Democracy and Human Rights in Islam

Within the Al Jazeera book series, Al Jazeera Centre for Studies has issued a book entitledDemocracy and Human Rights in Islam by the Islamist thinker, Rachid Ghannouchi. It contains two sections, each of which contain four chapters and four appendixes.

In his book, Ghannouchi defines the principles of rule in Islam and considers the establishment of authority and its civilness a matter of consensus in the Islamic sects. He also delves into the legitimacy of the state in Islam and the concepts that Islamic rule is based on as well as the relationship between religion and politics.

Ghannouchi analyzes the relationship between Islam and democracy and the meaning of political pluralism, indicating that originally, the democratic political regime – whether Islamic or liberal – cannot contain competition without general consensus on a cultural system and societal initiative in which competition occurs, leaving civil society to undertake remaining margins.

In the last chapter of his first section, Ghannouchi focuses on Islamists and democracy in the Arab world. The second half of the book, however, addresses the freedoms and human rights in Islam.