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Is it really an ontological impossibility for Muslims to achieve democratic governance?

This divisive blame game has been going on for many decades and unfortunately, our holy religion, Islam, has suffered asymmetric wounds. Yet, we cannot descend into defensiveness and denial. I would like to strike a new path.

Let me start with some meditations.

It is surely clear that the perception of Islam in most of the non-Islamic world is not especially pleasant these days. Using that perception, let me be a little provocative for the sake of discussion: Islam is the religion of the East, of rather primitive and uneducated peoples who don’t understand democracy and secular values, who both kill and die easily and in rather barbaric ways, and who, more than anything else, hate the West.

Irrationality is the main adjective attributed to the great majority of Muslims, along with many others: oppressive, outmoded, restrictive, extremist, backward, dangerous. Media coverage, a great deal of which is distorted or framed according to pre-conceptions, constitutes a major reason for this perception.

Yet, we cannot just blame the Western media and colonialism and simply acquit ourselves. If there is a gap between what we believe to be the case and how we are perceived as Muslims, a multitude of issues have to be investigated, neutrally, and without an ideological lens.

The first, and most urgent question relates to ISIL in particular, and Salafi commentaries on Islam in general. As the Salafi readings of the Holy Book constitute the basis of ISIL’s claims, we need to ask why these readings have gained prominence, rather than the milder ones of the mainstream Sunni or Shia branches.