When Mohamed Ibrahim, secretary-general of the Salafist Al-Hayaa Al-Shareya lel-Houkouk wal-Islah (the legal body for rights and reform), was asked on TV whether or not Islamists have directed their energies to the political realm at the expense of the religious his response was to reverse the question: “The question should rather be if Islamists decided tomorrow to abandon politics, would this serve the religion better?” Ibrahim's answer was a flat no. His view reflects a dominant perception within Islamist movements whose rank and file has engaged in heated debates about what impact politicisation has on movements which were built primarily as socio-religious entities concerned with the reform of society and religion. There is hardly a consensus among activists regarding how to reconcile the two components within the context of unprecedented political opening and freedom. Some activists acknowledge how the heavy dose of politicisation which Islamist movements underwent during the post-revolutionary period raised serious questions about their ability to remain committed to the movement's original mission of religious and social reform. Others — particularly those occupying higher echelons of various movements — stubbornly refuse to concede any impact of politics on the original mission. Mounting evidence points to a growing tension within Islamist movements regarding the issue. In political discussion within Islamist parties — be it the Muslim Brotherhood, Nour or Watan — it has become common to hear complaints from members about the overpoliticisation of the movement. In an insightful study published recently by the Carnegie Endowment, Nathan Brown skillfully catches the tension felt by Islamists between being fully engaged in politics with all its ills while remaining committed to their roles as religious movements. Brown notes how a movement like the Muslim Brotherhood has seen a “gradual politicisation of its mission over the past few decades”. In the past two years most of the movement's energies have been directed towards politics. “It is not that the Brotherhood no longer cares about other realms, but its members increasingly show signs of viewing most of their work through a political prism.” Supporting Brown's argument, one female Muslim Brotherhood activist told Al-Ahram Weekly that since the revolution and the establishment of the movement's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) resources, energies and able cadres have been directed towards serving the political agenda at the expense of religious activities. Worse still, she complains, politics at times undermine religious activity. “When I make publicity for a religious event, we do not say it is the Muslim Brotherhood organising it in the mosque for fear that people might turn away because then it assumes a political edge and people associate it with the party politics,” said the activist, responsible for the Muslim Sisterhood section in 6 October city. Alarmed by the diminishing space for religious activities, Muslim Brotherhood sources told the Weekly that officials inside the movement had already issued instructions to restore religious and educational activities to their former prominence. This could explain last March's directive issued by Mohamed Wahdan, a senior MB member, to Brotherhood branches nationwide “to pay greater attention to educational and religious activity and to resume mosque activity”. Mohamed Habib, a former deputy supreme guide, pointed out that MB participation in electoral battles had forced the Brotherhood to mobilise members to support candidates. “It is this mobilisation and total devotion to scoring electoral and political gains which has had a negative impact on the two most important files — religious education and proselytising, “he said. This is not the view of Abdel-Khalek Al-Sherif, the responsible official for proselytising activities inside the MB. He does not believe that religious activities have been affected by the politicisation of the movement. Politics, he said, is part of the religious realm and not separate from it. “We cannot accept secular values which call for a separation between the religious and the political. For us they are one and the same,” says Al-Sherif. “The mosques are full of Ikhwan study groups,” he points out, dismissing the notion that politics has superseded religious work. Al-Sherif stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the increasing role of politics to the exclusion of religious activity saying that the only reason for the decrease in mosque activity is “that so many people want to attend the Ikhwan sessions in mosques organising seminars with a huge audience, which has proved beyond the movement's capability”. Researcher Mohamed Al-Baz points out the difficulty of isolating and measuring the impact of political action on religious activities given the interference of other factors such as the political and social context in which these groups operate. Mohamed Anz of the Nour Party suggests that a definition of what is political and what is religious would be helpful in testing any hypothesis. “If by the religious we mean activities that seek to educate the community on the essence of religion, including sermons, lessons, camping, collection of zakat, establishing health centres and other aspects of cooperation then,” he argues, this has not been lost completely from the daily agenda of a party like the Nour. The problem, in his view, has to do with media coverage, which places too much emphasis on the political aspect and hardly ever mentions religious activities. Anz does not acknowledge that the space for politics increased to the exclusion of religion. “From a jurisprudential perspective political action is an act of worship,” he said Assessing the relationship between the religious and the political Al-Baz shed light on the growing tension between the two with a case study on the Nour, comparing religious and the political activity before and after the revolution of 25 January 2011. He examined the frequency of religious activities, the age groups of attendees, type of audience and the relationship between the religious and political and how it has developed over the last two years. Interviewing four leading figures from Al-Daawa Al-Salafiya, Al-Baz concluded that a consensus has emerged among them that the relationship between the religious and political was “a unifying” one. They all perceived politics to be subservient to religion. He also noted how Salafi leaders were comfortable in their view that their involvement in politics was “a religious duty”. Yasser Burhami, head of Al-Daawa Al-Salafiya, said “the separation was cosmetic and the Salafis' grassroots did not differentiate much between the two.” Agreement did emerge that one unintended consequence of being engaged in politics was what Sheikh Said Abdel-Azim called the “cadre drain” as skilled and well trained members move from the movement to the party. Both Burhami and Abdel-Moneim Al-Shahat, another leading Salafi figure, cite this as a key challenge, though both agree it has been “a good investment” as cadres accumulate political and administrative experience. One unintended consequence of the political overdose, said Habib, is losing the moral high ground against political rivals. Habib noted how political conflict and polarisation have affected the behaviour of MB supporters who sunk to levels of rudeness and — at times — indecency unheard of inside a movement which once prided itself on its high standards of behaviour. While Salafis argue that the political is at the service of the religious experience has shown that they are willing to compromise on some political issues and then look for doctrinal and jurisprudential justification for their positions. As one observer put it, “it is the religious which is being employed to bestow legitimacy on political choices and not the other way around.” The question of the nature of relationship between the party and its mother organisation has yet to be resolved. While Anz and MB activists share the view that at the beginning an overlap is inevitable gradually both entities will act independently. The party, says Anz, does not need to consult with the movement on every single decision. There is an awareness that the impact of politicisation could lead to diluting the religious message. One observer noted how that the word Sharia had disappeared from the Salafis' everyday rhetoric. In their quest to be accepted as political entities Salafi groups have refrained from waving the flag of Sharia implementation.
