[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Democracy and Islam
The Co-existence between Islam and democratic rule has been an issue of great importance ever since the time of its inception, there has been an ongoing debate between the two. Even though Islam is the religion for the people and strongly favors free will of the people, yet throughout the Islamic world there are people who would suggest otherwise and term the two to be contradicting each other. But these people actually misinterpret Islam for their own reasons and beliefs.
Islam is a religion for the people. It clearly emphasizes on their equality. According to a very famous saying by the last Prophet of Allah “In Islam, no Arab has a preference over a non-Arab or vice versa” this statement clearly states that all people were held equal in the eyes of Islam. It is set of beliefs that highlight egalitarianism and the respect of diversity and other faiths. Therefore it is fully compatible with democracy.Mr. Richard Bulliet, a professor in Columbia University with a specialization in the history of the Middle East and other Islamic nations says:
"Some of the people who say that democracy has no place in Islam, what they really express is a sense that the word 'democracy' as presented in international discourse appears to be wholly owned by the West," he said. "The word itself has, for some, a connotation of cultural imperialism. If you talk about representative government without the baggage of these institutions in the U.S., but on more idealistic grounds, then it makes perfectly good sense to a lot of Muslims. The idea of citizenry participating in government is, particularly within Sunni Islam, sort of a bedrock theory.....
