Talbi rejected the direct association between Shura and democracy.[8] He argues that, while desirable in itself, shura is from a time and place which had no conception of democracy as we know it. Indeed, says Talbi, neither Islam nor Western civilisation had this democratic conception before the modern period, when democracy, as political idea and practice was born- at least not democracy in our modern meaning of the term.[9] For Talbi, democracy meant the voice of the people determining who rules and how they rule, with the associated notions of universal human rights, freedom of expression, religious pluralism and equality before the law. True democracy was for Talbi the proper political form for our age, as it embodies those values which for him constitute part of the original true Islam.[10]