Who's afraid of the Muslim Brothers
Mohammed Khan Last Modified: 09 Feb 2011 08:10 GMT
Western fears of 'Islamism' have been aided by Arab autocrats seeking to prolong their iron-fisted rule.
There are offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood in countries across the region [EPA]
"Islamism" has been sending jitters through Western political corridors over recent years readily aided and abetted by Arab autocrats who have exaggerated and harnessed the "Islamist" threat to prolong their iron-fisted rule.
In the case of Egypt, the biggest bogeyman in this long-running battle over political supremacy with the state is the Muslim Brotherhood (the Ikhwan al-Muslimun) whose influence extends across the Arab and Islamic world.
With the Middle East and North Africa currently convulsed by popular uprisings against political repression, the Muslim Brotherhood has been thrust into the limelight, not only by those seeking a better insight into the origins and goals of the movement as they try to peer into Egypt's future, but also by those whose entire raison d'etre consists of demonising the Ikhwan for ulterior political ends.
"I'm fed up" of ruling Egypt, complained Hosni Mubarak to an American news channel on February 4 as protests against his 30-year presidency accelerated. "But if I resign now, there will be chaos. And I'm afraid the Muslim Brotherhood will take over," he warned.
In a couple of short sentences, Mubarak wonderfully encapsulated the fear that his regime has generated over three decades in order to maintain control. With little concern for the sentiments of his people, Mubarak played directly to the fears of his Western backers: Either support my despotism, whatever its limitations, he was saying, or face having to deal with the "Islamists".
While leaders in the US and the EU stutter over how to respond to the new realities in the region, unfortunately for Mubarak, the people of Egypt are refusing to buy into his fear-mongering. The Muslim Brotherhood - whether Mubarak's regime and his backers like it or not - is part and parcel of Egyptian society.
The Ikhwan is the "father" of Islamic political activism, tracing its roots back to 1928 when it emerged as a movement advocating a return to Islamic morals. Its early political activism was against British rule in Egypt when it opposed the Westernisation of the country. While its formative years were devoted to overcoming imperialism, its history has been marked by challenges to the political status quo and, thus, to fending off state repression. The Muslim Brotherhood has alternately been tolerated, outlawed, its leaders assassinated and/or executed.
Despite the suppression, its popularity has grown owing mainly to a network of medical, legal, social and charitable services that it continues to provide. Where the state has failed Egyptians, the Ikhwan has helped prop up peoples' lives.
Such is its influence that it has spawned offshoots in Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Libya and Somalia in Africa, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Israel in the Levant, across the Gulf States and further afield in places such as Pakistan. Misconceptions in the West about the movement do not detract from the Brotherhood's popular following in Egypt and beyond....<cont>
In Depth:
Profile: Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun is the country's oldest and largest Islamic organisation. .....
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