http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-04/14/article08.shtml
Islam, Democracy Compatible: Conference
By Sa'ad Abdul-Majid, IOL Correspondent
ISTANBUL, April 14 (IslamOnline.net) – Islam and democracy are
compatible and all foreign attempts to impose reforms on the
Islamic world are doomed, officials and scholars participating
in the Islam and Democracy conference agreed Wednesday, April
14.
"Shari'ah
[Islamic law] includes rights and foundations well-established
enough to build a democratic society," said Imam Al-Dar Qutni,
an Indonesian lawmaker.
"It only needs for the Islamic countries to apply Islam," he
told the conference, hosted by this Turkish Mediterranean city
and sponsored by U.N. Development Program and the
Washington-based National Democratic Institute for International
Affairs.
Mohand Laenser, Morocco's Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development agreed, saying the deteriorating situation of
democracy in the Muslim countries has nothing to do with Islam.
"This shaky practice of democracy is rather caused by the
political regimes in these countries," he told dozens of
delegates from countries as far afield as Sierra Leone and
Indonesia.
The Moroccan official stressed that that Islam respects women
and allows them, for example, to practice trade activities
independently from their husbands.
Princess Basma Bint Telal, the head of the Human Development
Fund in Jordan, nodded in certain agreement.
"Even the principle of Shura (consultation) is deeply-rooted in
Islam. Islamic countries have a fair share of tolerance for
democracy to prove a success," she told IslamOnline.net.
"Shari'ah
includes all values of justice, equality and freedom of
religion," said Somayya bin Khaldoun, a Moroccan MP.
Practical Steps 'Needed'
Despite confident assertion that democracy and Islam are
compatible, other participants said practical steps do rather
matter.
"We should end the debate whether Islam is compatible with
democracy or not, and take steps towards institutionalizing
principles of democracy in Islamic societies," said Turkish
Minister of State Mehmet Aydin.
Aydin, also a human rights activist, said that non-governmental
organizations could play a key role in the process.
"We should stop claiming that we do not need more democracy and
that the status quo is the best," he said.
Participants underlined that first steps of democracy should be
taken regarding issues such as education and cooperation with
the West.
"We should seek solutions to education, development and
relations between the North and South," Sierra Leon's President
Ahmad Tejan said.
The conference was attended along with former U.S. Secretary of
State Madeline Albright by U.S. Ambassador in Ankara Eric
Edelman and representatives of other American organizations and
research centers.
Cemil Cicek, Turkey's justice minister, accentuated the need for
self-criticism in a as frank as transparent way in Islamic
countries.
They should face "standing problems of administrative
corruption, embezzlement and lack of income distribution
equity," he said.
Niger's Parliament Speaker Mahamed Ousmane expounded on his
country's "experience" to show respect to all minorities in the
African country.
He said that any individual taking up an official post takes the
oath according to his own faith amid an atmosphere of religious
tolerance.
No Foreign Paradigms The conference also witnessed a firm
opposition to foreign paradigms of fit-for-all democratic
reforms to be imposed on Islamic countries.
"Situation in Iraq and Palestine are stark examples of these
models," the Indonesian legislator said.
"Blood and tears, the smell of gunpowder and sound of bullets
drown out the sound of democracy," the Turkish justice minister
agreed.
Cicek was referring to the situation in Iraq, where claims of
U.S. officials to create a democratic atmosphere came hollow as
the country has degenerated into a mass wave of chaos and
anarchy.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher criticized the
"Greater Middle East" plan, laid out by the U.S. as an attempt
to promote democracy in the Arab region.
"Countries are lumped together for sometimes no other reason
other than their common religion is Islam," he said.
Muasher believed that Middle Eastern countries rather "need to
find their own ways to promote greater freedoms, women's rights,
and education reform."
Otherwise, "opponents of political and social reform will
conveniently label reform efforts as a mere implementation of a
Western agenda," he warned.
"We, together as Muslims, have to come out with a collective
blueprint for reform and democratic transformation acquiescent
to our religious and cultural values," said the top Jordanian
diplomat.
