Islam and the Challenge of democracy

This post comes as a follow through of a post on Simon's blog and a comment by Dr. Freex. Thanks to Dr. Freex for the link of Boston Review, the subject of which I have used here.

My analysis of the the issues in contention is as follows.

Both in Maldives and outside Maldives, our politicians have publicly been talking about making the necessary constitutional amendments and introducing the reforms to take Maldives on the path of a liberal democracy. Both the government and the majority of the opposition in the parliament and the Special Majlis hold this view.

The constitutional amendment for Maldivian citizenship has once again been passed without any opposition by uniformly affirming that Maldivian citizenship is only for Muslims. One aspect of the anticipated problem was highlighted by prominent MDP MP and lawyer Husnu Sood who said that some Maldivian children of other faiths living abroad will lose their citizenship when the bill comes into force.

We know there are many countries in the world, including in the South Asia region, which have adopted a State religion, but do not require all their citizens to adhere to that religion.

The least any one can expect from our Special Majlis on a bill such as the citizenship bill is to have a vigorous debate reflecting the current situation and feelings among the Maldivian community. If the conservatives had won over the liberals after such a debate, then accepting the outcome without feeling squeezed out is part of the democratic process.

In Maldives, the concept of national unity and harmony are linked to the concept of religious unity, and drummed into the minds of the population at every opportunity. A country does not have to be 100 per cent Muslim to have perfect harmony in religious unity. It is a false argument. Maldives has been a 100 per cent Muslims for a long time. As a result of the constitutional requirement for all Maldivians to be Muslims, have Maldivians become better Muslims or are there any who have turned away from Islam? No, we are not better Muslims than any other multi-religious country where the Muslims exist in harmony with people of other faith.

The Maldivian government should not force any Maldivian to be a Muslim through its Constitution.

Coming back to Dr. Freex comment that democracy is no more Godsent than the 'Sharia', while I agree to the premise of that argument, I also believe that it distracts the focus from the issue of the Maldivian citizenship only for Muslims. The two are separate arguments, one about an individual's right to decide the faith without compulsion by the State and the other about the case for democracy in Islam.

I will leave Khaled Abou El Fadl's excellent explanation on democracy to the reader. It is on the Boston Review link above.