Integrating Islamists

Political inclusion is the best way to blunt extremist currents within Islam, writes Ammar Ali Hassan*

---

Counter-violence has not succeeded in burying extremist Islamist groups. Nor has it limited or weakened them to the point of stripping their efficacy or marginalising them into inactivity, making them incapable of recruiting or mobilising followers. Counter-violence has also not prevented Islamist groups from challenging the authorities, whether through symbolic rhetoric or through real actions ranging from the circulation of inimical leaflets to the perpetration of acts of extreme violence.

The radical Islamist movement has been burgeoning over the past decades, growing ever larger as time passes. While it may have occasionally subsided or declined due to crushing security strikes, it has always entered a period of hibernation -- be it brief or extended depending on the circumstances -- and then returned stronger than ever. Upon return, it has either retained its former name and structure or appeared as new groups under other names and leaders while still adopting the same ideas and acting in the same manner, as though nothing had ever happened.

This persistent growth, coupled with the fact that some have returned to square one in terms of thought and organisation, has led some Arab governments to adopt three principles. The first is to not leave the realm of religion, in its widest sense, open to monopolisation by groups and political organisations with Islamist support or to those that deal with Islam as a political ideology that helps them gain legitimacy, extend their social reach, and justify and explain their behaviour. Consequently, Arab governments jostle with Islamist movements to exploit the realm of religion, and even compete with them through the adoption of a counter-religious discourse or the creation of parallel entities that produce and foster such rhetoric. At the same time, they strive to mobilise sectors of the public around them and refute accusations flung by Islamist groups at ruling regimes for being exceedingly secular and anti-religious, or of not allowing religion appropriate weight in political, social, cultural and economic policies.

The second principle is entering into dialogue with moderate Islamist groups and enabling some to integrate into civil political life through the formation of parties and participation in professional syndicates and civil society organisations. This clever approach aims to transform these groups into a positive force and prevent them from becoming extremist or resorting to underground activity and planning violence against the authorities and society.

The third principle is of opening the door for extremist groups to repudiate their violent methods, repent for crimes they committed in the past, and review the thinking, frameworks and legal rulings by which they justified viewing those with whom they differ as depraved, ignorant, or infidel, and in needing of counsel or violent elimination.

Attempts to convince extremist Islamists to relinquish and repudiate their positions began with the trial of the "Islamic group", known in the media and to security as "Al-Takfir wal-Higra". The court entered into a deep jurisprudential discussion with members of this group in order to refute their views and reveal their position, thus exposing them before public opinion. The goal of this discussion was to stress their incongruity with the law, as well as to defeat them within the framework of jurisprudence, thus stripping their notions of the glean they held at the time -- that of being insolent to authorities and society, offering simple solutions to social problems, and offering adventure and the pleasure of dangerous living, draws that some youth crave. Yet this attempt failed due to Shukri Mustafa and his followers holding fast to their positions. Up until the moment he ascended to the gallows, he believed that he was the prophet of the end of time. He believed that no one could defeat him, and that his ideas had been born in order to live and spread, for they were, in his view, sponsored and protected by God.

The second step taken was that of the campaigns of preaching and guidance sponsored by Egyptian authorities and undertaken by individuals from the Al-Azhar institution and the Religious Endowments Ministry. These were directed at the "Islamist group", which became noticeably active in the late 1970s and early 1980s, becoming a major challenge to the ruling regime. These campaigns targeted the group's prisoners and ex-prisoners alike, but did not furnish any results. At the time, the Islamist group was at its strongest and believed that it was capable of reaching power in a short time. It thus dealt with this form of admonition with utmost disdain. Moreover, most of those who undertook the campaigns were either connected to the authorities or lacked jurisprudential competence, independence, or piety.

Yet the group responded positively to this discussion following its defeat in the armed struggle it waged against the authorities between 1988 and 1997 as well as its loss of popular sympathy after extending its violence towards society. Its leadership sensed that it would remain in prison until death due to emergency law, the authorities viewing their freedom among the populace as a grave danger. The group's positive response was made clear in repudiations announced by the group's leadership in six booklets published and made available to the public. It was stated that the Islamic group had renounced ideas found in the groundbreaking book, Mithaq Al-Amal Al-Islami (Charter of Islamic Action), published in the early 1980s explaining its intellectual and jurisprudential framework as well as its goals and approaches.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia followed this same approach in dealing with some of its extremists, opening a door for their repentance, a return to normal life, and leaving organisations practising violence in the name of religion, the foremost of these being the Al-Qaeda organisation. The statement Sayed Imam Abdul-Aziz, the top Al-Qaeda theorist and authority in jurisprudence, also known as Dr Fadl, issued from an Egyptian prison crowned this approach. In it he proposed an initiative forbidding extensive killing in the name of Islam, disapproving of killing for reasons of nationality, race or religious affiliation, and rejecting the destruction of property.

Another critical event was the political statement issued by two prominent leaders in the Al-Jihad organisation, Aboud and Tareq Al-Zomor. In it, they declared their support for the jurisprudential repudiations initiated by Dr Fadl and stated with conviction that, "the struggle that Egypt underwent in the 1990s hurt the country badly in terms of politics, the economy, society, culture and human rights. And thus it has become incumbent upon the Islamic movement to shoulder responsibility, order priorities, consider the interests of worshippers, and extend a helping hand to reach an exit from this crisis, remove its traces, and offer a balanced proposal that ensures the movement a peaceful and legitimate presence while ceasing internal fighting and bloody conflict between parties."

The conviction of Arab authorities with regard to opening the door to such renunciations by extremist currents grows daily despite fears that these repudiations may be mere tactical ploys used by extremists in order to be released from prison and once again return to armed confrontation. This fear was highlighted recently when Saudi authorities realised that a leader of an Al-Qaeda cell whose attempt to carry out a terrorist act had been thwarted was one such prisoner who had declared repentance and been released.

In any case, leaving the door open to extremists in order that they can reintegrate into society, coupled with enabling moderate Islamists to be active within the framework of political and legal legitimacy, is a highly effective means of limiting extremism. Particularly when purely security-oriented policies have proven incapable of offering solutions.

* The writer is director of the Middle East Studies and Research Centre, Cairo.