‘No future for political Islam in Middle East’
Political Islam has no future in the region and religion should be kept separate from politics, experts said yesterday on the closing day of the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate.
“Over the past year, Daesh has dominated large areas of Iraq and Syria,” said Dr Abdullah Abah, professor of philosophy and social studies at the University of Nouakchott in Mauritania.
“But we are now seeing its military defeat, so political Islam has entered a dilemma.
“It was a destructive power in the civil society of many Arab countries, we saw a lot of sectarianism and divisions in the political arena, but there is an end of the embracing of political Islam movements.”
Political Islam came to fill a vacuum in the region caused by failed secular ideologies that dominated a large part of the Arab world, including pan-Arabism and socialism.
“It was used to fight communism in the region and the Soviets in Afghanistan,” said Dr Ebtisam Al Ketbi, president of the Emirates Policy Centre, the Abu Dhabi think tank that organised the event.
“Policies have been limited to uprooting the phenomenon, but we must look into the future of political Islam ... and discuss the roles of countries like Qatar and Iran in feeding it.”
Islam is the only religion in the world that includes a military dimension such as jihad and martyrdom. “So they have awoken this giant and we are suffering,” said Dr Mustafa Alani, senior adviser and director of security and terrorism at the Gulf Research Centre.
“We cannot defeat it completely in the future – it can only be fought by moderate Islam, not by secular thinking. But without dealing with this phenomenon, we won’t get rid of extremism.”
Studies have shown that Europe has been the main fuel for Daesh, from countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany. “It’s strange,” Dr Abah said. “Some are of Islamic origin, but a third of these terrorists are not Muslim – they are of European origin.
“I hope we can keep Islam away from politics because western countries developed after dividing religion from the state,” Dr Alani said. “The reality on the ground is completely different here.
“Daesh was a product that came out of a lack of justice so they are a product of political situations.”
Al Qaeda was established after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Daesh was born after the US invasion of Iraq.
“Militias supporting these terrorist groups are another issue,” he said.
“From Hizbollah in Lebanon to the Houthis in Yemen, the environment has to change. We cannot destroy these terrorist groups without destroying the militias that are backed by Iran.”
Dr Ridwan Al Sayyid, visiting professor of Islamic studies at The American University of Beirut, said: “It is being manipulated. If you want Islam to be a unifying factor, let us not involve it in politics. Iranians are sabotaging surrounding countries in the name of religion and I don’t think there is a future for it.”