PENGAMALAN DEMOKRASI DI DUNIA ISLAM MENURUT PERSPEKTIF ISLAM

Democratic Practice in Islamic World from Islamic Perspective

Abstract

This article elucidates on the Islamic Democracy in terms of its definition, its nature as well as its differences vis-a-vis a Western Democracy. An Absolute Democracy, as practised by nations of the West has been threatening the stability of tenets of Islam, simply because the freedom, as sanctioned by Islam, has its limits. The author espouses the conditions for accepting the concept of a Democracy and the concept of majority-minority in Islam. The idea of an Islamic Democracy is a formula to develop a more dynamic political system in Islam. The future of democracy in Malaysia is largely dependent upon the strength of the Muslims in mitigating the rise of authoritarianism to ensure that the democracy practised by the ruling elites is consistent with the Islamic norms. Hence, to create a new platform of a Muslim politics and an Islamic Democracy, an active interaction between the Islamic groups, opposition parties, NGOs and ruling elites is intrumental. Surely such an interaction would benefit the whole nation.

Keywords: democracy, Islamic democracy, majority and minority, Islamic state.

Artikel ini membicarakan mengenai demokrasi Islam  dari segi takrif, ciri-ciri dan perbezaan dengan demokrasi barat. Demokrasi mutlak seperti yang diamalkan di negara-negara barat adalah sesuatu yang mengancam kestabilan ajaran Islam kerana kebebasan yang dibenarkan Islam mempunyai batasan tertentu. Penulis menghuraikan syarat-syarat penerimaan demokrasi Islam serta konsep majoriti dan minoriti dalam Islam. Gagasan demokrasi Islam merupakan formula dalam merangka sistem politik Islam yang lebih dinamik. Masa depan demokrasi di Malaysia banyak bergantung kepada kekuatan umat Islam dalam mengawal autoritarianisme dan demokrasi yang dijalankan oleh pemerintah agar ia serasi dengan nilai-nilai Islami.  Oleh itu, dalam mewujudkan landasan baru politik Muslim dan demokrasi Islam maka timbal balik  antara golongan Islamis, parti pembangkang, NGO  dan pemerintah sangat diperlukan dan kerjasama itu akan menguntungkan rakyat.

Kata kunci: demokrasi, demokrasi Islam, majoriti dan minoriti, negara Islam.