Popular Sovereignty, Islam, and Democracy (2003)*

Abstract

This article examines the idea that Islam’s rejection of popular sovereignty makes it incompatible with democracy. I show instead that sovereignty (“absolute despotic power,” popular or otherwise) is a sterile, pedantic, abstruse, formalistic, and legalistic concept, and that democracy should be seen as involving “popular control” rather than “popular sovereignty.” Divine sovereignty would be inconsistent with democracy only if that meant unlike in Islam rule by persons claiming to be God or His infallible representatives. A body of divine law that humans cannot change would be incompatible with democracy only if it were so comprehensive as to leave no room for political decisions. *This article was first published in the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 20, no. 3&4 (2003): 125-139