Can Islam have a democratic future? It has a glorious past and present

I was born Abdul Halim bin Ismael from Nakhon si Thammarat, southern Thailand. I was born in a Pesantran. In Southern Thailand we call it Pondok. I was born in a Madrassah. I was born in a Madhhab, a basic Muslim Islamic education institution.

But here I am. If the Thai government could make me a spokesman, I think there is value in trying to understand Islam and what it can contribute to democracy.

Let me tell you a story. Thirteen days before September 11, 2001, the government of Austria called a meeting, A Dialogue Among Civilizations, attended by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.

At that dialogue were Rabbi Schneider, from New York, Hans Kung, Professor of Catholic Thought, from Switzerland, an adviser to President Khatami of Iran, the proponent of this dialogue, a few others, and myself.

The Secretary-General proposed that we talk about global civilisation. I, being from a Buddhist-majority country, raised my hand and said "Maybe it is not time yet to talk about global civilisation because I can sense that exponents and representatives of those great civilisations are still very attached and emotionally hanging on to them".

I proposed that we talk about global awareness, which I see emerging everywhere. I think this meeting was in the spirit of mutual respect in search of something that will help us bridge the gaps between us.

You can find the seeds of ideas and principles of all political ideologies in the fundamental teachings of any religion. If you think of democracy as a mixture of various ideas, values and cultures from across the world and from all civilisations, it is something of a modern invention.

Islam is the same. It is a continuation of the tradition of monotheism from Judaism, to Christianity, to Islam. Its uniqueness is that we count every prophet all the way back to Adam. Adam, Moses and Jesus are prophets of Islam. The only difference is that we believe that Mohammed is the last prophet.

The Jews stopped at Malachi - Jesus is not one of their prophets. The Christians do not consider there were any prophets after Jesus. However all three traditions belong to the same monotheistic tradition.

It is important to understand the frustration, emotions and feelings of Muslims. Muslims are very proud of their past but are reminded of the injustices that have been imposed upon them. Muslims are frustrated by the present injustices they feel but are inspired by the unwavering fate that they will be vindicated in the end.

Islam has a very strong identity, sometimes uncompromisingly so. But, given that the last two or three hundred years have produced a record of interference, invasion and colonialism the process of evolution, diversification and development has not been continuous in the Muslim world.

Muslim scholars, when Europe was in the Dark Ages, studied the texts of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. They produced texts on medicine, astronomy and philosophy. They passed this wisdom on to the Christian fathers in the monasteries in Rome. From there it flowed through to the Renaissance, the industrial revolution, the Age of Enlightenment and to the power that would lead Europe into the Levant, into the Middle East and into the Holy Land in the form of colonialism.