There is a widespread belief that no equivalent to the term “political Islam” exists in other countries, and that there is no such thing as “political Christianity,” “political Judaism,” “political Buddhism,” or “political Hinduism.” Some believe that there are only political parties with religious affiliations or religiously inspired names. As a result, the term “political Islam” has become closely associated with Islamic states and societies, and is often used to describe Islamist or fundamentalist groups that are extremist, radical, or armed.
In Western discourse, the term is commonly used to highlight the tendency of such extremist or Salafist groups towards radicalism and violence. They may ignore the fact that medieval churches in Europe exercised supreme political authority. Their control was not dismantled until after the French Revolution.
During that period, the church itself embraced a rigid and fundamentalist ideology. American presidents, religious figures, and others have held, and continue to hold, beliefs that they are divinely appointed. The Jews of Israel have sought to make the state Jewish in identity, and to that end have waged dozens of religious and racial wars, committing various forms of violence and crimes against the indigenous inhabitants.
These beliefs and actions qualify them as representatives of “political Judaism.” “Political Islam” has never been embodied in any movement or organization as clearly as in the Muslim Brotherhood, whose primary and ultimate goal, in every country where it has operated, including Western countries, has been to seize political power. It was therefore unsurprising that the newly elected head of Hamas’s political bureau, Khalil al-Hayya, expressed gratitude only to Iran, the Houthis, Hezbollah, and several armed factions in Iraq for the weapons and sacrifices they provided in support of Hamas, which emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood.
Al- Hayya deliberately omitted any acknowledgement of the State and people of Kuwait, despite their being among the first to support the Palestinian cause from the very beginning. I, along with tens of thousands of others, have never hesitated to support the Palestinian cause and have consistently contributed financially to it, following the example set by the generosity and steadfast positions of our people and successive governments since the mid-1950s, and even earlier. Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others have done the same.
How can such disregard be justified, especially given that al-Hayya is not a politically naïve individual who would make such an oversight? It is clear that al-Hayya deliberately sought to erase our entire previous stances about the Palestinian cause, as though we were forced to do so. At the same time, Iran, which al-Hayya thanked, continues to direct its destructive missiles and deadly drones towards our desalination plants, airports, border crossings, power stations, and homes. It has also instructed its proxies in Iraq to threaten us with invasion and aggression. Al-Hayya’s actions reflect Hamas’s, as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, ambition to seize power in Arab countries, particularly the Gulf states, in pursuit of its expansionist agenda.
By Ahmad alsarraf
email: [email protected]
email: [email protected]
