Muslim scholars claim Islam upholds democracy
JAKARTA (JP): Unlike the general perception that Islam is anti-West, Muslim scholars asserted on Tuesday that the religion was the pioneer of democracy and introduced the concept of a civil society.
Nurcholish Madjid and Egyptian expert on Islam Muhammad Sa'id Al-Ashmawy were of the opinion that democracy has been the basic ideas of Islam since its inception.
The two were speaking in a seminar on Islam and democracy, held at the Goethe Institute.
Nurcholish said that as a modern teaching in favor of democracy, Islam has always suggested that a leader be chosen through an election, instead of allowing genetics and bloodline to be the deciding factor.
"Gaining a leader outside of an election, according to Hadist, is against Islam," Nurcholish said.
He noted that on the other hand, there were no reasons for Muslims to oppose democratization.
The holy Koran, according to him, provides the foundation of democracy and allows every country to maintain its unique nature.
"Islam always sees everybody as equal and teaches that everyone should mutually respect the life, honor and property of others," he remarked.
Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim country, however has failed to implement the idea of democracy, according to Nurcholish. The first election in 1955, dubbed by many as free and fair, failed to accommodate voters from outside Java, who were considered the minority.
"In the 1955 election there was only one political party from outside Java that gained a significant number of votes, namely Masyumi," he said.
The result of that era can be seen in the recent poor conditions in Indonesia, he went on to say. "Democracy should always respect the interest of the minority, and the majority should not take it all," Nurcholish said.
He warned that Indonesia should not blindly follow other countries' form of democracy. "Although the United States is the oldest democracy in the world, we should not follow their example where the minority does not count," he remarked.
On the issue of human rights, Nurcholish regretted that certain Islamic groups see human rights issues and the presence of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) as bodies modeled after western ideas.
"They consider Komnas HAM a threat to Islam, whereas the religion teaches universally recognized basic human rights and demands that its followers mutually respect others and their property," he said.
He criticized some political parties which tend to use the power of the masses to reach their goals.
"We should develop a democracy that does not think merely of the masses," he said.
Al-Ashmawy said Muslims apparently lack appreciation of democracy and changes due to misinterpretation of the context of verses in the Islamic holy book.
Citing an example, he said many Muslim people misinterpret verses on jihad in the Koran as a being about war against non- Muslims.
"But in modern life, do we really have to apply that?" he argued.
Al-Asmawy warned that such blind obedience to the verses in the holy book could mislead people and degrade Islam from the level of a faith to God into an ideology that serves certain political goals for the advantage of world rulers.
The chief justice of the State Security Court of Cairo also said that Islam understood the importance of consultation, but many misinterpreted it as something to be practiced only by the prophet. (dja)