The evolution of the concept of political participation in twentieth-century Islamic political thought

The aim of the thesis is to identify the concept of political participation and its evolution as approached in the political thought of Muslim writers and intellectuals of the present century. The major question is: how the concept of political participation, as the manifestation of people's sovereignty in the Western liberal democracy, can be accommodated in, or coexist with, the divinely-inspired political theory of Islam in which sovereignty belongs unquestionably to God alone.

After some preliminary study of the related concepts, the thesis will consider the political ideas of a number of the most influential Muslim thinkers who represent the main streams of twentieth-century Islamic political thought. However, the thesis is interested in the ideas of no particular thinker in themselves. Rather, it seeks an evolution of a concept by looking at the whole body of thought in the current century. Different approaches to politics and government, and to the question of political participation in particular, are investigated in order not to judge the persons involved, but to find the extent in which the political role and power of the people have evolved in contemporary Islam.

In the final chapter I argue my overall conclusion of the studied cases. The conclusion maintains that the political thinking of twentieth-century Islam has tried, albeit in an uneasy manner, to extend the absolute sovereignty and the supreme authority of God to the people, to whatever extent is possible; to incorporate the popular institutions of Western democracy into the interpretation of the religion; and in a sense, to rediscover Islamic principles and values that would provide the basis for democratic institutions within the framework of the Islamic law. While the very foundation of the concept of democracy -liberalism- is rejected, its tangible appeals and advantages are more or less approved and sought after.