The New Middle East – The Demise of the Religious State and the Rise of the Secular State

10:49 AM March, 04 2026

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The New Middle East – The Demise of the Religious State and the Rise of the Secular State
The outlines of the new Middle East began to emerge after the dismantling of the hard military power of religious states and organizations in the region, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The Iranian regime is considered the largest sponsor and spiritual inspiration for these religious states and organizations. After suffering heavy losses in its air and naval infrastructure as a result of military operations launched by Israel and the United States, its proxies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Sudan are losing their military and logistical support. Undoubtedly, these countries will be free of Iranian influence. Yesterday morning, the Lebanese government spoke clearly and without fear about the necessity for Hezbollah to transform into a civilian, disarmed party. Before the decisive blow to the party's top leadership, including its Secretary-General, the Prime Minister would not have dared to criticize the party, which relies on a military militia possessing weapons more powerful than those of the state. The same applies to countries harboring weapons and personnel of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The October 7th War at the end of last year and this war have drawn a line under the existence of the religious state and opened the way for the people. The demand for a secular, democratic, civil state is a call to revolt and dismantle the shackles of the theocratic regimes that have ruled these peoples by force. The rise of secular civil forces in these countries is imminent, and inevitable change is sweeping across the Middle East.
The necessities and reasons for changing religious regimes are oppression, tyranny, and the suppression of public and private freedoms. The atrocities committed by the Iranian regime against peaceful demonstrators are appalling. This has prompted the counter-revolutionary forces in Iran, opposed to Khomeini's revolution, to attempt a breakthrough, supported by the Israeli-American military strike, which Trump described as unprecedented in history. In recent weeks, the bullets of SAVAK and the Revolutionary Guard have reaped a horrific killing of demonstrators. Bullets pierced the chests of ambitious young men and women yearning for a better future for their country. Such is the brutality of this oppressive religious regime that it has forced the families of martyrs to pay for the bullets that killed their loved ones, or else the father will not receive his son's body. They have also compelled them to sign sworn and written statements declaring that their son, not the security apparatus that killed him in cold blood, was the perpetrator. This harsh security model, which disregards both religious and legal constraints, is precisely the same model implemented in other countries – Lebanon, Sudan, Palestine (Gaza Strip), and Houthi-controlled Yemen. The religious regimes in the Middle East have presented This is an offensive image of religion and of the Creator who honored humankind, providing them with land and sea and favoring them over much of His creation. Furthermore, these regimes are corrupt economically and socially, having transformed these countries into hubs for exporting terrorism and centers for illicit trade that operates outside the bounds of international economic standards.
The enlightened citizen, aware of the necessity of engaging with the global trend and committed to a planet free from global warming, carbon pollution, and nuclear weapons, works to implement the agenda of this world, free from terrorism and religious hatred. They advocate for civil governance that believes in citizenship as the basis of rights and duties, and reject sectarian, tribal, regional, and ethnic biases—these ills that have plagued Middle Eastern societies and whose spread has been facilitated by the religious mini-states that stretch across vast geographical areas, from the Atlantic to the Gulf. If we take a brief look at this geography, two countries have managed to thwart religious organizations, preventing the state from being diverted into the traps set by religious zealots. These two countries are Egypt and Tunisia. When the astute Egyptian people recognized the insidious influence of religious figures under the leadership of Dr. Mohamed Morsi, they rose up in June and rescued the state from an imminent takeover. Similarly, the Tunisians acted when constitutional law professor Kais Saied rescued the state from the clutches of Ghannouchi's Ennahda party, setting it on the right path. This is how it should be. The depth of the state is based on the structure of popular awareness that is aware of the dangers of the religious state. The dogmatic, ideological mentality is destructive if it is allowed to lead the state. The examples before us are the intransigence of the Revolutionary Guard, the entrenchment of Hezbollah and Hamas, and then the destruction of Lebanon, Iran, Palestine - the Gaza Strip, and Sudan.

Ismail Abdallah
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