Fred Halliday's piece on the strengthening ties between the "left" and political Islam has generated quite a bit of discussion within the shadowy confines of oD's offices. Critics of Halliday's thesis point out that the secular left (in Iraq, Algeria and elsewhere) has historically held political Islam at arm's length, and many Arab gauchistes to this day remain at odds with their fervent counterparts.
Yet as the German-Iraqi writer Khalid al-Maaly insists in Berliner Zeitung, secular, left-wing Arab intellectuals are throwing in their lot with militant Islam. Of course, such opinions will find ready believers in Europe (where many have grown eager to denounce traitors to the liberal tradition), so the phenomenon must not be overstated.
Nevertheless, it seems reasonable for Halliday and others to sketch the collusion of "left" and Islam: the Islamism (with all its various connotations and manifestations) that filled the void vaccated by pan-Arabism has captured not only the minds of much of the "masses," but also (to a debatable extent) those of pan-Arabism's erstwhile intellectuals.
