Political Islam and the Arab Spring (Published)
Religion to God and homeland to all” such a phrase illustrates the fundamental thought of religion as a one side and the state as another, an idea that was restricted during history in the monotheistic religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. For the powerful dimension of religion as God’s orders and rules. The ultimate end with heaven or fire, made people in general subjected to such authority in which as the highest power that tempted groups to adopt and use, as their way to control people’s minds, thoughts, visions and life. Islam as the last monotheistic religion on earth and a dominant one in all Arab countries, part of Asia and Europe, had became one of the most popular and controversial issue as a religion that function powerfully in communities through social and political meanings. Therefore, politicizing Islam and the emergence of political Islam came as a result to several processes that started and developed since the death of Prophet Muhammad. Political Islam conceptualized for many purposes that agreed on the same goal; to brace political power in order to dominate the Arab nations. Recently, the concept of political Islam has rose strongly during the Arab spring that spread significantly in the Arab regions, due to revolutions led by Arab youths against their rulers, which gave political Islam the chance to revive as a Islamic political entities; Libya, Egypt and Tunisia went through the Arab Spring, some witnessed the rise of Islamist entities and some did not. The Islamists movements adopted new ideologies, visions and attitudes, in order to empower their influences on people’s, and persuades them that they form their saver and they are their only way to a stable and equal life. Hence it is worthy to examine the bound of political Islam and Arab spring, as Arab states ongoing their revolution and experiences a new political era that will define their upcoming sociopolitical roles, and will specify the new Arab’s representatives to the world.
Keywords: Arab Spring, Islamist movements., Political Islam