MUSLIM WORLD

Rami G. Khouri on Islamism in Arab World

Two decades have passed since the start of the modern Islamist revival in the mid-1970s - enough time to gauge the performance of the Islamists, and to glean valuable clues about how best to deal with the important challenge they pose.

Islamism is the single most important manifestation of contemporary Arab political, social and economic discontent, and the leading expression of popular rebellion, reawakening and revival throughout the Middle East. Because of its predominance in developing, formerly colonised lands throughout the south, Islam has also played an important modern role as an agent for national identity, liberation and dignity.

The roots of today's populist, politicised Islam lie deep in the many nationalist, anti-colonial and anti-Western struggles in the modern Middle East that relied on Islam for several different purposes: as a rallying cry to seek freedom from foreign subjugation, to forge national entities from tribal alliances, or to reform and revive their stagnant societies in the nineteenth century.

Such struggles included those of the Mahdi in Sudan and the Wahabis in Saudi Arabia, the Sanausis in Libya, and Abd el-Qadir in Algeria, among many others. Reformist Islamist movements in the twentieth century were led by Jamal el-Din-el-Afghani, Mohammad

Abdul and Rashid Rida in Egypt, Allal el-Fasi in Morocco, Abdul Aziz el-Thalabi in Tunisia and Abdul Hamid ibn Badis in Algeria.

As Israel and most Arab and Western states have tried to crush the Islamists by a combination of political denial and brute forces, they only strengthen the Islamists. Such government repression tends only to exacerbate the underlying economic regression and political autocracy that feed the growth of the Islamist movements - as Egypt and Algeria attest.

It also heightens the credibility and appeal of the Islamists as the most important opposition force, especially among the economically poor, socially alienated and politically marginalised.

Conversely, where Islamists are accepted as part of the political system and are allowed to organise and compete for power - in Jordan, Yemen, Kuwait and parts of Lebanon - they tend towards moderation, pluralism, democratic electoral competition, non-violent struggle and a minority but credible role in the political power structure.

The experience of Islamists in the political systems of the region has been very mixed. Islamism has been an effective force for protest challenge and solace, but is unable to date to translate its vision and promise into a coherent political programme to deliver the stable, sensible statehood that Arabs seek.

It remains vague about the precise political, economic and social programmes it would institute, and has no real, proven national successes. Its strength as a movement that speaks in the language of change, goodness and justice has not been matched by its success as an ideology of statehood or as an incumbent regime in, any country.

The five most prominent examples of explicitly "Islamic" states in recent years are Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Sudan and Pakistan. They all have positive assets and emotionally and politically satisfying attributes, but they are hardly a collective paradigm of sustainable economic development, national stability, personal freedoms, intellectual tolerance or political pluralism.

In several countries, Islamists of different ideological bents have exercised local or national power via several routes by winning through the ballot box (Jordan in 1989, Algeria in 1990 and 1991, Kuwait in 1993 and Yemen in 1994), by seizing power in tandem with the military (Iran, Sudan); or by virtue of their status as one of several ethnic-religious groups in a power-sharing system (Lebanon).

In virtually all of these cases, they have been unable to deliver on their promises of improving quality of life. Islamists remain more an expression of Arab and Middle Eastern problems than the means to their solution.

In all countries where Islamists have competed for power in an open, free and pluralistic political system they have made some gains, but subsequently they have generated opposition to themselves and, in some cases lost public support. The clearest example of latter is in Jordan, where the Islamists (Muslim Brotherhood and independent Islamists) won 40 per cent of the seats in 1993, and then won less than 15 per cent of votes in the nationwide municipal elections in 1995.

In Iran the Islamist regime's economic incompetence has led to rising foreign debt, foreign exchange shortages, and high inflation. The regime faces a serious challenge to its policies in the form of spontaneous demonstrations and riots, along with unprecedented public calls for more personal and intellectual freedoms.

Islamists will remain strong effective, and appealing where they are at the stage of challenging regimes (such as in Algeria, Egypt, and, most recently, Turkey); but they will prove less credible in cases where they are in power or where they compete for power in an open system.

Turkey: Batuk Gathani On Army's Role in Defending Secular State

Torn between the ways of its Islamist Government and covert conflict with its secular heritage. Turkey is again going through a phase of political hiccups. Islamist Prime Minister Erbakan is seen walking on a tight rope as he defied the Turkish military on radical religious curbs proposed by the military.

Mr. Erbakan made correct noises to defend the secular values of Turkey. He has been "sufficiently and correctly" warned by the Turkish military not to undermine country's secular traditions. The warning came (from) Turkey's military dominated 'national security council' (NSC) which comprises Turkey's five most senior military commanders, the President, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs. In the NSC's concluding statement, the council resolved that any deviation from the "contemporary values" of Turkish republic would be challenged. "It has been decided that destructive and separatist groups are seeking to weaken our democracy and legal system by blurring the distinction between the secular and anti-secular. It (NSC) has decided that in Turkey, secularism is not only a form of government but a way of life and guarantee of democracy and social peace. It has been decided that it is impossible to step back from our understanding of social and legal principles, which form the core of the state and that out-of-date measures which are taken without regard for these principles do not coincide with our legal system."

The NSC statement said since Turkey is campaigning to become a member of the European Union, "it is necessary to end all speculation which may lead to suspicions about our democracy and damage Turkey's image and prestige abroad." It is obvious that the Turkish military establishment and secular political parties are not happy about Islamist Govt.'s overt encouragement for young Turks to attend Islamist religious schools and plans to construct large mosques in Istanbul and Ankara.

Turkey's military has listed several demands, which suggest strengthening the largely ceremonial post of the President, granting Turkish judiciary greater independence, reform of the election system and more authority to local governments. Turkish media reports indicate that NSC, is demanding a crackdown on religious fanatics who are trying to tighten their. Grip on sections of Turkish media and educational institutions.

The wily and pragmatic Mr. Erbakan is in a quandary and proposes to hold meetings with Opposition leaders to restore and consolidate "atmosphere of security and tranquillity" in the country. The Islamist Govt. has been in power for eight months and in recent weeks has tried to strengthen its ties with Islamist states - mainly Iran and Muslim Central Asia region.

The Turkish military has listed 20 demands to contain spread of religious fundamentalism which includes ban on religious dress for men and women and closure of Koranic teaching institutions controlled by fundamentalists. The Muslim fundamentalists will in future be denied access to jobs in civil service and military.

The Turkish military has staged three military coups in recent years and the conclusions of the latest NSC meeting is interpreted as indirect warning to religious fanatics that Turkish military will take up its responsibility to defend Turkey's secular traditions founded by creator of modern Turkey, Kamal Ataturk -the father of nation 74 years ago.

New York Times Report On Turkish Women's March against Shariat

Thousands of Turks, most of them women, marched through the streets of Ankara in the first major public protest against the policies of the Islamic-led government.

Marchers carried signs and chanted slogans condemning (the) efforts to move Turkey closer to Shariat ... "Let Turkey shout "Down with Shariat", they chanted. One banner proclaimed, "Women's Rights are Human Rights", while another said simply, "Women Exist". Turkey is the most secular Muslim country and the role of religion in public life is restricted by both the law and custom.

Turkish secularists fear that moves toward Islamic fundamentalism here may set an example for other moderate Muslim countries, and the organisers of Saturday's march hoped the protest would prove that anti-fundamentalist sentiment remains widespread in Turkey.

Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan, leader of the Muslim-oriented Welfare Party, is seeking to end restrictions on women wearing veils or head scarves in the civil service and on public university campuses.

He contends that he is simply defending freedom of choice, but critics believe this to be part of a campaign against secularism. During his eight months in power, Mr. Erbakan has not imposed any major legal changes and has, in fact, stepped back from many of the radical proposals he made while in the Opposition.

Women played a crucial role in supporting the secular reforms decreed during the 1920s by the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Sponsors of the march included not only women's groups but also labour unions, law and medicine associations and cultural and retirees' organisations. "We are marching against Shariat and the darkness that aims to keep women outside of humanity," said Mr. Senal Sarahan, a leader of the Modern Lawyer's Association. Leaders of the Welfare Party had made no statements about the march, and the secularist True Path Party, which is a partner in Mr. Erbakan's coalition, was divided. Mr. Hasan Ekinci, deputy chairman of the True Path, condemned the march as an attempt to divide Turks ... He said marchers were seeking to restrict religious freedom under the guise of their "so-called attitude of being contemporary". But another True Path leader, the Minister for Defence, Mr. Turhan Tayan. The Foreign Minister, Ms. Tansu Ciller, head of the True Path and the country's most prominent woman politician, took no public position.