Rachid al-Ghannouchi as a different approach to the relationship between İslam and democracy

The relationship between Islam and democracy is one of the most discussed issues today. Discussions about the relationship between Islam as a religion and democracy as a political system generally focus on the difference in the metaphysical principles they both have and on the question of how these metaphysical principles can be reconciled. These metaphysical principles, on the other hand, are determined by ontological and epistemological considerations in both. Accordingly, based on the principle that the norms of existence and knowledge will determine the form of politics as a field of action; It is being tried to determine whether Islam allows democracy. In Islam, which covers every field from before birth to after death, Allah delivered the knowledge of truth to people through his prophets. And humanity has been tasked with building and improving itself, the society, the state, and the world using these plenary truths and according to the time and space. What allows these norms to decode into a form in accordance with time and space is the presence of a liminal space that is believed to exist between these two. In this liminal area, Muslims are trying to explore the opportunities offered by norms using certain methodologies. This, in turn, gives the Islamic world a serious dynamism. But the fact that forms become the norm, that exceptional principles turn into fundamental principles can lead to missing the historicity of practice and not being able to see the possibilities contained in the fundamental principles. As a matter of fact, with the gradual narrowing of this liminal area, which adds dynamism to the Islamic world, Muslims have faced a serious crisis in terms of accepting the divine offer with a new offer that has been on the rise in the West since the 18th century. The anthropocentric and secular character of the new offer, which is considered to be the essence of democracy, aimed at liberating people in the face of all kinds of arbitrary forces, has been evaluated as the cause of this crisis. This crisis has been exacerbated by the fact that the West's new proposal has cost the Islamic world war, colonization, and othering. The current situation has prevented an objective assessment of the possibilities both in Islam and in the Western experience. Therefore, ideas about the impossibility of an Islamic - democratic relationship have developed both in the Islamic world and in the West. But there is also a segment in both the Islamic world and the Western world that is trying to develop an objective point of view on the relationship between Islam and democracy. One of the most frequently cited names in this field today is Rachid Al-Ghannouchi. According to Ghannouchi, Muslims have become oppressed, fragmented, colonized, and plunged into chaos due to the fact that the basic principles of Islam (such as consensus, ordering goodness, and prohibiting evil), which should shape the politics, remain exceptional in historical experience. From this point of view, Ghannouchi considered democracy as an opportunity and a management mechanism that will implement the basic principles of Islam in order to save Muslims from the current situation. As both a thinker and an Islamic movement/party leader, Ghannouchi invites Muslims to the world of possibilities of the liminal space that has decimated between principles and practice. Ghannouchi's method of invitation is to remind us of what has been forgotten in historical experience, rather than discovering something new. Keywords: Islam, West, Modernity, Democracy, Rachid Al-Ghannouchi.