Reform and Islam - Dimensions and Risks

Islam and Reform – Dimensions and Risks

Br. General Dr. Ahmed Hany Hassanain, PhD

In medieval Europe Christian reform was not a peaceful process. During these centuries many citizen were burnt alive because they did not follow the Christianity faith or because priests accused them of being witches. Even scientists who proved scientific facts were killed. The religious atrocities reached a peak when the Protestant faith started to gather believers. It was until the Protestant faith found a state that sponsored it and even it was at odds with the Vatican that was Britain regardless of the cause of the rift and Napoleon arrested the Pope and took him as war prisoner that the religious wars in Europe ended. The Vatican sided with Germany during WWII for undisclosed reasons until now but most probably because of the secular France and the Protestant UK and USA were against the Catholic Germany.

The previous introduction shows that it is not easy to either change faiths or to confront religious figures who use holy influence to charity financial institutions without accountability and have the power to convince followers that if they leave them hell will be their destination.

Strategists should study the history for similarities and define changes that happened before planning for their aim. The question is, does the Islamic World have a strategy for Islamic reform. Will this reform unit most of people towards modernization? Or more division leading to wars and terrorism will be the strategic paradox? And whether there are enough global and regional economic and military forces to support reform?

Until now there is no clear strategy or even common concept that unit states of the Islamic World but the good news is that Egypt with its role in the Islamic teaching since centuries and the Saudi Arabia that portrays itself as guardian of Islam and caretaker of the holiest sites started the road with political will. The path of changes got more rapid momentum in the kingdom than in Egypt due to many causes as the authoritarian nature of the rulers in the kingdom without clear constitution versus the established institutions and more liberal entity of Egypt. The Saudis start from the very basic freedom acts as issuing driving license to women. In Egypt there is liberal communities in big cities however the Salafis who follow the Wahhabism constitute an obstructing power especially in countryside and shanty towns in the reform path.

The Egyptian president asked scholars in Al-Azhar and the Grand Imam to correct the religious message to start with. The political situation and the fight against terrorism and establishing stability after 25 January induced chaos limit the state ability to take more aggressive steps. However the need to reform reached most of people and youth as there are many martyrs die in the War on Terror. The response of the scholars was trivial reflecting their interests to be guardian of the old teaching and deciphers that some of them are weird but attract psychopaths to be suicidal terrorists. Foreign money played the dirtiest political role in spreading extremism. In fact Egypt pays for the wrong policies of compromise with the brotherhood during the last forty years. Even the weird edicts that some scholars issue tarnished the holy entity of Al-Azhar as Islamic reference for people and most people now know that many of what scholars tell as prophet’s sayings are not true. The insistence of scholars on keeping myths and illogic edicts may move people to force the state to take sever actions against the religion institutions. However the risk of confronting Salafis especially those who are in connection with the terrorists should be considered.

In Saudi Arabia the crown prince is the one who started reform. He uses shock strategy issuing laws that change the community and even uses security forces to arrest scholars. The shock strategy is very risky when the community is conservative and tribal. The inherited traditions more than the religion may be the main obstacle. The Shi’a in the Eastern part of the kingdom may take the opportunity if the Sunni tribes revolt to do the same. Most of the famous scholars in the kingdom from the old guards that their blasphemy edicts against people have many ears among the Saudi people. The tribes and scholars live-off governmental donations that are double edged sword. They will revolt if the government cut these donations and it is difficult to let them accept changes paying more money for it. Most tribes are armed and soldiers from tribes might not fight their relatives if instability would prevail.

Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia have good changes of reform if they coordinate efforts to cut financial support to both terrorists and old guards with security coordination. But the war is neither financial nor security. It is cultural and media before being dollars and bullets.

What are the tools to reach people and create a need for change? How can states market reform and make it people’s demand?

The state should not leave reform for scholars to plan or to form policies for it. The enlightened scholars may participate in the process but the old guards may be given a chance to retire safely. Most important for policies to succeed is not to make people think that old guards are victims or heroes because of their opinions. At the same time financial corruption stories should be investigated and published. The media should play its role to clear facts about weird edicts and should discuss logic facts versus myths and discuss how myths became rituals.

Old booked that told weird stories and illogic acts should be criticized openly but not banned. Banning books and jailing scholars because of opinion just spread their ideas. However criticizing them and exposing corruption help much to build base that support enlightening and reform.

There is high risk of civil war in the Saudi Arabia as tribes may try to keep old tradition or seek self-rule. More risky is that Shi’a may follow Sunni tribes and the Royal Family may be cornered and the choice may be regressing instead of disintegrating the kingdom. An intelligent step may be a Sunni-Shi’a reconciliation in one hand and Iran-Saudi compromise on the other hand. In fact extremism is a common enemy for enlightened Moslems and for Shi’a.

For the West and especially the USA need Islamic extremism to use it in their next West-China confrontation the same way they used them against the Ex-Soviet Union. They may support partial reform but they will keep cantons for psychopaths to be suicidal Jihadists against China. Most probably these cantons may be in parts of the Saudi Arabia and perhaps Turkey after Kurdistan independence and turning Turkey into another Afghanistan to gather Jihadists on the silk-road. When one thinks about the last ISIS operation in Iran, Pakistan and Philippines the path towards the East becomes clearer day after day.

1. should devise policies adjusting the path and momentum according to both regional and global political changes that are changeable at a faster rate.