First of all, we’d like to make it clear that Muslims believe in pluralism and political freedom as part and parcel of Islamic teachings. It is worth stressing here that we accept the articles and the principles of democracy that cope with the teachings of Islam and reject those principles that are non-Islamic.
Elaborating on this, we’d like to furnish you with the following fatwa issued by Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mukhtar Ash-Shinqiti, Director of the Islamic Center of South Plains,Lubbock, Texas, who states: “Democracy is a set of values and procedures. One of the important values of democracy is the people’s right in choosing their leader and not to be ruled by force or tyranny. This is a purely Islamic value, which we call “Shura” or mutual consultation.
Another important value is checks and balances by which powers are distributed and separated in a way that achieves independence of each power and ability to check and correct each other. This is called in the Qur’anic terminology as “Al-mudafa`ah” which is a very important Islamic concept to protect the society against corruption. Almighty Allah says: (Had not Allah checked one set of people by means of another, the earth would indeed be full of mischief.) (Al-Baqarah 2: 251)
As for the procedures of democracy such as elections, voting, campaigning, etc. these are means to achieve principles. Democracy in that sense is a purely Islamic principle. This does not mean that each democratic country is Islamic, but it means that each Islamic country should be democratic.”