Niger State, the state I am living in, is ruled by Shari’a Law. This means that the civil laws abide by Islamic principles but as a non-Muslim Shari’a Law is not intended to apply to me. I was reading an interesting article in the paper yesterday – just thought, in light of the recent Hamas electoral victory and unrest over the cartoons of Muhammed, I’d share another perspective with you at home…
The principle of democracy by Hannatu Musawa
(Leadership newspaper 6 Feb 06)
When, two weeks ago, the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, swept to victory democratically and non-violently in an election that saw them claim more than half the total votes the world had a grave foreboding. How could a movement that claims to harbour the desire to wipe out Israel lead the Palestinian government? They could because it was democratically done.
… Ideally in our emerging world, the definition of democracy needs to be replaced so that it no longer represents a particular value system that emerged from the West’s Anglo-American experience. For democracy to completely have a universally applicable value it should not have to be cut from the same mould as America or Britain because their systems stemmed from their own beliefs, history and experience.
… There is an argument that the mould of democracy offered by the West cannot survive in poor countries because those countries lack the preconditions, traditions and cultural attitudes needed for it to thrive. It’s true that poverty, illiteracy and social tensions make the practice of democracy more difficult because the system becomes easier to manipulate.
… Modern democracy as operated in the West drew on certain elements from Western tradition that can be traced all the way back to classical antiquity. If the concept [of democracy] is to succeed all over the world it must be modified on a historical and cultural basis for application in other nations… A classic example is Iraq… The Middle Eastern political systems prefer governments based on Islamic precepts especially in a country like Iraq where the majority have strong Islamic tendencies and are less enthusiastic about liberalism. Now America’s biggest fear in Iraq is that an application of a Western style democracy is bound to produce a replica of the Islamic government of Iran because Iraqis are bound to predominantly vote for a Shari’a government.
… Whether we agree with Hamas or not, we must respect the views and wishes of the Palestinian people… If anything the world should take heed and understand that their votes grew from their experience. So instead of having issues with the choice they made, may the world keep in mind that they voted freely and practiced the principle of democracy the way they were taught by the West.
