Political Islam: Decline in the Middle East … Expansion in Europe

Political Islam: Decline in the Middle East … Expansion in Europe
October 19, 2021, 4:12 pm

Jwan Dibo

During the last two decades, political Islam in Europe has become more powerful than its counterpart in the Middle East and the entire Muslim world. Indeed, there are various reasons behind the emergence of this phenomenon, that is, the rise of political Islam in Europe.

Political Islam in Europe lives its best times in conjunction with its retreat in the cradle of Islam, namely, the Middle East and North Africa. The massive Muslim communities in Western Europe, that constitute the incubator of political Islam, is not the only reason behind the birth and growth of various groups that adopt the ideology of political Islam, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood. Likewise, the problem is not only related to the method of religiosity followed in major mosques and religious centres scattered in Europe. However, there are fundamental reasons linked to the European policies themselves.

First: The European Union countries do not adopt a single position on political Islam. On the contrary, there are several positions ranging from flexibility, moderation, and firmness. This indicates the absence of European consensus on this phenomenon, which is considered a threat to the stability of European societies.

Second: The official policies of European states still differentiate between the Muslim Brotherhood organisation, on the one hand, and the rest of Islamic organisations and factions that engage in acts of violence and terrorism, on the other hand. Note that the Muslim Brotherhood is considered the main root and pedigree of all other Islamic terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra, ISIS, Khorasan, and others.

Third: In some major European countries, the Muslim Brotherhood organisation still enjoys exceptional sponsor and support, even though those countries are aware of the dangerous roots of this organisation and that other terrorist groups are nothing but complements and new versions of the Muslim Brotherhood. Even some administrations in Western countries consider the Muslim Brotherhood to represent moderate Islam! On this basis, these countries supported the uprisings of the so-called Arab Spring in 2011, which led to the Muslim Brotherhood taking power in those countries for a period.

What is required of the EU and UK in this regard is to adopt a single policy to fight and eradicate political Islam in Europe. For example, all political Islam organisations in Europe, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, should be outlawed. Pursuing all foreign-funded centres and imams to disengage these centres from abroad, which are hostile to Europe. Imposing severe sanctions on countries that sponsor and finance political Islam groups, such as Turkey and Qatar. Adopting more realistic and dynamic policies regarding the integration of Muslim communities into European societies. Fighting the European extreme right in parallel with fighting political Islam groups.

If the EU and Britain do not take potent measures against political Islam groups, especially the terrorist organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood, Europe will witness in the future more terrorist operations and thus more instability. Especially, since the United States has given another golden opportunity to political Islam groups in the whole world through its chaotic and arbitrary withdrawal from Afghanistan and handing it on a diamond platter to the terrorist Taliban movement.

by: Jwan Dibo