Fear of Islam?
Istanbul, Turkey, February 8, 2011
Salaroche

The rise of the Muslim Brotherhood has many people in the West fearing an Iran-like revolution in Egypt. Those fears are founded on historical facts. For the past 90 years or so, the Muslim Brotherhood has spawned characters and organizations whose ideas and actions have later gone to wreak havoc in several parts of the world.

In the West, the Muslim Brotherhood doesn't have a lot of sympathizers; yet, the Muslim Brotherhood is not going to go away simply because the West doesn't like it. Those guys are here to stay. And they are here to stay with a strong presence particularly in Egypt.

Is the Muslim Brotherhood a menace to the western world at large? Some people fear so. But, whether that fear is reason enough to ban them from participating in Egypt's political life is another story. Mubarak succeeded in doing so for some thirty years, and in so doing forced the Brotherhood to tame some of its most basic instincts. But the Egyptian political landscape is changing and it's supposed to change even more in the next few months.

One of the most significant changes to come is the inevitability of the Muslim Brotherhood's participation in the Egyptian political processes of the future. There's no two ways about it: The Brotherhood is there to stay. But, as long as democracy is in place in Egypt, the Brotherhood will not have carte blanche to do all it wants.

In fact, the Brotherhood is not a monolithic party where everyone shares exactly the same religious ideas, and when some of them share exactly the same ideas there's always the fact that not all of them are willing to pursue those ideas with the same zeal. There are hardliners as well as moderates within the Brotherhood.

The key word for the Egypt of the future is Democracy. If democracy is truly installed in Egypt, the fear of a rising Islamic menace in that country will gradually dissipate. On what grounds do I venture to assert this? On the grounds where I'm standing as I write this words: Turkey.

Turkey is an Islamic country. Ninety nine percent of its population is Muslim. Yet, by law, there's no official religion in the country, no political party is allowed to run on a religious platform; and the veil, the religious scarf, or any other religious garment, for male or female, are banned in government buildings or educational institutions.

Turkey is a good example of how Islam can gradually cope with western values. Women are not oppressed here in Turkey as much as they are in other Muslim countries. Turkish women, at least those who live in Istanbul, are as free as Korean or Maltese women are. Turkey represents plenty of hope for the progressive elements of the Muslim world and, as we have recently seen in Tunis, Egypt, Jordan and Yemen, the number of progressive Muslims is growing at the speed of a Twitt.

The Muslim Brotherhood is an association to be reckoned with. As a Muslim organization it has the potential and the capacity to do plenty of things in either the right or the wrong direction. But, if positioned to play its game in a democratic political arena, if it were to be elected to a position of legitimate power, it would have to deliver the goods to the Egyptian people or be thrown out in the next election.

Yes, The Muslim Brotherhood may have very dangerous elements in its leadership and in its ranks, but doesn't the Republican Party have such elements too? Or how about Le Front National in France? There are very dangerous extremist elements in that party as well, yet the National Front isn't banned from participating in the French political game.

Let's let the situation in Egypt evolve as it should and let's give the Muslim Brotherhood a chance to prove themselves capable of playing its part in a democratic arena. The west should support a peaceful transition from autocracy to democracy in Egypt and hope for the best, with a little pressure here in there to see that the Egyptian military stays neutral and out of the way.

In the meantime, cheers to the Arab world in general and to the Egyptian people in particular. The west doesn't have exclusive rights over the idea of freedom. The idea of freedom is there waiting for our Muslim brethren to embrace it.

Salaroche