Following the elections Tunisia, Morocco, and still a on-going election in Egypt, it heralds a rise of political Islam. Fears are surmounting that Islamists rise to power looms a radicalisation and Islamisation of the region. These are sometimes expressed by the liberal and secularist who are in total opposite ideology of the Islamists.
To me, this fear of the rise of political Islam is too much exaggerated. This brings us down to the fact on how we understand the concept, Islamist or Islamism and from which sources that shaped our understanding and perception. Definition of the terms is very crucial in this sense. First and foremost, Islam"IST" is
coined by the west. When we try to read western literature on this,more often than not, they associated with negative connotations like violence, terrorism and the like. They most of the time parallel it with "jihadist", another concept termed by the west with the same unfavourable connotations.
Islamists should be understood by the fact that this has a
wide spectrum and not a monolithic entity. You cannot apply one perception to all Islamists. There are radical Islamists and mainstream Islamists. For the latter such as Annahda and the Muslim Brotherhood, they have been through political evolution. This attests to the announcement of the Annahda leader Ghannouchi when it regards to the secularist nature of the Tunisian society and Muslim Brotherhood's declaration of its commitment to democratic credentials.
For the fear-monger, there is no other choice but to welcome the emergence of political Islam. This is the by-product of the so called "democracy" which you are championing. The ballot boxes are not always to be in favor of your side. After all, this is a chess-game. Either you win or you lose. Above all, divine intervention is inevitable and you cannot contest with it. For the minds programmed by the fear-monger, there is a need for comprehensive understanding of the ideological foundation of these Islamists both radical and mainstream before casting fear. Also, it is imperative to know their historical experiences under repressive regimes to understand why they have become radical. There is always a reaction to stimulus and as saying goes "When there is a smoke, there is a fire".
