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Post-Islamism a New Phase Or Ideological Post-Islamism A New Phase or Ideological Delusions? 2 Post - Islamism The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan The Deposit Number at The National Library (2018/12/6029) 324.2182 AbuRumman, Mohammad Suliman Post Islamism: A New Phase or Ideological Delusions?/ Mohammad Sulima- nAbuRumman; translated by William Joseph Ward. – Amman: Friedrich- Ebert-Stiftung, 2018 (232) p. Deposit No.: 2018/12/6029 Descriptors: /Religious Parties//Political Parties// Arab Countries/ ﻳﺘﺤﻤﻞ اﳌﺆﻟﻒ ﻛﺎﻣﻞ اﳌﺴﺆﻭﻟﻴﺔ اﻟﻘﺎﻧﻮﻧﻴﺔ ﻋﻦ ﳏﺘﻮ￯ ﻣﺼﻨﻔﻪ ﻭﻻ ﹼﻳﻌﱪ ﻫﺬا اﳌﺼﻨﻒ ﻋﻦ رأﻱ داﺋﺮة اﳌﻜﺘﺒﺔ اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ أﻭ أﻱ ﺟﻬﺔ ﺣﻜﻮﻣﻴﺔ أﺧﺮ￯. Published in 2018 by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Jordan & Iraq FES Jordan & Iraq P.O. Box 941876 Amman11194 Jordan Email:[email protected] Website:www.fes-jordan.org Not for Sale © FES Jordan & Iraq All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publishers. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are solely those of the original author. They do not necessarily represent those of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung or the editor. Translation: Industry Arabic Cover design: Yousef Saraireh Lay-out: Eman Khattab Printing: Economic Press ISBN: 978-9957-484-91-0 Foreword 3 Post-Islamism A New Phase or Ideological Delusions? Editor: Dr. Mohammed Abu Rumman 4 Post - Islamism Foreword 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword 7 Introduction 9 Chapter 1 — Post-Islamism: Problems of the Term and Concept 21 Study 1: From Islamism to Post-Islamism: An Examination of Concepts and Theses, Hassan Abu Hanieh 23 Study 2: “Post-Islamism”: Lessons from Arab Revolutions, Luz Gómez 57 Study 3: The Failure of Political Islam: Ideological Delusions and Socio- logical Realities, Dr. Abdul Ghani Imad 69 Chapter 2: Post-Islamism: Ideological and Political Failure or Evolution? 89 Study 1: “Posts”: The Muslim Brotherhood as a Model, Dr. Khalil Al- Anani 91 Study 2: Transformations in the Moroccan Islamist Experiment, Dr. Ra- chid Mouqtadir 107 Study 3: A Reading of the Changes in the Yemeni Situation, Nabil Al- Bukairi 139 Chapter 3: Various Models: Indonesia, Iran, and Iraq 153 Study 1: “Post-Islamism” in Indonesia After the Jakarta Elections, Ihsan Ali Fauzi 155 Study 2: Post-Islamism: The Iranian Model, Dr. Emad Abshenas 171 Study 3: The Islamic Dawa Party: Reviewing the Discourse and its Chal- lenges, Dr. Ali Taher Al-Hamoud 189 Chapter 4: Political Islam and Beyond ... Jordan 203 Study 1: Post-Brotherhood: The Partnership and Rescue Party, Eng. Ghaith Al-Qudah 205 Study 2: Post-Islamism in the Jordanian Context, Dr. Hassan Barari 212 List of Researchers 227 6 Post - Islamism Foreword 7 Foreword Tim Petschulat Resident Director of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Jordan and Iraq In 2007 the Jordan Office of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) started a series of non-profit-publications on Political Islam. Within the last 11 years 19 books were published as part of this series. Our interest for this particular area of research is based on the fact that Political Islam plays an important role in Jordan and the region and will – in one form or another - continue to do so. It is my belief that understanding history, developments and current debates within the movements of Political Islam are crucial to the under- standing of Arab and Muslim societies. I am also convinced that a sound knowledge of key developments in this field are of importance not only for academics of Social Sciences but for everybody engaged in develop- ment - or governance related - work in Jordan and other predominantly Muslim countries. Our latest addition to our series on Political Islam tackles the phe- nomenon of Post-Islamism from a variety of perspectives. It summarizes the key inputs of an international conference on “Post Political Islam”, which the Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS) and FES conducted in May 2018 in Amman. 8 Post - Islamism While the terms “Post-Islamism” and “Post-Political Islam” are controversial for a good reason, we still decided to use them in the ab- sence of a more fitting label to describe: A new, pragmatic and democratic form of Political Islam that is ready to leave some of the classic goals of the movement behind - such as the establishment of an Islamic state or the call to confront secularism. Political parties like the Tunisian Ennahda, which show some re- semblance to the family of Christian Democratic Parties in Europe A movement that strives for Islamic values within and in favour of a democratic framework The articles in this book shed some light on this rather complex phenomenon. It is my hope that it might serve as useful resource to you. I am grateful to Dr. Mohammad Abu Rumman for his very inspir- ing and active role both during the conference and as editor of this publi- cation. I want to express my thanks to all scholars who contributed to this academic endeavour as well as to all involved colleagues both from CSS and FES. FES aims to contribute with its research and its programs to a dem- ocratic transformation of Jordan along the lines His Majesty King Abdal- lah II envisioned in his Discussion Papers, which were released between 2011 and 2017. Introduction Although usage of the term “post-Islamism” dates back decades, in particular to the 1990s, it has once again returned to the spotlight, more prominently now than ever, as several Islamist movements are advancing further on the path to accepting democracy, political pluralism, and pow- er sharing. Several Islamist movements in the Arab and Islamic world today are announcing an embrace of public and individual freedoms, then advocating a separation of religion and politics and starting to think about this principle. We noted this trend in Islamic movements and orientations in clear terms at the last annual conference, convened by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Amman under the title “The Prospects of Political Islam in a Troubled Region: Islamists and Post-Arab Spring Challenges.”1 Thus, we (at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the Center for Strategic Stu- dies at the University of Jordan) thought it appropriate to build on that work and try to do more study and deeper analysis of this trend, which is evolving toward a more pragmatic and political course, stripping from electoral campaigns timeworn slogans like “Islam is the solution” and tending toward acceptance of ideas and principles that depart from Islam- ism’s language and ideology in previous decades. 1 Conference held in Amman on 23 May 2017. A group of Arab and Western researchers and experts participated. Works and papers from the conference were published in a book in both Arabic and English. See: The Prospects of Political Islam in a Troubled Region: Is- lamists and Post-Arab Spring Challenges, ed. Mohammed Abu Rumman, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Amman, p. 7-9. 10 Post - Islamism These evolving of a pragmatic, democratic political Islamnecessi- tates a returnto the concept of “post-Islamism” or, more precisely, a “transition” to a post-Islamist stage. This means the abandonment by Is- lamist movements of many of the slogans, goals, and philosophies on which they were founded and which formed the core of their political and religious thought and rhetoric in recent decades. Some examples include: establishing an Islamic state, Islamizing society, confronting secularism, and stating that Islam is the solution. These movements are transitioning to accepting democracy as the ultimate form of governance; religious, cultural and political pluralism; and a separation of religion and politics, i.e. a transformation into professional political parties within the demo- cratic political game. This also means an abandonment of the “utopia” of establishing an Islamic state governed by the tenets of Sharia as concep- tualized in radical Islamism. All of this means that practically speaking, the sphere of religion, preaching, and jurisprudence is distinct from the sphere of politics and party work, as can be deduced from intellectual transformations and jurisprudential and religious reconsiderations within these movements. Necessarily, there is no precise, specific definition of “post- Islamism,” or of its conditions, contexts, indicators, and causes, recog- nized by researchers and scholars, in particular those who had a role in introducing and framing the concept, such as Olivier Roy and Olivier Carré, who used the term (at the beginning of the 1990s) to refer to the failure of the Islamist experiment and the inability of political Islam to provide answers to problems of governance and the economy. The pre- mises of Islamism were thus left behind in favor of a return to the process of separating the religious and political spheres, as was the case in pre- vious centuries before the emergence of modern Islamist movements that ideologized and politicized Islamic discourse. Gilles Kepel’s writings on the failure of political Islam do not dif- fer from the above. Therefore, according to this perspective, the post- Islamist stage is reached either by breaking off from Islamist movements Introduction 11 and moving beyond their religious ideologizing, or it reflects their failure and inability to achieve their goals, and thus the headlong rush toward “post-Islamism.” Other researchers and scholars disagree with this analytical frame- work, foremost among them the French researcher François Burgat, who thoroughly questions assertions of political Islam’s failure. It also differs with the thesis offered by Asef Bayat, who sees post-Islamism not as an inversion of Islam but rather as a trend that turns Islamist concepts and ideas upside down; prioritizes rights over duties, pluralism, and historic- ism; and merges rights, religiosity, faith, and freedoms. These are the consequences of “electoral Islam” adapting and adjusting to the demo- cratic process, leading to the occurrence of major changes within Islamist movements themselves.2 If we are to frame the theoretical approaches in interpreting and de- fining “post-Islamism,” we will find before us three main perspectives: The first perspective sees in political Islam an essentialist structure that does not evolve.
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