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Viewpoint - February 24, 2011

Reexamining Islamic Threat
By: Hasan Abu Nimah
The Jordan Times

For much of the Western world the view has been that
democratisation in the Arab world carried the risk of
bringing Muslim extremists to power. Neither in Tunis
nor in Egypt has this been the case. It is unlikely
that it will be in the countries where regime change
looks imminent.

This perception was constantly pressed by many autocratic
Arab regimes in order to justify their survival. They
offered themselves as better alternatives to what would
follow in case the foreign support on which they heavily
relied was to be reconsidered.

In its desperate quest to enhance its sagging credibility
while its negotiations with Israel and the United States
were only reaping failure, the Palestinian Authority
constantly warned of the risk of a Hamas takeover if it
were to fall. That was clearly reflected in the Palestine
Papers published by Al Jazeera late last month. It was
in the interest of the PA, therefore, to persistently
demonise Hamas and to amplify its danger.

WikiLeaks has shown that Egypt was also warning its
American allies of the potent danger of the Muslim Brother-
hood, with former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, in his
repeated contacts with US officials, accusing the Brother-
hood of "spawning armed extremists" warning in 2008 "that
if Iran ever backed the banned Islamist group, Tehran
would become "our enemy". (The Huffington Post, February
20, 2011). Mubarak's obsession with the Muslim Brotherhood
and Hamas was more than evident.

Although the US State Department was sceptical about the
magnitude of the danger, according to the leaked documents,
apparently Washington was not uncomfortable with foreign
warnings that served its own scare tactics at home focus-
ing mainly on the threat of the Islamic extremists.

In a desperate appeal last Sunday to pacify the rage of the
Libyan public, president Muammar Qadhafi's son, Seif Al
Islam, warned of the rise of Islamic emirates right on the
Mediterranean basin.

"They now want to transform Libya into a group of (Islamic)
emirates, small states and even separatism," and this, he
warned, will not be accepted by the Western powers or by
NATO.

It is clear that Qadhafi's son wanted his message to
address both his people at home and the Western world;
either they support his father's regime against foreign
agendas bent on destroying the country and threatening the
oil flow or end up dealing with another Afghanistan and
Somalia. But this has been the same rhetoric used by all
the corrupt and despotic regimes that have been so far
confronted with their rebellious publics.

This conception has empirically been proven entirely wrong.
Neither in Tunisia nor in Egypt, where Muslim parties were
legally banned and politically oppressed, did Islamic move-
ments lead the uprising. In both cases they struggled hard
for a place on the surging revolutionary bandwagon. The
same should safely apply to the many Arab countries where
ruling regimes are currently under pressure: Libya, Yemen,
Bahrain, Algeria and Morocco.

In Egypt, despite the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood had
featured for decades as a significant and credible part of
the opposition, the role of the group in the almost
spontaneous young people's uprising was secondary. While
it was the last to join the popular movement calling for
the overthrow of the Mubarak regime, the Brotherhood was
the first to jump on vice president Omar Suleiman's call
for dialogue, probably seeing that as an opportunity for
recognition.

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Amongst the many currently debated topics in Egypt on the
character of the new political structure in post-Mubarak
Egypt, constitutional reform features high on the
revolutionary agenda. The trend towards secularism in an
overwhelmingly Muslim country, with the Turkish model in
mind, is significant. Not only are the constitution's
articles that were tailored to guarantee Mubarak's life-
time presidency targeted for change, but notably, Article
2 that asserts that Islamic jurisprudence is the principal
source of legislation seems to be targeted for change too.
Until the current constitution was amended in 1980, Islamic
jurisprudence was "a principal source", not "the principal"
source, of legislation as the text stands now.

Obviously, all Arab countries that have undergone regime
change, or are likely to, are predominantly Muslim. Their
societies are highly religious, quite traditional and
mostly conservative. In normal conditions, none of this
however has largely translated into fanaticism, religious
extremism, exclusion or discord among fellow citizens who
adhere to different faiths. It is not unusual, therefore,
to see this religious sentiment reflected in the people's
political performance if placed within a proper democratic
context. That is the case in every country worldwide. Why
should this part of the world be different?

Muslim-Christian tensions that had been escalating in
Egypt in the past years instantly disappeared when all
Egyptian citizens found themselves united for genuine
democracy against oppression and injustice.

Only under bad government do social contradictions and
communal discord fester, not under liberal rule, where
the dignity and the rights of the citizen are fully
respected by the state.

The manner in which the population in Tunisia and Egypt
conducted themselves under critical circumstances and in
the face of brutal regime retaliation should make every
Arab, Christian or Muslim, proud of this nation, its great
tradition and culture.

We nearly lost faith in all that as a result of intensive
foreign propaganda (with much pseudo-intellectual local
support, sadly) associating Islam and the Arab culture in
general with violence, terrorism, disrespect for human
life, backwardness, ignorance, failure, destructiveness,
inability to understand, or even deserve, the meaning of
freedom and democratic values. We were labelled by Western
historians and "experts" - Bernard Lewis and Samuel
Huntington as a couple of examples - as the "sick man" of
the modern world, the antithesis of civilisation and the
enemies of humanity.

It is time that such prevailing myths are thoroughly
reexamined in light of the remarkable behaviour of
Tunisians and Egyptians, thus far.

Undeniably there have been shocking blunders committed by
Muslims in the name of Islam and the Muslim people over
the past few decades, and they fed that hostile propaganda.
But they should be put in their proper context. Were they
not mostly the irrational response not only to an equally
irrational aggression, but to sustained attack and constant
interference in the very internal affairs of this region's
countries by the "civilised" West, to help Israel get away
with its violence, territorial loot and occupation? It is
also the direct result of prolonged dictatorial rule,
corruption and chaos; the very dictatorial rule that the
Western powers have supported and nourished.

It is also time that the other ingrained myth - that the
countries of the region had only two options to choose
from, ruthless corrupt dictators or turbanned mullahs -
be reconsidered too.

It may still be too early to determine with any amount
of certainty what the share of the Muslim parties in
the newly emerging Arab democracies is likely to be.
What may be assured, however, is that they will be
independent, proper and pluralistic democracies, with
even representation and clean governance. The equality
such democracies guarantee for their people creates the
constructive and loyal citizens capable of building their
nations free of intolerance and violence.

The Muslim parties will unquestionably occupy portions
of the political space in the emerging democracies,
commensurate, naturally, with the popular vote they could
earn. Most likely they will not lead but if they do, as
a result of popular vote, then that should be respected
as an inevitable democratic product.

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