Islam and Elections

2004 Background Paper


Introduction

Events of the past year have brought into sharp focus the question of elections in the Muslim world. Wars have been waged in Afghanistan and Iraq with the express intention, so far unfulfilled, of introducing electoral institutions into those countries. The constitution proposed for Afghanistan has been adopted but has yet to be put into practice, while in Iraq the process for creating a new constitution is still being debated.1 Meanwhile, the Arab Human Development Report 2003 published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) lists an expansion of ?freedom? as one of the region?s three most pressing needs.2

Yet political disruption and foreign intervention complicate the issue of how and when greater openings toward participatory government may come about. This is not, after all, the first time that foreign powers have put pressure on the Muslim world to introduce constitutional governments with electoral institutions. As in the past, the motives of the foreign powers are complex. As former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia said in a speech to the 10th Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on October 10, 2003:

The early successes of the Ottomans were not accompanied by an intellectual renaissance. Instead they became more and more preoccupied with minor issues such as whether tight trousers and peak caps were Islamic, whether printing machines should be allowed or electricity used to light mosques. The Industrial Revolution was totally missed by the Muslims. And the regression continued until the British and French instigated rebellion against Turkish rule brought about the downfall of the Ottomans, the last Muslim world power and replaced it with European colonies and not independent states as promised. It was only after World War II that these colonies became independent.
Apart from the new nation-states [sic] we also accepted the Western democratic system. This also divided us because of the political parties and groups that we form, some of which claim Islam for themselves, reject the Islam of other parties and refuse to accept the results of the practice of democracy if they fail to gain power for themselves. They resort to violence, thus destabilising and weakening Muslim countries.3

Given past experience with foreign intervention by proponents of ?democratization,? Muslims are divided on the appropriateness of using electoral institutions to address current problems. In a speech on November 6, 2003, President George W. Bush called attention to this debate by hailing ?democratization? as the solution to the problems of the Arab world.4 It is therefore a propitious moment to reconsider what elections can and cannot accomplish, and to ask precisely how the peoples and parties that might hope to gain a participatory voice in government see the role of elections in their countries? futures.

The organizations hosting this workshop do not wish to present elections as a guarantee of good government. Some parts of the Muslim world have considerable experience with elections, and, in many cases, government leaders and voters alike have discovered that these elections can be used wisely or oppressively.5 Therefore, every aspect of the electoral process should be submitted to close scrutiny in order to deliver, to the peoples of the Muslim world, a model of government consistent with their philosophical and moral principles.

The electoral principle has a long history in many cultures, including?some would say?in the Islamic world. The contention centers on the institution of shura, which Muslim chroniclers date to the period of the first caliphs who led the Muslim community following the death of the Prophet Mohammed in 632 AD. Though the institution has functioned only intermittently since then, it is a cornerstone of the way that many Muslims today think about their political heritage. Even so, the shura has been understood differently by the many Muslim thinkers and political leaders who have studied it over fourteen centuries.6

During the past century and a half, however, a large number of Muslims have turned away from the counsels of traditional religious authorities in favor of a wide range of voices who use print and electronic media to court acceptance.7 Thusly, notions of shura expressed on the Internet, without citation of their original sources, may be as influential today as the views of famous authorities were in the past. The following explanations of shura were recently drawn from a selection of Web sites:

  • The Islamic concept of mutual consultation for problem solving.8
  • The consultative assembly (majlis ash-shura) constituting one of the eight pillars upholding the proper structure of the Islamic state.9
  • ?Umar was wounded by a Zoroastrian slave, Firuz. When ?Umar became certain that his death was imminent as a result of the stab wound, he entrusted the people of shura (consultation) to select the new khaleefah [i.e., Caliph]. He said, ?Verily the Apostle of Allah died and he was pleased with these six people from the Quraysh?, and referring to ?Ali, ?Uthman, Talhah ibn ?Ubaydullah, az-Zubayr ibn al-?Awwam, Sa?d ibn Abi Waqqas and ?Abd al-Rahman ibn ?Awf, he said ?I have decided to make it (the selection of caliph) a matter of consultation among them, so that they may select one from among themselves.? He gave them three days to choose a new Khaleefah.

    ?Umar also empowered fifty Muslims to carry out this action, i.e. to kill the dissenter despite the fact they were of the shura people and of the eminent Sahabah [Companions of the Prophet]. This order was given in front of the Sahabah, and no one was reported to deny or disagree with it, so it becomes Ijma?a [consensus] of the Sahabah that Muslims are not permitted to stay without a Khaleefah for more than two nights and three days.10

Along with these understandings of shura based on readings of early historical tradition, a current of thought among nineteenth-century reformists influenced by Western parliamentary ideas likened shura to a legislature made up of popularly elected representatives. The Young Ottoman theorist Nam?k Kemal was among those who argued that the Ottoman Empire was in need of a parliament, which he called a ?national consultative assembly,? or in Turkish a meclis-i shura ?mmet.11 Thus today the term shura, thanks to variations in its meaning, can be called upon to justify many different exercises, from advising a ruler to legislating new laws to choosing a caliph. Electoral practices may play a role in any or all of these functions, but there is no agreement that elections are inherent in the concept of shura.

Besides the ambiguity over the historical connection between shura and elections, electoral traditions from outside the Muslim world are currently being debated in the context of forming new governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dr. Noah Feldman, an American specialist on constitutional law who is playing an advisory role in these deliberations says of Afghanistan?s new draft constitution:

The draft constitution is also thoroughly democratic, promising government ?based on the people?s will and democracy? and guaranteeing citizens fundamental rights. One essential provision mandates that the state shall abide by the United Nations Charter, international treaties, all international conventions that Afghanistan has signed and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.12

A potential problem in the effort to bring Islam into conjunction with electoral institutions is the tendency of many Western commentators to consider elections a purely Western invention. Yet in thinking about the prospect of elections in the Muslim world, there is no reason to feel bound by Western examples or Western theory. For example, in his recent book The Search for Arab Democracy: Discourses and Counter-Discourses, Dr. Larbi Sadiki, a lecturer in Middle East politics at the University of Exeter in England, makes a case for ?refoundationalizing? the concept of democracy.13 He argues that the practice of elections can be divorced from the histories that have been invented to justify or define them; indeed, emphasis should be placed?in his view?on new foundations proper to the traditions of the society instituting them.

In undertaking the ?Workshop on Islam and Elections,? the organizers hope that probing discussions on the norms and expectations of electoral processes can be held with respect for all of the roots of participatory government, both Muslim and non-Muslim, and with the focus on practical issues related to current affairs.

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