ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the present political condition which has shocked the proponents of democratic values in both the Muslim and the Western worlds. The previous chapters have shown that the values and qualifications of democracy in Islam are often antecedent to and compatible with Western democracy. They have also shown the irrefutable and unbreakable link between Islamic and Western civilisations. The question that remains is where has the inflammatory condition come from? Given the clear Qur’anic basis for human and democratic values as well as a justice and peace-oriented international law, why have these not characterised the history of Islam? This question provides the theme and framework of this chapter. It examines some aspects in the historical reality of Islam from early to our modern time. It demonstrates what went wrong in the place and space with special attention to the relation between the scope of democracy and violence.
