THE ISLAMISTS A CONTEXTUAL HISTORY OF POLITICAL ISLAM BASHEER. M NAFI TMNSLAT ED BY ASLAM FAROUK-ALLI THE ISLAMISTS A CONTEXTUAL HISTORY OF POLITICAL ISLAM BASHEER M NAFI TMNSLATED BY ASLAM FAROUK-ALLI First published in Arabic as al-Islamiyun in 2010 by Al Jazeera Centre for �u..I''''''""l4JI;'=',. Studies, Doha. The second Arabic edition was published in 2014. ALJAZEERA CENTRE FOR STUDIES First published in English in 2017 by the Afro-Middle East Centre (AMEC), PO Box 411494, Craighall 2024, Johannesburg, South Africa. http://www.amec.org.za ISBN: 978-0-9946825-3-6 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any fOlm or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior pel1l1ission of the Afro-Middle East Centre (AMEC). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of AMEC or indicate that AMEC endorses the views of the author. In quoting fi'om this publication, readers are advised to attribute the source of the infol1l1ation to the author and not to AMEC. Cover photograph by Aslam Farouk-Alli: Tinmel Mosque in Morocco, built by the Caliph 'Abd al-Mu'min ibn 'Ali in 1153, in honour of Ibn Tnmart, the spiritual father of the Muwwahid Dynasty. Copy edited by Mary Ralphs Cover design by Karen Graphics Text design and layout by Karen Graphics Printed in South Africa by Impress Printers. Contents Acronyms and abbreviations............................................................. v Introduction to the English edition ............................................... vii 1 Islam and politics ....................................................................... 1 2 The early reformists ................................................................... 13 3 Hasan al-Banna and the Muslim Brotherhood .......................... 31 4 The Muslim Brotherhood and the 1952 Egyptian Revolution .. 51 5 Taqi aI-Din al-Nabhani and Hizb al-Tahrir.. .............................. 65 6 AI-Mawdudi and the Jamaat-i-Islami ........................................ 79 7 The revenge of the intellectual................................................... 97 8 Closing of the circle ................................................................... 115 9 The revolution of the jurist and the people ................................ 129 10 Crisis in the kingdom ofp lenty .................................................. 151 11 The spread ofv iolence ............................................................... 169 12 Islamist resistance fighters ......................................................... 193 13 The Islamist military coup ......................................................... 215 14 Transcontinental violence .......................................................... 233 15 Rise of reformist Islamists ......................................................... 255 16 Crisis of reformist Islamists ....................................................... 273 17 The limits of the reformist victory ............................................. 295 18 Conclusion: Islamists and the future .......................................... 315 Notes 329 ............................................................................................. Glossary ........................................................................................ 337 References ..................................................................................... 339 Acronyms and abbreviations AKP Justice and Development Party (Turkey) AQI al-Qa'ida in Iraq EU European Union FIS Islamic Salvation Front IRGC Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps P JD Justice and Development Party (Morocco) PAS Pan-Malay Islamic Party PLO Palestine Liberation Organization SAVAK Organization ofIntelligence and National Security SPLM Sudan People's Liberation Movement US/USA United States of America YMMA Young Muslim Men's Association v Introduction to the English edition C\ l (ork on the manuscript for this book was completed in 2006. - VV Minor additions and corrections were made before the first Ar­ abic edition was published in 2010. In 2012, a Turkish edition went to the press in Istanbul, and in 2014, the second Arabic edition was pub­ lished. I am pleased that the book is reaching a broad range of interested readers. This introduction has given me an opportunity to test the ve­ racity of my arguments in light of the subsequent Arab revolutions and counter-revolutions, which have incited profound and comprehensive political and intellectual change in most Arab countries. It is important to note that this work was never intended to offer a history ofIslam or the Islamic world in the modem era. It is a limited at­ tempt to understand a single aspect of Muslim history, namely the emer­ gence and development of political Islam in the mid-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Furthermore, since it was written with the objec­ tive of reaching a broad audience, the book does not target academics and specialists, although I am hopeful that colleagues in the fields of modem history, politics and Islamic studies may find it useful for un­ dergraduate students. I have avoided elaborate referencing of sources and have tried to keep the footnoting as sparse as possible. However, a detailed bibliography is provided for those interested in further reading. I write this introduction as the initial effects of the major political transformations initiated in the Arab world at the onset of 2011 are coming into view. In the immediate aftermath of the Arab revolutions, vii THE ISLAMISTS Islamist political forces made significant gains in parliamentary elec­ tions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Yemen. However, the wave of counter-revolution that has swept through the Arab world since 2013 has led to the ousting of Islamist movements in a number of Arab countries while others have descended into civil war. Not surprisingly, many who initially saw the Arab revolutions as signalling the rise of political Islam have since become more circumspect. Some have even described the reversal in the fortunes of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Ennahda in Tunisia as the decline and fall of political Islam. Such an analysis is not without precedent. In 1994, against the back­ drop of the bloody internecine conflict in Afghanistan after the Soviet occupation and the degeneration of the Algerian transition into a civ­ il war, the eminent French political scientist Olivier Roy published a book entitled The Failure of Political Islam. Since Islamist groups had played a significant role in the events that engulfed Afghanistan and Algeria in the early 1990s, the collapse of post-Soviet Afghanistan and Algeria's short-lived democracy were regarded as the failure of the Is­ lamist movement. Although political Islam has existed in one form or another since the 1920s, it was not until the 1970s that it was seen as a force to be reck­ oned with in Muslim-majority societies. This era witnessed the triumph of Iran's Islamic revolution, the spearheading of resistance to Soviet occupation by the Afghan mujahidin, and the re-emergence of the Mus­ lim Brotherhood in Egypt as a mass movement. The sometimes-violent backlash against political Islam in the 1980s and 1990s, combined with the Islamists' inability to grasp the nature ofthe modem state, has made it difficult to predict the trajectory ofthe Islamist phenomenon. Howev­ er, the truth is that there is no 'ideal type' against which to measure its progress -political Islam was, and still is, an incomplete project and it is still far too early to write it off as a failure. With the onset of the twenty-first century, it was clear that the Isla­ mists were making a comeback. In Turkey, threats posed by the corrupt V111 INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH EDITION and inefficient ruling elite to the livelihoods of the middle classes and the integrity of the country propelled the newly founded Justice and Development Party (AKP) -with its mildly secular and Islamic views -to power. In most other Arab countries, brutal ruling elites compen­ sated for their legitimacy deficit by monopolising political authority and national wealth, while turning state apparatuses into instruments of oppression. In this context, the political power of the middle classes largely dis­ integrated. None of the nationalist, Arab nationalist or liberal political parties were able to provide credible opposition to the alliance between state institutions and the ruling elites. Only the Islamists, who now be­ gan to make their presence felt across the social spectrum, could claim to speak on behalf of the people. In 2005, the Muslim Brotherhood made huge gains in Egypt's par­ liamentary elections despite flagrant manipulation of the electoral pro­ cess by Hosni Mubarak's state security services. In the following year, Hamas won an undisputed majority in the Palestinian elections for the West Bank and Gaza. In the next few years, Islamists made significant gains in almost every Arab country where relatively fair elections were held. Nevertheless, the confusion surrounding mainstream expressions of political Islam and what this means for Muslims searching for free­ dom and justice in the modem world persisted. The outbreak of the Arab revolutions in 2011 thus represented a turning point in terms of the status of the Islamist movement in Muslim societies. In political terms, there is no doubt that the Islamists were the main beneficiaries of the Arab revolutions. However, this was not because they were the sole initiators of these revolutions. In reality, the Arab revolutions were neither the product of a specific social group nor the outcome of any organisation's plans. They were mass uprisings in every sense of the term, reflecting widespread concern over the failure of the state and the persistence of corrupt and inept ruling elites. Yet, the Islamists emerged at this critical juncture as the only force capable ix