Srinagar, Jan. 19 -- By Haris Rashid

EVEN as consensus over "resource curse" as a primary inhibiting factor for democratization in the Middle East is emerging, but for the sake of convenience, Islam is still blamed for being inconsistent with democracy because most of the Middle East countries are Muslim majority. While it is true that there are many dictators of Muslim majority countries who exploit Islam to justify their rule but their justification cannot be extended to claim that democracy itself is inconsistent with Islam. Dr Mohammad Iqbal came up with an argument that democracy is not only thoroughly consistent with Islam but it is also an important aspect of it. Iqbal argued for an Islamic democracy that would not only face up to...