The last decade in the wake of 9/11,has witnessed an explosion of publications about "political Islam" and it's tenuous links with the Jihadist militant groups.They have ranged from the controversially polemical to the dry academic.Once again the Arab Spring seems to fuel our insatiable appetite for more works on "Political Islam " and its role in forging the new emerging post revolutionary identities.The Muslim Brotherhood has moved centre stage having convincingly swept through the recently held parliamentary elections in Egypt and Tunisia and gained large majorities.Yet despite being the longest and best established Islamist movement it's primary political objectives,details of its economic programme as well as its recent intellectual evolution remain shrouded in mystery for most political observers.
This book goes a long way in attempting to unravel what lies behind the famous MB slogan "Islam is the solution".It traces the origins of the movement as a fiercely nationalistic anti colonialist organisation in the 20s tainted by terrorism in it's early days and ending up in being banned and violently repressed.This was followed by a bumpy clandestine journey in recent times to survive by guile political manoeuvres.Through imposing secrecy within a strictly hierarchical structure, tightly controlled by the old guard.They skilfully built up wide grass roots appeal by means of charitable and welfare work through an extensive network of mosques, schools and dispensaries and managed to spread their political influence outside the Middle East.Their insistence on representing the only valid moralistic religious response to the corrupting effects of cultural westernisation, political authoritarianism and local cronyism resonates well with their mainly conservative constituency and it's widely felt anxieties and frustrations.However despite paying lip service to reformist ideas about democratisation and modernisation they remain deeply entrenched in the rigid puritanical ideology that shaped the original movement in the 40s and 50s.Sadly it reflects the stagnant political landscape of the Middle East despite the brief revolutionary impulse witnessed last year.Their discourse about democracy and human rights remains ambivalent as they prioritise the community over the individual.After all pluralistic representative democracy is an alien concept for this elitist hierarchical organisation.Furthermore their dialogue with the West remains tentative and deeply suspicious though it is not entirely their fault having been shunned for so long.
The author suplies little information about the nature of their economic programme promising to lift millions out of poverty.Their avowed objective to introduce wide applications of Sharia law in a complex modern Economy is not discussed nor are their plans revealed to assuage the anxieties of a large Christian minority and the substantial secular minded middle class in Egypt who fear loss of status.The book unfortunately is handicapped by being written before the recent election gains, but equally by the real difficulty that lies in trying to nail down the various " Ikhwani" interlocutors to give clear cut and unambiguous statement of intentions apart from introducing the Sharia and promoting a major Islamic cultural reform at all levels.Still it represents the best available text about this intriguing and hugely important organisation for the future of the Middle East.
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