modernity and democracy

This depends on both what is meant by “modernity” and the varied interpretations by Muslims on this subject. If by modernity one means science, the scientific method and technological advances, then we know that scientific exploration and technological innovation flourished in the Islamic cultures of the Middle Ages, commonly known as the Golden Age of Islam. And today, millions of Muslims are involved, often in leading positions, in the fields of science, mathematics, medicine, engineering and other scientific fields.

If by modernity one means democracy and individual rights such as freedom of thought, expression religion, and conscience, then Muslim attitudes vary.

While some Muslims view these rights as secondary to religious principles conveyed by Islam, others, including, as we explain in the introduction to these questions, consider these rights to be fundamental principles of Islam; a Pew poll of Muslims worldwide taken in 2013 showed substantial majorities in favor of democracy and religious freedom. Some Muslims cite the tradition of ijtihad (independent thinking) as an essential aspect of Islamic scholarly tradition that fosters reform, reinterpretation, and the exploration and advocacy of new ideas.

However many Muslims, like members of other religious groups, are concerned about the devastating effects that modernity and its accompanying technological advances, when influenced only by factors relating to economic profit and short-term gain, have had upon our environment and the world.

On this as on other questions, there is no monolithic Muslim position. Pew polls in 2011 and 2013 have shown that a substantial majority of Muslims worldwide favor democracy. And as we have witnessed during the 2011 Arab Spring and beyond, people throughout the Arab world in countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, and Syria have risked their lives, and in some places are still risking them, in their struggle for freedom and democratic change in their countries.

Additionally the Islamic principle of shura, or “mutual consensus,” is eminently compatible with democracy.

 It depends on whom you are talking to and what rights you’re talking about. Muslims differ on this as they do on other questions, and are in more agreement about some rights than others, such as the right to life, or freedom from persecution and oppression.

There is precedent for such affirmation of individual rights in Islamic tradition. The principle of individual rights was established in one of Islam’s earliest documents, the Medina Constitution, which was drafted by the Prophet Muhammad when he migrated with his followers to Medina. The agreement laid out certain rights and responsibilities between the Muslims and the major tribes in Medina and guaranteed the security and religious freedom of the diverse religious and tribal groups who made up the new community. In the context of its time, it embodied a remarkably strong affirmation of human rights.

Some rights s such as freedom of expression and freedom of religion which some Muslims view as fundamental Islamic principles, have been challenged in recent times by other Muslims or groups who see limits to these rights. The question of how to deal with material that offends religious sensibilities is a particularly contentious issue, not only for Muslims but for many others also.

A Pew poll taken in 2013 showed a substantial majority of Muslims worldwide in favor of democracy and of freedom of religion. While the poll did not ask questions specifically about freedom of expression, it is likely, in view of their answers to the aforementioned questions, that a substantial majority would favor these rights as well.

There is, nonetheless, a minority among Muslims that does not embrace, or does not embrace fully, the affirmation of individual rights that we consider basic to Islam.