Democracy and Islam can flourish together, David Cameron will declare on Thursday as he uses a landmark speech in Indonesia to tell the Muslim world that it can reject a "dead-end choice" between extremism and dictatorship.
In one of his most significant speeches on Islam, the prime minister will say that the world can defeat extremists, who are a "dangerous foe" on a par with supporters of slavery.
Cameron will hail the "extraordinary journey" undertaken by Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, since the end of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998 as an example of the "inspirational path" countries can follow.
"What Indonesia shows is that in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, it is possible to reject this extremist threat and prove that democracy and Islam can flourish alongside each other," the prime minister will tell students at Al-Azhar University in Jakarta. "That's why what you are doing here is so important, because it gives heart to those around the world who are engaged in the same struggle." » | Nicholas Watt | Thursday, April 12, 2012
My comment:
David Cameron is doing what all politicians do these days: They deny the true nature of Islam. Like most politicians, David Cameron has neither studied Islam nor lived in a Muslim-majority country, yet he is sure of his facts, it seems: Islam is compatible with democracy.
This is wishful thinking. Islam at its core is undemocratic. And for many reasons. First among them is that Islam denies the separation of mosque and state, or religion and politics. The separation of the two is the sine qua non of a properly-functioning democracy.
Then there is the fact that democracies are ever-changing. New laws are made in response to changing circumstances, changing needs. Muslims believe in Allah’s law, Islamic law, Shari’ah law. Shari’ah law is based on the Qur’an and the Ahadith, or Hadiths – the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Islamic law is unchanging by definition. It would be heresy to change Allah's injunctions.
Living according to Shari’ah law is close to a Muslim’s heart. That’s why so many countries are in the process of introducing Islamic law after the Arab Spring, and it’s why Iraq introduced Shari’ah law at the first opportunity. Does David Cameron think that Shari’ah law is compatible with democracy then? Further, if Islam were really compatible with democracy, why has democracy not been the political norm for Islamic countries till now?
Since 9/11, all Western politicians have been in denial about the nature of Islam. They keep on repeating the same old canards, namely that Islam is really a ‘religion of peace’ and that extremists have got it wrong. In other words, the extremists misunderstand their own religion. Whereas, in actual fact, the extremists want what they consider to be pure Islam – Islam unadulterated by Western values. But this is something which our politicians cannot countenance, for were they to do so, they’d be forced to do something meaningful about it. That would take great strength and resolve. One could even say that it would bring the house of cards down, because ‘our house’ in the twenty-first century is built increasingly on the myth of multiculturalism. They’ve all bought into this, so they’ve got to try and make it work. One day, they might be forced to change course. God only knows what it will take to bring that about though! – © Mark
Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom » | Mark Alexander | Friday, April 20, 2007
