Book Description:
A Cooperative Approach Toward Understanding Democracy: A Foundation for Ending Extremism and Preventing Conflict was created as part of a citizen exchange program delivered by Legacy International, entitled Religion, Human Rights & Democracy: Peer Interactions between Religious and Civic Leaders in the U.S. and in Kazakhstan. Activities for the Religion, Human Rights & Democracy program were designed "to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries; to strengthen the ties which unite us with other nations.and thus to assist in the development of friendly, sympathetic and peaceful relations between the United States and the other countries of the world."

 Reviews:
Islam and Democracy is a timely myth-breaker for an era where Islam is often mis-perceived as intolerant, extreme and inherently undemocratic while chauvenistic assertions of the superiority of Western democracy are made too often and too unreflexively by European and North-American ideologues. The author of this book J.E. Rash is both an experienced Muslim religious leader and educator as well as a committed democratic thinker, giving this work a depth of understanding and commitment seldom found in other texts dealing with these issues.

This book provides a critical reading of the position of democracy in the Islamic tradition from a sincere, committed, democratic Muslim perspective while also offering a critique of current democratic practice, such as it is, in the U.S., where the author resides, framed against the high principles of the U.S. founding fathers. The text explores the core principles and values common to both liberal democracy and Islam to reveal a convincing democratic discourse embedded within essential Islamic beliefs and practices.

The fresh approach contained in this book to both the essential values and principles of both Islam and democracy, which are all-too-often either taken for granted or totally overlooked by partisans and detractors alike, on its own makes this a valuable and thought-provoking text. The fact that it is the product of an insightful, critically-minded Western Muslim gives it the added dimension of being a manifesto and call to action for Muslim democrats to find the basis of an Islamic democracy, not in externally imposed models but in the very core of Muslim tradition itself. -Shayn Mccallum

November 2006

Published by Wingspan Press

Paperback; 148 pages
ISBN 1-59594-097-9

For those interested in obtaining tools for dealing with one of the seeming conundrums of today's world, Rash's book provides invaluable insights through a constructive approach that builds bridges of understanding. He provides a conceptual framework with which the shared ideals of both democracy and Islam (to which we may add Christianity and Judaism) can be realized within fallible human societies. It is an enlightening process to compare statements made by the founders of American democracy in the Eighteenth century with references to the Qu'ran, sunnah, and the long tradition of Islamic scholarly literature--including today's--which Rash brings together in one collection of essays.

One of Rash's most important points is that if democracy is going to gain a greater hold in predominantly Muslim nations, it cannot be imposed from outside: "Changes will only happen with cultural sensitivity." Remarks quoted by Thomas Jefferson and others make clear that the best way to preserve spiritual freedom in a society (required by Islam) is to maintain separation between religious and secular powers. In an Islamic historical context, too, the theocracies of Iran and the Taliban are seen as aberrations. But in finding the roots of democracy in Islam, the author suggests a powerful and democratic model from which to refer to from within Muslim societies themselves, a central and culturally endemic, peaceful, moderate guide, whose principles can be progressively applied in moving towards more tolerant, diverse, open-minded and culturally sensitive 21st century societies. -Michel Ellison