Conclusion
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has for decades represented the main force of opposition, sometimes in violent conflict with the military. The liberals have been speedily removed and the forces of the left marginalised, some of whose members joining the Brotherhood. The moment known as the 'Arab spring' in 2011, served to reveal the planning of the different Islamic movements. The Muslim Brotherhood did not start with the initiative, but they quickly gained over all the other forces, triumphing in the elections. Their use of democracy, apparent in their discourse, was specific: they intended, in effect, to put into practice their concept of totalitarian Islam by using the entire state apparatus to impose religious control over all educational and cultural activity. A popular and military reaction ensued, and with the outbreak of renewed violence, led to the re-establishment an authoritarian regime controlled by the army: paramilitary groups attacked soldiers in Sinai, and there were attacks in the towns.
Given that warfare is rife in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya and that no majority Muslim Arab state has escaped the tensions caused by the confluence of religious movements with socio-economic or geopolitical causes, the question is whether a debate should be opened into the possibility of ijtihad[1] concerning the Qu'ranic verses calling for jihad against 'infidels' and the interpretation of the Qu'ran and the Hadith.
