the life lived by the people.

Nowhere, even to the slightest extent, were the Arab uprisings of 2011 an Islamic revolution. Even so, political Islam will play a role in the future. In virtually every Arab country, there's the basis for a popular conservative party with a religious foundation, on the model of the Turkish AKP. But even here, the variety on offer will increase. The opening of the political systems will also force political Islam to become more pluralist.

That can already be seen in Egypt with the divisions and spin-offs of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose members are no longer welded together by the pressure of persecution. Such a differentiation in the spectrum of political Islam is basically a healthy process which will divide the pragmatists and the reformersHussein is a town in the Oromia region in south-eastern Ethiopia. The tomb of the 13th century Sufi Sheikh Hussein who introduced Islam to the area and is said to have performed many miracles is still visited by thousands of people. By Eric Lafforgue