Parliaments, Kings and Tribal Councils: Does 'Islamic Democracy' Exist?

For 1,300 years Muslims have been engaged in a search for a form of government that is right for them. There are parliaments and sometimes even political opposition groups in many Muslim countries, but as a general rule political decisions are based on agreements reached between tribal groups and families.

If democracy has ever had friends in the Arab-speaking countries it has been among the monarchs of Kuwait. In 1752, when the age of enlightened absolutism was just dawning in Europe, a man by the name of Sabah bin Jaber became the emir of a Bedouin population known as the al-Utoob.

It was not murder, revolution, or warfare that brought him to power. He got elected. His descendants, the Al Sabah, continue to rule Kuwait to this day and have preserved a noteworthy weakness for letting their people vote.

The country elected its first legislative assembly in 1938. After independence in 1961 it elected a constitutional council. Following their liberation from Iraqi occupation in 1991 the Kuwaitis elected a new national assembly. Two years ago women were for the first time granted the right to vote. The members of the national assembly are sometimes not in office for very long. Not for reasons of incompetence mind you. More often than not it is because the executive government sees them as being too competent: The national assembly in Kuwait has sole responsibility for passing legislation. It determines how much the emir is paid. And it has the right to question and dismiss ministers, a privilege it makes extensive use of.

Kuwait is the most democratic country in the Arab world.

On May 17 this year, the emir called an election, made necessary by the fact that he dissolved the national assembly in March, following a political blockade that had gone on for months. A lively election campaign ensued. Voting districts were redrawn to make it more difficult for closely interrelated tribal leaders to influence voting behavior or engage in electoral fraud. There was detailed television and (...)

Human Rights

Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam - Diverges from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in key respects
Universal Human Rights and "Human Rights in Islam"
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Islamic Law vs Human Rights

Islam and democracy:

ALGERIA: Political killings, Censorship, Harassment & Intimidation
BAHRAIN: Executions, Abuses of detainees & Censorship
EGYPT: Censorship, Limited Judicial Independence & Police Tortures
IRAN: Torture, Repressed Minorities, Discriminated Women, Unfair Trials, Censorship & Executions
LYBIA: Censorship, Killings of Demonstrators & Prisoners
MOROCCO: Discriminated Women, Abused Prisoners, Migrants & Refugees
OMAN: Discriminated Migrants, Abused Woman & Domestic Workers, Trafficking in Human Beings
IRAQ: Violence against women, Thousands of killed Civilians & Executions
KUWAIT: Torture, Abuse of Migrant Workers & Executions
QUATAR: Violence against Women, Human Trafficking, Torture & ill-Treatment
TUNISIA: Censorship, Limited Judicial Independence, Torture & ill-Treatment
SAUDI ARABIA: Violence against Women, Migrant worker Abuse, Torture, Unfair Trials, Censorship & Executions
SYRIA: Censorship, Torture, Arbitrary Detention, Discrimination of Woman & Minorities
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Stoning, Flogging, Death Penalties & Cruel Judicial Punishments
YEMEN: Executions, Censorship, Political Prisoners & Unfair Trials