From Political Islam to Democrat Muslim: A Comparison between Rashid Ghannouchi and Anwar Ibrahim
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31436/id.v26i1.1119Abstract
The relationship between Islam with a democratic political system
has been questionable at best and incompatible at worst. While countless
research has been done on this issue for decades especially with the rise of
Islamist apologists in the years following the invasion of Iraq in 2003, this
paper proposes that it is time we understand the role of Islam through the lenses
of democrat Muslims. Democrat Muslims are those who seek to preserve and
promote the five major qualities in human life with values that surpass simply
protecting the people’s political, social and economic life. By comparing
Rashid al-Ghannouchi and Anwar Ibrahim, this paper traces their evolution to
come to a similar conclusion that is applicable to most Muslim societies. Using
the dissonant politics theory, this paper suggests that local developments were
taken into high consideration when these two figures decided to conceptualize
what is known today as Democrat Muslims.