Before 28th of January 2011, the idea of a Muslim country being ruled by true shariah laws seemed far fetched. Those who called for the implementation of Islamic law, and dreamed of change in the Arab world were considered to be either mad or backward. Salafists were seen as outcasts, and the security apparatus in countries such as Egypt closely monitored their groups. Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were imprisoned, and elections in which they participated in were contaminated with fraud to prevent their participation in the legislative process. Other Islamist groups that once took up violence as a path for change (most notably ElJamaa ElIslamiya) were locked away for decades, despite giving up violence as a tool for reform. Mainstream media portrayed these Islamic revivalist movements in a negative light. The method of Western portrayal of Muslims and mainstream Arab media of Islamist groups is almost identical.
The freedoms and liberties that came with the Arab Spring allowed many people to do what they feared to do before, interact with Islamists.
With the newly found freedom, and after decades of building a popular base within the lower social classes, Islamists began to gain much ground in the political arena, winning majority votes in legislative and constitutional structures such as the parliament and constitutional committees. In Egypt, Islamists managed to reach the highest executive position in the nation, the presidency.
With the slow process of reviving the Islamic system of rule in a modern context, many Islamist youth have become impatient with the sluggish pace at the mainstream Islamist groups have been moving. New Islamist groups have emerged, considering mainstream entities such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the mainstream salafist parties to be too accommodating to liberal interests and demands.
It is important to face the fact that Islamic revivalism will not go away no matter what methods are used to eradicate it. Violence begets more violence, as we have seen in places such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Deprivation of political participation instills resentment toward modern society as the days before the Arab Spring showed. And stereotyping has only lead to a rise of hatred toward the so-called intellectual and political elite.
Recent attempts at toppling current elected Islamist rulers have resulted in the emergence of a new generation of Islamic revivalist groups who aim at protecting the Islamic project.
The rise of Islamic revivalists to power in Arab countries did not begin with the Arab Spring. Algeria, Somalia, and Palestine are examples in which Islamists gained popular support and rose to the highest positions of authority in their respective countries.
The scenarios that occurred in Algeria and Somalia have many similarities, in both cases, the Islamic revivalists arrived to power by popular support (in Algeria’s case, popular elections, in Somalia’s case, public support in eliminating the warlords). The West supported the means with which they were removed from power, and in both cases armed Islamic groups emerged, even more zealous and inclined to violence then those who were toppled. These armed groups were extremely hostile to the West and to Western interests due to previous meddling in their countries’ affairs.
In Palestine, in an effort to ‘pacify’ the resistance movement Hamas, the West encouraged Hamas to take part in the formal political system of Palestine and take part in free and fair elections. And so, in 2006, it participated in the parliamentary elections, winning over 57% of the seats. Emerging from the elections victorious, Hamas extended its hands to Fatah and called for the formation of a unity government. Quite unhappy about the results, the more liberal Fatah refused to comply with Hamas’s invitation, and a new internal struggle began, the climax of which was Hamas’s crack down on Fatah activities and headquarters in the Gaza Strip (after discovering a plot to overthrow the elected government, according the Hamas statements). Numerous air raids and two wars were waged by Israel to bring an end to Hamas’s hold on the recently liberated Gaza Strip; all attempts ending in a failure.
As has been the pattern, the attempts at overthrowing the Islamist ruling system in Gaza have resulted in the emergence of more zealous Islamist groups. Hamas has tried to keep a lid on these groups who have considered Hamas’s system to be lacking in true Islamic principles, or compromising towards Fatah and the occupation.
The Arab Spring has lifted the lid that should be kept removed. It is more beneficial for society that Islamic revivalist groups be free to take part in political and social life, rather than locked away and labeled as outcasts and militants. All attempts at removing them and eliminating them have resulted in negative reactions and, in many cases, violence.
America, it seems, has realized that it is in its interest that the new Islamist rulers not be toppled by force. It has called on the Egyptian opposition to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections. It has also made recent promises of financial support for the ailing economy. And it recently sold more military aircraft and equipment, signaling that not much has changed in regards to its military relationship with Cairo.
It is also in the Zionist regime’s best interest that some level of stability remains in Egypt. An Egypt ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood is safer for its interests than a destabilized nation with alQaeda-style groups at its borders.
However, the rise of Islamists to power in the Arab Spring countries has bothered other countries in the region. The nation that has been most irked by these events is the United Arab Emirates. Traditionally hostile and threatened by Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, it has exploited the presence of Egyptians and of Egyptian interests in its political battle with the new rulers of Egypt. (Word has also spread among pro-Islamists in Egypt that the UAE has supported and funded attempts to topple the current regime.)
With internal conflicts brewing between a liberal-socialist-anarchist alliance and Islamists in Arab Spring countries that have witnessed the rise of Islamists to power, and with the emergence of more zealous Islamist groups, these countries stand on the brink of either civil war, or Islamic revolutions. In either case, it would be impossible to avoid bloodshed, and it is best to avoid both scenarios for the good of the people.
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