Religion raises quite a few issues at the poitical level, in one way or another. The West settled this matter when it separated between reason and faith a long time ago, whereas the issue remains pending for many Muslim communities in which religion has a spiritual weight in several aspects of life, and overlaps with history, which is often considered to be part of religion. History has thus become sacred, making free thinking a hard task for a lot of people, whereas it should be a normal practice for humans who may be right or wrong, and who have rights and duties.

This also affected political activism, leading to the emergence of two major trends, one that advocates associating politics with religion, and another that resorts exclusively to reason in politics.

Political authorities used both trends for their own benefit whenever the need arose, and intimidated each part with the other one. However, the recent changes in the Arab world drew attention to substantial political issues aiming to establish democratic regimes that ensure sound political practices, allow the right to difference, and promote the coexistence of all ideas.

Therefore, in its endeavor to develop a new political regime, the Tunisian government started dealing with Ennahda as a normal political party that has the right to honest political competition on power.

Do Islamic political parties have a role to play in a democratic government today?

Islamic parties result first and foremost from the community, and garner their strength from society’s exclusion and dissenting opinions that attract many social groups. Like all parties that stick to the opposition for a long time, Islamic parties lack the conditions required to manage governmental work. Therefore, when given the opportunity to participate in fair and democratic elections based on respect for all parties, Islamic parties will have their political creativity tested, and expose their real weight, which is often exaggerated. This will ultimately lead to the establishment of genuine pluralism stemming from society, and is quite different from the mere concept of a political multi-party system.

The presence of Islamic political parties in the government may have many political advantages, namely:

- Benefiting from their mobilization skills to promote various development projects, and thus help shape public policies that reflect grassroots’ aspirations;

- Disseminating a culture of pluralism and respect for difference, which is consistent with democracy, and which will give meaning to politics;

- Reducing the use of violence as a mechanism for political action, in favor of dialogue, debate and interaction with political ideas reflecting people’s aspirations and need for freedom;

- Developing political discourse and making it relative to enable the permanent review of ideas, in a way that facilitates transition from opposition to power;

- Applying the Constitution, which requires the acceptance of the consensus method, regulates institutional political action, ensures rights and duties, and adjusts local aspects to the pace of democracy as a universal choice.