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Islamic Constitutionalism And The Concept Of Democracy, Azizah Y. Al-Hibri

Law Faculty Publications

This article will discuss select, basic principles of Islamic law relating to democratic governance, pointing out in the process certain areas of disagreement surrounding them in the literature and the grounds for such disagreements. Part II of this article presents a brief overview of Islamic law in order to provide a foundation for later discussion. The article then assesses the Islamic system of government in light of two major principles of Western democracies. They are (1) the principle that the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of the government (Principle A) and (2) the principle …