Political Islam: Impact on International Relations in the Middle East

Political Islam
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Political Islam refers to the movements playing the role of presenting political mobilization of Islam in the world. Muslims practice political Islam to strengthen their understanding of the religion and to show their commitment to the world. Researches indicate that political Islam was first presented in the early 1940s by Jeffery Arthur but worldwide recognition of that movement happened later. Political Islam was as a result of failure of other Islamic resurgence movements all over the world in mid-20th century . Muslims in different parts of the world are entitled to different political activities that do not feature political Islam idea in them. This differentiates political Islam from other Islamic political programs because it is a specific program without a generic label for any political activity in the world of Muslims. This paper will discuss political Islam and its impact to law and international relation in the Middle East.[dalibor Rohac. Understanding political Islam. (June 23, 2014), /publications/economic-development-bulletin/understanding-political-islam]
Scholars and Muslim intellectuals has been lamenting loss of their empire and power as a result of invasion from west since the begging of colonial era. There has been establishment of many Islamic movement since the fall of Islamic caliphate in the late 1920s to restore the Muslim society which barely succeed because of different views on Islam politics and religion. Islam intellectuals claim that the disability to reform Islamic power is due to neglect of Islamic revealed divine law. They believe that obedience of Muslims divine law will restore global moral sovereignty and leadership of Muslim community.[Comparative pol. “Islam and democracy in the Middle East”: the impact of religious orientationon altitudes toward democracy in four arab countries (city university of new York) 2002, 338]
There are many reported revivalist movements in Muslim communities especially in the west countries such as North America but they are not qualified to be political movements. Islam who believe that they are all required by their religion to build a strong political system are qualified to be a part of the political Islam movement. There has been formation of other Islamic movements such as Hizbut Tahreer which seeks establishment of an Islamic state in Palestine. Muslim brotherhood was formed as movement whose objective is to form an Arab Islamic state. Brotherhood group was divided into groups and redistributed worldwide to acquire and share power through democratic means. Movements in the world of Muslim have formed groups whose role is to seek Islamic polity that can lead the entire community to become an element of worldwide political unification. These movements can be divided into means by which they use to achieve their goals. There are movements who seek Islamic polity through force and violence and those who seek through peace and cooperation.[Hrair Dekmejian. “Middle East journal”. The rise of political Islamism in Saudi Arabia (1994), /stable/4328744?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents]
Politics have been highly influenced by Muslims especially in Muslim dominated countries like Jordan, Egypt and Pakistan. Citizens and large number of leaders believe that Quran is supposed to be a part of the law which should be strictly followed. According to research Muslims play a major role in their countries political life which is mostly seen as a positive light in in the Islam world. Jordan and Egypt are among countries applying Quran as a part of la by which everyone should strictly adhere to. Lebanon is one of Islamic state in Middle East that have its citizen divided in on matters related to application of Quran in the law. Large number Shia Muslims of Lebanon believe that Quran should be applied in making the law while Sunni Muslim believe that the Quran should not be used.[Hrair Dekmejian. “Middle East journal”. The rise of political Islamism in Saudi Arabia (1994),/stable/4328744?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents]
Jordan is the only state in Middle East where most people say that Islam has no big role in government. This has resulted to division because people who do not support Quran law are many and they consider the small role of Islam as negative to their country . Lebanon youths have been affected by division based on Quran use in law making. Less than 40% of people ranging between the ages of eighteen to thirty promote the significant role of Islam in politics while the rest believe that Islam’s political influence is of negative value. This clearly indicate division of Lebanese and Middle East evaluation of Islam’s political influence even though it differs by religious groups.[Pew Research Center. Role of Islam in politics, (July 10, 2012) retrieved from: /2012/07/10/chapter-3-role-of-islam-in-politics/]
Conflation between religion and politics have contributed to the influence of Islam itself b...