Is Extremism in Islam Changing?

Is extremism in Islam changing?

By Claude Salhani

Militant Islamism appears to be entering a new phase, a new cycle that seems to be afoot. Now before anyone shouts victory, it may still be a long while before we see any obvious change take effect, as these cycles are slow in coming about.

To be sure many will disagree, arguing that quite the contrary, militant Islam is on the rise more so today than ever before. While I agree that militant Islam is on the move – not necessarily on the rise – I also believe that it is far too early in the game to reach any firm conclusions. However, a series of events may leave us deducting that the beginning of the end of Islamism – or political Islam — is closer than previously anticipated.

A string of events may indicate a change is afoot. Now before any one shouts victory, it may be a long-while before we see any obvious changes. As these cycles are slow in coming about.

It is important to recall that every political empire has a point it reaches before it starts to descend; some take longer than other to reach that point, but look back throughout history and it happened to the Assyrians; the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Persians, the Ottomans, the British and then the communists, to name but a few.

Communism nearly conquered the world. It controlled practically half the planet and frightened the other half. And then suddenly it came crashing down just as fast as the Berlin Wall collapsed under the sheer pressure of regular people chipping away at it.

While at its base communism was perhaps a valid idea — eradicating poverty and unemployment and homelessness and injustice — it never worked, it couldn’t have worked, and most like will never work.

First, it was never applied as it was intended by its original theorist, Karl Marx. Instead, what emerged were several branches, each following a different thinker (Engels, Mao, or Trotsky), some addressing the workers, others focusing on the peasants) and each equally flawed. What emerged were pseudo-fascist regimes operating under the guise of communism.

What did work and what is practiced today in nearly all countries, including the United States, is a form of socialist humanitarian guardrails derived from the socialist/communist agenda, such as Medicare and Social Security and adapted to fit in a capitalistic/ market driven society. Communism, as imagined by Marx and Engels, could never work in our current social economic democratic structure.

As Winston Churchill used to say about democracy, it remains the best of all the systems tried.

In that respect, communism is very similar to politicized Islam. Take a good idea and turn it into a fascist like movement. It will coast for a while, particularly in light of the great political void that is presently felt in the Arab world after the defeat of communism and in the absence of any noticeable Arab leaders. While leaders like Egypt’s Gama Abdel Nasser and the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Yasser Arafat had their many flaws, nevertheless, they carried about them a certain charisma that was appreciated by the people, and they knew how to capture the crowd’s attention.

Looking at a recent series of events – unrelated – but when put together, the project a very different picture. Consider the following:

First, the sudden defeat of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, who only a year ago had succeeded in winning the presidency in a well run and fair election. As we have seen in recent days the Egyptian military intervened to remove the Islamist president from office after a popular uprising demanded he step down. They accused him of placing his party’s interests ahead of those of the country.

What is amazing in this respect is that the Brotherhood failed in Egypt, in the very country where it was born. This is very significant.

Second: the recent clashes between Sunni and Shia are an indication that there is something fundamentally wrong within the Umma – the Muslim community – that must be addressed from within.

Third: the French military intervention in Mali last January when Islamist groups loyal to al-Qaida practically took control of the country in an armed coup. Ignoring the takeover would have given al-Qaida a firm footing in a very sensitive and strategic region of Africa, situated right between the Maghreb – a very wide border with Algeria, where groups of the Polisario Front who have already been infiltrated by pro-al-Qaida elements operate, and countries such as Niger, and Guinea, where Islamists are also active.

The French rushed troops into their former African colony and forced the Islamists out. Many are believed to have sought refuge in Libya.
But that’s another story.

Third: Well, okay, let’s talk about Libya. The Islamists are gathering here as they await the next battle. Some of them are finding their way to Syria, the new magnet for Islamists around the world.

Fourth: Syria: While the regime of President Bashar Assad is facing a real threat from the Islamist forces aligned against it, they are nevertheless suffering some very heavy losses. Even if the end result of the Syrian conflict leaves the Islamists ahead of the pack, they will come out much weakened by an atrocious war that will have decimated a fair amount of the Islamists.

Fifth: New laws and regulations are being enacted in Europe and the United States to prevent Islamists to hide behind laws while they support, incite and encourage terrorism against the very West where they chose to reside.

One of the first people to feel the impact of these new regulations is the radical and militant cleric Abu Qatada. A resident of the United Kingdom for the past 20 years, the Jordanian-born Palestinian Omar Othman, was deported back to Jordan to stand trial.

Abu Qatada first came to the attention of the authorities in 2001 when he was first arrested over alleged terror connections in 2001 and the UK has been battling to deport him for eight years.

Connecting the dots between these events gives us a different perspective of the Middle East. Piece them together and new a pattern begins to emerge.

Together we can bring those changes about.

Claude Salhani is an independent journalist based in Washington, DC and the Middle East. He specializes in Middle Eastern affairs, terrorism and politicized Islam and has recently launched ArabSpringNow.com, covering ongoing news in the region. He tweets at @claudesalhani

Picture credit: Washington Post