For the past couple of weeks the world has been watching as protesters express how fed up they are with the poverty, high unemployment and alleged corruption and sham elections during Hosni Mubarak’s 30 years of rule. The protestors continue to insist that Mubarak step aside and allow free elections.
Egypt’s Muslim population of 82 million is by far the largest in the Arab world. Western nations are watching the events in Egypt, which has been an ally of the United States and a major influence in the Middle East for decades. The Egyptian military helps the US protect the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf and it controls the Suez Canal, a crucial transport route.
The uprising is not one of any particular persuasion. People from all walks of life are unhappy with autocratic rule. The next democratic election in Egypt could mean choosing a leader from among the Muslim Brotherhood or from a liberal force in the opposition. Interestingly enough, the Muslim Brotherhood, founded by Hassan al-Banna, is one of the largest and most influential 20th century Islamic organizations. The Brotherhood is the most rooted political organization in Egypt. Al-Banna is known to have had a great impact on modern political Islamic thought. The world watches and wonders what Egyptians will embrace next.
Millions of tourists have visited the lands of Egypt and Turkey. They come, they visit, they see and they leave, usually with a particular impression that is often quite naïve as they have not even scratched the surface and have no clue of what is really going on underneath, so to say. The average American is taken by surprise when he or she hears the term secular Turk and is even more surprised by the expression leftist or socialist Turk. When one thinks of Turkey they tend to think of the Middle East and Islam as going hand-in-hand. The same goes for Egypt.
It reminds me of around the early 1900s, when perhaps you may recall Marxist ideas began warily to make their way into the Muslim world. Egypt and Turkey were receptive to change then. Having been in direct contact with some Russian social democrats and Europeans who had converted to this ideology, some Egyptians and Turks were even receptive to socialist ideas. Around this time Turkey was perceived as a place in which the conditions were ripe for revolution. Unemployment, economic woes and a power vacuum existed. Also in Baku, Azerbaijan, some Azerbaijani-Turkish Muslims and Persian Muslims were influenced by socialist ideas and acquired a real class consciousness. In Turkey the systematic spread of socialism did not begin until after the Young Turk Revolution of July 1908; and then reorganized and increased after 1919. The Young Turks opened the way for the spread of socialist ideas in the Ottoman Empire. The term Young Turks referred to the members of Ottoman society who were progressive, modernist and opposed to the status quo.
Certainly after the October Revolution (1917) in Russia when the czarist monarchy was overthrown and the ruling classes were disposed of and the masses stood up to the intervention of the Western powers, socialism accelerated. You may wonder what socialism has meant for Muslims who embraced it. Actually, only a small minority accepted it and it was usually for either an economic doctrine or a program of class of struggle. Practicing Muslims generally found communism to be a new form of irreligion and heresy that had to be opposed.
Similarities exist today except the protest is not in opposition to socialism. The democracy movement we witness today represents individuals from different walks of life who believe it is their duty to protest against unemployment, economic ruin and alleged corruption.
One of the things socialism taught was the revolutionary techniques of taking action and agitation. Scholars used to debate the question: “Is socialism compatible with Islam?” Nowadays, the million dollar question practically everyone is asking is whether or not democracy is compatible with Islam. What do you think?
As the democracy movement is gaining ground, it is important to press for a more democratic nation, but there are no guarantees of the outcome. One thing is certain and that is that too much change could tip stability and peace in the region.
