This paper focuses on the analysis of the Islamic thinker Kh. A. El-Fadl's political and legal conception. This conception assesses the potential of the Islamic tradition for the legitimization of democracy. We indicates that El-Fadl's concept is not another 'Islamic democracy' project, but an analysis of the relationship between democratic ethos and Islamic political values. It is demonstrated that an adequate understanding of this relationship requires a comprehension of Our'anic anthropology - the idea of human call, in particular. The logical transition from acceptance of God's sovereignty and the status of man as His earthly governor ('a successive authority') to the inadmissibility of usurpation of power is considered reasonable. The article proves that El-Fadl allows historical variability of the forms of checks and balances that impede usurpation of power. Therefore, he emphasizes precisely the democratic ethos, and not a particular political theory or a specific political regime. The irregularity of