Is political Islam still a global project? A hundred years of questions!!

Counselor Dr. Ahmed Youssef

As a young man in my twenties, my mind was opened to the sounds of the Takbir (Allah is most great) as an indicator of the emergence of the young generation of the "Islamic Awakening" and the good tidings it held for us for the nation of charitable people.
Today, those thunderous voices have faded in frequency and tone, and no longer possess the earthquake that would frighten the enemy camp, heralding a new phase that is in the process of taking shape, even if its features do not bode well, after the state of helplessness and failure that has appeared in the Arab and Islamic nation, and its failure to support the Palestinian people, who have been subjected to genocide for more than 19 months!!
Is the scene of killing, starvation, and siege of the displaced people in the Gaza Strip, coupled with the eerie silence of our nation, an indication that the Islamists, as a force of power and prestige, have been dismissed? Or is it the beginning of a shift in mentality toward thinking from new perspectives, to restore the spirits and inventors of the "political Islam" project for a revival that revives our decay and decay?
This reading of the phenomenon of "political Islam" in its first centenary may answer this question, or we may simply turn the page on it as we anticipate what might lead to a second centenary whose fortunes oscillate between erasure and empowerment.
A hundred years ago, the outlines of what later became known as "political Islam" began to emerge when the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928, in reaction to the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate and the growing dominance of Western colonialism.
At that time, the project carried a universal ambition, seeking to restore Islam as a way of life that united religion and state.
But after a century of existence, and after ups and downs, limited successes, and repeated setbacks, the image of political Islam appears to be undergoing a major reassessment:
Is it still a global project, or has it become a local project trying to adapt to the nation state?
Researcher Olivier Roy argues that political Islamist movements have "nationalized Islam," transforming it into a political ideology, but have failed to establish a practical model for the modern state. French thinker François Burgat attributes the Islamists' failure to the authoritarian political environment, viewing them as an extension of modern social transformations, not a mere throwback to the past.
Algerian thinker Malek Bennabi laid the theoretical foundations for an Islamic civilizational project, emphasizing the necessity of combining authenticity and modernity. While not necessarily falling under the label of "political Islam," he did establish the concept of Islamic civilizational effectiveness.
The Arab Spring represented a reality check for Islamist movements, some of which came to power (in Tunisia, Egypt, and Morocco), but faced internal, institutional, and security challenges that prevented their experience from taking root.
Thinker Rachid Ghannouchi believes that Islamists were not defeated democratically, but were forcibly excluded. He asserts that this experience has revealed the need to develop Islamic political jurisprudence.
For his part, researcher John Esposito, director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, rejects Western characterizations of Islamists, arguing that they mostly seek political reform, not violence, making their exclusion a threat to stability rather than a factor.

One of the most prominent figures to offer an in-depth analysis of the contemporary Islamic experience is Jordanian researcher Dr. Muhammad Abu Rumman. In his book "Islamists and the State," he highlights how Islamists have shifted from a totalitarian approach to pragmatic approaches within the nation-state. He argues that their project is undergoing a redefinition phase linked to changing political and social contexts. He points to the necessity of integrating the concepts of citizenship and freedom into Islamist discourse if they are to remain relevant within the political landscape.
Algerian thinker Dr. Farouk Tayfour offers a critical perspective that argues that the failure of "political Islam" is not due to its nature, but rather to its systematic exclusion from the state. In his works, he asserts that Islamists still retain societal legitimacy, calling for its development toward democratic legitimacy through political openness and institutional work.
From within the experience of "political Islam" in government, Dr. Al-Othmani offers a calm, critical assessment, defending the legitimacy of political participation by Islamist movements and viewing it as part of "contemporary ijtihad in implementing Sharia," not a departure from religion or a betrayal of its principles.
In his book "On Sharia Politics," Dr. Al-Othmani asserts that the Islamic movement today is facing a new phase that requires liberation from some traditional concepts, particularly those that are hostile to the state or limit change to the path of "comprehensive empowerment." He believes that politics is the art of balancing and phasing, not a perfect arena.
Based on his experience in government, Dr. Al-Othmani wrote that Islamists failed not because they abandoned their principles, but because they entered a complex political arena governed by the balance of power, economics, and international interests, not just good intentions or moral rhetoric.
He believes that the future of "political Islam" will not lie in repeating the organizational experience, but rather in developing a flexible Islamic political thought open to pluralistic democracy and concepts such as human rights, social justice, and the transfer of power, without breaking with Islamic authority.
Over the past decade, there has been a proliferation of writings declaring the end of "political Islam." However, researcher Dr. Abdul Wahab Al-Afandy rejects this conclusion, arguing that "political Islam" has not ended, but has rather entered a phase of structural transformation.
He believes that an honest intellectual review is capable of renewing the project.
American researcher Graham Fuller supports this approach, arguing that "political Islam" will not disappear as long as there is popular demand for it. He argues that integrating it into politics is preferable to excluding it, in order to avoid the emergence of new extremist movements.

Among the fair-minded Western Muslim voices is Murad Hoffmann, a German diplomat who converted to Islam. In his book "Islam as an Alternative," Hoffmann presents a vision of Islam as a moral and cultural system capable of civilizational competition. Hoffmann does not discuss "political Islam" in its organizational form, but rather defends the right of Muslims to express their religious identity within the public sphere and rejects the strict secular model that excludes religion from public life.
"Political Islam," in its centenary, is no longer what it once was. It is no longer a purely international project, nor has it fully turned the page. It is a project undergoing a transitional phase: between global ambition and national reality, between old ideals and new imperatives. Its future will be determined by its ability to adapt, open up, and seriously review, not simply by adhering to traditional discourse.