From the Blog

Morsi, The Muslim Brotherhood and the Future of Egypt”

On June 24 tens of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters gathered in Tahrir Square to celebrate the victory of their candidate Mohamed Morsi, who was announced Egypt’s president by the electoral commission Photo Courtsey of Jonathan Rashad The Muslim Brotherhood has recently acquired,  via one of their own, the reigns of the Presidency of Egypt. Now, the office of President, in the hands of Mohamed Morsi, causes mixed feelings in the populace. There is joy as well as concern within Egypt itself, within the Middle east, among her regional neighbors as well as on the international political stage by virtue of the Muslim Brotherhood’s history of being or falsely accused of having the tendency to be radical in their views. But, let’s look at the history of the Muslim Brotherhood, in a proper perspective, to see how the group emerged, evolved and why they are such a feared political force in the Arab World and in the broader international community.

The Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan Al-Muslimin in Arabic), the largest Islamic movement in recent history was actually formed as a result of the want, within Egypt, among its people, to rise against British rule and its influence during the waning years of Egypt’s last monarchy, the Mamlukes. Initially, the Muslim Brotherhood served as a revolutionary movement to oust

the Mamlukes as well as the British shadow-rulers and kick them out of Egypt, leaving Egyptians to write their own story on the walls of time. The founder of the Muslim Brotherhood was a man by the name Hassan al-Banna born in 1906 in Mahmoudiya, near Alexandra Egypt. He was to provide ideological and organizational leadership that moved hundreds of thousands of people not only in Egypt but all over the Arab World.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a religious movement that was geared towards establishing justice and autonomy of Muslims in their country by upholding the tenets of the Shari’ah. In theory, this seems palatable to a majority Muslim population. However, if not applied correctly, actually based upon the Qur’an & Sunnah (Prophetic Tradition), this objective and fervor for the establishment of the Shari`ah (Islamic-Law), can quickly become sour for the people. And, historically, unfortunately, some members of the Muslim Brotherhood have deviated from its roots and core principles at different times. From simply being part of a religious movement to lowering themselves to be more like a part of a religious gang to the extent that some members of the Muslim Brotherhood being directly responsible for the assassinations of many prominent figures in Egypt like Prime Minister Mahmoud an-Nukrashi Pasha who had called for the disbandment of the group in 1948 after rumors spread of their intent to overthrow the government in a coup. Hassan Al-Banna had spoken against these assassinations, advocating that it was not the way of Islam. In 1949, Hassan Al-Banna himself was also assassinated. After the expulsion of the Mamlukes and the British, in 1952, Egypt was finally free to carve out her own political path. However, there were a lot of hurdles for the Muslim Brotherhood mainly because of the fact that they had directly supported a military-coup led by a secularist with military strength, a man by the name of Gamal Abdel Nasser. He was very clear on his intent to make Egypt a secular state, something which was in complete contradiction to the fundamental founding principles of the Muslim Brotherhood. The eventual establishment of a secular Egypt really rubbed the Muslim Brotherhood the wrong way to the extent that they, in 1954, began to openly oppose the newly formed constitution of Egypt, taking the stance that it was not in accordance to the Shari`ah. Also, the Muslim Brotherhood openly opposed Gamal Abdel Nasser whom they had once willingly supported against the Mamlukes & the British. The Muslim Brotherhood was actually blamed for an assassination-attempt against Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1954.

This was definitely something that Nasser used to his advantage to marginalize his potential political competition. He immediately made moves to hunt down, arrest, prosecute, torture, imprison, and, even execute members of the Muslim Brotherhood. As a matter of fact, the most famous member of the Muslim Brotherhood, even overshadowing its founder Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, was executed under the Nasser administration in 1965. Qutb, a Muslim thinker, activist, and, anti-Nasser propagator, was famous mainly for issuing his work, Milestones.

At first Qutb was imprisoned & tortured, after the assassination attempt on Nasser. Being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood made him an easy target among many other easy targets. Then, after being released from prison, he committed himself to the writing of what would be his most famous work, Milestones, in 1964. Milestones laid the groundwork for what Qutb’s vision of how to recreate an Islamic State should be approached within the traditional & external Muslim World particularly within the Arab World. However, this work in the text itself is responsible for ideas that have given rise & justification used by latter peoples influenced by his works to pronounce Takfir (to judge a person to be non Muslim) upon other Muslims for not ruling their respective countries according to the Shari`ah.

This placed Muslim leaders within the Arab World under immense fear because if the common-people that they ruled were to buy into the concept that they were no longer Muslims, not only would they lose their power but they would also lose their lives. Hence, Nasser spared no expense to get rid of Qutb any way that he could. After the execution of Sayyid Qutb in 1965, he became a Pan-Islamic/Pan Arab icon not only in Egypt but all across the Muslim World. This act of the execution of Qutb along with other prominent figures in the Muslim Brotherhood at the time charged up this movement to be even more vocal against the government in Egypt. Their influence which had been spreading to other parts of the Muslim World had also begun to expand rapidly.

Over the course of the next few decades, after the assassination of Hassan Al-Banna and the execution of Sayyid Qutb, the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood has shaped the revolutionary landscape & mindset of Muslims in the Muslim World. With all of this being said, what should our conclusion be? What do we learn from these historic accounts and more specifically, what does this mean for a future Egypt? The historical backdrop of the Muslim Brotherhood is very important to know so as to get a very clear sense of why some people may love them and why some people may hate them. Knowledge of this history also helps to know how they as a group and as a movement have for better or for worse been a dominant factor in how politics in the Muslim/Arab World has played out. Also, knowing the past gives us a better insight into how the future may develop. Egypt has a lot of unique problems that any leader regardless of their background would find tough to handle. However, if given the chance, Morsi along with his new administration and the support of Egyptians may be able to pick up Egypt by her bootstraps and take her to a better place. I am of the stance that Mohamed Morsi needs to be given a fair shot to do the job right before he is judged or criticized by some Egyptians, who may not favor the Muslim Brotherhood being in power, and its neighbors or nations with other competing ideologies or particular interests or ulterior motives to dominate the religion.