With the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the United States has begun the daunting task of bringing democracy to a nation that has not known freedom. The consensus among many experts is that the Arab world and democracy are incompatible. Islam, the argument goes, breeds a submissive attitude - not only to Allah but also to political and religious leaders as well - that makes Muslims inherently incapable of participating in the rough-and- tumble world of electoral politics and of respecting the rights of minorities who follow a different religious or cultural path. In "After Jihad," Noah Feldman, a New...