Secular or Religious MENA?

Religion plays an important role in the Middle East, but it is important to distinguish religious conviction from voting for religious parties. The Muslim Brotherhood gained a great deal of popularity in Egypt because of their previous work in civil society. Economics can be equally as important as a motivator as political power. 

For example, in Tahrir Square and Avenue Bourguiba, "Bread, Freedom, and Social Justice" was the cry of the protestors. Additionally, and 2010 survey of Arab youth shows that the top two priorities for Arab youth were the cost of living and the high levels of unemployment. Both of these are indicators that  the political will of the people will pursue those in power that can meet these needs. Religion was not the main talking point. However, just months later, the Muslim Brotherhood took an overwhelming number of seats. This was not a cry for Islamist power, but a choice for a government that the people believed would be responsive to their needs. 

The elections, in my view, have less of an indicator on secular vs. religious and more of a insight into the economic needs and desires of the people. A true evaluation of the level of "religiousness" or not of MENA, apart from these elections, would arguably be more regional. Better evaluations would be an examination of individuals states. For example, Saudi Arabia as more religious than Lebanon, but why and for what reason? Also, there appears to be a rural-urban split in levels of "religiousness." Examining why rural areas tend to be more religious than urban would also be a fair evaluation. Political parties less so. Therefore, I tend to think Said is still more or less right. 

Overall, states and  cities in MENA, continue to be secular. Political powers that do use religious jargon appear to do so more as a rallying cry or rhetoric. At the end of the day, they are pushing back against the West, whose history of colonialism leaves a distaste in the mouths of many Arabs for anything that is similar. This is when a dislike for things which are labeled secular becomes most clear. But at the end of the day, the political topics and desires of the people are not more religious. They are just, in some cases, more religiously labeled. But now that we have seen the overthrow of the MB and the crackdown of Sisi in Eygypt, that trend may also change.