Re: Polytheism: in modern world
The only thing common between Islamic form of Government and Democracy is that, the chosen governor/ruler...does not exercise sovereignty, and thats it.
That is the essence of democracy in it's classic sense, although (as with many other things) modern Wetern politics has co-opted the term to mean something specific. What you are talking about is Jeffersonian democracy...which does not preclude the existence of other kinds.
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In the Islamic system, sovereignty belongs to Allah alone and it is His revealed laws, described in the Quran and the Hadith, that are implemented.
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I find no mention of this concept in any of the classic literature; I'd be grateful if you could point me the right way. I'm thinking all this talk is pretty much usurping Western thoughts on politics and grafting our own concepts onto them.
Historically, in practical terms sovereignty seemed to rest with the Caliph, where he could even (temporarily) suspend Allah's laws if the need was there.
Further, new laws don't come from Allah. Only a small subset of laws are revealed. All the rest need to be in a non-contradictory state with respect to this subset. Nor are all laws logically derived from the set of revealed laws (nor is it impermissible to define temporal laws that do not contradict core Shariah). So some amount of sovereignty does indeed lie with the people...