I believe Azerbaijan not only is not a dictatorship, but is also a secular government.
Iran isn't a dictatorship.
I'm sure there are more, but these are off the top of my head.
Iran isn't a dictatorship.
I'm sure there are more, but these are off the top of my head.
It really feels like a repeat of communism. The rise of an ideology across the world. It's not an homogeneous block. Various muslim ethnic groups hate each others, as did the Maoists, Stalinists, Trotskyist, etc. It happens pretty much everywhere there is a muslim population. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lybia, Egypt, Yemen, Somalia / Eritrea, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc. Western leaders like to pretend that islamists are a minority of extremist groups but the reality is that pretty much anytime there has been a free-ish election in any of these countries, the islamists toped the polls, or got an outright majority.
I think it will get worse before it gets better.
To be clear, Iran is not totalitarian, but definitely shades of dictatorship.
Iran certainly cannot be called a full democracy, the religious council has to approve candidacies for President - it isn't even clear if the current President Rouhani can pose as a candidate!
But there are some Muslim democracies working better, like Indonesia and Malaysia.