How did the Islamic movement arise in Mauritania? What are its most prominent experiences? | policy

The episode hosted the former head of the National Rally for Reform and Development Party in Mauritania, “Tawasul”, Mohamed Jamil Ould Mansour, along with the head of the Maghreb Center for Strategic Studies, Dr. Didi Ould Al -Salik, and interventions of the author and political author Wali Ould Sidi Heiba.

And reviewed the historical background of Mauritania, which was known centuries ago as a center for legal and jurisprudence, as the scientific records formed one of the most important intellectual tributaries that contributed to the formation of Islamic awareness in the country.

Although the Mauritanian state did not know an Islamic organization in the kinetic sense before independence, the emergence of left -wing and national currents in the 1970s prompted a group of young people to establish the first Islamic entity known as “Ansar Allah Al -Mujahideen”, which the Islamic trend in the country later resulted in.

Muhammad Jamil Ould Mansour emphasized that the Islamic movement in Mauritania arose as a result of two basic tributaries, the first of which is the traditional Islamic culture rooted in the records, which provided the movement with a distinguished scientific balance, and the second is the literature of contemporary Islamic movements, which were carried by students returning from abroad, especially from Egypt, the Gulf and some European countries.

He pointed out that this mixing gave the Islamic trend in Mauritania a specificity that made it different from its counterparts in the region.

Conservative

On the relationship of the Islamic trend with the conservative society in Mauritania, Ould Mansour explained that the movement of the movement was not a matter of clash with the traditional environment, but rather it came as a process of reviving and renewing the Islamic presentation in a more comprehensive context, considering that the absence of religious pluralism in the country was not objectionable to the emergence of the movement, as its basic mission was to revive the traditional Islamic references in the contemporary reality.

For his part, the author and political analyst Ould Sidi Hibba dealt with the impact of the leftist currents on the emergence of the Islamic trend, explaining that the ruling party in the beginnings of independence included left -wing figures affected by international socialist schools.

He added that the left current in the country carried the theses with an ideological dimension that collide with religious values, which created an environment that prompted the Islamists to work organized to confront these ideas.

As for the relationship of the Islamic trend with power, Ould Mansour indicated that the Islamists identified with the military regime during the era of President Muhammad Khana, Ould Heidala, during the 1980s, taking advantage of his raising the slogan of the application of Islamic law.

But soon they collided with him, Muawiyah, Ould Al -Taya, who pulled their leaders in prisons and closed their advocacy institutions, and with the fall of Ould Al -Taya, the Islamists entered a new stage through the initiative of the “middle reformists”, which represented a shift towards public political action.

Intellectual reviews

Dr. Didi Ould Al -Salik emphasized that the initiative came in the context of reviewing the Islamic movement of its options, as it recognized the acceptance of democracy as a way to reach power, and redefined itself as a national political current, away from the traditional slogans of Islamic movements.

He considered that this step enabled the Islamists to obtain a “Tawasul” party license, which has become a major player in the political arena.

However, the entry of Islamists in the government during the period of President Sidi Mohamed Ould Sheikh Abdullah sparked widespread controversy, especially since the government at that time had not cut its relations with Israel.

Ould Mansour commented on this point, explaining that their participation came in the context of a political agreement, and that its aim was to pay towards ending normalization, which was later achieved.

Arab Spring

With regard to the position of Islamists on the Arab Spring, Ould Mansour stressed that the Islamic trend in Mauritania was affected by events in the region and raised the slogan “Reform before it is too late”, but he acknowledged that the internal circumstances were not prepared for a popular revolution similar to what happened in Tunisia and Egypt.

He added that the movement led by the opposition was not supported by sufficient social momentum to bring down the regime, which prompted the movement to review its positions and return to the traditional opposition methods.

In a related context, the episode discussed the issue of leadership trading within the “Tawasul” party, where the party witnessed changes at the level of leadership, but some of these changes produced internal differences, which prompted a number of its leaders, including Ould Mansour, to resign.

The latter explained that his resignation was not due to a personal dispute, but rather the result of differences about the extent of the party’s openness to various national components, stressing that the success of any Islamic political party depends on its ability to overcome the narrow motor framework and openness to the broader society.

At the end of the episode, Dr. Ould Al -Salik touched on the decline in the representation of “Tawasul” in the recent elections, noting that the factors that contributed to this include the resignations of some of its leaders, and the weak coordination between the opposition forces, as well as the success of the authority in containing the political climate through the calm discourse, while confirming that the party is still a mass base that makes it an influential player in the political scene.