The Interaction of Political Islam with Democracy: The Political Platform of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt as a Case Study

This research aims at contextualizing the rising and complex relationship between political movements and democracy in the light of recent parliamentary and presidential elections in Egypt. The ‘Arab Spring’ in 2011 inaugurated new phase and new era not only in Egypt but also in the whole Arab World whereby it has been characterized by new waves of democratization, Islamization and conservative liberalization. After gaining majority seats in the Egyptian parliament and winning the presidency office, Muslim Brotherhood movement emerged as a cutting edge political force in the Egyptian political system as well as in the Egyptian society in general. In this regard, this paper is an attempt to shed lights on and to trace the legal, political and religious justifications and connotations given by the Muslim Brotherhood for their rule in Egypt internally and externally. After a brief description of the factors and reasons that stood behind the rise of contemporary Islamism, the article goes a step further to explore the adaptive nature of Muslim Brotherhood under the former authoritarian regime. The pragmatism of Muslim Brotherhood was further tested during Al-Tahrir Square revolution and later on their approval and consent to participate in the national election under the military rule.