would not therefore installing Prophet Muhammad as the leader in a community where the majority rejects him be considered undemocratic by western standards?”

In fact, there was a plot to assassinate Prophet Muhammad and he was forced to hijrah (migrate) to the safety of Medina. Thereafter, Prophet Muhammad propagated Islam and built up his army and once his army was strong enough he engaged Mecca in a war and defeated them.

In the beginning, Islam was forced to be harsh, though tempered with justice. Justice is the fundamental principle of Islam — though not justice in the western context which is respecting the rights of the majority. After all, it does not mean that the majority is always right. Sometimes the majority may be wrong whereas it is the minority that may be right.

According to the western understanding of justice, however, the majority is always right and the majority’s wishes must be respected. This is western justice. But Islam’s interpretation of justice differs. It is not about majority rights. If it is, then Prophet Muhammad should never have been the ruler of Mecca as the majority then rejected him. In fact, all Prophets prior to Prophet Muhammad faced this same dilemma, in that the majority rejected them and they had but a few followers — Jesus Christ (Isa) being one example who had his Last Supper with only 12 disciples. (Now you know why 13 is an unlucky number to the westerners?)

Okay, how do we reconcile Democracy and Islam then? We cannot. As Sri Bunian said, Democracy and Islam are incompatible. Many Muslims do not seem to realise this. They think that upholding Democracy is Islamic. Unfortunately it is not.

Malaysia is a secular state. It is not an Islamic state. Umno, the dominant partner in the ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, is a nationalist party. Nationalism is prohibited in Islam. Umno, therefore, according to Islamic teachings, is unIslamic.

Now, please do not misinterpret me here. I am not resurrecting the ‘kafir mengkafir’ issue that was raging in Malaysia 20 years ago. I am not branding Umno members and leaders as Kafir (infidels). Umno’s perjuangan (struggle) is all about Malay nationalism and Umno does not dispute this nor offer any apologies about it.

The question is: what do Malaysian Muslims want? The choice is theirs. I am not telling them what they must do. If they want to maintain the present secular system and have Malaysia ruled by a nationalist party, well and good. But then they have to accept that they violate certain Islam teachings that forbid this. They cannot have it both ways.

PAS is proposing that Malaysia’s secular system be abolished in favour of an Islamic system. The voters, however, Muslims included, reject this. They prefer maintaining the present political system that has been in existence since 1957, a system set up by the British colonialists.

Malaysian Muslims are predominantly anti-West, anti-American, anti-European, in fact, anti-anything that is not Islamic. If you talk to Malaysian Muslims, most share one-time Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s views about the West, the Americans, the Europeans, and so on. But when it comes to what type of political system they prefer, these same people choose the British Westminster system over an Islamic system. If one day Malaysia was to abolish the Sultanate and adopt the United States’ presidential system the majority of Malaysian Muslims would go along with it.

And this would bring us back to the fundamental question raised by Sri Bunian yesterday: is Democracy Islamic?

As many posters in Malaysia Today have pointed out, since I do not comprehend Arabic, since I am only able to read Yusuf Ali’s English translation of the Koran, and since my wife does not wear a headscarf, I am not qualified to answer this question. I will therefore not attempt to answer it but will instead leave it to you to answer it yourself.