The experience of other Islamist parties in the region – such as the Tunisian Ennahda party or the Moroccan Party of Justice and Development (PJD) – highlights the importance of political inclusion as the path towards secularization, not just moderation, among Islamist groups. Having begun life as Islamist parties, both have now distanced themselves from the labels of ‘Islamism’ and ‘political Islam’ altogether. Secularization happens when an Islamist party abandons its Islamizing discourse, separates its religious and political activities, and explicitly engages in political activity based on rational calculations rather than religious objectives. A decade later, the Ennahda party in Tunisia was also seduced by the idea of separation between the party and the religious movement. The evolution of Ennahda and the PJD provides important lessons that the Trump administration should learn from as it seeks to fight extremism.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 28, 2017 16:18 UTC