ABSTRACT
The intellectual interest in civil society and democratization throughout the Middle East and North Africa has reinvigorated the debate on the compatibility of Islam and democracy. This chapter examines the historical and theological genealogy, the nuances, and the complexities of this debate. There is no consensus among scholars of Islam as to the relationship between Islam and democracy. The chapter addresses the following pertinent questions: What are the nuances of Islamic precepts and how do they influence the development of Islamic polity? What is the state of discourse on the compatibility or incompatibility of Islam and democracy? The questions also include: What is the perspective of Islam on human rights? What are the outstanding theoretical issues in these debates among Muslim theologians and Western scholars? The chapter presents some of the leading Muslim modernists and traditionalists and briefly explores their divergent ideas on Islam, governance, and democracy.
