In the West, a nation state is considered the most important factor of political loyalty and narrower loyalty (are embedded within the larger loyalty to the nation state. Other factors such as religious and linguistic identities are less relevant in the West. However, in Islam, as Huntington mentions, it is the opposite, and people show more loyalty to Islam. He mentions that “Throughout Islam the small group and the great faith, the tribe and the ummah, have been the principal foci of loyalty and commitment, and the nation state has been less significant.” In addition to that, “The idea of sovereign nation state is incompatible with the sovereignty of Allah and the primacy of the ummah.” Huntington investigates the weakness of the nation state in Islam through the conflicts that occurred between different Muslim groups after World War II; for example, Iraq occupying neighboring countries. He then supports his claim by pointing out the observation of another author, Ira Lapidus. Lapidus observes that religion (Islam) plays a major role in the political systems and the social and economic aspects of Arab …show more content…
They further claim that “In global terms, the definition of “democracy” is closely identified with major elements of the political traditions of Western Europe and the United States.” On the other hand, they argue that, “Even within the Western tradition democracy is an essentially contested term.” The two authors refer to Islamic countries as “Theo-democracy”, but they argue that basic democractic elements such as representative elections and parliament are compatible with Islam, and Islam encourages democracy. The authors associate democracy with the concepts of shura (consultation), ijma (consensus), and ijtihad (independent interpretive judgment), and finally claim that democracy in Islam exists whither the term “democracy” is used or