towfiq mohammad al-shavi and the general theory of council in islam

the concept of shoura (council), and the relationship between shoura and democracy, has a key role in development of religious modernist debates in muslim world. the “general theory of shoura” is one of these theories on islamic democracy that provided and developed by dr. towfiq mohammad al-shavi(birth, 1918/egypt). the three aspects of his theory are: 1) the religious basis of shoura that provide an islamic foundation for political modernity; 2) the definition of shoura as a social rule in the human action; 3) the separation between the council and the deliberation in islamic sacred texts. this third point is the radiant face of the general theory of shoura. al-shavi has attempt to separate the shoura as an institute, or as council, from the shoura as a voluntary deliberation, in islamic jurisprudence (fiqh).