World

Worries Spread as Egypt Elects Muslim Brotherhood Parliament Speaker

Egypt‘s newly elected interim People’s Assembly elected Muslim Brotherhood’s Saad Katatni to be its new Speaker. The Brotherhood won 235 seats in the 498 seat chamber. The dominance of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt’s new parliament, however, has many Egyptians worried because of the Islamic group‘s longstanding stances on issues like women’s rights, minority rights, Islamic shariah law. In addition to the list of concerns, westerners also fear the Brotherhoods own self-proclaimed anti-West, anti-Israel positions.

In fact, in his pamphlet “Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner” Ayman al-Zawahiri — al Qaeda leader and longtime Muslim Brotherhood member — stated explicitly in 2001 that:

“If God will it, such a state in Egypt, with all its weight in the heart of the Islamic world, could lead the Islamic world in a jihad against the West. It could also rally the world Muslims around it. Then history would make a new turn, Insha Allah, in the opposite direction against the empire of the US and the world’s Jewish government.”

Al-Zawahiri, of course, was talking about the invocation of an Islamic caliphate in Egypt. His statements also serve as corroboration of what many believe to be the Muslim Brotherhood’s own stated goals of establishing an Islamic caliphate. A translation released nearly one year ago of a 1995 book by the Brotherhood’s fifth official leader exposed just how Egypt’s Brotherhood views itself and its mission.

“Jihad is the Way” is the last of a five-volume work, “The Laws of Da’wa by Mustafa Mashhur,” who headed the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt from 1996-2002. JPost published excerpts of the text, compiled by Palestinian Media Watch founder Itamar Marcus and analyst Nan Jacques Zilberdik”

They detail the Brotherhood’s objectives of advancing the global conquest of Islam and reestablishing the Islamic Caliphate, the public and private duties of jihad and the struggle Muslims must wage against Israel.

The full text, translated by PMW, will be posted Wednesday on the organization’s website, Palwatch.org.

“The Islamic ummah,” it says, referring to the supranational community of Muslims, “can regain its power and be liberated and assume its rightful position which was intended by Allah, as the most exalted nation among men, as the leaders of humanity.”

Elsewhere, it exhorts Muslims, “Know your status, and believe firmly that you are the masters of the world, even if your enemies desire your degradation.”

 

The Brotherhood, whose slogan is “Islam is the solution,” won 47 percent of the vote in three rounds of parliamentary elections, stunning democracy advocates like Egyptian publisher Hisham Kassem, who admits to having been taken aback by the growing success of these Islamic fundamentalist groups.

“I never was so off-track as I was with my forecast for the parliamentary elections. I didn’t see the Salafi party having any presence. I forecast 10 seats for them and I didn’t think the [Muslim] Brotherhood would exceed 20 percent,” said Kassem.

Egypt’s fundamentalist Salafi party, the Hezb al-Nour or Party of Light, wants the clock to be turned back and life to be lived as it was in the time of Islam’s prophet during the Seventh Century. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis agree on some points, but disagree on others.

Hisham Kassem stresses that he’s not afraid to live under Muslim Brotherhood leadership, so long as the group abides by several key rules.

“I have fought for free elections and believe in them and this has been the outcome, and even though this is not my political persuasion, I accept it and we need to engage politically with the Brotherhood and hope that they will abide [by] good governance and rotation of power, and that they will hold an election, when it’s time for a next election,” said Kassem.

VOA adds:

Top Muslim Brotherhood figures have met with U.S. officials in recent weeks, including Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson. Many observers say that the Brotherhood does not want to adopt any extreme positions, so as to frighten the international community.

Omar Ashour, who teaches political science at Britain’s University of Exeter, argues that the Brotherhood wants to maintain good relations with both the international community and the country’s ruling military council.

“Any confrontation with the international community will reflect badly on the economy and a clash with the military will reflect badly on politics. So, I think what they will try to do is avoid a clash with these two big entities and it doesn’t really matter if they have the house speaker. They are trying to avoid being in the front line, too visible and holding direct responsibility,” he said.

Many secularists reportedly fear that a heavily Islamic assembly will try to impose shariah law on the country. Ashour, however, believes that the Muslim Brotherhood has more important issues to deal with right now, like consolidating its power.

“I think they have other priorities at the moment,” Ashour said. “They need to consolidate power in the parliament, to influence the constitutional assembly that will be formed. They will need to be very influential in terms of constitutional crafting. They will need to focus on the military establishment, on one side they don’t want to confront, but on the other side they don’t want it to have too much influence in politics because it will undermine them. So, they have too many battles and I don‘t think the shariah battle is going to be fought unless there’s a bit of outbidding from the Salafi side and they will have to say something to their audience.”

Christian Egyptian telecom mogul Najib Sawiris, who heads the country’s Free Egyptian Party which won 9 percent of parliamentary seats, has emphatically expressed his opposition to the imposition of shariah law on Egyptians.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s business community and affluent secular communities are scrambling over fears tha shariah law will set the country back into the Stone Age.  Some businessmen have reportedly been quietly trying to funnel their money out of the country, and some Christians and Western-educated individuals have been emigrating as inconspicuously as possible .

Comments (32)

  • EVENT-HORIZON
    Posted on January 24, 2012 at 2:23pm

    I‘m constantly reminded of a song from Mel Brook’s “The Producers”.( I’ll skip descriptions of the film ). There was a comedy song in it called “Springtime For Hitler” which needs to be re-written to “Springtime for Egypt”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K08akOt2kuo

    I also wonder what Bill Kristol (National Review Magazine) has to say about the Arab Spring now? 1 year ago he couldn’t say enough wonderful things about it.
    Glenn mentioned it on the radio this morning & I think he ( + many others) need a follow up interview.

    Report Post » EVENT-HORIZON  
  • Quixotic-911
    Posted on January 24, 2012 at 1:40pm

    I read the Soros article and he claims to fear the collapse of the EU and the rise of new xenophobic ultra-nationalism. However, considering the islamic revolutions through out the middle east and the problem Europe is having with muslim imigration, some xenophobic ultra-nationalism may be the only thing that will save Europe from the greater threat- The Islamic Caliphate.

    Report Post »  
  • SoupSandwich
    Posted on January 24, 2012 at 10:14am

    Where is Code Pink at on this? LGBT rainbow glitter needs to be applied here. Can we send Pelosi, Sheila J. Lee, Maxine Waters and Bwaney Fwank over to hold hands and mediate? These poor misunderstood dudes just need to be unionized and brought under the umbrella of SEIU.

    Report Post »  
  • the point
    Posted on January 24, 2012 at 10:09am

    Exactly what Obummer wanted all along. His plan is working.

    Report Post »  
  • sjohn70037
    Posted on January 24, 2012 at 9:22am

    I hope you Egyptian muslims get exactly what you deserve.

    Report Post » sjohn70037  
  • Hank919
    Posted on January 24, 2012 at 6:08am

    Cut off aid…send them B.H. Obama….please!

    Report Post »  
  • Dave In Arizona
    Posted on January 24, 2012 at 12:10am

    Time to cut funding for Egypt. No sense paying the Egyptians to murder us.

    Report Post » Dave In Arizona  
    • JohnofOregon
      Posted on January 24, 2012 at 1:58am

      dave, i am not sure you understand. our furor hans obama said he was bringing peace and love to the middle east by helping bring in the arab spring. we need to have this in order for the islamist to orderly burn those books, shoot christians jews and buddist ect., enslave the girls, rape the reporters, destroy historical sights. they will need all that foriegn aide to help pay thier membership in the UN and build relations and travel with other muslim brotherhood members. we will buy them solar panels to revolutionize thier economy and save the planet.

      Report Post »  
    • Bill Rowland
      Posted on January 24, 2012 at 6:04am

      Remember Obumbler and Hilrod said the Brotherhood was a very peaceful reasonable organization and we could work with them.
      Obumbler wants to reduce our military by 50% so that we have no response to the genocide in the countries taken over by the Brotherhood. He does not seem to find anything wrong with them killing all the Christians and enforcing Sharia Law (the prettiest sound he ever heard was the Muslim call to prayer). This is a resonable, peace loving group which will bring peace to the middle east and a Caliphate to the world.

      OMG

      Report Post »  
    • jnobfan
      Posted on January 24, 2012 at 7:47am

      Drill here drill now – build the Keystone and others and we sit in the balcony and watch these savages swing it out. No more of our blood and treasure should be spent in that part of the world. Let them fight it out and maybe it makes sense to deal with the winner. If not we walk away.

      Report Post »  
  • Access Denied
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 11:30pm

    And who will be the first to go? All those who fou ght for change in Tahrir Square. The students, non-Muzzlims and even Muzzlims who disagree with the Brotherhood, Watch what happens.

    Report Post »  
  • Access Denied
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 11:25pm

    And who will be the first to go? All those who fought for change in Tahrir Square. The students, non-Muslims and even Muslims who disagree with the Brotherhood? Watch what happens.

    Report Post »  
  • Flex-it
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 11:11pm

    Good Luck Egypt……..you’ll desperately need it.

    Report Post »  
  • Netizen Kane
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 10:51pm

    Yep……as we knew, said would happen, and were ridiculed for. So much more to come…….as planned.

    Report Post » Netizen Kane  
  • AnAmerican111
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 9:54pm

    Glad to see OBAMA and his pathetic excuse for an Administration spent millions of American taxpayer dollars to make Egypt into anti-American haven!……….

    Hey America! Are you waking up yet?

    Report Post »  
    • Bill Rowland
      Posted on January 24, 2012 at 6:18am

      Cut the military by 50% so we are prepared for the 13th Imam and the Caliphoate he will lead to rid the world of non believers.
      Obumbler and Hilrod consider these guys buddies.

      OMG

      Report Post »  
  • kalli
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 9:43pm

    You would think they’d send a glorious thank you to the muslim in our WH for aiding them in acquiring a stronghold on the middle east. The brotherhood is calmly working from inside our WH to do the same to this country, in case you didn’t know it.

    Report Post »  
  • Seede
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 9:08pm

    What worries are spreading? This is exactly what the nimrod gave our American dollars for. The nimrod DC gang all praised the Arab Spring and now it has sprung. Clinton cheered as Egypt fell and the nimrod couldn’t wait till sundown to get troops and money into Libya. They got what they paid for and now comes the big payday. No oil and billions out the window. Something like the Canadian pipe line deal. No oil and no pipe line. This gang wants America in the toilet and now they want a flushie to finish the job. Keep lock and loaded cause you just might need it.

    Report Post »  
  • crabbyoldman
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 8:13pm

    The war on terror is just starting to get warm……..

    Report Post »  
    • db321
      Posted on January 23, 2012 at 8:34pm

      The Blaze should get the Heading correct – It’s should say, 2000 Years Ago the Bible predicted that the World would be taken over by Muslim Extremest! The Bible also tells us what happens next – I’ll let you read it for yourself – Warning – if you read the Bible, you will never vote for Obama again!

      Report Post » db321  
    • db321
      Posted on January 23, 2012 at 8:37pm

      I must say – this is much worse than a Democratic take over of our House and Senate – If anything can be worse.

      Report Post » db321  
  • angeleyes63
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 7:45pm

    Muslim spring my arss, these morons are going to rue the day they ushered in the nightmare that is the muslim brotherhood.

    Report Post »  
  • klevalt
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 6:38pm

    so…. those of you who cheered this “revolution”…. ….. Any second thoughts?

    Report Post » klevalt  
  • beth2112
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 6:29pm

    How much do we send them in foreign aid again??

    Report Post »  
  • iamgorilla
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 6:27pm

    These people are better off with a dictator. They’re too stupid to elect their own leaders.

    Report Post » iamgorilla  
    • Shasta
      Posted on January 23, 2012 at 8:09pm

      Given the absolutely awful president and other political leaders we have voted in, I would say that the same could be said about us.

      Report Post » Shasta  
  • beth2112
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 6:26pm

    How much are we sending them in foreign aid again??

    Report Post »  
  • beth2112
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 6:24pm

    Wow, this is a big surprise. Couldn’t see this coming. Democracy in action!!

    Report Post »  
  • AJAYW
    Posted on January 23, 2012 at 5:40pm

    Did the elect obama

    Report Post »  

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