Bassam Tibi: The Fate of Religious Minorities in a Shari'a-State
Channel: ChristSolidarInt
Date: 22/11/2013

Zurich, November 19, 2013

The Middle East Uprisings and the Fate of Religious Minorities in a Shari'a-State -- The US-Support for Islamist Rule

by Prof. Bassam Tibi, http://www.bassamtibi.de 

The Future of Religious Minorities in the Middle East
A Series of CSI-sponsored Public Discussions | 2012/2013 
http://www.middle-east-minorities.com 

The Uprising in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 continued 2013 has been dubbed Arab Spring. This is the name of the most beautiful season of the year. Why this name? It is the promise to join global democratization.
However: Arab Spring turned into a bloody, lethal Winter and a catastrophe for religious minorities. Under the name of democracy the empowered Islamists seek to establish a shari'a-state. The core question is therefore: Is this political order a democracy, and what does this rule mean to religious minorities, in particular to Christians, in the Middle East and North Africa? The presentation addresses the theme in point, as well as the related issues in these 5 steps:

I. What is "Arab Spring" and the Place of Islamist Movements in the Uprising and its Outcome for Democracy and Minorities

II. The Western Policies: The EU and the US-Support for Islamist Rule: The Obsession with Security 

III. The Islamist Political Order: The Shari'a-State

IV. The Pertinence of Islamist Rule to Christian Minorities: Religious Minorities in Islam and Islamism

V. Conclusions