Democracy is a specific concept that rests on the notion that sovereignty belongs to the people, and that the human being is the one who sets the system, the human mind is the source for solutions to life's problems, and the criterion and the standard of right/wrong is set by the human being. Such a foundation directly contradicts with fundamental principles of the Islamic way of life, namely:

Sovereignty belongs to Allah (swt) and what Allah revealed (the Qur'an and Sunnah), meaning that only Allah (swt) has the right to legislate. The people have only the right to understand this legislation that is set by the sovereign and implement the legislation.

The source of all legislation, rulings, systems, and solutions is what Allah (swt) revealed, and not the human mind. The human mind is only a tool that is used to understand the source and apply it to the reality.

The criterion of right and wrong is the Halal and the Haram, and not what we think is good/bad or right/wrong based on our own reasoning.

The other point about Democracy is that it has no basis in reality. The notion that people have the power to rule conflicts with the basic construct of any society. In any society, it is the rulers and those with authority that rule the society and implement the system, not the people. What differs perhaps between the Democratic system and other man-made systems is how the rulers are selected and the degree of accountability of the rulers to the people. However, to claim that the people can rule is tantamount to saying that the ordinary person on the street can draft his own constitution and live by it, which is an absurd notion. For this reason, any attempt at applying the theory of Democracy ultimately results in its more realistic manifestation, which is Elitism, whereby the ''Elites'' (those who have the power and influence, be they individuals, corporations, or interest groups) dictate the laws and rules and subjugate the political system to protect their interests. The opposition to these elites are naturally another band of elites.

In an ideal situation, where the intellectual level of Muslims is where it should be, it would be sufficient to mention this. However, this is not enough because of three reasons. First, the experience of many Muslims with the Democratic system is a positive one, relative to the ruthless dictatorships that exist in the Muslim countries. Secondly, the Democratic societies are the only societies that have any level of progress, and the media influence has sold the notion that Democracy is the only viable alternative and is synonymous with civilization and progress. Third, some of these regimes in the Muslim world claim to apply Islam, together with the distorted history that is presented to Muslims, create a distaste and mistrust for Islam in application. All of these factors have created an overall fascination with the Democratic way of life, so much so that merely pointing out the contradiction between Democracy and Islam is not sufficient in our opinion. What is also needed is to build the confidence of Muslims towards Islam, and to get the Muslims to realize that Islam can correctly address the problems and issues we face. Rebuilding our thinking in the correct manner will resolve all of these issues because of a simple fact: Thought precedes action. Human beings act and proceed through life based on their thinking. The way we think determines our outlook, the culture we choose to adopt, the standards we adhere to, sources we refer to for solutions and answers, and the manner in which we deal with issues. Also, the correct thinking will lead us to refer to the correct sources for our actions and will lead us to adopt the correct methodology for changing our situation and resolving our issues.

What is happening nowadays is not enough action, but rather too much of the wrong action. But without the correct thinking to guide us towards the correct action and the correct approach, we are simply exhausting ourselves. If we do not live up to our responsibilities, then two things will automatically occur as a result. First, humanity will be forced to live under the submission of man-made systems based on man-made ideas, which is an automatic recipe for disaster and oppression. This is because there is no vacuum in Allah's creation. If we fail to apply Islam completely, then we leave a political, social, and cultural vacuum in society and in the world, and this vacuum will naturally be filled with Kufr. And secondly, Muslims will be in a state of weakness due to their negligence, and others will naturally rise to take advantage of the situation, be they Jews, Christians, Capitalists, or anyone else.

Only the Islamic System can correctly solve the problems of humanity in such a way that the suffering, oppression, and misery we see today in epidemic levels will be minimized or eliminated altogether. The reason for this is because the Islamic System is the system from the Creator, and Allah does not make mistakes. However, the justice, tranquility, and prosperity of Islam will only be realized when it is IMPLEMENTED, and the choice to implement it is ours to make. Allah is not our employee that we can just expect to run our affairs on our behalf while we kick our heels and rush to seek help from the kufr. Rather, Allah created us to obey Him, and He gave us a mind to make the choice whether to obey Him or not. He created the universe, and placed within the universe ample proof that establishes His Existence beyond a doubt. In addition, Allah revealed the Qur'an and established within it ample proof that establishes the Qur'an to be the Speech of Allah without a doubt. In addition, Allah equipped us with a mind and the ability to think, and this ability, when used correctly, is sufficient to lead any human being to the absolute conviction that Allah Exists, that the Qur'an is the Book of Allah, and that Islam is the final message and system to be applied upon humanity.

Once we as Muslims reach this conviction and establish within ourselves the truth of the Islamic Message, then Allah expects from us to use our minds - the same mind we used to arrive at the truth of Islam - to understand the rules of Allah and implement them, the way He wants us to apply them. If, after all of this, we decide by our own choice or laziness, to shelf the Islamic System, or to pick and choose which laws we want while discarding the rest, or to make excuses, then we should not be surprised at the outcome: misery, oppression, injustice, evil, suffering, and a host of other problems. And we have only ourselves to blame for this.
 

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It may be asked: Isn't democracy behind the economic prosperity of the West ? The answer is no; as mentioned earlier, the concept of democracy cannot be implemented in reality. The system implemented is in fact elitism. As for the economic prosperity of the West, this is due to the implementation of another phenomenon known as ''colonialism''.

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Islamic History

Mind is a tool, not a reference