Islam, Democracy and the Spiritual Path
Since the time of ancient Greek philosophy, the question of upholding perceived ‘higher’ values – whether they be epistemological in the case of Plato, or cultural in the case of Nietzsche – has been seen in conflict with the values of the ‘masses’. In political terms, this is translated into a batt...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2013
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| In: |
Transformation
Year: 2013, Volume: 30, Issue: 2, Pages: 107-116 |
| Further subjects: | B
Khalifat
B theo-democracy B Democracy B Ijtihad B Ummah |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Since the time of ancient Greek philosophy, the question of upholding perceived ‘higher’ values – whether they be epistemological in the case of Plato, or cultural in the case of Nietzsche – has been seen in conflict with the values of the ‘masses’. In political terms, this is translated into a battle between meritocracy (the ‘talent’ in this case being able to determine higher values) and democracy. This duality has also been a more recent phenomenon in Islamic thought, with a concern that the values of the majority threaten the spiritual values of the religion. One thinker in particular, Mawlana Mawdudi, has highlighted this concern and attempts to defend spiritual values in his call for a theo-democracy. However, as this paper will demonstrate, Mawdudi’s theo-democracy translates into a theocracy in practice, and the possibility is presented here of a compromise whereby spiritual values can be maintained whilst not having to sacrifice the inclusiveness that democracy can allow. |
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| ISSN: | 1759-8931 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Transformation
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0265378813476794 |