By: Abdul Aziz al-Assali

  

When the reader stops at the 7-page introduction to the political platform of the Yemeni Islah Party and the chapters of the political platform, this reader will inevitably reach a number of conclusions with denotations and dimensions, the most prominent of which are:

  

1- That the political platform came as extraction from a deep reading of the Yemeni reality intellectually, culturally, educationally, socially and politically.

2- That reading the Yemeni reality has followed the roots of the Reformist Movement during the modern history of Yemen, specifically since the eleventh century After Hijrah, the era of Al-Amir Al-San’ani, until the dawn of the Yemeni revolution and the establishment of the republican regime in 1382 AH / 1962 AD.

3- A deep awareness of the reality of underdevelopment and its causes that obliterated Yemeni society, and its manifestations in a fatal trilogy – Ignorance.. Poverty.. Illness.. A trilogy eluded the Reformist Movement for nearly three centuries.

4- Determine the treatment:

- Determining treatment as a strategic goal under the concept of building people.

- Determining the means of treatment represented in "educating community".

- Determining the treatment inputs represented in the care of education and the preservation of the community's identity in faith, language, history and culture.

5- Awareness of slow treatment but sure effect.

6- Flexible interim planning and adopting peacefulness as a behavior and as a purpose.

7- Instilling the spirit of educational effectiveness in educational institutions, the mosque and the school, by reviving the system of universal values and the purposes of the moral values system (purify), and linking them to its purposeful wisdom based on an epistemological vision: God.. Universe.. Life.. And this means integration and consistency in the vision, the goal and the means, reaching the realization of the concept of building people and preparing the human being as a good citizen.

These are the most prominent conclusions that the reader reaches of the political platform of the Yemeni Reformist Movement – the Yemeni Islah Party.

Establishment Circumstances:

The Yemeni Reformist Movement was launched as early as 1938, according to Al-Ezzi Saleh al-Sunaidar in his book "The Way of Freedom", as well as the book "The Death of Smile” by the late journalist Hamid Shihrah.

The steps of the Reformist Movement were manifested in:

1 – The first modern school in the Al-Hujariya Directorate under the supervision, management and education of Ali Muhammad Numan, the son of the fighter al-Numan, may God have mercy on them, but the ethnic ruler issued a decision to close it.

2- The program of (Enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong), which was presented by Judge al-Zubayri, may God have mercy on him, and others. It included an extensive set of advice – Qur’anic texts and prophetic hadiths accompanied by appeals surrounded by the literary and gentle language and were presented to the Imam Yahya Hamid Al-Din, so he discarded them.

4- Before the aforementioned program (Enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong), the step was to revive the mosque’s speech, especially in the Great Mosque in Sana’a, and the preacher Abu Talib, who is the teacher of Judge al-Zubayr, may God have mercy on them, who was deputizing his teacher in various cases. The situation ended with the imprisonment of al-Zubayr, which was accompanied by the threat and intimidation of the imam, who was deceived by some. Some said about him that he was the most knowledgeable of the people of his time and the best of them to lead the Arab world, justifying their saying that he was not made by foreign colonialism. It is a cold explanation of cultural shortcomings towards the dynasty's beliefs that are submerged in a racist culture rooted in the depths of the Persian Mazdakism legacies.

5- The 1948 constitution, under the signature of Yemeni jurists of that era, in addition to tribal figures.

6- Despite the peaceful spirit of the Yemeni constitutional Reform Movement that is waiting for the death of Imam Yahya, but the sad thing is the killing of Imam Yahya because of the signature of one of the jurists of the Hadawi school of thought, which permits to go out with arms against the oppressor, and the result was the abortion of the Yemeni Reformist Movement, where Crown Prince Ahmed Yaginnah executed more than 48 peaceful innocent personalities.

Dozens of the Reformist Movement's men were also led amid a whooping ("Dardaha" in the language of Sanaa at the time), and this dirty method was deliberately done by the Crown Prince against the peaceful Reform's men before he drove them to prisons under a torrent of insults from the residents of Sana'a, who were not satisfied with insults, atonement and curse, but rather threw the Reform's men with dirt, according to the historian Judge al-Shamahi, may God have mercy on him, who the dirt fell on his chest and a group of persons was with him.

7- It was followed by the peaceful revolution of 1955 led by the brother of King Ahmed Yaginnah. But the King lured the troop to open fire, and the revolution ended with the execution and imprisonment of many reformers.

8- The revolution of September 26, 1962, which brought the republican regime and entered a dark tunnel for 8 years due to regional conflicts.

The Reformist Movement in the era of the Republic:

Commenting on what was previously briefed about the path of the Reformist Movement, we can say that the Reformist Movement has absorbed the past with a rational awareness.

New complications:

The republican regime came, as a matter of course, accompanied by intellectual and cultural developments from abroad that led to the division of the elite at the time into conflicting leftist, secular and liberal intellectual trends. Everyone carries his intellectual, cultural and political perceptions and was bigoted to them, claiming that it is the only treatment for the Yemeni reality.

Whatever the positive percentage of these perceptions, we are not about to discuss them here, and what we want to make clear is that these perceptions were accompanied by a provocative style of Yemeni identity in faith, history and civilization.

However, the Reformist Movement had defined its goal and the means to achieve it in the following peaceful manner:

1- Constitutional reform emanating from the identity and civilization of the people.

2- The Reformist Movement succeeded in formulating constitutional reform in line with the identity of the people.

3- The eye on the target:

The eye of the Reformist Movement was at the goal – human building.. But amid the hurricanes of colorful incoming culture, the Reformist Movement slowly made its way to reach reforming the educational curriculum in line with the content of the constitution.

Oppressive secularism:

Secularism calling for freedom was exposed constitutionally, so it confiscated the freedoms and the will of the Arab people and suppressed it with iron force, by imprisonment, displacement and political executions.

In short, freedom for Arab secularism was the freedom of political tyranny that wanted to make a surprise attack on the identity and values of the people from a hidden position.

This culture was reflected in the Yemeni constitution, which prohibited partisanship, like other secular constitutions.

The Reformist Movement was aware of the status of freedom and its importance as it is one of the rules governing the meeting, but the multi-track reality constraints internally and externally made the Reformist Movement live under the constitution, taking advantage of the negative aspect represented in the prohibition of partisanship, so it turned towards building and consolidating identity, moral and social values and sound norms as much as possible.

The conditions were relatively prepared for the Reformist Movement’s men to engage in ministerial positions, but they preferred to walk the path of community building through the means and fields available at the time, unconcerned with positions according to the goal and the path set with its flexible priorities under the slogan “So fear Allah as much as you are able,” and invoking the harsh concept that says “It's slow but has a sure effect.”

We do not claim that the Reformist Movement did not make mistakes, and we did not say that it captured all the opportunities. Rather, there are stumbling blocks and shortcomings, and there are real constraints that are matched by discretions according to the available capabilities, and this is consistent with the administrative concept of “the person who works makes mistakes.”

In short, the Reformist Movement did not fail to achieve the goal of building society, but rather succeeded in varying degrees, and succeeded in adhering to the peaceful struggle and coexistence with the other, as we will explain in the coming episodes.

The question is: Is the goal set by the Reformist Movement achieved? And what is the ratio?

The answer to this question will be the topic of the second episode. We will meet, God willing.