For Arab liberals like Nawal El Saadawi, political Islam has shifted the terms of the debate

Writers such as Nawal El Saadawi were not always considered radicals. But the language and ideas of political Islam have sidelined liberalism and secularism in the Middle East, writes Faisal Al Yafai

Nawal El Saadawi, Eqypt's leading feminist and the author of "Woman at Point Zero", is interviewed by Faisal Al Yafai outside the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai. (Photo: Victor BesaShow more

At the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai last week, the author Nawal El Saadawi spoke twice to packed halls, once in Arabic, once in English. In both cases, the number of young women in the audience far exceeded any other demographic. The reverence, even love, these young women had for the octogenarian El Saadawi is surprising only because the world of their experience today is so different from the world that formed her views half a century ago.

What, I wondered during both sessions, and talking to some of these young women after, so inspires them about El Saadawi? What is it about her views that they find so appealing? Their answer, summed up in a word, would be “radical”. She is a radical who speaks her mind.

But here’s the odd thing: El Saadawi wasn’t always such a radical. The views she espouses on poverty, redistribution of wealth and the dismantling of the capitalist system have, both in the Arab world and the West, fallen out of favour, now merely gestured at by politicians. But her social views on equality for women, on widespread education, on lessening the restrictions of religion and culture on women – discussion of these have only diminished in the Arab world. El Saadawi hasn’t become a radical. Rather, the Arab world has shrunk around her. The range of ideas now acceptable in Arab public life has narrowed.

Such ideas once formed the marketplace of discourse in the Arab world. They were part of public discussion, and had political parties that espoused those views.

Until the 1980s, there was debate in the Arab republics about, for example, the limits of the state and the role of religion in public life – all of these were part and parcel of the contest of ideas.

What changed? Many things. More broadly, beyond the Arab world, there has been a hardening of consensus around capitalism. Genuine alternatives are now rarely discussed, even in countries such as Greece that are going through seismic changes.

In the Arab world in particular, there was a hollowing out of politics that offered limited space for the debate of political ideas. Political discussion, once a vital part of public life, has now been limited to a very large extent.

But the other part of the change is the rise of political Islam.

The rise of political Islam across the Arab republics has been well-documented, but what has been less discussed is the influence of the ideas of political Islam in shaping the broader discourse of public life and of politics.

The parameters of Arab public life have been circumscribed to a large degree by political Islam.

In the past, Arab politicians could discuss ideas with reference to how well they fitted into social goals, such as the eradication of poverty, or ideals such as freedom. Arguments could be had about whether a particular policy would create less poverty or a different one create more freedom. Policies were argued for by reference to ideas other than religious principles.

But what has happened with the rise of political Islam is that even the parameters have become religious.

Take, for example, the education of women, something El Saadawi has spoken about extensively and campaigned for. Today, an Egyptian politician raising the issue would be less likely to base his argument on economic utility or societal development, but, more likely to do so, on Islamic principles. The veneer of religion covers more than merely faith.

That is a subtle but seismic shift. It means that the parameters of discussion are now controlled by political Islam.

There are many reasons to be wary of this change. But it is at least a disservice to young men and women who are no longer exposed to a broad range of political views. Without such exposure, it can be hard for them to know where on the political spectrum to situate themselves.

That doesn’t mean that all will agree with, for example, El Saadawi’s views on the veil. (She has argued for many years against the wearing of the niqab, although her views have softened of late.) But merely to hear these arguments made in public – arguments that they themselves may have heard or thought of – is healthy, because it allows them to come to their views through genuine conviction rather than merely through repetition.

It is important for young people – and the rest of us – to hear these arguments in public. Not because they will agree with them, but because it will widen their intellectual horizon.

Nawal El Saadawi is genuinely radical in many of things she says. But she should not be seen as radical for the mere fact that she says them.

On Twitter: @FaisalAlYafai