HADHRAT Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (Rahmatullah alayh), explaining the Islamic system of Autocracy, said:

Modernists are at pains to assert Islamic validity to the western concept of democracy. Their fallacious argument is that democracy is Shura. Then they proceed to substantiate this
‘shura-democracy’ on the basis of the Qur’aanic aayat: “And, consult with them in matters.”

However, the democracy form of government has its own principles of consultation (which are at variance with the Shari’ah). One of these principles is that in the scenario of difference of opinion, the majority opinion will prevail. The king (or the
president) is unable to veto the majority decision. If the king (or president) has the power of vetoing the decision of the parliament, then it will not be democracy (in the true meaning of the concept). It will then be a dictatorship. This establishes that a government will not be a democracy purely…