From this point of view, secularism, which is the idea of separating religion from the state, is alien to Muslims. Consequentially, a Muslim society, based on its religious teachings, will find it difficult to practice democracy.
There is not much support for this thesis in real political life, including in Islamic communities. It is true that Islamic-based political parties have won the first elections in some of the new democratic countries in the Middle East.
This might reinforce the argument that religion plays a pivotal role in politics, particularly in the Muslim context.
In fact, the parties change all the time. The Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwanul Muslimin) in Egypt, for instance, is no longer a monolithic organization.
It has at least three factions, with the biggest one an accommodative faction that has produced the elected president, Mohammad Morsi (Carry Rosefski Wickham: 2011). In addition, it did not exploit ideological issues in its election campaign, but rather matters related to good governance.
The party has been a significant part of the democratic movement in the Egyptian transition of power. It won the election not because of its Islamic ideology, but due to its opposition to the dictatorial regime.
Many years before the Arab Spring, Olivier Roy predicted the failure of political Islam (1994). He identified two camps; Islamism and neo-fundamentalism.
The first refers to a political movement and the second relates to spiritual activities. The second group dominates the Muslim world and leads to the failure of any Islamic political interest.
Islam is not the only entity, but this is sometimes forgotten. Many people think that all Muslims follow Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian jihadist who fought in Afghanistan, who called for a holy war against infidels.
Through his polemic essay titled Ilhaaq bi-Qafiilah (Joining the caravan) in 1987 he asked Muslims across the world to join the fight.
It is an oversimplification to think about Islam in only one way. There are so many groups and identities within Muslim communities (Greg Fealy and Sally White: 2008). In addition, these identities tend to be forgotten with many people thinking only about the ideological debates between Islamists and liberals (Anthoni Bubalo and Greg Fealy: 2005).
