Democratic Islam is Tunisia’s Brotherhood’s refuge

Doaa Emam

The Ennahda movement, the branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia, works to introduce itself in a new form in this North African state.

Through its leader, Rached Ghannouchi, the movement claims that it will be the movement of democratic Islamists.

Ghannouchi has coined out the new term ‘Democratic Islam’ to describe the nature of his movement in the coming days. He says the new Ennahda will be totally different from the old one.

Selling everything

Ghannouchi propagates democratic Islam as an escape from the problems suffered by his movement. The movement also wants to stay away from accusations that it helps Tunisian youth travel to war spots, either in Libya or in Syria. Ennahda is also badly in need of shrugging off accusations that it is a violent movement amid reports that the movement possesses a secret apparatus that carries out its dirty work, including the assassination of Tunisian political figures.

Democratic Islam, Ghannouchi said, means that his movement would be part of the world and speak in a language it can understand.

“We want to deliver a message that there is freedom, democracy and human rights in Islam,” Ghannouchi said. “There is Islamic democracy like there is Christian democracy.”

Limited options

George Fahmi, a research at the Palestinian studies center Masarat, believes that the traditional Islamist project has already come to an end.

“Ennahda movement has realized this in fact, which is why it is trying to formulate an alternative project,” Fahmi told The Reference.

He added that the mother Muslim Brotherhood organization has not realized this fact yet. Fahmi noted that the downfall of the Brotherhood regime in Egypt in 2013 gave Ennahda an important alert.

“After 2013, the movement had limited options,” Fahmi said.

He added that this was why Ennahda joined the national dialogue in Tunisia and abdicated power temporarily with the aim of normalizing its presence on the Tunisian political stage.