EDITOR’S COLUMN
This edition of Islamism Digest presents interesting perspectives on a range of pertinent issues on security, democracy and Islamic revival.
The first article deals with civil society and the “war on terror”.Written by Dr Wanda Krause, the article analyses the use and abuse of concepts and terms in relation to civil society and the framing of such terms; very often these are presented in eschewed fashion which contributes to the stigmatization of communities such as Muslims. Dr Daud Abdullah, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain shares his thoughts and experience as a leading figure of the Muslim community in Britain, in particular the impact, ramifications and effectiveness of numerous government strategies to deal with extremism and counter-terrorism in Britain. Dr Abdullah, himself a recent victim of a witch hunt spearheaded by some sections of the media and supported by a sitting Minister, argues that the various government strategies such as Contest 2 are counter-productive to achieving the goals of preventing terrorism and these merely add to the victimization of Muslim leaders and organisations.
Dr Kamal El-Helbawy, chairman of CFSOT, shares his thoughts and analysis of the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and democracy in Egypt today. Despite this being one of the oldest and the largest grass-roots movement, the Muslim Brotherhood is committed to democracy in spite of the attacks and constraints put against it. There exists an overriding assumption that the Muslim Brotherhood and democracy are inherently incompatible. Here Dr Helbawy demonstrates how the movement is misunderstood not only in the West but in Egypt too.
The final contribution is an interview with Agha Murtaza Pooya, currently the Vice Chairman of the Pakistan Awami Tehrik, the political wing of Minhaz-ul-Quran led by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri; he is also spearheading an effort on Bait-e-Ibrahim (House of Ibrahim) a concept that envisages a church, mosque and synagogue under one roof. The interview with Pooya provides interesting insights into the issues and crisis currently engulfing Pakistan and Afghanistan, not to forget the meddling by foreign powers like the USA.
Finally, the work of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism has not escaped the current world financial crisis. The publication of the Islamism Digest has been a success in that we have managed to publish it every month without fail since its inception. However, due to the current financial crisis and other factors, we will now be printing Islamism Digest every quarterly but the monthly issue will continue to be published in Pdf format for subscribers. This is a temporary measure which we hope you will understand and that you will continue to support this noble project.
Thank you
ABDULLAH FALIQ
Co-Editor
