The high-handedness of those using Islam to force upon Muslims to accept their rules and regulations was repeatedly discussed at a roundtable on ‘democrat Islamists’, held by the Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) today.

The local and international speakers, comprising of academicians and politicians, insisted that Islamists should return to the Islamic teachings and use persuasion – not law and authority – to hold positions of power.

They also lamented that defining an ‘Islamist’ is already hard enough, what more defining a ‘democrat Islamist’.

The roundtable is an effort to learn from the various experiences of Islamic movements and political parties, namely from the Middle East, says Saifuddin Abdullah ( left ), the GMM chief executive officer.

“Many of us (in Malaysia) are doing soul-searching. And because of so many issues and fatwas, there is a need for such discussions to show that it is not about using laws and authority but one should go back to the teachings of Islam,” said Saifuddin.

Dzulkefly Ahmad of PAS said that religious bodies should also regard dialogue platforms as a need before they make fatwas for the Muslims.

“Such engagements (among Muslims are necessary) in a democratic process of arriving at a sound judgement before fatwas are born,” said Dzulkefly, who heads the PAS research centre.

A number of fatwa rulings has taken centre stage recently, namely the fatwa on touching dogs and the fatwa in Selangor on the NGO Sisters in Islam which was declared deviant.

Dialogue antidote to radicalism

 

Dr Driss Bouanou from the Moroccan Party of Justice and Development said that platforms and roundtables to talk about democracy among Islamists play the role of preventing radicalisation in the Muslim world.

“Humankind today is in desperate need of moderate ideas. No one can accuse Morrocan Muslims as not being democratic. We are with secularists and liberalists,” said Driss.

Azzam Tamimi of Al Hiwar TV based in London, said that democracy is not alien to Islam.

“Democracy is an essence to arrive at good governance; (it has) nothing to do with creed,” said Azzam.

He also said that the ‘Arab spring’ in Egypt is only part of the process for Egypt to achieve good governance.

“What happened with Mohamed Morsi is only the painful part of the labour," said Azzam.

 

Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood Party, was the first elected president of Egypt after the Arab spring uprising, only to be booted out in a coup d’etat by the army in less than a year.

“Don’t we as Muslims have the right to enjoy our own emancipation rather than copy it from the others (west)?” said Azzam, who has written many papers and books on Islam and democracy.

Speaker Anis Matta of the Prosperous Justice Party of Indonesia said that Islamists must learn the art of persuasion to deal with differences in ideologies, as well as differences in interests.

“The western powers’ hate for Islamists are not because they feel that Islamists are against democracy. It is more due to their fear that their own (economic and political) interests are being challenged,” said Anis.

The one-day roundtable was also attended by participants from the media and civil rights organisations.