Islamic rule good model: scholar

Head of the Cairo-based Ibn Khaldon Centre for Studies Saadeddin Ibrahim has said the Islamists are poised to win elections in different Arab states in the absence of "convincing alternatives".

Ibrahim told reporters on the sidelines of the US Islamic World Forum that the Turkish and Moroccan experience of Islamic rule "was a good model to follow".

He said Islamic politicians in Turkey "dealt creatively" with the issue of that country’s admission to the European Union, making better efforts than the previous secular governments’, as well as with the Kurdish issue.

The American intellectual of Egyptian origin said "we can’t talk about the Islamic world as one bloc".

He agreed with US moves for democracy in the Middle East, but not with America’s "biased policies" on Israel and the US economic policies aimed at domination of the region.

"I was happy with the American intervention in Iraq, but I disagree with the way the US manages things over there," Ibrahim said.