Political Regime In Middle East Creates Favorable Condition For Emergence Of Islamic Movements: Expert

Political Regime In Middle East Creates Favorable Condition For Emergence Of Islamic Movements: Expert

Political regimes in the Middle East create favorable conditions for the emergence of Islamic movements, Professor at the Michigan University, Expert on political Islam, Mohammed Ayyoub, said in his speech at the Center for Strategic Studies under the Azerbaijani President in Baku.

He said the suppression of secular resistance and the secular opposition led to the development of Islamic religious movements. For example, the movement the Muslim Brotherhood was formed in Egypt as a result of the authoritarian regime. However, according to Ayyoub, the Islamic movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jamaat Islam in Pakistan and the PKK in Turkey cannot be equated with the Islamic solidity. They use the sacred texts of the Koran for their own purposes, he said.

The professor considers the view of the incompatibility of Islam and democracy wrong.


“But the question is, how Muslims use Islam – democratic or undemocratic way,” he said.


In his view, Muslims have proven that they can live democratically, and the countries, such as Turkey, Bangladesh, Malaysia and India are example for it. Furthermore, Islamic movements have become more moderate. Even the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in recent years have been increasingly talking about human rights, democracy, the establishment of a secular society, as to realize that this is the only way to survive, Ayyoub said.


“Islam and politics is not created in the context of each other, if you look at the evolution of the Islamic history, we see that religion is rather early separated from politics,” said Ayyoub.