No, The Liberals Have Won The Battle!
The Reasons Behind the Meteoric Rise Of The Islamists
31 December 2011By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
"The dictatorships of liberal rulers, who were ousted,
alongside their band of liberal intelligentsia, were
one of the reasons behind the meteoric rise of the
Islamists". This is the opinion that is being
enthusiastically proclaimed by many, most recently my
colleague Dr. Hamad Al-Majid ["How have the liberals
contributed to the rise of the Islamists?" published
19/12/2011].
Whoever says that [Muammar] Gaddafi, [Bashar] al-Assad,
and [Ali Abdullah] Saleh are liberals certainly does
not know what they are talking about. Not being an
Islamist does not automatically means that one is a
liberal! A liberal is someone who believes in freedoms
for everyone, and the equality of the law. So is it
reasonable to classify Bashar al-Assad as a liberal,
simply because he wears a suit and tie and is
clean-shaven? If we were to follow such logic, then
the bearded [Fidel] Castro must be classified as an
Islamist! These are nothing more than suppressive,
totalitarian military rulers, and it does not matter
whether a leader cloaks himself in religious clothing
like an Iranian Ayatollah, or a decorated military
uniform like Omar al-Bashir in Sudan, or an Italian
suit like Bashar al-Assad.
What is even worse is the mistaken belief that the
liberals in Egypt and Tunisia have lost [the battle],
based on the sweeping electoral victories achieved by
the Islamists in both countries. In reality, the
liberals have won something they could never have
dreamed of in the past, they have won the [political]
system…as Egypt and Tunisia have both adopted liberal
democracy. Governance being decided by the ballot box,
the acceptance of freedoms and the recognition of
human rights, including women's rights and the rights
of minorities, are all liberal principles. It is the
liberals who have won, regardless of who comes to
power, whether this is the Islamists or the
Arab-nationalists, or anybody else for that matter,
for they will be presiding over a liberal political
system.
Dr. Hamad al-Majid believes that the liberals have
lost…but it is the liberals who have won! This is what
happened in Eastern Europe following the collapse of
the Soviet Union and the communist regimes. Some
communists won elections there, and nobody complained
or asked that they be prevented from political
participation. Liberalism is not a front or a party,
but a general concept that embraces everyone,
including its opponents, so long as they accept its
principles, unlike communism, religious extremism, or
Baathism, which are based on the principles of
exclusion.
Liberalism's victory can be clearly seen in the
rhetoric and speeches issued by the Muslim Brotherhood
and the Salafist al-Nour Party in Egypt, not to
mention the Tunisian Islamist Ennahda Party's keenness
to reiterate its adoption of the concept of rights and
liberties. However the most surprising thing was the
ability of the Salafists – who are ultra-conservatives
– to cope with the new [liberal] system, and one
Salafist youth refused – live on television – to
endorse the slogan "together we will reform life by
religion." He instead stressed that the Salafist
party's slogan is "a modern identity and state built
with Egyptian hands and minds."
The power of liberal ideology is now clear to see in
the three major powers [in Egypt]: the military, the
political parties and the street. We are currently
experiencing a phase of transition from proclamations
of liberalism – as was the cause during the Mubarak
era in Egypt or the Ben Ali era in Tunisia – to the
genuine application of liberalism on the ground.
Liberalism is a philosophy that exists across the
world, from industrial Japan to spiritual India, from
Russia – the fortress of Communism – to the
materialistic west. However, we must recognize that
different societies have applied liberalism in
different ways, according to their own social and
cultural norms and traditions. Accordingly, we saw
Egypt failing to enforce elections laws prohibiting
the use of religion, and particularly mosques and
pulpits, from electoral campaigning. In other words,
secularism could not be enforced in the Egyptian
liberal experience, and this failure is accepted,
understood, and justified.
Through their own personal experiences, the Egyptians
will decide for themselves what suits them; they do
not have to copy the Westminster system, or adopt the
strict French concept of secularism.
As for the victory of the Islamists [at the
elections], this has in turn granted legitimacy to the
concept of liberalism. Their victory is a victory for
liberalism and the liberals, not the opposite as some
people have claimed.
Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya
television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of
Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in
the daily newspapers of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is
a US post-graduate degree in mass communications. He
has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs.
He is currently based in Dubai.
©
EsinIslam.Com
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