Islamic movements seek power, historically made by UK and America: Experts

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#KUWAIT: The Islamic movements in the Middle East in general and in Kuwait, in particular, understood the needs of the people, or at least what they want to hear. The Arab Spring brought a great opportunity for Islamic movements to rise all over the Middle East and create majority seats in Parliament, or other forms of governments. The common ground among Islamic movements in the Region is seeking Islamic Shari'a as a source of legislations, while rejecting any foreign intervention in the internal affairs of the nation and considering Israel as a shared enemy.

 

Highlighting the issue was Najat Al-Hashash, a political activist who believes that the Salafi movement is calling for reforms, unlike the Muslim Brotherhood who are struggling for power.

 

"If we take a look at the behavior of the Salafi movement in Kuwait, we will notice that it's a reforming movement which aims to develop the Kuwaiti Society, while the (Muslim) Brotherhood's behavior has a desire for power".

Dahem Al-Ghatnai, a political analyst said the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis are movements which believe mostly in democracy and elections, adding that they call on relying on Islamic Shaira as the sole source for legislation.

 

According to Al-Ghatani, Islamic movements in Kuwait in are in general not extremists; however, he noted that extremism appeared once in an incident that occurred with the Peninsula Lions, an organization that staged several attacks in 2005 in Kuwait. Al-Ghatani added that a sub-division of these movements surfaced, known as "independent Islamists", where this category focuses on general public concerns or Islamic Sharia through the Constitution, unlike the case in Algeria and Yemen.

Concerning the trust the Egyptian people instilled in the Islamic movements, he said: "The Egyptians chose Islamic movements based on trust and it's not accurate to say that Egyptian don't want them in power", noting that moderation attracts people to these movements.

 

He added, "Saddam Hussein fall, which was followed by the rise of Shiite political parties in Iraq as well as in Iran raised some concerns among some people. Some of those who followed the extremists didn't succeed later in the elections because the Kuwaiti society is a moderate one".

He concluded," Liberals accuse Islamists of being extremists and as an observer I don't see this. There are extremists among Christians parties in Europe." He noted that some people who lost the trust of the middle class forced them to seek the Islamic movements in Kuwait

Regarding the fate of Islamic movements in the Middle East, Khair-Eddine Afyouni, a political analyst and a specialist in Islamic movements believes that Arabs chose the Salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt because they preferred to base their choice on Quran and the Sunna instead of man-made law, however, people are monitoring these movements' political performance as witnessed in Egypt and Tunsia.

 

As to the situation on the local arena, he added, "Kuwait is standing on an equilibrium point in terms of its relation with USA, Iran, the conflicts in the region, and the relationship with Saudi Arabia".

Afyouni, went on to say, "These revolutions will lead Muslims to power and not Islamists who try to invest religion for political gains." According to Afyouni, the Muslim Brotherhood's movement is British made and the Salafists is American born too.

 

"Before the end of the colonial era, colonist wanted to leave someone to be used as a pressure tool against regimes, so they created the Muslim Brotherhood as counterparts to any democratic or secular ideology," Afyouni added.

As for the Salafists movements, Afyouni said, "Al-Qaeda was American made and it's a part of a Saudi project called the Salafists which aims to practice pressure on GCC countries that doesn't support the Saudi Kingdom politically."

 

Afyouni warned Muslims from Hizb ut Tharir, a British made party that claims to restore the Caliphate and brands itself as the party which will liberate Jerusalem, similar to Hezbollah who brands  the organization as the party of God.

Dr. Nathan J. Brown, a distinguished scholar and author of several well-received books on Arab politics Islamist movements, believes that the Muslim Brotherhood had gone through ideological evolutionary phases changing from merely being socioreligious reform movements into political contestants. 

This evolution has put Islamist movements in what Dr. Brown called "the grey zone", where they had to dilute their Islamic speech to accommodate their new roles as political parties.

Taking the Muslim Brotherhood as an example, Dr. Brown discussed the effects of the politicization of Islamist movements on the organizational goals and plans of these movements. According to Dr. Brown, the Islamist movements can easily slip into the political mistake of "planning for next elections rather than planning for next generations" unless they handle this transformation wisely.

 

http://watanpdf.alwatan.com.kw/alwatanPDF/WatanDaily/2012-04-24/3.pdf