Senior Fellow
The Wave: Man, God, and the Ballot Box in the Middle East
The promise of democracy for Muslims offers something historically unparalleled. Where Islamist groups once dreamed of revolution, quietly developed paramilitary cells, and assassinated their secular opponents, mainstream Islamist groups today see elections as a means for society to maintain akhlaq; the mores that define good Muslims. The fundamentalist embrace of democratic politics as a vehicle for removing secular dictatorships in the Arab world is now the rule, not the exception, holding out the possibility that, for the first time since the early caliphs, an organic, reciprocal relationship will emerge between leaders and their communities.
In this book, Reuel Marc Gerecht describes the democratic wave that is beginning to sweep through the Middle East today—and why the West must reassess its belief that Muslims cannot embrace democracy. Gerecht reveals that there are two powerful—likely unstoppable—democratic movements in the Middle East. One is from the left and comprehensible to any Westerner; the other, dubious and disorienting to Westerners, comes from the Islamic right. The author explains the importance of those countries, most notably Egypt, Turkey, Iran, and the United States, that hold the keys to the success or failure of democracy in the region. He tells why any legitimate form of government in the contemporary Arab Middle East must be complementary to the Prophet Muhammad’s legacy and the Holy Law—and speculates on what an Arab Islamic democracy might look like. And he details why, as the idea of Islamic democracy grows in the Middle East, the West, especially the United States, will have an immense, healthy role—if we choose to take it—in providing global criticism of what Muslims are doing[???]. For its own well-being, he asserts, the United States should fully engage in the great ethical and political debates that are currently developing in the Middle East.
Democracy in the Middle East could end Islam’s long history of rebellious violence and redirect the faith’s unrequited quest for virtuous men. In an age of proliferating nuclear weapons, that would be a good thing for believers and nonbelievers alike.