ARGUMENT
Faith-Based
Initiative
CanIslambringdemocracy
to theMiddleEast?
By Ray Takeyh
he televisedfootage of an airlinercrashinginto the
World Trade Center is now the prevailingimage of Islam. Media pundits decry anti-Muslim bigotry and
hasten to remindthe public that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance,notwithstandingthe actions of
an extremistminority.But in the same breathmany of those punditswarn of a clash of civilizations-a war
that pits the secular,modernizedWest against a region mired in ancient hatreds and fundamentalistrage.
This simplistic choice between "Islam" and
"modernity"ignoresa thirdoption that is emerging
throughoutthe Middle East. Lost amidst the din of
cultural saber-rattlingare the voices calling for an
Islamicreformation:A new generationof theological
thinkers, led by figures such as Iranian President
MuhammadKhatamiand Tunisianactivist Rached
Ghannouchi, is reconsidering the orthodoxies of
Islamicpolitics.Inthe process,suchleadersaredemonstratingthat the regionmay be capableof generating
a genuinelydemocraticorder,one basedon indigenous
values.Forthe MiddleEasttoday,moderateIslammay
be democracy'slast hope. For the West,it mightrepresentone of the bestlong-termsolutionsto "winning"
the war againstMiddleEastterrorism.
Militant Islam continues to tempt those on the
marginsof society (and guides anachronisticforces
such as Afghanistan'sTalibanand Palestine'sIslamic
Jihad),but its momenthas passed.In Iran,the Grand
Ray Takeyhis a Soref researchfellow at the WashingtonInstitute for Near East Policy and the author of The Receding
Shadow of the Prophet: Radical Islamic Movements in the
Modern Middle East (New York:Praeger,forthcoming).
68
FOREIGN
Ayatollah'sautocratic order degeneratedinto corruption and economic stagnation. Elsewhere, the
Islamicradicals'campaignof terror-such as Gamma
al-Islamiyyain Egypt and Hezbollah in Lebanonfailedto produceanypoliticalchange,as theirviolence
could not overcomethe brutalityof the states they
encountered.The militants'incendiaryrhetoricand
terrorismonly triggeredpublic revulsion,not revolutionsand massuprisings.Indeed,the Arabpopulace
may have returned to religion over the last two
decades,but they turnedto a religionthat was tolerant and progressive,not one that called for a violent
displacementof the existing orderwith utopias.
PoliticalIslamas a viablereformmovementmight
havepeteredout wereit not for one minordetail:The
rest of the world was changing.The collapse of the
SovietUnionandthe emergenceof democraticregimes
in EasternEurope,LatinAmerica,and EastAsia electrifiedthe Arab populace.Their demandswere simple but profound. As one Egyptianuniversitystudent explainedin 1993, "I want what they have in
Poland, Czechoslovakia.Freedom of thought and
freedomof speech."In lecturehalls, streetcafes, and
mosques,long dormantideasof representation,iden-
POLICY
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notion of ijma (consensus) has been similarly
accommodated to serve as a theological basis for
majoritarianrule. For Muslim reformers,Prophet
Mohammed'sinjunctionthat "differencesof opinion within my communityis a sign of God'smercy"
denotes prophetic approbation of diversity of
thought and freedom of speech.
tity,authenticity,and pluralismbeganto arise.
The task of addressingthe population'sdemand
for a pluralisticsociety consistent with traditional
values was left to a new generation of Islamist
thinkers,who have sought to legitimizedemocratic
concepts through the reinterpretationof Islamic
texts and traditions.Tunisia'sGhannouchicaptures
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Is the Koran a blueprintfor democracy?
this spirit of innovation by stressing, "Islam did
not come with a specific programconcerninglife.
It is our duty to formulate this program through
interactionbetweenIslamicpreceptsandmodernity."
Undertheseprogressivereadings,the well-delineated
Islamic concept of shura (consultation)compels a
rulerto considerpopularopinionand establishesthe
foundation for an accountable government. In a
modern context, such consultation can be implemented through the standardtools of democracy:
Selections, plebiscites,and referendums.The Islamic
The new generation of Islamists has quickly
embracedthe benefits wrought by modernization
and globalizationin order to forge links between
Islamistgroupsand thinkersin the variousstatesof
the Middle East. Throughmosques,Islamistseasily
distributepamphlets,tracts,and cassettesof Islamic
thinkersandwriters.In today'sMiddleEast,one can
easilyfind the EgyptianBrotherhood'smagazineAlDawa in bookstoresin the PersianGulfwhiletheJordanianIslamistdailyAl-Sabilenjoyswide circulation
throughoutthe Levant.The adventof the Internethas
NOVEMBER
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I DECEMBER
2001
69
Faith-Based Initiatives
intensifiedsuch cross-pollination,as most Islamist
journals, lectures, and conference proceedings are
posted on the Web. The writingsof Iranianphilosopher Abdol KarimSoroushtoday appearin Islamic
curriculaacrossthe region,andEgypt'sIslamistliberal
HassanHanafi commandsan importantaudiencein
Iran'sseminaries.
In the future, such Islamists will likely vie to
succeed the region'sdiscreditedmilitary rulers and
lifetime presidents. But what will a prospective
Islamicdemocracylook like? Undoubtedly,Islamic
democracywill differ in important ways from the
model that evolved in post-Reformation Europe.
Western systems elevated the primacy of the individual above the community and thus changed the
role of religion from that of the public conveyor of
community values to a privateguide for individual
conscience. In contrast, an Islamic democracy's
attemptto balanceits emphasison reverencewith the
populardesirefor self-expressionwill imposecertain
limits on individual choice. An Islamic polity will
supportfundamentaltenets of democracy-namely,
regular elections, separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and institutional oppositionbut it is unlikely to be a libertarianparadise.
The question of gender rights is an excellent
exampleof the strengths-and limits-of an Islamic
democracy.The Islamistswho relyon women'svotes,
grass-rootsactivism,and participationin labormarkets cannot remain deaf to women's demands for
equality.Increasingly,Islamicreformerssuggestthe
cause of women's failure to achieve equality is not
religion but custom. The idea of black-cladwomen
passivelyacceptingthe dictatesof superiormales is
the province of Western caricatures.Iran'sparliament, cabinet, and universitiesare populated with
women, as are the candidatelists for Islamicopposition parties in Egypt and Turkey. But while an
Islamic democracy will not impede women's integrationinto publicaffairs,it will impose restrictions
on them, particularlyin the realmof familylaw and
dresscodes. In such an order,women can make significantprogress,yet in importantways theymay still
lag behindtheir Westerncounterparts.
Moderate Islamistsare likely to be most liberal
in the realmof economic policy.The failureof commandeconomiesin the MiddleEastandthe centrality
of global marketsto the region'seconomic rehabilitation have made minimalgovernmentintervention
appealingto Islamisttheoreticians.Moreover,a pri-
70
FOREIGN
vatized economy is consistentwith classicalIslamic
economic theory and its well-establishedprotection
of marketand commerce.The Islamistpartieshave
beenamongthe most persistentcriticsof staterestrictions on trade and measuresthat obstructopportunities for middle-classentrepreneurs.
The internationalimplicationsof the emergence
of Islamic democraciesare also momentous. While
revolutionaryIslamcould not easilycoexist with the
internationalsystem, moderateIslamcan serveas a
bridge between civilizations.The coming to power
of moderate Islamiststhroughout the Middle East
might lead to a lesseningof tensions both within the
region and between it and other parts of the world.
Today,securityexpertstalk of the need to "drainthe
swamps" and deprive terroristsof the state sponsorshipthat providesthe protection and fundingto
carryout theirwar againstthe West.Within a more
open and democratic system, dictatorial regimes
would enjoy less freedom to support terrorismor
engage in militarybuildupswithout any regardfor
economic consequences.
Ultimately,however,the integrationof an Islamic
democracy into global democratic society would
depend on the willingnessof the West to accept an
Islamicvarianton liberaldemocracy.Islamistmoderates,while concedingthat there are in fact certain
"universal"democraticvalues,maintainthat different civilizationsmust be able to expressthese values
in a contextthatis acceptableand appropriateto their
particularregion.ModerateIslamists,therefore,will
continue to struggleagainst any form of U.S. hegemony,whetherin politicalor culturalterms,and are
much more comfortable with a multipolar,multi"civilizational"internationalsystem.Khatami'scall
for a "dialogue of civilizations" presupposes that
there is no single universal standard judging the
effectivenessof democracyand human rights.
Certainly,the Westshouldresisttotalitarianstates
who use the rhetoricof democracywhile rejectingits
essencethroughfalse claims of culturalauthenticity.
Buteventhoughan Islamicdemocracywill resistcertain elementsof post-Enlightenment
liberalism,it will
stillbe a systemthat featuresregularelections,accepts
dissent and opposition parties,and condones a free
press and division of power between branches of
state.As such, any fairreadingof Islamicdemocracy
will reveal that it is a genuine effort to conceive a
system of government responsive to popular will.
And this effort is worthy of Westernacclaim.II-
POLICY
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