Islamic democracy was created by the companions of the...

Islamic democracy was created by the companions of the Prophet but those men who destroyed it, were also his companions. While one group of companions, headed by Abu Bakr and Umar, had founded the institution of Islamic democracy (as claimed by the Sunni Muslims), another group of companions, headed by Muawiya bin Abu Sufyan and Amr bin Aas, had demolished it.

A third group of companions, headed by Abdullah bin Umar bin al-Khattab and Abu Hurayra, had witnessed the struggle between Islamic democracy and its grave-diggers. They had been the silent spectators of the death throes of Islamic democracy. When no doubt was left that Muawiya was the “winner,” they, being realists and pragmatists, declared that they were with him – with Muawiya – the destroyer of Islamic democracy!

Faris Glubb Islamic government was completely undermined in the greater part of the Muslim world by the seizure of power by Mu'awiya in 40 A.H. Mu'awiya destroyed the Kingdom of God established by the Prophet and replaced it with a worldly kingdom. He substituted a just and democratic caliphate with a tyrannical hereditary monarchy...

(Article captioned “The Islamic Ideal of Ethical Government,” published in the Muslim News International, London, March 1963) Abu Bakr, Umar, Muawiya, Amr bin Aas, Abdullah bin Umar bin al-Khattab, and Abu Hurayra, all were companions of the Prophet of Islam. Abu Bakr and Umar established Islamic democracy; and Muawiya and Amr bin Aas destroyed it.

Does it mean that the builders and the destroyers – both groups – are right, and democracy and absolutist monarchy both are “Islamic?” We can suspend judgment, at the moment, on “Islamic” democracy but the present-day Sunni jurists and scholars are not willing to extend that courtesy to monarchy as also being “Islamic.” According to them, there is no such thing as Islamic monarchy. They are unanimous in billing monarchy as “unIslamic.” G. H.

Jansen The political nature of the Islamic state or order is naturally of primary interest. When engaged in the practical task of drawing up a new constitution for Pakistan that ‘would be in consonance with the teachings and history of Islam,' (President) Ayub Khan asked his experts to study Islamic history and the constitutions of other Muslim countries. Two things emerged clearly from this study: There was no place for Kingship in Islam, and succession could not be on a hereditary basis.