The Islamist Divide: Gratitude Must Go To Extremist Salafist Groups
26 May 2013
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
"If you are fools, try stopping us!" This is the title
of a campaign being led by an extremist Islamist group
in Tunisia. By "fools," the group is referring to the
Islamist Ennahda party and its government. The paradox
is that Ennahda Islamists doubt the presence of
terrorist groups and condemn the prevention of
preaching campaigns and charity activities under the
pretext that these are Islamic. But history repeats
itself. The Islamist Ennahda government is currently
the one issuing the bans.
And what is banned today is the Ansar Al-Sharia group.
The interior ministry has banned "all organizations,
people or political parties from preaching in public
places without prior permission," and the Salafi
movement's members are being deterred by the removal
of tents that were set up to spread their religious
campaigns and distribute leaflets.
Ansar Al-Sharia described Ennahda leaders such as
Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi as "tyrants under the guise
of Islam." The group also warned: "[We] remind you
that our youths who displayed heroism by defending
Islam in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Iraq, Somalia
and the Levant will never hesitate to make sacrifices
for their religion in the land of Kairouan in
Tunisia."
When it was the government of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali
that similarly prevented extremist religious groups
from gatherings and detained their leaders, these
groups became part of the opposition. They saw Ben
Ali's acts as tyrannical, claiming that he was
manufacturing crises in order to accuse Islamists of
terrorism and prevent them from working in politics.
The situation is not exclusive to Tunisia. Take Egypt,
the most populous country to have been part of the
Arab Spring. Egypt has likewise witnessed the
beginnings of confrontations between the Islamist
Muslim Brotherhood government and jihadist groups. The
Egyptian interior minister was quick to announce that
"the police dealt a powerful blow to a terrorist cell
that was planning a suicide bombing and was in the
final stages of plotting an attack on a foreign
embassy."
The Brotherhood also used to accuse the Mubarak
government they would eventually rise up against of
making up accusations against Islamist groups in order
to justify besieging them. The Brotherhood used to
view any statements made concerning terrorist plots
and the targeting of Egyptian or foreign institutions
as being completely false.
So how do these groups justify themselves now that
they have come to power, and now that they are
suffering from the same ills? They are suffering from
religious extremism that attacks not only the
government, but society as a whole. Most importantly,
how do we foresee a future of fighting extremism and
terrorism?
Governments that fought terrorism were accused of
being on the side of the West, and of implementing
campaigns against Islam. Today, the governments that
fight extremists do so under the banner of Islam; now
that they are in power, religious extremism is viewed
as something that must be removed.
This is a positive development, although it is not
void of opportunism. Such groups are claiming to be
competent after having involved themselves in the
international community on intellectual, political and
democratic levels. Gratitude must go to extremist
Salafist groups who, through their foolish actions and
extreme ideas, have ended up improving the image of
the Brotherhood, and other groups of a similar nature.
Al Rashed is the
general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also
the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and
the leading Arabic weekly magazine, Al Majalla. He is
also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers of Al
Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree
in mass communications. He has been a guest on many TV
current affairs programs. He is currently based in
Dubai.
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments