Râşid El-Gannûşî’nin Demokrasi ve Laiklik Anlayışı
Rachid Al-Ghannouchi’s Understanding of Democracy and Secularism
Yazar: Öztürk, Aysel; Bağlıoğlu, Ahmet
Dergi: e-Makalat Mezhep Araştırmaları Dergisi, Vol. 12 No. 2, 2019
Anahtar kelimeler: Religious Studies ; Din Araştırmaları ; Ghannouchi,Democracy,Pluralism,Secularism,Civil Society ; Gannûşî,Demokrasi,Çoğulculuk,Laiklik,Sivil Toplum

Tunuslu düşünür vesiyasetçi olan Râşid el-Gannûşî çağdaş İslam düşüncesine, demokrasi ve İslâmarasındaki ilişkiyi yeniden düşünüp yorumlaması, sivil toplum dilini yenidentanımlaması ve sivil toplum ile laiklik kavramlarının bağdaşmadığı şeklindekidüşünceleri ile katkı sağlamış bir mütefekkirdir. Onun temel düşüncesi; sömürgesonrası Tunus’taki diktatoryaya karşı demokrasi ve çoğulculuğu savunmasıdır. O,“şûrâ” kavramına yüklediği anlam ile aslında demokrasinin İslâm’ın özünde devar olduğunu iddia eder. Fakat İslâm’ın demokrasi ile uyumlu olduğunu iddiaetmekle birlikte modern liberal demokrasi türlerinin laiklik temellerisebebiyle Müslüman dünyasına uymadığının da altını çizer. Bu makalede günümüzsiyaset anlayışına sunulmuş bir zenginlik olarak değerlendirilebilecek olan Gannûşî’nindemokrasi ve laiklik anlayışı ele alınacaktır.

Tunusian thinker and politician, Rachid al-Ghannouchi,is a thinker who has contributed to the idea of contemporary Islamic thought byrethinking and interpreting the relationship between democracy and Islam,redefining the language of civil society and his thoughts that the concepts ofcivil society and secularism are incompatible. His basic idea is the defense ofdemocracy and pluralism against post-colonial dictatorship in Tunusia. With themeaning that he assigned to the concept of “Shura”, he claims that democracyactually exists in the very esence of Islam. But He claims that Islam is compatiblewith democracy, but underlines the fact that modern liberal democracy types donot fit into the Muslim world due to the secularism. In this article,Ghannouchi’s understanding of democracy and secularism which can be consideredas a richness presented to the political concept of today, will be discussed.        SummaryRachid al-Ghannouchi, a Tunisianthinker and leader of the Islamic movement, has been a leading figure incontemporary Islamic thought  in recentyears and is well respected by global circles. In addition to being a thinker,he is also directly involved in politics. His most important characteristic isthat he defens democracy against tyranny and puts his views into practice inhis politcal life. Because he gained appreciation of many segments with hisconciliatory attitude in his country during the Arap Spring and after.Rachid al-Ghannouchi considersdemocracy as the common legacy of all civilizations. Islamic heritage was alsoused in the formation of this heritage. Therefore, to benefit from democracy isto benefit from our own civilization. According to Ghannouchi who does notconsider democracy as merely administrative tool in the form of “publicadministration for public”,democracy is a mode of behavior and cultural stage.This form of behavior develops both as a feeling for oneself and for others.Democracy used in administration is only one side of general democracy. Fromthis poit of view, if democracy is not provided at the point of culture andbehavior, democracy will be reduced to form and will lose its functionality. Ghannouchi who considers democracyas a form and content regime, states that formally democracy has principlessuch as election, separation of powers, pluralism. On the other hand It is theexpression of the value given to man in terms of the content regime. In thisrespect, the best regimes are those that confess and assure the value given tohuman beings. And by this way, he places the understanding of protecting humaninto essence of democracy.The most important values thatdemocracy offers to people are the sovereignty of the people, elections,separation of powers and public freedoms. The extent to which government isdemocratic is directly proportional to the degree of public participation inpublic affairs. The more this participation is in the administration, the moredemocracy is increased.According to Ghannouchi, what isessential in ideal democracy is not the concentration of authority in a centerbut its distribution. This requires that the decision be made jointly, notindividually. The Qur’an also aimed at the breadth of participation such asdemocracy, at the point of decision-making by emphasizing the concept of shura.Ghannouchi also expressed theshortcomings of democracy in the West. According to him, these deficiencies are;the fact that  the votes of voters whoappear to be equal does not have the same effect. Another deficiency of Westerndemocracy is that it cannot cross national borders. The political philosophy ofthe West, which is based on materialism and nationalism, is effective inexperiencing these deficiencies.Ghannouchi emphasized much more theseparation of powers and the multi-party principles among the principles ofdemocracy.  According to him, what isimportant in the principle of separation of powers is not how many forces aredivided and to whom the task is assingned. What is important is that there ismutual aid between state forces rather than conflict and intervention.On the other hand, he criticizesIslamists who do not accept the multi-party system which is another importantprinciple of democracy. Ghannouchi considers pluralism as the basic elements ofthe rule of law and states that this system acts as an insurance for  the prevention oftyranny. Ghannouchi; in explaining therelationship between Islam and democracy, is on the side of those who claimthat Islam and democracy are compatible. From the concept of shura, he statesthat there is democracy at the core of Islam. Although he argues that Islam iscompatible with democracy, he also underlines that modern liberal democracydoes not fit into the Muslim world because of its secular foundations.According to Ghannouchi, these deficiencies in Western democracy are not anobstacle for its use. Because democracy is a machanism that can be adopted toour culture by removing these deficiencies.  While Ghannouchi takes the conceptof secularism, he goes to its emergence period. He indicates that the Muslimworld does not need secularism by comparing the conditions of emergence in theWest and its presence in the Muslim world. Because, when are looked at thereasons for the emergence of secularism in the West, it is seen that there is astruggle against a religion that prevents progress. However, there is no needto include secularism in the Islamic world, since Islam is not a religion thathinders science, freedom and progress. He also argues that secularism in theWest and secularism in Muslim countries are not the same. Secularism in theWest, while separating religion from the state, exhibits a situtaion that doesnot interfere with each other; secularism in the Muslim world turned into ameans of oppression against religion by the state. While secularism in theWest  brought religious freedom, itbecame a factor that put pressure on religious by the state in the Muslimworld. Ghannouchi who criticizes the waysecularism is practiced, thinks that Islamic movement has no problem withsecularism which is applied in the form of neutrality of the state againstbeliefs and the rescue of the public sphere from the authority of the clergy.Ghannouchi’s this thought seems to be effective in his current politics. According to Ghannouchi, who alsoputs the meaning he attaches to secularism to modernity, these concepts areapplied in Muslim countries as controlling people and oppressing religion. Buttrue modernity should ensure human freedom and establish a democratic system. Ghannouchi contributed tocontemporary Islamic thought with his definition of civil society and hiscomments on the relationship between civil society and secularism. He thinksthat civil society and modern society are equivalent and that civil society isbased on voluntarism. On the other hand, Muslim society is a society withoutcoercion when viewed from the point of faith. Therefore the Muslim communityshows the characteristic of civilization. Civil society also requires themorality: “The things you wish for yourself, wish them for others, either.”However secularism, as seen in Western society, has had consequences such asselfishness and individuality. In such a case, while secularism harms civilsociety, a secular society will lose its civilian character.