Islam and democracy do coexist

John Hughes of Christian Science Monitor makes a strong case that Islam and democracy is not just able and do coexist. It’s even integrate. A case study of three countries with predominantly Muslims such as Indonesia and Turkey and India where Muslim become a large-minority–120 million populace that is the second largest Muslim country worldwide.

Throughout all this, skeptics have argued that this is a lost cause, and that democracy and Islam are incompatible.

So it is heartening to see the integration of democracy and Islam taking place in three huge countries whose Muslim populations make up somewhere between a quarter and a third of the world’s entire Muslim populace.

Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population (205 million), is undergoing national elections that will strengthen its steady democratic progress. India, which has a minority population of some 150 million Muslims, is finishing up month-long elections for a nation of more than 1 billion people. Turkey, with a Muslim population of 77 million, is a working example of a secular democracy in a Muslim country.

These examples may not offer a blueprint for the mostly undemocratic Arab world. But their success does offer welcome evidence that Islam and democracy can coexist, maybe even integrate.

Tags: Islam, Muslim, Politics

This entry was posted on May 9, 2009 at May 9, 2009 and is filed under Blogger Indonesia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Blogger Senayan
May 9, 2009 at 4:13 am

demokrasi di turkey, india dan indonesia pastilah diwarnai ajaran islam yang dianut sebagian besar penduduknya, meskipun ada yang specifik

Real Estate
May 9, 2009 at 5:07 am
Betul sekali mas, setuju

masarif
May 9, 2009 at 1:43 pm

hm… adakah John Hughes tahu bahwa ada perbedaan antara Islam dan umat islam?

Arya
May 9, 2009 at 1:58 pm

I think all is up to each peoples. If they don’t want to integrate, then they become fallen apart, so do the opposite. I think Islam teaches to us that the differences is rahmatan lil alamaien.