From Fatema Mernissi, Islam and Democracy : Fear of the Modern World:
When we speak about the conflict between Islam and democracy, we are in fact talking about an eminently legal conflict. If the basic reference for Islam is the Koran, for democracy it is effectively the United Nations Charter, which is above all a superlaw.
The majority of Muslim states have signed this covenant, and thus find themselves ruled by two contradictory laws. One law gives citizens freedom of thought, while the shari’a, in its official interpretation based on ta’a (obedience), condemns it. Most Muslims, who are familiar with the Koran from very early in life, have never had occasion to read the United Nations Charter or to become acquainted with its key concepts. For many people, the charter is like the Haguza monster of my childhood: you hear about it, but no one has ever yet seen it. It has come onto our shores mysteriously folded away in the attache cases of diplomats and, like a harem courtesan, has never succeeded in getting out. With age and confinement is has become, like Haguza, the more terrifying because of its invisibility.