There is not a day when the people of the world do not hear some news about the killing and ‎wounding of people in the Middle East due to war, terrorism, mine explosions, ethnic violence, ‎security crackdowns and the like. Such news are published so frequently in the world media that ‎they have perhaps numbed the sensitivities of the public to the daily "deaths" that take place in ‎the Middle East. How did it happen that Middle Easterners ended up with this fate? Is there a ‎viable prospect for them to free themselves from this situation?‎

As a Muslim, who has lived in Iran all her life and is somewhat familiar with the conditions of ‎other Muslim nations in the region, I believe that the absence of democracy is the main and ‎primary reason for the pitiful condition of Middle Easterners. Unfortunately, because of certain ‎historic events, most Muslim countries in this region and throughout the world lack true ‎democratic foundations. Because of this, rulers often fail to meet people's basic needs, and a ‎dangerous gap emerges between the rulers and the ruled. ‎

The primary excuse of rulers in the region for the absence of democracy is that democracy is not ‎compatible with local traditions or Islamic principles. Of course, those who subscribe to this ‎view recognize only the official reading of tradition and religion and do not care for alternative ‎readings. Such governments equate any criticism against their performance with criticizing ‎national or Islamic values, and thus identify their critics as traitors or infidels. Some of these ‎governments revert to using phrases such as "Islamic democracy" or "Islamic human rights" to ‎justify their viewpoints, as if common terms with relatively definitive meanings can be changed ‎to mean something else. Democracy is the same in the East and the West, among Muslims and ‎Christians alike. Fortunately, alongside global activists, a new generation of Muslim human ‎rights defenders has emerged which shies away from political lineages. This movement has no ‎name, no leader, no central office or branch: it exists in the heart of every Muslim who does not ‎stand for injustice and oppression, and who is not willing to accept any false claim in the name ‎of religion. Progressive Muslim reformists, whose numbers are increasing in Muslim countries, ‎have challenged dogmatic readings of religion and, using arguments extracted from within ‎religion itself, demonstrate that not everything that a government performs is Islamic, even if it is ‎done in the name of Islam. They want to put an end to the misuse of Islam and prove that Islam ‎and democracy are indeed compatible. ‎

Meanwhile, when talking about democracy, one must not forget that even though democracy is ‎defined as the rule of the majority, the majority that comes to power through elections does not ‎have the right to rule in what ever manner it wishes. The elected majority can operate only ‎within certain bounds as defined by human rights principles and cannot divert from them. For ‎instance, no elected majority can approve imposing unjust policies on half a country's ‎population, meaning it's women, not even in the name of religion. No elected majority can ‎subvert free speech and the rights of minorities. ‎

We await the day when we can have "legitimate" governments in the Middle East; governments ‎that earn their legitimacy not only from the ballot box, but also from their respect for human ‎rights, and their reluctance to violate such rights under the guise of national security or upholding ‎principles of religion. ‎