From: Arab News
Arab Islamist movements have never been so close to grabbing power through open and democratic elections as they are today. They
have already succeeded in Tunisia and Egypt. They are expected to do
well in Algeria’s upcoming polls. And if elections are held in Jordan
this year, under a favorable voting law, they are expected to reap
between 25 to 35 percent of the contested parliamentary seats. Islamist
parties are gaining ground in Kuwait and Bahrain. They make up the
biggest opposition in Sudan. And in post-Qaddafi’s Libya newly formed
Islamist parties will play a major role in the political future of the
country.
In Syria, the banned Muslim Brotherhood party has a
commanding position in the Syrian National Council, which represents
most opponents of the regime of Bashar Assad. In the Gaza Strip, Hamas, a
group with close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan and Egypt,
has been in control since 2007.
In Yemen the Islamists are
reasserting their presence, and historically the Muslim Brotherhood was
considered as the largest opposition group to the rule of ousted
President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
In almost every Arab country today
political Islam is thriving, but it is not of one color. The Muslim
Brotherhood, the oldest and most popular political movement on the
scene, is regarded as moderate compared to radical and fundamentalist
parties and groups such as Al Tahrir Party. In Iraq Shiite Islamist
parties, some of which have strong ties with Iran, have jockeyed for
power and became major political players. Most Sunni parties have allied
themselves with a secular coalition led by former Prime Minister Ayad
Allawi. Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki has been accused of stirring
anti-Sunni sentiments in an attempt to monopolize government.
It
is now clear that the biggest winners from the Arab Spring, the popular
wave of non-ideological anti-regime uprisings that have been sweeping
the region for more than a year, are the Islamists. They have already
won a majority in Tunisian, Egyptian and Moroccan parliamentary
elections.
But can they be trusted to deliver and maintain a civil
state which enshrines democracy and pluralism? Furthermore, can they
confront the complicated social, economic and political challenges which
previous governments have failed to meet?
In Egypt there are
worrying signs that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis are running
away with the political process. Together they control Egypt’s
two-chamber Parliament. Earlier in the week the Freedom and Justice
Party (FJP) and Al Nour Party dominated the 100-member body chosen by
Parliament to write a new constitution. While there was nothing illegal
in the way the Islamists took over the panel, they were immediately
attacked for excluding liberal, nationalist, secular and independent
figures. Critics of the move say Islamist domination of the
constitutional body will produce an Islamic constitution, or one that
reflects the ideological beliefs of the Islamists, while ignoring
Egypt’s diverse cultural and religious realities.
Earlier the
Muslim Brotherhood said it will not present its own nominee to the
presidential elections to be held in May, but recent signals indicate
that the movement is having second thoughts. It is clear that Egypt’s
Islamists have abandoned earlier promises not to usurp the political
process and to work with other parties and political streams in a
fragile transitional phase. Such contradictions have inflamed an already
tense atmosphere. The ruling military council has launched an
unprecedented attack on the Muslim Brotherhood calling on it “to be
aware of history’s lessons, to avoid past mistakes …and to look to the
future with the spirit of cooperation.”
In contrast, Syria’s
Muslim Brotherhood has unveiled a “national covenant with the Syrian
people” from its exile in Turkey. On Sunday the movement pledged to
respect democracy and share power in a civil state once Assad’s regime
is toppled. “We want a democratic Syria and we do not want to control
the country alone,” it said in a statement. It added that the group was
committed to “a civil and democratic republican state with a
parliamentary system, in which all the people are treated equal
regardless of faith or ethnicity.”
But the Muslim Brotherhood is
not alone in the political arena. The recent rise of the Salafis, whose
ideological and political agendas differ markedly from those of the
Muslim Brotherhood, is a cause for concern. In Egypt and Tunisia the
Salafis have made it clear that their aim is to establish a Sharia
governed Islamic state.
The truth of the matter is that the
Islamists have not been tested before. And in spite of repeated
assurances, there are no guarantees that once in government they will
not try to impose their own views and beliefs or interrupt the
democratic transfer of power.
For the time being popular
sentiments favor the Islamists after decades of persecution by
authoritarian governments. The Islamists are already in control in
Tunisia and Egypt and other countries will soon follow. It is the
biggest test yet for political Islam and the future of a region that is
still grappling with the issues of democracy, human rights, pluralism,
secularism and civil state.
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