Muslims' approaches to democracy: Islam and democracy in contemporary Indonesia

Abstract

This article seeks to provide a theoretical account of how Indonesian Muslims have approached Islam and democracy. Historical analysis, combined with literary overview, is deployed to trace the empirical passage of Indonesian Muslims in developing discourses on democracy. This article argues that a widely-religion-based democracy is on the way of making. Following this process, discourses and counter-discourses on democracy are simply inevitable. The point of departure on which Muslims frequently disagree with each other is whether or not the type of Indonesian democracy should follow the path of Western secular democracy. Accordingly, three approaches following these lively discourses on democracy came into existence: First, the Huwaydian approach that claims the compatibility of Islam and democracy. Second, the Mawdudian approach that stands in an ambiguous position between rejecting and accepting democracy. Third, the Qutbian approach which argues that democracy is inimical to Islam by definition. Despite the risk of oversimplification and conceptual discrepancy, the three terms are utilized merely for the purpose of sociological categorization.