Democracy and Islam are like oil and water—they don’t mix

Events in Egypt would seem to suggest that it is a society divided into several distinct and conflicting political ideologies: Religious fanatics who want the country ruled by a strict adherence to Islamic law that tolerates no dissent, educated secularists who want a free exercise of their opinions, and—perhaps a majority—who want nothing more than a regime that provides stability and calm. Unfortunately, the first two are as insoluble as oil and water—and they cannot function side-by-side with any degree of mutual acceptance. One must destroy the other for there to be any stability in the country. 

Egypt’s ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, and his Muslim Brotherhood cohorts seized power through democratic means—much like the Nazi’s did in 1933—and then attempted to subvert its principles by  formulating a “constitution” that claims to enshrine the freedom of thought, action and speech, yet in fact it provides “the State” virtually carte blanche authority to decide what is or is not permissible: “Dignity is the right of every human being, safeguarded by the State...Insulting or showing contempt toward any human being shall be prohibited…The State is keen to preserve the genuine character of the Egyptian family, its cohesion and stability, and to protect its moral values, all as regulated by law…The State shall safeguard ethics, public morality and public order, and foster a high level of education and of religious and patriotic values, scientific thinking, Arab culture, and the historical and cultural heritage of the people; all as shall be regulated by law…The State shall safeguard the cultural and linguistic constituents of society, and foster the Arabization of education, science and knowledge.”

This is not secular democracy with separation of church and state; this is the recipe for state-sponsored tyranny. The Morsi regime was little differentiated from the Mubarak dictatorship. Despite his razor-thin election as president over a Mubarak-era holdover, with the help of a rubber-stamp legislature packed with Islamists who misrepresented their true agenda, the secular underpinnings of a society in which 10 percent of the population is Coptic Christian was to be systematically stripped away from public and private life. In order to do this in the face of strong opposition, Morsi last November all but declared martial law and ruled by presidential decree. This led to months of widespread protests and crackdowns until the Egyptian military issued an ultimatum to Morsi to form a power-sharing government that recognized the legitimate concerns of non-Islamists. When he proved slow to do so, he was removed from power, the legislature dissolved, and the constitution abandoned. 

Egypt is thus back to square one only a year after its first free presidential election; it remains to be seen if the reboot merely leads to more street violence or a real democracy shorn of close-minded religious tyranny.  One wonders if this is possible given the promise of “a million martyrs" ready to “die” for a return to Islamist rule opposed to secularism. One would think that if a Muslim country is ready for democratization it would be Egypt, especially since it has at least a 60-year history of secular institutions. Yet during that time the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood persevered and never moderated its extremist religious, cultural and political views—waiting and watching for its chance to come out of the shadows and impose its will on the country.

What of Iraq? Since U.S. forces left the country, there has been little attention paid to it by the mainstream media. But given the fact that it had ten years of U.S. occupation to get democratic institutions “right,” it should have advanced further than Egypt has. Instead, we get recent headlines like this from just the past two weeks, courtesy of the New York Times:

“Wave of violence continues in Iraq as 23 people are killed in single day by attacks including suicide bombing inside Shiite mosque.”

“Dozen bombings occur in and around Baghdad, Iraq, killing at least 41 and wounding 125 others.”

“Thirty-seven people are killed in Iraq in five separate suicide bombings; violence follows dozen bombings on Monday that killed 41 people.”

“Bombs explode in coffee shops and other sites across Iraq, killing at least 18 people.”

“Three attacks north of Baghdad, Iraq, kill at least 25 people, latest in a growing series of insurgent strikes.”

Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr continues to be a troublemaker, refusing to be a candidate for office but still using his Sadrist militia to intimidate government institutions and leaders. Sunni and Shiite factions are still at each other’s throats, while Sunnis who dare stand for public office—de facto recognition of the Shiite-dominated government—have been routinely assassinated by extremists. One international survey listed Iraq as the seventh most unstable country in the world, and it would seem only a matter of time before another Saddam Hussein-like character (but this time likely to be Shiite),  takes control of the country.

But, some will say, Turkey is a country where Islam and democracy have comfortably resided together. Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, discarded Islamic law and set the country on a path of secular Westernization. Turkey joined NATO and is currently under consideration to become a member of the European Union. However, membership into the EU has become a source of contention with many European states, because of the perception that Turkey has slowly become an authoritarian state under the control of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Islamic AK Party, which initially gained dominance in Turkey in 2002 despite having only attracted only 34 percent of the total vote. Since then, Erdoğan has embarked on a policy of gradual Islamization of the country, enough to cause widespread fear of the loss of the secular nature of the country. 

One controversial measure passed by the Islamists in Turkey is Article 301 of the new penal code, which charges anyone who “publicly denigrates Turkishness, the Republic or the Grand National Assembly of Turkey” with punishment by imprisonment of between six months and three years.  “Denigration” against the government, the judiciary, and security organizations are punishable for up to two years. This law is a blatant attack against freedom of thought and expression, and was notably used against Nobel Literature Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, who thought a public apology for Armenian genocide was in order, but that Erdoğan has stated that there is no need to do. In 2006, Turkish publishers of a book written by Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman were put on trial, since the book mentioned the Armenian genocide. 

Since 2008, hundreds of members of the military and the media known to oppose the de-secularization of the country were arrested for “conspiring” against the regime. In 2012, the acclaimed Turkish classical pianist Fazil Say was charged with “defaming” Islam when he remarked that “the Koran says there are rivers of drinks in heaven, that makes it sound like a pub, while the beautiful women available there make it sound like a brothel.” More recently nine human rights lawyers were arrested and charged per an anti-terrorism law. 

There are those who say that Turkey is still a vital partner of the U.S. and Europe, but in fact many Turks have been pushing for “independence” from the West and closer ties to Russia, China and the Arab countries. Erdoğan has not hidden his anti-Israel agenda, having on several occasions chosen to provoke the Israelis, including purposefully allowing a “flotilla” of Hamas supporters to leave its waters to violate Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. At the present time, protests at the de-secularization—which for now has been mainly attempts to institute laws outlawing dissent—have stepped-up; but is it only a matter of time before Erdoğan and his Islamist AK party take further steps once they feel secure enough in power? Erdoğan is, after all, a follower of the imam Fethullah Gulen, who preaches the beliefs of the radical Islamist Nur party (which is also a force in Egypt) calling for world domination by Islam. So-called “Gulenists” have been accused of infiltrating Turkish media and security forces, no doubt with the full support of the government. 

Thus Turkey has gone from a secular, modern democratic state envisioned by Kemal Ataturk to one on the brink of Islamic revolution, albeit of a creeping variety. Democracy, it seems, is for now only an inconvenient obstacle to be overcome.