John Esposito's

Let me begin by saying that the question as we put it out has become a perennial question about Islam and democracy. Unfortunately too often it ignores a n What is actually happening intellectually among many Muslims in terms of t Our very title reflects only one possibility when we say what, because the question becomes what do we mean by liberal democracy? Well I t And even that experience and the way in w I want to thank John Volk for that idea. In fact much of t Or is it the liberal democracy to be found in many countries in Europe in places If so can a modern government in today's world of multiple modernities choose to establish a democratic government with an Islamically inspired moral and et Now let's look at democracy itself on the ground. And here I refer to poll data but particularly the Gallup World Poll we now have more than that. I'm associated with Gallup. And it represents the voices of one billion Muslims. In fact when you ask Muslims about those qualities that we associate with democracy, self-determination, the rule of law, free speech, free press, we see the majority of Muslims want these freedoms, want a more open and accountable political system. But many do not believe that they have to choose between Islam and democracy. And so for many they do not want a Western secular democracy but want to see a form of government that is in fact informed by religious values and principles. Now that often is expressed in terms of wanting to see Sharia but here Sharia in many different meanings as a kind of moral compass of values and principles, excuse me, as a source of law not the source of law. Now t But in terms of what is meant by something For some it would be constitutional lip service. For others it would be a system where no law is contrary to what would be seen as Islamic values or where a country's laws are a blend of those derived from Western legal codes and selected Islamic laws. But clearly significant majorities are not talking about any form of theocracy. Well how does tradition matter? And here I'll be brief. In a new book that I have called The Future of Islam, I The many ways tradition in Islam as in Judaism as in Christianity is anchor. In many of these traditions you talk about as it were the divinely revealed sources and then you have tradition and that tradition is a composite of many t But one of the issues that arises is the extent to w And so when you look at debates wit One of the issues that arises is to what extent is tradition sacred? To be very specific, take the issue of and t For many traditionalists, Timothy Winter at Cambridge and others, they would argue that there is not And that therefore Muslims should not choose to go back to the sources to revise and come up with a new position. So here's where you have a difference and that is other reformers will say that tradition should be a reference point but that the fact that tradition is a product of both sacred sources and h And I think that becomes a very important division as we look towards the future and will affect issues So that one will have to say that the traditional role of minorities wit , that in a modern society with a quality of citizens , that needs to be revisited and issues such as apostasy and others. Thank you.