From Napoleon Bonaparte’s French campaign in the early nineteenth century — when the Ottoman Empire had entered its phase of decline — until its formal dissolution in 1924 and the birth of the modern Turkish state, the Muslim world was confronted with Europe’s profound transformation. This encounter generated two parallel responses: the modernisation of state institutions in countries such as Türkiye, Egypt and Iran, and attempts to renew Islamic thought, beginning in the Indian subcontinent and later crystallising in Egypt through reformist movements.
These responses planted the seeds of religious ideology. Some Muslims reacted defensively, rejecting Western modernity that arrived through colonial violence, economic exploitation and cultural domination. Others pursued reform, seeking revival and renewal from within Islamic tradition itself. Paradoxically, the colonial shock — despite its brutality — awakened a stagnant world, pushing Muslim societies into a new phase of intellectual and political mobilisation during the twentieth century.
Initially, Western powers, particularly Britain, supported Arab movements seeking liberation from Ottoman rule. Yet once colonial intentions became clear, Arabs realised that independence required resistance not only to Ottoman authority but also to Western domination.
Two dominant ideologies emerged in response: Arab nationalism and political Islam. Arab nationalism declined early, effectively ending in 1970 with the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser, while Baathism collapsed tragically — first in Iraq in 2003 and later in Syria in 2024. Political Islam, which evolved from reformist beginnings into violent expressions in some cases, became the most widespread ideological force. The Brotherhood represented its broadest manifestation, while Iran’s political model proved the most successful in attaining power. Yet political Islam, too, has now exhausted its historical function.
Alongside these ideologies stood a third force: communism. Following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, communism expanded across the Soviet Union and China and reached parts of the Arab world through coups and elections. Its proximity to Arab oil resources alarmed Western powers, prompting strategies that strengthened regional allies and supported political Islam to counter both communism and Arab nationalism. This strategy succeeded. Arab nationalism faded after 1970, and communism collapsed with the Soviet Union in 1990. One of the tools used in this confrontation was the mobilisation of Muslim youth against Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
These overlapping struggles plunged the region into prolonged sectarian conflict, claiming countless lives and eventually reaching the United States through attacks on its global interests. Washington responded by advancing a “new world order” centred on Western democracy. Yet this project encountered deep resistance. Political Islam largely rejected Western democratic models, while authoritarian regimes feared that democratic transformation would threaten their survival. Western practices—from colonial rule to economic coercion and destructive wars—further eroded the credibility of liberal democracy.
The conflict intensified until it culminated in the attacks of September 11, 2001, followed by the devastation of Afghanistan and Iraq. Subsequent revelations suggested broader objectives: spreading fear across the region. Continued pressure, coupled with media agitation, helped trigger the Arab uprisings of 2010, which reshaped not only political systems but demographic realities as well, dismantling long-standing social structures.
Out of this turmoil emerged a decisive shift: ideology gave way to economics. Regional regimes and Western powers increasingly converged on economic priorities, visible in massive financial deals and investment strategies. Economics has become the new organising principle of governance, promising stability after decades of ideological destruction.
Yet economics itself now functions as an ideology. It is no longer merely exchange or development, but a global system dominated by multinational corporations, reducing human beings to consumers rather than active participants. The dollar has become its weapon, drawing societies into a soft but relentless global struggle.
This shift offers the region material recovery and relative stability. After decades of ideological devastation, people seek normal lives: secure income, housing, education and healthcare. But history offers a warning. There is no perfect city and no flawless human. Ignoring religion, identity and social realities risks storing future crises beneath the surface.
Human beings are not numbers or appetites alone. They are thinking minds and moral agents. Excluding them from decision-making only drives ideas underground — often with consequences that are neither predictable nor benign.
Khamis al Adawi
The writer is an opinion columnist of Oman Arabic
Translated by Badr al Dhafari
The original version of this article was published in Oman Arabic newspaper on December 30, 2025
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