In the past days following the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt, a lot was written on the hope that this fall will constitute an opportunity at rectifying the path of the changes that hit the Arab regimes following the wave of the Arab Spring that allowed the forces of political Islam to accede to power in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. In addition, the Islamic movements, including the Brotherhood, are clearly playing a part in the Syrian revolution. Many are hoping that the recent Egyptian developments will allow the forces of modernity and liberalism to divert the political life away from the religious cloak. This hope is based on the fact that the masses opposing the Brotherhood's rule, which include most of the Egyptian movements, did not consider the religious matters that represent the core of the Muslim Brotherhood principles, the main slogan of which is "Islam is the Solution." Rather, these masses attacked the Brotherhood for its political failure regardless of its religious aspect. Are there any realistic bases to support these hopes? Are we about to see the birth of a new "Renaissance Era?" I must say at this point that many are competing to seize the opportunity of the Brotherhood's fall, as it represents a victory for them. This was not only limited to the Egyptian opposition parties and the liberal forces that saw this fall as an opportunity to topple the political Islam in Egypt. The Salafist parties, namely Al-Nour party, also saw this as an opportunity. Al-Nour is promoting itself as an acceptable alternative for the Brotherhood, which fell in the trap laid out by the opposition. The strangest part in all this is the mixture of all the forces who believe they have won. This mixture includes civil, military, Islamic, and liberal forces in addition to the self proclaimed secular forces. This is quite a mix and no chemical laboratory is able to figure out its magical composition. Even more oddly, those who are now hoping for the end of the political Islam in Egypt and the rise of liberalism and civil rule based on the separation between religion and the state and in opposition to the slogan "Islam is the solution" or "The Quran is our Constitution," have actually failed to notice that the Salafists are sitting right next to them and sharing their victory in the battle of "modernity." They might have also failed to read the first clause of the constitutional declaration issued by the interim president. This clause was a verbatim match to the text that the opposition forces had previously rejected since it alluded to including the principles of the Shariaa in the constitution. One must also not forget the fact that the Brotherhood's opponents have allied themselves with the military. The very nature of this alliance threatens the basis of the civil rule and the necessary terms for the establishment of a modern state. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was one of those who felt victorious following the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt. He considered that this fall represents an opportunity to revive what he dubbed the "Arab National Project." He also thought that "the Arab identity has started to return to its right place." The "pro-Arabism" Al-Assad sees nothing wrong with the fact that his own regime has an alliance with an even more religious regime than that the Muslim Brotherhood or any other religious group: the Faqih rule in Iran. Al-Assad said that this regime makes no separation among people on a religious or sectarian basis! Thus, the so-called supporters of Arabism, the seculars, the Salafists, and the religious governments have all come together under the support of the armed forces in order to produce a civil state in Egypt! If the Egyptian liberal forces really wish to benefit from the opportunity provided by the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood's rule to build the basis of a modern state in Egypt, they must conduct a proper reading of the alliances that they have with parties that could not be further away from the ideas of liberalism, modernity and civil rule. The desire to return to power probably represented the motive behind the alliances of the liberal forces in Egypt. However, in order to convince the people of their slogan of modernity, these parties must break free from the allies who represent a burden to the project of the civil state, perhaps to a greater extent than the Brotherhood itself.
