Muhammad Morsi, now no more, will live ever. Like him ornot, agree with his ideas and policies, or don’t, his death grieved peoplebeyond his ideological comrades. The rise of this man in the Arab Spring, hisbrief stay in power, his dethroning by military, his confinement, his tortuousdays in jail, and finally his death in the court, it all sounds mythical – heroic, indeed. Ifmartyrdom is taken out of its parochial, and theological confines, Morsi ismankind’s martyr. In his death, each one of us who vote for free, democraticpolitics, has suffered a loss.
His death exposes an entrenched criminality in theinternational politics. It exposes the brazen duplicity of the globalsuperpowers, and their cronies in the Mid East. Morsi was not a terrorist – “terrorist”. He was a democratically elected president of an independent sovereigncountry, who, for that brief stint, worked within the international norms andconventions. His death once again brought to light the centrality of injustice,illegality, and terror, in the US led international politics.
Morsi’s death brings to bold relief a big question mark onthe future of democracy, particularly in the Muslim world. This is not thefirst time democracy was derailed in the most frightening way, in a Muslimcountry. One of the central reasons why democracy couldn’t take roots in theMuslim countries is the regular displacement of democratic forces by the globalsuperpowers, using military. This is anold and a worn out method now.
Since Morsi was host to multiple assertions, his death isseen through many mirrors. He was rooted in his Muslim tradition, and was a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Thepolitical party Morsi headed was directly, and openly, affiliated to MB. Somepeople would argue that Ikhwan’s position on issues like Arab unity, Israel, USintervention in Muslim lands, Shariah law – was the reason he, along with manyof his party members, was thrown into jail. While it is true that MuslimBrotherhood’s ideological orientation, and its unambiguous stand on Muslimissues, is a direct challenge to the interventionist, and oppressive, policiesof the global powers, it carries a nuanced misreading. It deflects the wholeproblem of justice and democracy to a virulent contest between Islam and theWest. It, misleadingly, strengthens the political belief among the Islamiststhat it’s actually them, and them alone, who pose real challenge to the enemiesof Muslim peoples, and hence all others working in this space are eithersuspect, or inadequately loyal to the Muslim politics. This understandingdivides Muslim peoples, and the political spaces, in a dangerous way.
It is from here that some of the Islamists begin to buildthe argument that democracy, of whichthe electoral politics is the biggest popular manifestation, is not going tofetch any results. They believe that in any case if an Islamist party comes topower, it will be dislodged in the most undemocratic ways. And unfortunatelythey have lots of evidence to rest this argument on. Morsi’s death being thelatest, and in a way irrefutable.
This line of argument, which is donned later in a passionateand emotive costume, renders other parties – call them secular, nationalist,socialist or whatever – fake, and proxies of the global heathen. It creates space for thewarrior class – in this case Sisi led military – to sneak in and bulldoze thewhole thing. The global interventions also become easier. It doesn’t mean thatit’s the fault of Morsi, or the larger ideological umbrella called Ikhwan-ulMuslimoon that the Arab Spring failed. But it does mean that a peculiar frameof mind that the Islamists exhibit adds to the challenge, and speeds up thecrisis.
In her book Reconciliation late Benezir Bhutto, God blessher soul, gives a vivid account of how democracy was murdered in the Muslimworld in the most gruesome manner. Benazir was herself a victim of this murderous assault on democracy, andhis father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a plain case of judicial murder at the handsof a military dictator. Benazir’s gives a rundown on how the westernmanipulations led to the serial assassinations of democracy. It’s a tellingreminder that it is the peoples of the Muslim countries that the global powersare afraid of, not any particular variant of them. This is a lesson politicalparties in the Muslim world,particularly those with Islamist leanings, need to learn.
At the same time it is crucial to highlight the changestaking place in the ideological formations like Muslim Brotherhood. When Morsiwas dethroned and the Arab Spring reversed, there were debates that peopleaffiliated to MB might think of taking recourse to armed movement. But givecredit to them who had thought through this well in advance, and decided not togive up political struggle, and never to replace it with underground armedaction. This insistence on political, and democratic means, holds key to thefuture of Muslim countries; also to the Muslim peoples living in non-Muslimcountries. It also hold key to the future of the Muslim peoples living on themargins, in a state of suspension, likeus in Kashmir. A full scale democratic politics, shutting out all thoughts ofarmed action, and also keeping this Islamist-Secularist binary out, is crucial tothe future of Kashmiri Muslims.
The fight for democracy, and free politics for a free peopleis a human undertaking. It must be fought that way. It must be articulated inways that it wins admirers and supporters all around the globe.
Morsi is an inspiration for not just Muslims but all thosewho uphold a just cause. We shouldn’t subject him to any ideologicalstraitjacketing. We might differ with his politics, but in his death he hasuniversalised, and immortalised his political journey.
May Morsi rest in peace, and his people live in peace.
PS: After a long time I wanted, in the solitude of my owngrief, to sing that immortal poem by Syed Qutb:
Akhi Anta Hurrun..