Marc Lynch aka The Father of the Aardvark is an expert on Arab media and politics. He has done exhaustive research and journalism on the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt, and has argued quite persuasively that the MB is indeed serious about its commitment to democracy. Unfortunately, the United States has largely looked the other way while the Mubarak regime systematically persecutes the MB invoking the rhetoric of state security – rhetoric that is revealed to be a lie when moderate, liberal and pro-Western members of the Brotherhood are imprisoned and or prohibited from leaving the country.
Lynch laments,
“I’ve grown tired of debating the finer points of the Brotherhood’s party platform searching for clues as to their true feelings about democracy at a time when large numbers of their members are once again being arrested for the crime of trying to participate in elections.â€
For more of an inside look at the Brotherhood, read Lynch’s interview with Abd el-Moneim Abou el-Fattouh, a key Brotherhood reformist. The debate about the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States’ foreign policy circles is alive and well, though conspicuously absent from the top echelons of the present Administration.
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If they are so committed to Democracy, why don’t they call themselves, “The Democracy Brotherhood.”
Seriously, I personally would be perfectly happy to see Egyptians get the chance to test the theory that The Muslim Brotherhood is committed to democracy, beyond the election that gets them in the door.
Either their situation improves, or responsibility for their dissatisfaction becomes clarified.
The Muslim Brootherhood is committed to Democracy until they are elected to power. Then they will be committed to power.
Democracy loving Muslim Brotherhood?
“Since its founding in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood (Hizb al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) has profoundly influenced the political life of the Middle East. Its motto is telling: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”[1]“
Thanks for clearing that up for us.
I don’t find that motto very telling.
Like so many mottos, it is “telling” only to the extent that those who participate in the group that came up with it believe it literally or figuratively.
If they believe it literally, “democracy” under them would amount to one election, after which gays start hanging from street lamps, and women get hidden under lots of clothing.
If it’s figurative – i.e., if they view it the way Archbishop” Rowan Williams views pretty much anything in the Bible, then we can rest easy (and so can the gays, women, and heretics in Muslim Brotherhoodian Egypt).
Wouldn’t be a ton on the “Rowan Williams” interpretation at this point, but I could be wrong.
I’m awfully curious what would happen in a democracy that believed “Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope”.
I suspect it might be an exception to the rule that democracies are peaceful, since I think that the reason democracies are peaceful is that most people don’t want to die.
“Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” means, if I understand correctly, something along the lines of:
“Working to make the world a more peaceful and tolerant place, where religion is respected as a voluntary choice, while learning in an open-minded and compassionate way from those have made choices that are different from the ones we have made.”
Something like that. It’s on the Hamas Website.
Ooops. It’s on the Muslim Brotherhood Website. I get them mixed up.
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