Islamic scholar casts a skeptical eye on the emerging Egypt

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-arab-rebellion-20111231,0,6815850.story


Gamal Banna sits surrounded by his library of 16,000 volumes at his foundation in Cairo in 2006. The scholar, now 91, has written dozens of books and appears frequently on talk shows. (Cris Bouroncle, AFP/Getty Images / October 2, 2006)

Reporting from Cairo—
Wrapped in a shawl on a cold morning, Gamal Banna shuffled over a dusty carpet amid fraying books on old civilizations. He knows well the intricacies of Arab history, but is far less certain where the upheavals of the last year will lead.

Like the balustrade winding to his library door, the known ways are crumbling. Moments of wonder are giving way to months of bewilderment. These days, he said, are likely to prove as seminal as those after World War I, when Western powers drew the borders that shaped the Middle East for nearly a century. Islamists, who have endured decades of oppression, appear to have their chance to redefine the region's politics.

"One era has ended," said Banna, one of Islam's leading liberal thinkers. "But of the new era, we don't know exactly what is taking shape."

Lacking an ideology and charismatic leaders to channel the aspirations of the street, the "Arab Spring" has been thwarted by more powerful forces and fallen short of complete revolution. The challenge for Islamists, Banna said, is tempering their religious fervor with a pragmatism that can fix their countries before anger and despair is turned against them.

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1. "The challenge for Islamists, Banna said, is tempering their religious fervor with a pragmatism that

can fix their countries." Wish Banna were right, but History proves otherwise. We should be prepared for upheaval in N. Africa for many years to come unless Egypt becomes a true democracy or a Strongman dictatorship.