Tunis, Tunisia -- In the mornings, barber Fadhi Ayari blasts recordings of Koranic verses from his shop's stereo. But it's just a habit, he explains as he turns down the volume. He says he rarely ventures to the mosque just across the street. He laughs uneasily at the prospect of the long-outlawed Islamist party Nahda, led by exiled sheik, Rachid Ghannouchi, rising to prominence in the new Tunisia. Ghannouchi arrived home Sunday after 22 years in exile in Britain to cheers from more than 1,000 supporters gathered at Tunis' international airport.By all accounts, Tunisia's Islamists played little role in the uprising this month that toppled President Zine el Abidine ben Ali, who presented himself to the West as a bulwark against religious extremism. Secular and leftist political groups, along with labor activists, played a far greater role than mosques in a country where Islam, though central to life here, is often less an ideology than a revered artifact, like the distinctive blue doors on white buildings that characterize the traditional architecture.
But the revolution in Tunisia has opened the way for long-suppressed Islamic groups such as Nahda, which means renaissance, to emerge from hiding and begin pursuing their political agendas with an eye on elections scheduled to be held within six months. Nahda's leaders have quickly made their presence felt here.
| So they'll jump in posing as 'moderate' reformers, and once they get power they'll reform the place to look like Iran. Or Beirut. |
| Or Algeria, during its difficult period. |
| No Turkish attempts at persuasion for the pious Christians or the pious Jews, or the pious secularists in the style of Ataturk |
| Until it gains power. |
But there are extreme groups waiting in the wings. The Tunisian Fighting Group, formed in 2000 and tied to Al Qaeda, was suspected of involvement in the 2001 assassination of anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud in Afghanistan and a plot to attack U.S., Algerian and Tunisian embassies in Rome later that year.
The Islamic Liberation Party and Salafist Jihad, both extremist groups that seek to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, held small demonstrations in Tunis after Ben Ali's ouster.
"We say that only Islam will bring peace and tranquility and freedom to our people, not secularism, not dictatorship, not any other secular ideology supported by the West," Osman Bakhach, a spokesman for the Islamic Liberation Party, told Iran's state-owned Press TV on Jan. 19.
| Osman's brand of Islam, natch, with himself as grand vizier wearing a bejeweled turban... |
| And who is to say that someone even more radical won't take over? Mensheviks --> Bolsheviks, French Revolution --> Reign of Terror, Iranian democrats --> Ayatollas. That is the tradition, after all. |
"I wish for the Islamists to take power from Ben Ali," says Fawzi, 53, who lives in Cite Solidarite. He declines to give his last name for fear of being identified as an Islamist. "God says in the Koran that Islam is the law of the land. One day all the people will know this."
But if the ouster of the autocratic Ben Ali has launched a potential race to win the political allegiances of Tunisians, Islamists may be far behind other opposition members who are better organized, not in exile and maintain strong ties to the population.
Ibn Khaldun resident Hassan Taif, 47, spent six grueling years in prison for being a member of the Nahda Party. But in prison and afterward, he drew closer to leftists, including Hamma Hammami, leader of the Tunisian Communist Workers Party, which though outlawed has long had a presence here instead of moving base abroad.
"He went on hunger strike," he said. "He didn't leave the country. I respect that."
Among many Tunisians, political Islam is distasteful. At the mere mention of the possibility of Ghannouchi becoming president, Kamel Jouini, 28, blurts out in English: "No! No! No!"
His friend Ramzy Jridi, 27, chimes in as they sit in a cafe near the main train station of the town of Hamam Lif, southeast of the capital. "If religion comes, the country will be divided in two."
"We are an Islamic country, but we're different from others," says Kareem Ferchichi, 35, another friend. "Sex, for example, is not a taboo here."
| Sex isn't a taboo in Gaza, friend, that's why they have all those families of ten and twelve. It's how one treats the unmarried folk and especially the wimmins. |
Elections will decide how much strength the Islamists have. But unlike elections in other Arab countries, the upcoming vote won't position a secular ruling party against a token opposition or Islamists. A wide variety of parties will compete, and Islamists are at a disadvantage.
"In completely fair, credible and transparent elections, would an Islamist candidate get some parliamentary seats?" says a Western diplomat in Tunis, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. "If he was charismatic and well-connected to the community, probably. I would argue that's a healthy thing."
| Unless he's charismatic enough to make sure there aren't any more elections... |
"We want to play a positive role and gather the conditions for a democratic future," says Lourimi Ajmi, a leading member of the Nahda Party.
As a young Islamic activist discreetly distributing leaflets and holding underground meetings, Ajmi idolized Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who established the world's first modern theocracy. But he now calls experiments in Islamic rule in Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan dismal failures.
| That's what he's saying today. If he could grab power, he might something very different. |
| "They were a dismal failure because they did it wrong. We'd do it right." |
| The Islamic agenda doesn't include democracy, so sez the Quran. |