Islamic Revival

The following is a detailed paper by a brother on this topic. Dr Muhammad Tahir al-Qadri, a Pakistani scholar and writer, is the founder of Minhaj al-Quran and the political party, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT). In the Pakistani legislative elections of 2002, the party won 0.7% of the popular vote. [1] Qadri wrote an article in 2006, “The Islamic State”, where he argued Islam does not have a detailed system of political governance.  The notion of Caliphate he argued is little more than a concept and Western systems of Republicanism, unitary or federal, can be adopted. This critique examines Qadri’s argument that the Islamic political system accepts or is compatible with democracy and republicanism. It considers the two core arguments Qadri proposes to substantiate his assertion: Islamic political thought has never advocated a system of governance, and, Republicanism does not contradict Islam but is favoured by it. The critique also considers flaws in a number of premises