Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” thesis has been extended to argue that Islam is a social, cultural, and religious civilization founded upon values and worldviews intrinsically opposed to democracy, pluralism, individual freedom, and human rights. Reza Aslan considers this “misguided and divisive rhetoric” (xv). He believes firmly in the possibility and necessity of an Islamic democracy. In fact, he argues that core democratic ideas such as social equality and religious pluralism can be found in Muhammad’s preaching. He does agree, however, that American secular democracy cannot be grafted unaltered onto a predominately Muslim society and must instead be reinterpreted in light of Islamic civilization.

Aslan’s core vision is of “a state run by Muslims for Muslims, in which the determination of values, the norms of behavior, and the formation of laws are influenced by Islamic morality” (257). Many aspects of this morality that would be the basis of an Islamic democracy would be familiar to the Western world: juridical equality for all (Muhammad’s original critique of the Quraysh tribe), respect for both genders (as seen in Muhammad’s insistence on women’s inheritance rights), and religious pluralism (as seen in the creation of protected dhimmi status for Christians and Jews).