Religion and the Arab revolutions: a case study of the Egyptian Revolution

In light of the weakness of secularization thesis over the past half century، besides trying to separate religion and politics، the role of religion in the public sphere has been considered by social scientists. The purpose of this paper is the study of religion in the public sphere. This paper by addressing the symptoms of the presence of religion including the political and symbolic and Mobilization and institutional presence، attempts to analyze political developments in Egypt over the past three years. Religion presence in the public sphere in Egypt after the January 25 revolution that is one of the main features of Post-revolutionary period، Has caused some concerns in Egypt. this is not only a result of the polarization and disputes between Islamic forces and liberal secular forces، But also it is a result of what some experts have called a violation of civil rights achievements of the Egyptian revolution; revolution that should، according to this spectrum، give the more political and social space to the civil forces Compared with religious movements. But Some experts believes that the overthrow of the Mubarak regime، dominated by the ruling party (NDP)، led to a severe variation in the political scene and the weight of various actors. So since President Mubarak overthrow، has emerged the new political groups and parties with various ideological and intellectual trends. But major change has appeared in the distribution and Segregation of Islamist parties in post-revolutionary period. So the number of parties who rely on religious legitimacy، has passed the15 parties and if the current political opening continued، there is still the possibility of increasing this number. The present paper concludes that the religion will play an important role in determining the shape and nature of democratic change in Egypt during the future period. It also emphasizes that this is not just one Islamic force dominated the public sphere، but a distribution and diversity has occurred within the Islamic spectrum. This study notes that whenever Egypt taking a step towards democracy، an important change occurred in the discourse and ideology and actions of old and new political parties.