Foreword

Islam and democracy

Volker Kaul

pp. 89-95

in: Seyla Benhabib, Volker Kaul (eds), Toward new democratic imaginaries, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

The essays in this section are concerned with one fundamental question: Is Islam compatible with democracy or not? They give a rather straightforward answer: Yes, Islam and democracy are indeed compatible, even though some qualify this statement. In a sense, the articles attempt to respond to the challenge that remained open in the first section, namely, why Muslims should accept democratic pluralism and should not endorse extremism and fundamentalism.