By Dr. Thaer Mahmoud Kamel Al-arood
The rise of Islamic ideology and its political interpretation in some Arab countries can be attributed to numerous factors.
Halim Barakat summarizes some of these as follows: the emergence of Islamic movements was linked to “economic and political crises, the weakness or failure of nationalist and socialist movements.
The authoritarianism of governments that suppressed civil movements and organizations (such as political parties, unions, and professional associations) and encouraged the rise of religious movements.
The establishment of a religious state (Israel) and sectarian regimes in the region (Lebanon), distorted consumerist modernity, widening class disparities, political and economic dependence on the West.
The erosion of traditional values without replacing them with new ones, widespread rural-to-urban migration, and the spread of corruption due to the breakdown of the relationship between means and ends…etc.
Furthermore, some governments exploited this ideology to serve their internal and external objectives, particularly in their fight against secular national and leftist forces.”
The flawed application of modernity, Western aggression, the separation of political society from civil society, the mobilization of state resources against the aspirations of society.
The collapse of values, and ideological inflation at the expense of human rights and freedoms have all led to the impoverishment of vast segments of the population, leaving them bewildered and insecure about their health, employment, housing, and the future of their children.
These failures have driven large groups to regress to the past and escape the pains of the present, weaving a discourse that glorifies past eras, obscuring their conflicts, suffering, and forms of strife.
This discourse exaggerates the past as a source, reference point, and refuge for politics, society, and behavior, effectively negating time by reducing continuity to its past dimension alone.
The goal is the past, and nothing else. As for the present, it is a treacherous fate that humanity must not dwell upon. And as for the future.
It seems that contemporary Islamic political movements, despite all the labels they can be given, often embody the social and political oppression inflicted upon their people by various Arab regimes.
Faced with the predicament of the present, brought about by these authoritarian policies, one resorts to one of three options: either aligning oneself with the status quo despite its contradictions, falsehoods, and injustices; or succumbing to pessimism and complete disbelief in reality, indulging in a sorrowful and anxious discourse about the existential tragedy that consumes them; or finally, finding solace in escaping to the past, whether magical or real, imagined or actual.
The crucial point is to disrupt the flow of time by adopting a discourse and behavior that restores some semblance of balance, whether real or imagined, in one’s relationship with oneself and others.
