A more social-progressive Middle East World??

Insteed of the Middle East we have today where religious fundamentalism, huge gab between rich and poor and lack of democracy both in society and the family. Is it possible to imagine a Middle East which at an earlier point turned more socially progressive?

With equal rights for all people and no gender laws like we see for instance in Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Is this even possible to achieve at any point before or after 1900?
 
Before 1900 definitely, after increasingly less so as the factors that lead it in this direction get stronger.

There's no reason one would expect "the West" to not have "religious fundamentalism, huge gab between rich and poor and lack of democracy both in society and the family." up to around 1600-1700 as a given.

Especially the last two. That's been normal for most of human existence.
 
I imagine you're going to get a lot of comments in this thread suggesting a surviving, reformed, Ottoman Empire, but I'm going to go the other way and suggest Muhammad Ali is more successful in his conquests; specifically, the Europeans (especially the British & French), for whatever reason POD-wise, don't intervene when they did IOTL, and so ITTL Egypt comes to control all of Arabia, Syria, Sudan, and Ottoman North Africa before a peace is established. Muhammad Ali and his descendants were quite focused on modernizing and industrializing their territories, and given a free hand they likely would have created a type of liberal autocracy comparable to the OTL German Empire.

The Turks, in the mean time, would likely fall into a position of a British protectorate against further Russian, or Egyptian, expansion.
 
If the Second Reich is a liberal autocracy, remind me to stay out of the ones that aren't when AH.com goes on vacation to the 19th century again.

He (Mohammad Ali) might create a state of a similar level of social progressiveness, but that's not really that ideal.

Looking at Iran, it seems to have had a chance of having a more democratic (or at least secular) government if things had gone differently, but my knowledge is too sketchy to suggest anything or anyone in particular with confidence.
 
Also a more socially progressive and fair Middle East would properly have resulted in fewer wars in that region and hence no or very fewer confrontations between Muslims and Christians which we see in society today...
 
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