Daily Alert Archives

Political Islam: Forty Shades of Green

(Economist-UK) The Hamas triumph has brought delight to all its fellow members of the international fraternity known as the Muslim Brotherhood - from the refugee camps in Jordan to their counterparts in the Islamic diaspora in Europe. Whatever Hamas now does, its success may be remembered as the biggest victory for political Islam since Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini brought to the modern world the idea that Islam might be a formula for governance, law, and spreading revolution. The two best-known forms of political Islam (broadly speaking, al-Qaeda and the Brotherhood) have common ideological origins. Both have their roots in the anti-secular opposition in Egypt, a conservative reading of Sunni Islam, and the wealth and religious zeal of the Saudis. But they differ hugely over politics and tactics.
2006-02-06 00:00:00
Full Article