RSSSemua Penyertaan dalam "Jemaah Islamiyah" kategori

Orang Arab Esok

DAVID B. OTTAWAY

Oktober 6, 1981, dimaksudkan untuk menjadi hari perayaan di Mesir. Ia menandakan ulang tahun detik kemenangan terbesar Mesir dalam tiga konflik Arab-Israel, apabila tentera underdog negara itu melintasi Terusan Suez pada hari-hari pembukaan 1973 Perang Yom Kippur dan menyebabkan tentera Israel terkial-kial berundur. Dalam keadaan sejuk, pagi tanpa awan, stadium Kaherah penuh sesak dengan keluarga Mesir yang datang untuk melihat tentera memperkasakan perkakasannya. Di tempat peninjauan, Presiden Anwar el-Sadat,arkitek perang, memerhati dengan penuh kepuasan ketika lelaki dan mesin berarak di hadapannya. Saya berada berdekatan, seorang wartawan asing yang baru tiba.Tiba-tiba, salah satu trak tentera berhenti betul-betul di hadapan tempat peninjauan ketika enam jet Mirage menderu di atas kepala dalam persembahan akrobatik, melukis langit dengan denai merah yang panjang, kuning, ungu,dan asap hijau. Sadat berdiri, nampaknya sedang bersedia untuk bertukar tabik hormat dengan satu lagi kontinjen tentera Mesir. Dia menjadikan dirinya sasaran sempurna untuk empat pembunuh Islam yang melompat dari trak, menyerbu podium, dan memenuhi tubuhnya dengan peluru. Ketika pembunuh terus melakukan apa yang kelihatannya selama-lamanya untuk menyemburkan tembakan mematikan mereka, Saya mempertimbangkan untuk seketika sama ada untuk memukul tanah dan berisiko mati dipijak oleh penonton yang panik atau terus berjalan dan berisiko terkena peluru sesat. Naluri memberitahu saya untuk terus berdiri, dan rasa tugas kewartawanan saya mendorong saya untuk mengetahui sama ada Sadat masih hidup atau sudah mati.

Islam, Islam politik dan Amerika

Wawasan Arab

Adakah "Persaudaraan" dengan Amerika Mungkin?

khalil al-anani

“Tiada peluang untuk berkomunikasi dengan mana-mana A.S. pentadbiran selagi Amerika Syarikat mengekalkan pandangan lamanya tentang Islam sebagai bahaya sebenar, pandangan yang meletakkan Amerika Syarikat senasib dengan musuh Zionis. Kami tidak mempunyai tanggapan sedia ada mengenai rakyat Amerika atau A.S. masyarakat dan organisasi sivik dan badan pemikirnya. Kami tidak mempunyai masalah untuk berkomunikasi dengan rakyat Amerika tetapi tiada usaha yang mencukupi sedang dibuat untuk mendekatkan kami,” kata Dr. Issam al-Iryan, ketua jabatan politik Ikhwanul Muslimin dalam temu bual telefon.
Kata-kata Al-Iryan merumuskan pandangan Ikhwanul Muslimin terhadap rakyat Amerika dan A.S. kerajaan. Ahli Ikhwanul Muslimin yang lain akan bersetuju, begitu juga dengan almarhum Hassan al-Banna, yang mengasaskan kumpulan di 1928. Al- Banna melihat Barat kebanyakannya sebagai simbol keruntuhan moral. Salafi yang lain - sebuah mazhab Islam yang bergantung kepada nenek moyang sebagai model teladan - telah mengambil pandangan yang sama tentang Amerika Syarikat, tetapi tidak mempunyai fleksibiliti ideologi yang dianuti oleh Ikhwanul Muslimin. Sementara Ikhwanul Muslimin percaya dalam melibatkan Amerika dalam dialog sivil, kumpulan pelampau lain tidak melihat sebarang titik dalam dialog dan mengekalkan kuasa itu adalah satu-satunya cara untuk berurusan dengan Amerika Syarikat.

Parti Pembangkang Islam dan Potensi Penglibatan EU

Toby Archer

Heidi Huuhtanen

Memandangkan semakin pentingnya gerakan Islam di dunia Islam dan

cara radikalisasi telah mempengaruhi peristiwa global sejak permulaan abad ini, ia

adalah penting bagi EU untuk menilai dasar-dasarnya terhadap aktor dalam apa yang boleh longgar

dinamakan 'dunia Islam'. Ia amat penting untuk bertanya sama ada dan bagaimana untuk melibatkan diri

dengan pelbagai kumpulan Islam.

Ini masih menjadi kontroversi walaupun di dalam EU. Ada yang merasakan bahawa nilai Islam itu

terletak di belakang parti Islamis semata-mata tidak serasi dengan cita-cita demokrasi barat dan

hak manusia, manakala yang lain melihat penglibatan sebagai satu keperluan yang realistik disebabkan oleh peningkatan

kepentingan domestik parti Islam dan penglibatan mereka yang semakin meningkat dalam antarabangsa

hal ehwal. Perspektif lain ialah pendemokrasian di dunia Islam akan meningkat

keselamatan Eropah. Kesahihan hujah-hujah ini dan lain-lain mengenai sama ada dan bagaimana

EU sepatutnya terlibat hanya boleh diuji dengan mengkaji pergerakan Islam yang berbeza dan

keadaan politik mereka, negara demi negara.

Pendemokrasian ialah tema utama tindakan dasar luar biasa EU, seperti yang diletakkan

keluar dalam Artikel 11 Perjanjian mengenai Kesatuan Eropah. Banyak negeri dipertimbangkan dalam hal ini

laporan tidak demokratik, atau tidak demokratik sepenuhnya. Di kebanyakan negara ini, Islamis

parti dan gerakan merupakan penentangan yang ketara terhadap rejim yang ada, dan

dalam sesetengahnya mereka membentuk blok pembangkang terbesar. Demokrasi Eropah telah lama terpaksa

deal with governing regimes that are authoritarian, but it is a new phenomenon to press

for democratic reform in states where the most likely beneficiaries might have, from the

EU’s point of view, different and sometimes problematic approaches to democracy and its

related values, such as minority and women’s rights and the rule of law. These charges are

often laid against Islamist movements, so it is important for European policy-makers to

have an accurate picture of the policies and philosophies of potential partners.

Experiences from different countries tends to suggest that the more freedom Islamist

parties are allowed, the more moderate they are in their actions and ideas. In many

cases Islamist parties and groups have long since shifted away from their original aim

of establishing an Islamic state governed by Islamic law, and have come to accept basic

democratic principles of electoral competition for power, the existence of other political

competitors, and political pluralism.

Sayyid Qutb: The Karl Marx of the Islamic Revolution

Leslie Evans

Sayyid Qutb (Oktober 9, 1906-Ogos 29, 1966), the Egyptian literary critic, philosopher, and theorist of the contemporary jihadist movement is only becoming a familiar name in the West in recent years, but his voluminous writings have had and continue to have enormous impact in the Muslim world. It is not an overstatement to say that it is hardly possible to understand the reasoning and goals of the Islamic militants without some familiarity with the outlook Qutb (pronounced KUH-tahb) enunciated.
Pencarian di Amazon.com mengembalikan tidak kurang daripada tujuh buku dalam bahasa Inggeris tentang Sayyid Qutb serta koleksi tulisannya dan banyak bukunya sendiri dalam terjemahan. Kedua-dua karya yang disentuh di sini hanyalah persampelan rawak kesusasteraan yang sangat besar yang sekali lagi hanyalah sebahagian kecil daripada apa yang wujud dalam bahasa Arab.. Kedua-dua ini agak berbeza dari segi skop dan sikap. Adnan Ayyub Musallam, seorang Palestin yang berasal dari Bethlehem, memegang ijazah kedoktoran dari Universiti Michigan
dan kini adalah profesor sejarah, politik, dan pengajian kebudayaan di Universiti Bethlehem di Tebing Barat. Biografinya yang umumnya bersimpati tetapi kritis menumpukan pada politik berkembang gabungan dan pemikiran Qutb. The quite brief and more critical piece by Paul Berman for the New York Times looks at Qutb’s theology and helps to clarify his argument with Christianity and Western secularism.
Brilliant from his earliest youth, Sayyid Qutb was an unlikely figure to serve as the inspiration for a global revolutionary movement. Although for a brief period he was a member of the militant Muslim Brothers, where he served as an editor not as an organizer, he spent most of his life as a lone intellectual. Where Marx, the theorist of world communism, labored in the British Museum, Sayyid Qutb wrote his most influential works in an Egyptian prison, where he spent most of the last eleven years of his life, until his execution by the Nasser government in 1966. Malah gilirannya kepada Islam dalam apa-apa cara yang serius tidak berlaku sehingga dia berumur empat puluh tahun, namun dalam penjara pada usia lima puluhan dia menghasilkan pemikiran semula yang kontroversial tentang agama yang bergema di seluruh dunia.
Qutb dilahirkan di kampung Musha, antara Kaherah dan Aswan menjadi keluarga pemilik tanah kecil. Dia dihantar ke madrasah tempatan, sekolah kerajaan, daripada kuttab yang masih lebih beragama, sekolah Islam itu, tetapi dia memenangi pertandingan antara dua sekolah untuk menghafaz al-Quran yang terbaik. Dia mengimbau kembali kehidupannya di sana dalam satu-satunya karya biografinya, “Anak dari Kampung,” merekodkan adat dan kepercayaan karut tempatan. Dari tempoh itu dia memperoleh kepercayaan dalam dunia roh yang dia bawa bersamanya sepanjang hidupnya

kenapa tidak ada demokrasi arab ?

Larry Diamond

During democratization’s “third wave,” democracy ceased being a mostly Western phenomenon and “went global.” When the third wave began in 1974, the world had only about 40 democracies, and only a few of them lay outside the West. By the time the Journal of Democracy began publishing in 1990, there were 76 electoral democracies (accounting for slightly less than half the world’s independent states). By 1995, that number had shot up to 117—three in every five states. By then, a critical mass of democracies existed in every major world region save one—the Middle East.1 Moreover, every one of the world’s major cultural realms had become host to a significant democratic presence, walaupun sekali lagi dengan satu pengecualian—dunia Arab.2 Lima belas tahun kemudian, pengecualian ini masih kekal.
Ketiadaan berterusan walaupun satu rejim demokrasi di dunia Arab adalah anomali yang mencolok—pengecualian utama kepada globalisasi demokrasi. Kenapa tidak ada demokrasi Arab? Sesungguhnya, mengapakah terdapat di antara enam belas negara Arab merdeka di Timur Tengah dan Afrika Utara yang berpantai, Lubnan adalah satu-satunya yang pernah menjadi negara demokrasi?
Andaian yang paling umum tentang defisit demokrasi Arab ialah ia mesti ada kaitan dengan agama atau budaya. Lagipun, satu perkara yang semua negara Arab berkongsi ialah mereka adalah orang Arab.

Menuntut Pusat: Islam Politik dalam Peralihan

John L. Esposito

Pada tahun 1990-an politik Islam, apa yang dipanggil oleh sesetengah orang “fundamentalisme Islam,” kekal sebagai kehadiran utama dalam kerajaan dan dalam politik pembangkang dari Afrika Utara hingga Asia Tenggara. Politik Islam yang berkuasa dan dalam politik telah menimbulkan banyak isu dan persoalan: “Adakah Islam bertentangan dengan pemodenan?,” “Adakah Islam dan demokrasi tidak serasi?,” “Apakah implikasi kerajaan Islam terhadap pluralisme, minoriti dan hak wanita,” “Betapa perwakilan Islamis,” “Adakah terdapat golongan sederhana Islam?,” “Sekiranya Barat takut dengan ancaman Islam transnasional atau pertembungan tamadun?” Kebangkitan Islam Kontemporari Landskap dunia Islam hari ini mendedahkan kemunculan republik Islam baharu (Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan), percambahan gerakan Islam yang berfungsi sebagai aktor politik dan sosial utama dalam sistem sedia ada, and the confrontational politics of radical violent extremists._ In contrast to the 1980s when political Islam was simply equated with revolutionary Iran or clandestine groups with names like Islamic jihad or the Army of God, the Muslim world in the 1990s is one in which Islamists have participated in the electoral process and are visible as prime ministers, cabinet officers, speakers of national assemblies, parliamentarians, and mayors in countries as diverse as Egypt, Sudan, Turki, Iran, Lubnan, Kuwait, Yaman, Jordan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Israel/Palestine. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, political Islam continues to be a major force for order and disorder in global politics, one that participates in the political process but also in acts of terrorism, a challenge to the Muslim world and to the West. Understanding the nature of political Islam today, and in particular the issues and questions that have emerged from the experience of the recent past, remains critical for governments, policymakers, and students of international politics alike.

MUSLIM INSTITUTIONS AND POLITICAL MOBILIZATION

SARA SILVESTRI

In Europe, and most of the Western world, Muslim presence in the publicsphere is a recent phenomenon that characterised the last decade of the 20thcentury and has deeply marked the beginning of the 21st. This visiblepresence, which amounts to something between 15 dan 20 millionindividuals, can best be analysed if dissected into a number of components.The first part of this chapter illustrates where, when and why organisedMuslim voices and institutions have emerged in Europe, dan pelakon mana yang terlibat. Bahagian kedua adalah lebih skematik dan analitikal, bahawa ia berusaha untuk mengenal pasti daripada dinamik ini proses di mana orang Islam menjadi pelakon politik dan bagaimana mereka berhubung dengan orang lain., selalunya kuasa dan keutamaan politik yang tidak bersaing. Ia melakukannya dengan memerhatikan objektif dan kepelbagaian strategi yang telah diguna pakai oleh umat Islam untuk menyatakan kebimbangan mereka terhadap konteks dan lawan bicara yang berbeza. Kesimpulannya menawarkan penilaian awal tentang kesan dan akibat daripada mobilisasi dan pembentukan institusi Muslim bagi Eropah. masyarakat dan penggubalan dasar.

Gerakan Islam: Kebebasan Berpolitik & Demokrasi

Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Ia adalah kewajipan (Islamik) Pergerakan dalam fasa yang akan datang untuk berdiri teguh menentang pemerintahan totalitarian dan diktator, despotisme politik dan perampasan hak rakyat. Pergerakan harus sentiasa berpegang kepada kebebasan politik, seperti yang diwakili oleh benar,bukan palsu, demokrasi. Ia harus mengisytiharkan secara terang-terangan ia menolak kezaliman dan menjauhi semua diktator, walaupun ada yang zalim nampaknya berniat baik ke arahnya untuk keuntungan tertentu dan untuk masa yang biasanya singkat, sebagaimana yang telah ditunjukkan oleh pengalaman.Nabi (SAWS) berkata, “Apabila kamu melihat umatku menjadi mangsa ketakutan dan tidak berkata kepada orang yang zalim, "Awak salah", maka anda mungkin kehilangan harapan kepada mereka.” Jadi bagaimana dengan rejim yang memaksa orang untuk berkata kepada orang yang melakukan kesalahan yang sombong, “Macam mana, betapa hebatnya awak. Wahai pahlawan kami, penyelamat dan pembebas kita!”Al-Quran mencela orang yang zalim seperti Numrudh, Firaun, Haman dan lain-lain, but it also dispraises those who follow tyrants andobey their orders. This is why Allah dispraises the people of Noahby saying, “ But they follow (m en) whose wealth and childrengive them no increase but only loss.” [Surat Nuh; 21]Allah also says of Ad, people of Hud, “ And followed thecommand of every powerful, obstinate transgressor”. [Surat Hud:59]See also what the Quran says about the people of Pharaoh, “ Butthey followed the command of Pharaoh, and the command ofPharaoh was not rightly guided.[Surat Hud: 97] “Thus he made fools of his people, and they obeyed him: truly they were a people rebellious (against Allah). [Surat Az-Zukhruf: 54]A closer look at the history of the Muslim Nation and the IslamicMovement in modern times should show clearly that the Islamicidea, Gerakan Islam dan Kebangkitan Islam tidak pernah berkembang atau membuahkan hasil melainkan dalam suasana demokrasi dan kebebasan., dan telah layu dan menjadi mandul hanya pada masa-masa penindasan dan kezaliman yang menginjak-injak kehendak orang-orang yang berpegang kepada Islam.. Rejim yang menindas seperti itu menimbulkan sekularisme mereka, sosialisme atau komunisme ke atas rakyat mereka dengan kekerasan dan paksaan, menggunakan penyeksaan terselindung dan hukuman mati, dan menggunakan alat-alat syaitan yang mengoyakkan daging,menumpahkan darah, hancur tulang dan hancur jiwa.Kami melihat amalan ini di banyak negara Islam, termasuk Turki, Mesir, Syria, Iraq, (yang dahulu) Yaman Selatan, Somalia dan Negara Afrika utara untuk tempoh masa yang berbeza-beza, bergantung kepada umur atau pemerintahan diktator di setiap negara.Sebaliknya, we saw the Islamic Movement and the Islamic Awakening bear fruit and flourish at the times of freedom and democracy, and in the wake of the collapse of imperial regimes that ruled peoples with fear and oppression.Therefore, I would not imagine that the Islamic Movement could support anything other than political freedom and democracy.The tyrants allowed every voice to be raised, except the voice ofIslam, and let every trend express itself in the form of a politicalparty or body of some sort, except the Islamic current which is theonly trend that actually speaks for this Nation and expresses it screed, values, essence and very existence.

Living with Democracy in Egypt

Daniel Consolatore

Hosni Mubarek was almost elected president of Egypt in September 2005. Not that the seventy-seven-year-old secular autocrat who has ruled that nationfor the past twenty-four years lost the election; by the official count, he took nearly 85 percent of the vote.His nearest competitor, Ayman Nour, the upstart headof the fledgling opposition party al-Ghad (“Tomorrow”),managed less than 8 percent. The only other candidate to take any significant tally was the aged NomanGamaa of the venerable al-Wafd (“Delegation”)party, who managed less than 3 percent. The Ikhwanal-Muslimeen (“Muslim Brotherhood”), feared by somany Westerners for its purist Islamic social and politicalagenda, didn’t even field a candidate.Mubarek’s decisive victory would seem to be reassuringto most people—particularly secular Americans—worried for the future of the few Westernfriendly,moderate Arab regimes, threatened as theyare by the Islamicization of politics in the region. The Bush administration would also seem to have reasonto be pleased, given its recent change of heart aboutArab democracy. The missing chemical weapons in Iraq and subsequent justification of the war thereas precedent for democratization have inspired theWhite House to push for as many elections as possible in the region. Sebenarnya, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke at the American University inCairo in June, she announced to some surprise that“for sixty years” the United States had been mistakenin “pursu[ing] stability at the expense of democracy”in the Middle East. For generations, A.S.. pundits weresure that the “Arab street” couldn’t be trusted with the vote, as they might hand over power to communistsor fundamentalist Islamists. Realpolitik dictated that autocrats and dictators, like Mubarek and Saddam Hussein, had to be coddled in order to maintain “stability”in the region. If they would then stage election sor dispense with them altogether, deny free speech,and let loose secret police to terrorize the population,the White House would likely turn a blind eye. But ifMubarek could now claim a true democratic mandate,that would be the best of all worlds.

Political Transitions in the Arab World

Dina Shehata

The year 2007 marked the end of a brief interval of political liberalization in the Arab world which began shortly after the occupation of Iraq and which resulted primarily from external pressures on Arab regimes to reform and democratize. External pressures during the 2003-2006 period created a political opening which activists across the region used to press for longstanding demands for political and constitutional reform.Faced with a combination of growing external and internal pressures to reform, Arab regimes were forced to make some concessions to their challengers.In Egypt, upon the request of the President, Parliament passed a constitutional amendment to allowfor direct competitive presidential elections. In September2005, Egypt witnessed its first competitive presidential election ever and as expected Mubarak was elected for a fifth term with 87%of the vote. Lebih-lebih lagi,during the November 2005 parliamentary elections,which were freer than previous elections, the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition movement in Egypt, won 88 seats. This was the largest number of seats won by an opposition group in Egypt since the 1952 revolution.Similarly, in the January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas won a majority of the seats.Hamas was thereby able to establish control over the Palestinian Legislative Council which had been dominated by Fatah since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1996. In Lebanon, in the wake of the assassination of Rafiq Hariri on 14th February2005, a coalition of pro-Hariri political forces was ablet hrough broad-based mass mobilization and external support to force Syrian troops to pull out from Lebanon and the pro-Syrian Government to resign. Elections were held, and the 14th February coalition was able to win a plurality of the votes and to form a new government.In Morocco, King Mohamed VI oversaw the establishment of a truth and reconciliation committee which sought to address the grievances of those who had been abused under the reign of his father.The Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC) also under took some important reforms during the 2003-2006 period. Dalam 2003 Qatar promulgated a written constitution for the first time in its history. In 2005,Saudi Arabia convened municipal elections for the firsttime in five decades. And in 2006, Bahrain mengadakan pilihan raya parlimen di mana masyarakat Syiah AlWefaqwon 40% daripada kerusi. Seterusnya, timbalan perdana menteri Syiah yang pertama di Bahrain dilantik.Peristiwa-peristiwa ini, yang kemudiannya dikenali sebagai 'Arab Spring,' menyebabkan beberapa orang optimis untuk mempercayai bahawa dunia Arab berada di ambang transformasi demokratik yang serupa dengan yang dialami di Amerika Latin dan Eropah Timur dan Tengah pada tahun 1980-an dan 1990-an. Walau bagaimanapun, dalam 2007, kerana liberalisasi politik memberi laluan kepada polarisasi yang lebih tinggi dan penindasan semula,harapan ini terhapus. Kegagalan bukaan 2003-2006 tempoh untuk mewujudkan momentum yang berterusan ke arah pendemokrasian boleh dikalahkan disebabkan oleh beberapa faktor. The deteriorating security situation in Iraq and the failure of the United States to create a stable and democratic regime dampened support for democracy promotion efforts within the American administration and reinforced the views ofthose who held that security and stability must come before democracy. Lebih-lebih lagi, the electoral successes of Islamists in Egypt and in Palestine further dampened Western support for democracy promotion efforts in the region since the principals of thesemovements were perceived to be at odds with the interestsof theWest.

Radical Islam In Egypt A Comparison Of Two Groups

By David Zeidan

The author compares two key Egyptian radical Islamic groups, the Society of Muslims(Takfir wal-Hijra) and the Society of Struggle (Jama’at al-Jihad) and analyzes their differencesin doctrine and strategy. This study is presented in the context of a broader examination of thehistory of militant Islamic groups in Egypt. The author argues that the two societies furnishexamples of basic types of radical Islamic movements. Sebagai tambahan, Jama’at al-Jihad remainsimportant in contemporary Egyptian politics and in that country’s internal struggle.The Egyptian radical groups understudy here, the Society of Muslims (Takfirwal-Hijra) and the Society of Struggle(Jama’at al-Jihad), espoused drasticallydifferent ideologies and strategies forgaining power. The Society of Muslims(Takfir) had a passive separatist andmessianic ideology, delaying activeconfrontation with the state to an indefinitepoint in the future when it could reach acertain degree of strength. In comparison,the Society of Struggle (al-Jihad) diikuti aktivis, ideologi militan yang komited untuk tindakan segera dan ganas terhadap rejim. KEBANGKITAN ISLAMSejarah mendedahkan corak kitaran kebangkitan Islam pada masa krisis. Pemimpin karismatik bangkit cuba memperbaharui semangat dan identiti umat Islam,menyucikan akidah daripada pertambahan dan amalan agama yang rosak, dan mengembalikan Islam murni pada zaman Nabi Muhammad. Pemimpin kebangkitan cenderung muncul sama ada sebagai pembaharu iman yang dijanjikan pada permulaan setiap abad (mujaddids), atau sebagai penyelamat yang diutus oleh Tuhan di akhir zaman untuk menegakkan kerajaan keadilan dan kedamaian yang terakhir (mahdi).

W&M Progresif

Julian Carr
Richael Setia
Ethan Forrest

Menerima Tanggungjawab Pilihan Pilihan Raya

Pembangunan institusi demokrasi datang dengan eksternaliti negatif. Sebagai progresif politik, I believe that the big picture – establishing a solid democratic foundation – outweighs the possible emergence of political parties that may advocate religious or gender intolerance. I am a firm believer in the workings of the democratic process. While I have been studying in Egypt for the semester, I am reminded that despite the imperfections of the United States democratic system, it is still many times better than living under any authoritarian regime that outlaws political parties and posts military police at a variety of locations in an effort to exert control and maintain power.

In Egypt, the electoral process is not democratic. The National Political Party – the party of President Mubarak – exerts tremendous influence in the country. Its main opposition is the Muslim Brotherhood, which was created in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna. The Muslim Brotherhood is based on very strict interpretations of the Koran and the idea that secular governments are a direct violation of the teaching of the Koran. The party has a very violent past; it has been directly responsible for several assassination attempts and the assassination of the Egyptian leader Anwar-as-Sadat in 1981.

The Muslim Brotherhood is an illegal political party. Because the political party is religious, it is not allowed to participate in the public sphere under Egyptian law. Despite this technicality, the party has members in the Egyptian Parliament. Walau bagaimanapun, the parliamentarians cannot officially declare their affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood but instead identify as Independents. Though the party remains illegal, it remains the most powerful opposition to the ruling National Democratic Party.

Civil society and Democratization in the Arab World

Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Even if Islam is the Answer, Arab Muslims are the Problem

In May 2008, the Arab nation experienced a number of fires, or rather, armed conflicts—dalam

Lubnan, Iraq, Palestin, Yaman, and Somalia. In these conflicts,

the warring parties used Islam as the instrument for mobilization

and amassing support. Collectively, Muslims are

waging war against Muslims.

After some Muslims raised the slogan of “Islam is the solution,

ia

became apparent “their Islam is the problem.” No sooner have some of them acquired weapons,

than they raised it against the state and its ruling regime regardless of

whether that regime was ruling in the name of Islam or not.

We have

seen this in recent years between the followers of Osama bin Laden

and the Al-Qaeda organization on the one hand, and the authorities in

the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on the other. We have also seen an

explosive example of this phenomenon in Morocco, whose king rules in the name of Islam and

whose title is the ‘Prince of the Faithful.Thus each Muslim faction kills other Muslims in the

name of Islam.
A quick glance at the contents of the media confirms how the

term Islam and its associated symbols have become mere tools in the hands of these Muslims.

Prominent examples of these Islam-exploiting factions are:
Ikhwanul Muslimin, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Jamiat al-Islamiyya, in Egypt

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement, in Palestine Hezbollah, Fatah al-Islam,

and Jamiat al-Islammiyya, in Lebanon The Houthi Zayadi rebels and the Islamic Reform Grouping

(Islah), inYemen The Islamic courts, in Somalia The Islamic Front ,

yang 500 most influential muslims

John Esposito

Ibrahim Kalin

The publication you have in your hands is the first of what we hope will be anannual series that provides a window into the movers and shakers of the Muslimworld. We have strived to highlight people who are influential as Muslims, thatis, people whose influence is derived from their practice of Islam or from the factthat they are Muslim. We think that this gives valuable insight into the differentways that Muslims impact the world, and also shows the diversity of how peopleare living as Muslims today.Influence is a tricky concept. Its meaning derives from the Latin word influensmeaning to flow-in, pointing to an old astrological idea that unseen forces (like themoon) affect humanity. The figures on this list have the ability to affect humanitytoo. In a variety of different ways each person on this list has influence over thelives of a large number of people on the earth. The 50 most influential figuresare profiled. Their influence comes from a variety of sources; however they areunified by the fact that they each affect huge swathes of humanity.We have then broken up the 500 leaders into 15 categories—Scholarly, Political,Administrative, Lineage, Preachers, Wanita, Youth, Philanthropy, Development,Science and Technology, Arts and Culture, Media, Radicals, International IslamicNetworks, and Issues of the Day—to help you understand the different kinds ofways Islam and Muslims impact the world today.Two composite lists show how influence works in different ways: InternationalIslamic Networks shows people who are at the head of important transnationalnetworks of Muslims, and Issues of the Day highlights individuals whoseimportance is due to current issues affecting humanity.

Reform in the Muslim World: The Role of Islamists and Outside Powers

Shibley Telhami


The Bush Administration’s focus on spreading democracyin the Middle East has been much discussed over the past several years, not only in the United Statesand Arab and Muslim countries but also around theworld. In truth, neither the regional discourse about theneed for political and economic reform nor the Americantalk of spreading democracy is new. Over the pasttwo decades, particularly beginning with the end of theCold War, intellectuals and governments in the MiddleEast have spoken about reform. The American policyprior to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 also aimedto spread democracy in the Arab world. But in that case,the first Gulf War and the need to forge alliances withautocratic regimes were one reason talk of democracydeclined. The other reason was the discovery that politicalreform provided openings to Islamist political groupsthat seemed very much at odd with American objectives.The fear that Islamist groups supported democracy onlybased on the principle of “one man, one vote, one time,”as former Assistant Secretary of State Edward Djerejianonce put it, led the United States to backtrack. Evenearly in the Clinton Administration, Secretary of StateWarren Christopher initially focused on democracy inhis Middle East policy but quickly sidelined the issueas the administration moved to broker Palestinian-Israelinegotiation in the shadow of militant Islamist groups,especially Hamas.

The future of Islam after 9/11

Mansoor Moaddel

There is no consensus among historians and Islamicists about the nature of theIslamic belief system and the experience of historical Islam, on which one couldbase a definitive judgment concerning Islam’s compatibility with modernity. Nonetheless,the availability of both historical and value survey data allow us to analyzethe future of Islam in light of the horrific event of 9/11. The key factor that woulddetermine the level of societal visibility necessary for predicting the future developmentof a culture is the nature and clarity of the ideological targets in relation towhich new cultural discourses are produced. Based on this premise, I shall try toilluminate the nature of such targets that are confronted by Muslim activists inIran, Mesir, dan Jordan.