Ghannouchi and the idea and possibilities of Muslim democracy

"Ghannouchi is a Tunisian politician, but not only Tunisian and not only a politician. He is a thinker, an intellectual, who can offer very important openings for the entire Islamic world, indeed, if his worth is recognized, for the entire contemporary world. A philosopher whose horizon of thought and history was nourished by the lands in which Ibn Khaldun was raised, perhaps a sage politician in the fullest sense of the word.

His intellectual depth, horizon, political and spiritual personality, which make themselves felt at once in his books and speeches, and his leadership, the style of politics he has put into practice and the way he has furnished it intellectually and jurisprudentially, constitute, in the fullest sense of the word, a path of ijtihad in the science of Islamic politics. Of course, like all ijtihads, it is a path that has both the chance of being right and the chance of erring.

Ghannouchi is a door that those seeking ideas, intellectual level, depth or horizon in the Islamic world should call at first. When I say intellectual, I do not mean an ivory-tower intellectual, of course. For him intellectualism is a culture lived in the field, putting one's hand under the stone, intertwined with people, enduring hardship, paying the price, constantly confronting realities, yet without giving up one's claims. That is why he did not walk his road alone; he always had companions on the road. He walked with those companions, doing justice to friendship as well, in mutual help and solidarity, living the hardship together too."

The reason I recall today these words I once said about Ghannouchi in this column is that today, instead of his ideas being discussed, his prayers of blessing sought and his advice heeded, Ghannouchi has been thrown into dungeons. A situation that makes it unnecessary for us to look for another cause of the backwardness that the Islamic World finds itself in and cannot get rid of.

Some time ago at the Institute of Islamic Thought in Ankara, the American Professor of Political Science Andrew Marsh presented his book "On Islamic Democracy," published by Oxford University and containing his interviews and discussions with Ghannouchi. I did the moderating of that presentation myself, but because of the intense events that have passed since, I had no opportunity to write about it.

As might be expected, the book is like an updated summary of Ghannouchi's ideas on democracy, distilled from a struggle spread over his whole life, and perhaps having itself guided that struggle. It has emerged as the product of the joint intellectual effort of Andrew March and Rached Ghannouchi.

Andrew Marsh, a political theorist and researcher specializing in Islamic political thought and comparative political philosophy, is an academic and intellectual whose works generally address the relationship between modern political ideologies, including Islamic ethics, sharia and democracy. One of his most important contributions is his analysis of the idea of "Muslim democracy," which focuses on how Islamic principles are compatible with democratic governance in Muslim-majority societies.

Marsh emphasizes how Islamic frameworks can accommodate pluralism, individual rights and political participation, while also addressing the challenges arising from tensions between religious authority and secular democratic norms. The results of his research argue that religious values can be integrated with democratic principles.

March notes that, in the context of his search to understand the concept of "Islamic Democracy" and especially the Tunisian experience, when he met with many Tunisian leaders and thinkers, a rare consensus had formed that Ghannouchi's personality, way of thinking, and distance from trivial matters and from every kind of suspicion and corruption made a difference. Marsh thinks that this difference is rare among Arab politicians, indeed almost nonexistent.

Marsh thinks that Ghannouchi and the Nahda movement, despite taking difficult decisions, always tried to put democratic principles into practice.

The book that Marsh presented at the meeting in Ankara includes ten published articles by Ghannouchi, as well as more than 80 pages of correspondence with him on the concept of democracy and the concept of the Islamic state. In explaining Ghannouchi's approach to politics, Marsh emphasized that a politician does not have the luxury of isolating himself, and must be in interaction with everyone and work together with them.

Touching on the importance of the democratic steps that have brought Turkey to a position of leadership in the Islamic world and the world, Marsh also assessed the content of the dialogue held with Sheikh Ghannouchi on the concepts of democracy, pluralism and secularism.

According to Marsh, he made the observation that Bourguiba's secular Tunisian experience, which was based on French laïcité and rejected religion entirely, may have encouraged Ghannouchi to develop new political concepts that would protect the nation from the dangers born of the exclusion of the system of ethics and values and of the assaults that the people and the country consequently suffered.

In the correspondence, Ghannouchi's emphases come to the fore that the basis of political action is agreement among the members of society, that no one has the right to force people to adopt a particular religion or ideology, and that respect for freedom of political belief and for individual freedom is essential.

Ghannouchi carefully works into all his discourses the expressions found in the Charter of Medina, which ensures freedom and participation on the basis of the participation of all segments of society in Medina and respect for others. Marsh notes in particular that his emphases on this subject constitute a very important reference.

In his presentation Marsh also offered excerpts from Ghannouchi's experiences, from his reading of Sayyid Qutb's books and from his debate with the Algerian thinker Malek Bennabi, and described how he benefited from these ideas and how he used them to enrich the concept of genuine democracy.

Political scientist Marsh's presentation discussing Ghannouchi and his ideas was valuable in showing in what kind of context Ghannouchi's thought is situated among political and social scientists.

Ghannouchi has an approach that is extremely sound and consistent in itself in the debates on democracy. When he speaks of democracy, he is by no means speaking of a tool to be used until one has crossed the bridge. Nor is he speaking of an anachronistic application of the classical Islamic practice of Shura. On the contrary, Shura gives him way, as it does every Muslim, as a value and principle. But Ghannouchi is, so to speak, a thinker who explores the possibilities of new political ijtihads that also draw inspiration from the idea of Shura for contemporary Muslims.

Despite all his emphases on democracy, does the treatment he is subjected to today, and the silence of the democratic world in the face of it, show that democracy in the Islamic world is a lie? Does the treatment to which he and other Islamic thinkers are subjected not sufficiently show who the enemies of democracy and freedom of thought in the Islamic world are?