george burkes thesis
TRANSCRIPT
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The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood: Rhetoric and Actions in Parliament and Professional
Syndicates from 1984-2010
George R. Burkes Jr.
U.S. Department of State
MSSI Class 2014
This thesis has been accepted by the faculty and administration of the National Intelligence
University to satisfy a requirement for a Master of Science of Strategic Intelligence or Master of
Science and Technology Intelligence degree. The student is responsible for its content. The
views expressed do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Intelligence
University, the Department of Defense, the U.S. Intelligence Community, or the U.S.
Government. Acceptance of the thesis as meeting an academic requirement does not reflect an
endorsement of the opinions, ideas, or information put forth. The thesis is not finished
intelligence or finished policy. The validity, reliability, and relevance of the information
contained have not been reviewed through intelligence or policy procedures and processes. The
thesis has been classified in accordance with community standards. The thesis, in whole or in
part, is not cleared for public release. I understand that this thesis was prepared under the
authorities of the Defense Intelligence Agency and that dissemination outside of official U.S.
Government channels, either in whole or in part, is prohibited without prior review and clearance
for public release as required by Defense Intelligence Agency Instruction DIAI 5400.005.
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Dedication –
I would like to dedicate this thesis to my wife, Eugenia. She gave me the time and
encouragement to pursue my goal. Thank you.
I would also like to thank my thesis chair, Colonel Anderson, and my reader, Mr.
Devillafranca for their suggestions and assistance. The Hughes Library at NIU was the best at
finding very difficult material in interlibrary loans. My translator at the State Department helped
greatly in determining value in the Arabic sources used.
Finally, a special thanks to my friend, Thomas J. O‟Brien who told me I could do this.
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Topic –
The topic of my thesis is the reconciliation of rhetoric of the leaders of the Muslim
Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt and the actions of its members when they participated in the
People‟s Assembly (Majlis) of Parliament and professional syndicates between 1984 and 2010.
Even though membership in the Majlis during this time was dominated by the National
Democratic Party, participation for other political parties was opened to a degree under President
Mubarak (1981-2011). It took many years for the MB to decide to even compete in
parliamentary elections. When it did put forth candidates for parliament, it also involved the
organization in one of the few avenues of political participation available outside of parliament,
the professional syndicates.
Professional syndicates in Egypt protect the interests of their members and are modeled
after European syndicates that represent professions such as doctors, lawyers, and engineers.
They have also acted as an arena in which the less influential professionals can try to advance
their causes outside of government.1 Historical information regarding syndicates in Egypt will
be discussed in the introductory chapter as well as background information regarding the
participation of the Brotherhood.
Most information available through scholarly journals and books written about the
participation of the MB during this time period have been focused on the process involved in
getting members elected to Parliament and syndicates. Relatively little has been written about the
actions of the MB after joining those organizations. This is perhaps due to the fact that the MB
had a modest presence relative to total numbers of members in the Majlis. This changed with the
1 Robert Springborg, “Professional Syndicates in Egyptian Politics, 1952-1970,” International Journal of Middle East
Studies, (October 1978), 278.
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election of 2005, when 88 brothers were elected out of a total of 454 Members of Parliament
(MPs).2 The MB started gaining influence in the syndicates in 1984, when they won 7 out of 25
seats in the governing council of the Doctors syndicate.3 After this initial success, the influence
of the MB in syndicates continued to grow in the 1990s.
The general topics to be covered in this thesis will be social and economic issues. While
participation in the Majlis and professional syndicates was of little use to the MB in effecting any
major changes, it did allow for an outlet for political expression and a refinement of organizing
abilities that were put to use in the 2012 elections, when the MB elected 235 out of 498 members
to the Majlis.4
The MB has presented itself to Egypt, and the rest of the world, as a moderate and
practical organization since the mid-1970s. The leader, or Murshid of the organization at that
time, Hasan Isma‟il al-Hudaybi, established a concept of non-violence that has mainly continued
since that time. Additionally, even though the desire has been to have Islamic law as the source
of legislation, there is a belief that obedience to divine law is independent of the application of
state laws. God‟s law must be followed individually and even if Islam is the foundation of the
state, there is no guarantee that it will be a just system.5 The slogan of the MB, “Islam is the
answer,” has guided its participation in the Majlis and syndicates, and has affected much of its
action in those entities.
Relevance of the Research Question –
2 Samer Shehata, ‘’The Brotherhood Goes to Parliament,” Middle East Report, 240 (Fall, 2006), 33.
3 Ninette S Fahmy, “The Performance of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Egyptian Syndicates: An Alternative
Formula for Reform?” The Middle East Journal, 52, no. 4 (Autumn, 1998), 552. 4 Election Watch, Journal of Democracy, 23, no. 2 (April, 2012), 170.
5 Barbara H.E. Zollner, The Muslim Brotherhood: Hasan al-Hudaybi and ideology (New York: Routledge, 2009), 151.
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Egypt is a country of great strategic importance to the United States. It is in the interest of
the U.S. to have a stable government in Egypt that remains at peace with Israel. It is also
important to maintain cooperation with Egypt regarding the prevention of terrorist groups in the
Sinai Peninsula from destabilizing the region.6 Since 1948, Egypt has received from the United
States more than 71 billion dollars in bilateral foreign aid, which includes Economic Support
Funds for sectors like health, education, and economic development as well as Foreign Military
Financing.7 It is imperative that stable relations with Egypt are maintained in order to facilitate
transit through the Suez Canal for U.S. warships and over flight rights for U.S. aircraft.8 As the
MB is a recently deposed political power in Egypt, a historical view of how it has participated in
the Majlis and professional syndicates is of interest to the intelligence community. An
understanding of how the MB has matched deeds with proclamations in the past will assist the
intelligence community in future analysis of how it is likely to govern in the future, if given the
opportunity.
Research Question –
This thesis seeks to answer the question – Does the Muslim Brotherhood attempt to
follow through on what it proclaims to the public when participating in the Majlis and
syndicates? When the MB espouses certain aspects of democracy, does it follow through on
those proclamations through its actions in the Majlis and influence in the syndicates, or has the
organization acted more in line with its traditionally held views of “Shari’a law?” This thesis
researches printed and electronic sources to identify actions taken in the Parliament. It also
6 Jeremy M. Sharp “Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations.” Congressional Research Service Report RL33003,
(December, 2012), 5. 7 Ibid, 14.
8 Ibid.
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researches speeches and interviews given to document to the extent possible the influence of the
MB in professional syndicates for the years 1984 -2010. The following inquiries will be
addressed in answering the research question.
Have members of the MB acted as a bloc when participating in the Egyptian Parliament
or professional syndicates?
If so, have those actions been in accordance with proclamations of the MB during the
time period analyzed?
Have MB members of Parliament and professional syndicates acted differently under
different general guides?
Methodology –
As this thesis analyzes how the MB has acted in the Majlis and policies that have
influenced the professional syndicates, it utilizes a qualitative research design with the single
case study approach of content analysis for the time period 1984-2010. Research is conducted
utilizing written proclamations and interviews of General Guides or Murshids of the MB as well
as statements released on behalf of the MB. Additionally, observations made by public media
and actions by syndicates under MB control are discussed. This should lead to reconciling
general themes espoused by the MB and patterns in its actions that will either contradict or
substantiate those themes.
Assumptions –
I start with the assumption that, because the MB had been a social movement for much of
its existence, the transformation into a political entity was made without a completely centralized
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plan from its leadership. As such, I also assume that there will be some discrepancy from what
the leadership of the MB proclaimed and how its members actually acted. The extent this
discrepancy may exist and any indication of a clear break with leadership regarding MB policy
will be analyzed. Utilization of the observations from printed media, memoirs, and newspapers
will assist in obtaining knowledge of the action of the participants.
Hypothesis -
All of the hypotheses presented will need to be viewed as degrees of what the evidence
indicates. The standard will be “more likely than not” and notable caveats will be discussed in
the empirical information obtained before a determination can be assessed.
My hypothesis is that the MB did not always act as a bloc in accordance with the
proclamations of its leaders in the Majlis nor did its members act in unison when participating in
syndicates. While it is assumed that the majority of the MB were supportive of the Murshids’
leadership and proclamations, actions may have been taken contrary to their edicts.
Alternate hypothesis number one – The MB did mainly abide by the proclamations of its
leaders in Parliament and acted in unison while participating in syndicates.
Alternate hypothesis number two – The MB acted uniformly in the Majlis and acted
dutifully in syndicates, but in one or the other acted apart from the proclamations of the MB
leadership.
Chapter Organization –
There will be four chapters to the thesis. The first chapter will be a historical introduction
to the MB and events that led to its eventual political aspirations in the 1980s. Historical
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development of the syndicates will also be discussed to give context to the political participation
of those organizations. The second chapter will concern the actions of the MB in the Majlis and
in the syndicates on social, foreign, and economic issues from 1984 through the beginning of
1996 when it was under the guidance of Umar al-Tilmisani and Muhammad Hamid Abu al-Nasr.
The third chapter will cover the same issues through 2010 while under the guidance of Mustafa
Mashour, Ma‟mun al-Hudaybi, Mohammed Mahdi Akef, and Mohammed Badie. These two
chapters will incorporate proclamations and deeds of the MB as well as actions taken by the
Egyptian government at the same time to provide context. The final chapter will be conclusions
and policy recommendations.
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Literature Review –
The two seminal works regarding the early history of the MB are Mitchell‟s Society of
the Muslim Brothers and Lia‟s The Society of Muslim Brothers in Egypt. Both cover the
beginning and development of the organization in a thorough manner. The Mitchell book takes
the MB through the late 1960s. The Zollner book The Muslim Brotherhood: Hasan Al-Hudaybi
and Ideology is the most recent and scholarly explanation of the decision by the MB to renounce
violence. It goes into great detail the theological discussion taking place in the prisons where
many of the Brothers were serving long prison sentences. It is excellent in explaining the
deflection of Qutub‟s more stringent writings without renouncing them outright.
Al-Awadi, Pargater, and Wickham are the best at integrating the MB into the social and
political events of Egypt. They each bring great context to the events and decisions made by the
leadership of the MB in different periods of its history. For Egyptian political history, Kassem
and Kienle present the changes in constitutional and electoral laws in good detail.
For Egyptian syndicates, the two best historical authors are Bianchi and Reid. They
develop the history and importance of professional syndicates in Egypt. For more current
material, Amani Kandil is the acknowledged expert. Her material is not readily available and
almost exclusively in Arabic, but she is the best place to gain knowledge of professional
syndicates from the 1980s forward.
Egyptian economics are very well covered by Utvik, Ates, and Oweiss. They explain the
Egyptian economy, including the shadow economy of Islamist finances and the MB participation
quite well.
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Chapter One
MB History and Entrance into Syndicates and the Egyptian Parliament
History of the MB through the early 1980s –
The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamic-oriented organization based in Egypt and has
existed for over eighty-five years. During that time, its members have been frequently harassed
and arrested by whatever government was in power. The eight leaders (Supreme Guides or
Murshids) of the MB collectively spent over ninety-two years in prison because of the
organization‟s differences with those governments. Numerous other MB members were
incarcerated for lengthy periods of time as well. The organization itself has occasionally been
dissolved and it was declared an illegal entity from 1954 through the ouster of President
Mubarak in 2011. Despite these setbacks, it not only persisted as an organization, but it also
eventually gained political positions in the Egyptian Parliament and professional syndicates
starting in the mid-1980s.
The MB was founded by Hasan al-Banna in 1928 when several disaffected workers in a
labor force working for the British in Cairo approached him about collectively “working on the
road to action and …. service to the religion (Islam) of the nation.”9 Al-Banna was a recent
graduate of Dar al-„Ulm University in Cairo. It was considered to be a high-level training school
for teachers and included a modern curriculum, especially when compared to other schools at
that time. He was trained in a traditional religious education, but it was more secular than the
9 Richard P. Mitchell. The Society of the Muslim Brothers (New York: Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 8
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famous Al-Azhar University10
. He had been working as an agent for the Young Men‟s Muslim
Association and he was interested in improving the lives of people by “teaching them the
objectives of religion and the sources of their well-being.”11
He decided that this could best be
achieved through “the path of true Sufism … with sincerity and work in the service of
humanity.”12
In a broad sense, the version of Sufism desired by the MB could be described as
“Muslims who take seriously God‟s call to perceive his presence both in the world and in the
self.”13
Al-Banna believed that one of the bigger threats to Islam was the fascination the educated
Egyptian youths had with European culture and habits.14
While there was no one specific vision
of exactly the type of Islamic society ultimately desired by the MB, there was an emphasis by the
group on action and organization over ideology.15
Al-Banna became the Murshid and the MB quickly established itself by developing direct
outreaches to mosques, coffeehouses, and private homes. Additionally, it built schools for boys
and girls as well as becoming involved in community service projects.16
This approach replicated
itself across the country and in a twenty year period, it became a national organization of social
and welfare institutions with an estimated membership of over three hundred thousand members
by 1946.17
The MB “established a network of branch offices throughout the cities and villages of
10
Al-Azhar is acknowledged as the greatest mosque-university in the Islamic world. Located in Cairo, it began organized religious instruction in 978. It is a conservative institution that has historically tried to keep Islamist activists and governments at a distance, though not always successfully. John L. Esposito, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) Vol. 1, 170-171. 11
Mitchell, 6. 12
Ibid. 13
Esposito, Oxford Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, 102-103. 14
Brynjar Lia. The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt: The Rise of and Islamic Mass Movement 1928-1942 (Reading, UK: Ithaca Press, 1998), 55. 15
Mitchell, 326. 16
Ibid, 8. 17
Ibid, 328.
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Egypt that was unified by a central headquarters in Cairo.”18
This became the basic structure of
the MB and members displayed considerable loyalty to their branch as well as the organization
as a whole. The local branch leader became a liaison between the members and the central
leadership.19
Participation in the MB consisted of a three-tiered membership structure. At the first level
were members considered to be “assistants,” only required to join as a member and pay dues.20
The second- level members were called “related” and needed to demonstrate knowledge of the
MB‟s principles, attend meetings on a regular basis, and swear an oath of obedience.21
The third-
level members were “active” and expected to immerse themselves entirely into the organization,
which included gaining a higher understanding of Islamic learning and obligations.22
The MB wanted to educate its members with a stringent knowledge of Islam that could
be shared through their outreach to the community. They believed that this would eventually lead
the population at large to desire Islam as the foundation for societal needs.23
The strategic
“operational principle” of the MB can be described as the “establishment of an Islamic social
order on the basis of the Shari’a.”24
The “tactical principle” of accomplishing this goal was
“seeking to do it nonviolently through the consciousness-raising of the Muslim masses and
advice to rulers.”25
Al-Banna imparted to the followers of the MB that they “are not a benevolent
18
Ziad Munson, “Islamic Mobilization: Social Movement Theory and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood,” The Sociological Quarterly, 42, no. 4 (Autumn, 2001), 497. 19
Ibid. 20
Mitchell, 183. 21
Ibid. 22
Ibid. 23
Carrie Rosefsky Wickham. The Muslim Brotherhood: Evolution of an Islamist Movement (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013), 23. 24
Saad Eddin Ibrahim. Egypt Islam and Democracy: Twelve Critical Essays (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 1996), 39. 25
Ibid.
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society, nor a political party, nor a local organization having limited purposes. Rather, you are a
new soul in the heart of this nation to give it life by means of the Qur’an.”26
A noted expert on the MB, Carrie Rosefsky Wickham, has written about some of the
goals of the MB in this early period. The MB claimed to not desire power for itself, but wanted
to “facilitate a wider process of social reform.”27
The MB believed in the establishment of a legal
system “consistent with Shari’a law that would require the backing of a governmental
authority.”28
Shari’a law is a scholarly tradition of determining God‟s law through the Prophet
Muhammad and the body of the Prophet‟s revelations discovered throughout the years.29
There
was also an acknowledged but muted support by the MB for institutions such as parliament, an
independent judiciary, popularly elected rulers, and the rights of citizens under the law.30
In
regards to Shari’a, the MB was not interested in literal applications of the past, but rather the
desire for human reason or ijtihad, in “constructing laws relevant to the Muslim community in
modern times.”31
This did not address whether the ultimate authority was to be expressed by God
through Shari’a or through elected representatives.32
The MB also did not clearly indicate how it
would interact with Christians (Copts) and other Muslims who did not agree with its agenda.33
Because the MB was somewhat ambivalent towards parliament and political parties, it
decided candidates would be presented only when the time was right.34
The MB understood that
eventually it would have to participate in elections if it was going to exert any real influence on
26
Quoted in Mitchell, 30. 27
Wickham, 24. 28
Ibid. 29
Esposito, Oxford Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, 450. 30
Wickham, 24... 31
Ibid. 32
Ibid, 25. 33
Ibid. 34
Ibid.
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the functions of government.35
The MB finally chose to field candidates, including al-Banna, in
the national elections of 1942. Because the law at the time required national unity and did not
permit religious parties, an understanding needed to be reached between the MB and the
Government. Egyptian Prime Minister Nahhas met with al-Banna to convince him and the MB to
withdraw their candidates. Al-Banna agreed, while extracting concessions from Nahhas that
included the promise of freedom for the MB to carry on with its work and a curtailing of the
selling of alcoholic beverages to the greater public.36
Al-Banna and five other Brothers also ran
for office in 1945, but were defeated in what was widely considered to be a flawed election.37
While politics was an important avenue to be utilized in effecting change, it was not the only
way the MB pursued its cause. The Brothers strove for non-violent means to accomplish its
goals, but they were not above using violence when it was deemed necessary.
The MB was very concerned and apprehensive about what it thought of as the three
external archenemies of Islam. It considered the Jewish influence of Palestine, the perceived
crusade of the West against Islam and Communism to be the most important international threats
requiring the immediate attention of the MB. The Brothers considered the Jewish people or
Zionists to be virtually entwined in all three of these concerns.38
The MB was one of the first
organizations to send volunteers and military assistance to the Palestinian resistance in the 1940s,
even before Arab armies were sent to fight after the creation of Israel. Within Egypt, the MB was
very much concerned about the influence of the British, who had stationed troops in Egypt with
35
John L. Esposito and James P. Piscatori, “Democratization and Islam,” Middle East Journal 45, no. 3 (Summer 1991) 429. 36
Mitchell, 27. 37
Ibid, 33. 38
Ibrahim, 42.
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varying strength from 1882 until the end of 1954.39
The MB also had disagreements with the
Egyptian Wafd party, which consisted mainly of members of the political and economic elite.
When the Wafd party formed a government that cooperated with the British in World War II, its
popular support was diminished and violent clashes with the MB became more prevalent.40
The
willingness of the MB to use armed force led it to utilize a division that had been created within
its structure. This internal structure was to cause problems for the organization over parts of the
next three decades.
In its earlier years, the MB created a division known as the Rover Scouts, which was
essentially a mechanism used to build youthful and dedicated cadres to the cause.41
The aim of
the Rovers was to “raise the Islamic sports spirit in the souls of youth … and accustom them to
obedience and order.”42
Some members of the MB concluded that in order to fulfill the strategic
desire to create an Islamic order, the “execution involving uncompromising struggle (Jihad),”
must take place and they worked to have the Rovers evolve into a more militant wing or “Special
Apparatus.”43
The Special Apparatus has also been known as the “Secret Unit” or “Special
Organization.”44
Its members have included two men who later became Murshids of the MB.
Two events hastened the development of the Special Apparatus in the 1930s. The first
was an order issued by the Egyptian Royal Councilor, Ali Mahir Pasha. In 1939, it was decreed
that in response to the developing world war, all schools should teach students military drill and
maneuvers.45
The second factor assisting the growth of the Special Apparatus was the financial
39
Munson, 495. 40
Ibid. 41
Lia, 101. 42
Ibid, 102. 43
Ibid, 178. 44
Zollner, 12. 45
Lia, 179.
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contribution made by the German Legation in Cairo in the 1930s. The money given to the
Brothers by Germany was larger than subsidies made to any other anti-British activists at that
time.46
Even with training and money available, the Special Apparatus was somewhat dormant
during World War II. It did make contact with a group of officers in the Egyptian army in 1940
that encouraged the MB in its activities. These officers became the “Free Officers” that later led
the 1952 revolution.47
The MB, especially the Special Apparatus, expanded recruitment and
became much more active towards the end of the war and immediately after. This activity led to
the first dissolution of the MB as an organization. The Brothers, along with other organizations,
became involved in a series of violent acts (bombings and assassinations) that took place in
Egypt starting in 1945 and lasted off and on until the revolution in 1952. The struggle was not
only with the Egyptian government. There was also rejection of British influence and
competition for power with rival political entities, like the Wafd party.48
In late 1947, al-Banna ordered the Secret Apparatus to prepare for Jihad in Palestine.
When war broke out in 1948, after Israel became a nation, the MB dispatched fighters to assist
soldiers sent by the Arab League to Palestine. This involvement was not sanctioned by the
Egyptian government, but it was permitted, as long as the official training of volunteers was
conducted by an army officer.49
The MB assisted in some of the fighting, but one of the more
notable contributions it made involved an incident of running supplies to Egyptians trapped by
an Israeli military advance in the battle of Faluja. The MB requested that more volunteers be sent
46
Ibid. 47
Mitchell, 96. 48
Ibid, 60. 49
Ibid, 57.
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to help, but the Egyptian government refused.50
By now, the government was becoming more
wary of the MB because in 1947 a large cache of arms was found in the possession of the
Brothers on the outskirts of Cairo.51
Additionally, a jeep owned by the MB filled with explosives
was identified not long after the Cairo incident. The government became anxious about the
possibility that the MB was planning imminent revolution and, given the recent violence
committed by the MB in Egypt, it was decided that they should be dissolved by decree.52
Many members of the MB were imprisoned after the decree in December of 1948 in
order to try to dismantle the organization. This did not have the effect the government anticipated
and three weeks after Prime Minister al-Nuqrashi issued the decree, he was assassinated by the
Special Apparatus.53
His successor declared martial law and many of the MB were given military
trials, having been charged with membership in a terrorist organization.54
Al-Banna tried to
deescalate the situation by denouncing the violence and assassinations. He claimed the Secret
Apparatus had been designed to protect the national interests and not to overthrow the
government.55
This claim was somewhat disingenuous and seemed to indicate that “al-Banna
was either duplicitous in the violence or that he had lost control of the organization as Supreme
Guide.”56
Al-Banna was not one of the Brothers arrested and he “prophetically told his associates
that the failure of the government to arrest him was his official death warrant.”57
He was
assassinated in February, 1949.
50
Ibid, 58. 51
Ibid, 75. 52
Ibid. 53
Zollner, 13. 54
Ibid. 55
Ibid, 14. 56
Ibid, 15. 57
Mitchell, 71.
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For a number of years, it was generally believed that much of the organizational
capability of the MB was destroyed as a result of the raids and imprisonment of its members as
well as the death of al-Banna during this period. However, citing de-classified material from the
United States Department of State, Ziad Munson indicates the Brothers were actually somewhat
successful in surviving the repression.58
Files from the State Department at the time indicate
“reports of secret mass meetings, continued organizing in mosques, and the handing out of
pamphlets throughout Egypt.”59
The organizational structure of the MB that had developed over
the years provided a means to survive the attacks of the current and future regimes.60
The MB was now without a leader and facing persecution from the state. It was important
to them that they not be seen as a threat to the Egyptian political system in order to preserve the
remainder of the organization.61
They needed to choose a leader who was not attached to the
previous violence and who had connections with the existing political leaders. They chose Hasan
al-Hudaybi as the new Murshid. Al-Hudaybi was a judge of the Egyptian High Court whose
brother-in-law was the chief of the royal household.62
It was believed that this contact would
“narrow the rift between the Palace and the Brotherhood and hasten the return of their
organization to a state of legality.”63
At the time, al-Hudaybi was seen by the MB as nothing
more than a placeholder until the various factions that had developed in the MB (who did not
want to give up their power within the organization) could come to a decision on a new leader.
58
Munson, 499. 59
U.S. Department of State (USDS) 1954, Confidential Files, Egypt 1950-1954, Washington DC (cited in Munson, 499). 60
Ibid. 61
Zollner, 19. 62
Zollner, 20. 63
Sayed Khatab, “Al-Hudaybi’s Influence on the development of Islamist Movements in Egypt,” The Muslim World, 91, no. 3/4 (Fall 2001), 454.
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This assumption of temporary leadership was to prove false, and al-Hudaybi remained the
Murshid of the MB until his death in 1973.
Among his first acts as Murshid, al-Hudaybi replaced some of the senior members of the
MB with recent recruits into the organization who had a more moderate temperament. He also
created the post of vice-guide (Na’ib) and discredited the Special Apparatus along with the use
of force by the MB in general.64
He let it be known that “There is no secrecy in the service of
God, no secrecy in the Message, and no terrorism in religion.”65
He also indicated that violence
could not liberate Egypt and it was the duty of the MB to educate the people and prepare them
spiritually for an Islamic society.66
Al-Hudaybi tried to reach out politically to the monarchy, yet he also rejected the
parliamentary monarch system then in existence.67
His attempts to ingratiate himself with the
king did not please the younger members of the MB or the Special Apparatus that still held
influence in the organization despite al-Hudaybi‟s attempts to eliminate it.68
When Nasser and
the Free Officers took power in Egypt on July 23, 1952, al-Hudaybi declared the MB‟s support
for the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC).69
The MB was glad to see the abolishment of
the monarchy and reduction of British power and influence in Egypt.
As previously mentioned, the Free Officers had a relationship with a segment of the MB
dating back to the early 1940s. Those members tended to be Brothers who were in the Special
64
Ibid, 455. 65
Quoted in Mitchell, 88. 66
Khatab, 456. 67
Zollner, 24. 68
Ibid. 69
Ibid, 25.
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Apparatus and they supported Nasser and the revolution.70
Not all members of the MB did; some
of the newer members in the Guidance Council were opposed to Nasser. Al-Hudaybi agreed to
support Nasser but in return wanted him to reinstall civilian leadership, reform the army, and
instigate the redistribution of land.71
Additionally, he wanted the “introduction of an Islamic
constitution, with the Qur’an as its foundation” and direct involvement in any negotiations
regarding the withdrawal of all British troops from Egypt.72
Nasser was more interested in
deflecting any encroachment on his power and did not trust al-Hudaybi even as he sought
support from the Brothers for his leadership.
Nasser hoped to keep a distant, but cordial relationship with the Brothers. He wanted to
be able to co-opt them against other political parties by utilizing the internal strife that was
current in the MB and by playing all the various political parties against each other as well.73
He
was wary of the MB‟s ability to generate crowds and its capacity for violence.74
Nasser further
generated rifts in the MB by offering two cabinet positions to higher-ranking Brothers. There
were divided opinions in the Guidance Council as to whether the MB should be involved in the
government at this level. Al-Hudaybi was against the idea and expelled the two members under
consideration who subsequently joined the cabinet.75
The internal opposition within the MB to al-Hudaybi as Murshid and his leadership of the
organization continued when many of Brothers wanted to participate in political elections. Al-
Hudaybi was against the MB‟s becoming a political party. He wanted to avoid subjecting the
70
Omar Ashour, the De-Radicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements (London: Routledge, 2009), 42. 71
Ibid. 72
Zollner, 30. 73
Joel Gordon, Nasser’s Blessed Movement: Egypt’s Free Officers and the July Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 98. 74
Ibid. 75
Ibid, 100.
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20
Brothers to the supervision of the RCC.76
A Consultative Assembly of the Brothers was gathered
and it called on al-Hudaybi to resign. He did resign for a short period of time, during which the
MB registered with the government as a political party. A week after submitting his resignation,
and pressed by his supporters to return to the leadership, al-Hudaybi withdrew the registration of
the MB as a political party and instead “submitted a new application with the government that
redefined the Brotherhood as a religious association.”77
Relations between the RCC and the MB were good, until early 1954. All political
prisoners who had been arrested (including MB members) in the previous fifteen years were
released and there was even an investigation by the government into the murder of Hasan al-
Banna in an attempt to develop good will with the Brothers.78
In early 1953 the RCC banned all
existing parties and groups except the Society of the Muslim Brothers, as it had accepted the
petition of al-Hudaybi seeking to have the organization defined as a religious association. This
acceptance allowed the government to name three members of the Brotherhood to a
constitutional committee that was formed in December of 1952. The recognition gave the MB an
“unprecedented degree of political legitimacy.”79
These good feelings did not last long; the MB felt emboldened enough to propose to the
government that a secret advisory committee (that the Brotherhood would dominate) be
established to oversee and promulgate all legislation.80
The RCC saw this as a step too far and an
intrusion into its leadership of the revolution. Because Nasser had no intention of sharing power
with any groups, he announced the creation of the Liberation Rally. The purpose was to “create a
76
Ibid. 77
Ibid. 78
Ibid, 101. 79
Gordon, 101. 80
Ibid.
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21
government-supported „people‟s movement‟ with the purpose of generating „unity‟ in the
nation.”81
The Rally was meant to be the catalyst of a single political organization to replace the
previously banned political parties.82
The MB saw this as an attempt to subsume the organization
into the ranks of the revolution and resisted overtures to join. They were especially irritated with
the secular nationalist rhetoric of the Rally and they withheld their cooperation.83
In January 1954, a scuffle broke out between the MB and Liberation Rally students at
Cairo University. Vehicles were burned and weapons were found in the possession of both sides.
The authorities arrested over four hundred members of the Brotherhood the day after the clash.84
Two days after that, the regime outlawed the MB under terms of the decree banning all political
parties (citing the original petition by the MB to be registered as a political party).85
The
crackdown was aimed mainly at al-Hudaybi and not necessarily an attempt to destroy the MB.
The decree indicated that “The revolution will never allow reactionary corruption to recur in the
name of religion and allow none to play with the fate of the country for personal desires.”86
Soon
after, the RCC slowly started releasing members of the MB who were not closely affiliated with
al-Hudaybi.87
The regime was also dealing with a revolt within its ranks regarding the distribution of
governmental power as well as contending with rising tensions and demonstrations on university
campuses. Nasser was able to consolidate his control of the leadership of the RCC and on March
25, 1954, declared the revolution was over and “that the country would resume normal
81
Mitchell, 109. 82
Ibid. 83
Gordon, 101. 84
Ibid, 105. 85
Ibid. 86
Ibid. 87
Ibid, 106.
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22
parliamentary life.”88
This promise did not materialize and it marked the beginning of an
institutionalized military rule in Egypt.89
Nasser also released the remaining MB prisoners by
revoking the 1953 ban on political parties.90
There were conditions set for the MB to return to
legal status. They had to cease proselytizing within the army and they needed to purge al-
Hudaybi and his followers from the Brothers.91
Even though there was dissension within the MB
regarding al-Hudaybi, he remained the Murshid and an antagonist of Nasser.
Nasser tried to establish himself in the eyes of the people as their natural leader. He set
about attacking the weaker political parties and silenced anti-government journalists while
purging student groups of agitators.92
Because the MB still had considerable support in the
country, he decided to engage them at a later date.
In the summer of 1954, al-Hudaybi took a step back from the general confrontation with
the RCC and left the country on a business trip. While he was gone, Nasser negotiated a treaty to
have all the remaining British troops withdrawn from Egypt.93
This was fiercely rejected by the
MB which did not like the conditions that were negotiated, among them a seven-year period in
which the British might return to Egypt in case of aggression in the Suez Canal zone.94
The treaty with Great Britain was formally signed on October 19, 1954. A week later, on
October 26, Nasser was giving a speech in Alexandria regarding the treaty when shots were fired
in his direction from a member of the MB.95
Nasser was not injured and this presumed
88
Mitchell, 130. 89
Derek Hopwood, Egypt: Politics and Society 1945-1990 (London: Routledge, 1993), 39. 90
Mitchell, 131. 91
Gordon, 106. 92
Hopwood, 40. 93
Zollner, 35. 94
Gordon, 178. 95
Hopwood, 42.
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assassination attempt strengthened his image and made him very popular as he deliberately
exposed himself to large crowds around the country to exploit the incident.
A wave of arrests of MB members followed and only a few in the leadership managed to
flee to Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.96
Thousands of Brothers were arrested and charged as
terrorists aiming to overthrow the political system in an attempted coup d‟état. Seven of the MB
leaders, including al-Hudaybi, were sentenced to death. Six of the leaders were hanged and al-
Hudaybi had his sentence commuted to life in prison.97
It is estimated that approximately eleven-
hundred prison sentences were handed out and another one thousand Brothers incarcerated
without any charges being made against them.98
The Society of Muslim Brothers was officially
dissolved on December 5, 1954 and remained that way through 2010.
Until 1958, the MB was a fractured and hounded organization. They “lived in constant
fear of being arrested or spied upon.”99
In 1958, the government loosened the repression
somewhat. Many of the Brothers who had not been officially charged were released. Some other
lower-ranking members were released as well. Al-Hudaybi was pardoned, but put under house
arrest.100
From this time period and several years after, al-Hudaybi‟s influence within the MB
was shared with another supporter, Sayyid Qutb.
Qutb was one of those imprisoned in 1954 and a decided ideologue within the MB. While
in prison, he wrote several books. Two of those books, Signs Along the Path and Milestones had
profound influence on the growing Islamist movement in Egypt.101
His vision was much more
96
Zollner, 37. 97
Zollner, 38. 98
Ibid. 99
Ibid. 100
Ibid, 39. 101
Sullivan, 43.
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militaristic and called upon Muslims to undertake Jihad against their leaders because “they had
replaced God‟s law with man-made laws.”102
He defined Jihad as “a complete armed rebellion”
and “a declaration of the freedom of man from servitude to other men.”103
In Milestones, his
concept of “criticizing society where Allah is not held to be the sovereign being or His law is not
the sole authority in human life and society” resonated with the population. The book had six
printings within a month before it was banned by the government.104
Qutb also indicated there
was a distinction between believers and unbelievers. “The true Muslim is defined through active
engagement, which legitimizes violent resistance against what is seen as unjust rule.”105
Qutb
was charged with conspiracy to overthrow the government and hanged in August, 1966.106
The
regime began a renewed crackdown on the MB resulting in arrests, especially for those who
owned a copy of Milestones.107
Al-Hudaybi was again arrested and sentenced to death, but the
sentence was commuted to life in prison. Several years after Milestones was written, a book,
Preachers, not Judges, was released by the MB. It was attributed to al-Hudaybi, (but actually
written in conjunction with other high ranking Brothers) while they were in prison.108
While not directly refuting Qutb and his influence, the book was written mainly to
provide guidelines towards political moderation in a time of radicalism championed by Qutb and
aimed at continuous state persecution against the MB.109
The book endeavored to look at the
foundations of Islamic faith and undermine concepts that Qutb had put forth regarding radical
102
Ibid. 103
Quoted in Sullivan, Islam in Contemporary Egypt, 43. 104
Khatab, 464. 105
Khatab, 149. 106
Ibid, 470. 107
Zollner, 43. 108
Ibid. 109
Ibid, 149.
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ideas of Jihad.110
One of the concepts was the idea that individuals have a greater freedom for
self-determination under the realm of God‟s supremacy. It argued that Islamic law was an
adaptable system of regulations derived through deductive reasoning. It also argued that
“obedience to divine law is independent of its application at a state level.”111
It further mentions
that “God‟s law must be followed individually … and even if Islamic law was the foundation of
a state, it is no absolute guarantee of a just system.”112
Al-Hudaybi indicated that “divine law is
superior to the contractual nature of a social and political structure among humans.”113
Nasser tried to benefit politically from these thoughts by incorporating the assistance of
religious leaders to prove that the values of Islam and socialism were similar. He encouraged
them to identify religious sanctions for the ideas of class solidarity and the power of the state.114
After the war with Israel in 1967, Nasser resorted to appealing to the Islamic values of the
population even more. Realizing the Brothers still had resonance with the population, he started
releasing many members of the MB from prison.115
Nasser began using Islamic slogans in
speeches to try and appease public sentiment regarding the disastrous outcome of the war. There
was a feeling among the population that Egypt‟s military weakness was a punishment from God
and that only a return to Islam would help in its war against Israel.116
Nasser died of a heart attack in 1970 and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat, another
military man. Sadat granted a general amnesty to many of the MB in 1971 and allowed exiled
110
Ibid. 111
Ibid, 151. 112
Ibid. 113
Ibid, 144. 114
Hopwood, 97. 115
Sullivan, 44. 116
Ibid.
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Brothers to return to Egypt.117
The atmosphere of embracing Islam continued under Sadat and it
was his intent to normalize relations with the MB in an attempt to stave off political intrusions
from Nasserites and Socialists.118
The MB also disliked Nasserites and Socialists because of their
secularism. Sadat continued gradually releasing Brothers from prison in stages through the
middle of 1975.119
He even allowed the MB to resume publication of its monthly magazine, al-
Da’wa (The Call).120
The ability to regularly publish and articulate its message to a wider
audience helped the MB in re-establishing itself in Egypt.
The MB was further encouraged by Sadat‟s foreign policy actions when he expelled
Soviet troops from Egypt in the months preceding the 1973 war with Israel. The Soviets had
acquired great influence with the Egyptian government under the Nasser regime, but were now
being marginalized. Sadat was not only angered by the Soviets sending military weapons and
equipment to India (before its war with Pakistan in 1971) instead of Egypt, he was also irritated
about the burgeoning U.S. – Soviet détente. He was especially concerned because of the close
ties between the U.S. and Israel.121
In the eyes of the Brothers, Sadat was now acting against the
acknowledged “archenemies” of Islam (and the MB). Those being Western (U.S.) influence,
communism, and Israel. While not displeased with the action of war with Israel, the MB did not
like the effect it had on Sadat and his overtures with the U.S. and Israel in the aftermath. The
early 1970s brought change to Egypt that was favorable to the MB. But, while Sadat was
coalescing a new government, the MB was also changing leadership.
117
Wickham, 30. 118
Sullivan, 44. 119
Wickham, 30. 120
Ibid. 121
Kirk J. Beattie, Egypt During the Sadat Years (New York: Palgrave, 2000) 124.
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27
The Murshid of the MB, Al-Hudaybi, died in 1973 and was succeeded in that position by
Umar al-Tilmisani, the oldest member of the leadership in the Brothers at sixty-eight. He had
been al-Hudaybi‟s assistant on the Guidance Council of the MB and had contributed to the
writing of Preachers, not Judges. He spent seventeen years in prison, dating back to the mid-
1950s before being released by Sadat. The guidance of the MB during the tenure of al-Hudaybi
had profound implications for the organization going forward. His approach to missionary work
and recruiting members helped influence politics through social structures and institutions. It was
largely adopted as the strategy going into the future for the Brothers.122
By eventually becoming
the largest social movement in Egypt, the MB was able to find success in student unions,
professional organizations, and other civil institutions.123
Al-Tilmisani embraced his
predecessor‟s approach to “the gradualist approach of the Islamic reform to society and state.”124
He marginalized the Secret Apparatus as well as the radical ideas of Qutb. He also made it clear
that the Brothers rejected violent action against the state.125
This approach helped in initially
finding common cause with Sadat.
Even though the MB was not a legal organization, Sadat invited the leaders to assist in
drafting sections of a new constitution in 1971.126
While he was willing to stipulate to the MB
that “the principles of Islamic Shari’a are a primary source of legislation,” the Brothers wanted
them to be the sole source of Egyptian laws.127
This would be an ongoing point of contention for
the MB in the coming years. In 1976, Sadat initiated the concept of “platforms” within the ruling
party to serve the interests of different groups that could be established as a prototype towards
122
Zollner, 48. 123
Ibid, 49. 124
Wickham, 30. 125
Ibid. 126
Barry Rubin, Islamic Fundamentalism in Egyptian Politics (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1990), 17. 127
Ibid.
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having a multi-party structure in the future. The MB supported this idea and Sadat in the
parliamentary elections that year as it began to become more interested as an organization in
having a political role in the government.128
Six of the Brothers were actually elected to
parliament, although not as individuals affiliated with the MB.129
Some MB leaders predicted
that they would eventually be able to form a political party, but that was quickly deterred by the
passage of the Political Parties Act of 1977, that prohibited the forming of parties based on
religion.130
Working with members of parliament who were from the countryside and sympathetic to
their cause, the Brothers began lobbying the assembly to change laws in two fundamental areas.
They wanted the status of Shari’a changed from “a primary source” to “the primary source” of
legislation.131
They also wanted to repeal laws they felt violated the principles of Shari’a. One of
these pertained to the sale, production and distribution of alcohol. The Brothers and their allies
were also interested in establishing laws regarding Quranic punishments for crimes such as
murder and adultery. Additionally, they wanted to reconcile current laws regarding marriage and
divorce with Shari’a mandates.132
Sadat was not interested in allowing religious leaders or the MB to define the interest of
the state with Islam regarding legislation. He allowed their proposals to be introduced, but made
sure the legislation went nowhere. Sadat then used executive privilege to issue personal status
128
Ibid. 129
Wickham, 31. 130
Ibid. 131
Ibid. 132
Ibid.
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laws that expanded the rights of women in marriage and divorce. This did not sit well with the
MB and was vehemently opposed.133
At the same time, the MB publication, al-Da’wah, began criticizing Sadat for not
effectively working on the problems of education, housing, transportation, and inflation.134
The
criticism turned into a major break with Sadat when he started turning to the West regarding
foreign policy and negotiating a peace treaty with Israel. Al-Tilmisani believed that the Camp
David peace agreement “fulfilled all Israel‟s demands and “should be fought to the end by all
Muslims.”135
The MB felt that the modern state of Israel was “based on the illegal and
illegitimate usurpation of Muslim territory and advocated Jihad to liberate the holy site of
Jerusalem.”136
More criticism from the MB towards Sadat was based on his crackdown on dissents,
especially after food riots across the country in 1977. It viewed Sadat as developing into more
and more of a dictatorial figure.137
Sadat became increasingly combative and insisted that there
should be a “total separation of religion and politics.”138
Yet this sentiment did not preclude
Sadat from amending the constitution in 1980 to actually define “the principles of Islamic
Shari’a as the chief source of legislation.”139
The Brothers would argue from this time forward
133
Ibid, 32. 134
Rubin, 17. 135
Raymond William Baker, Sadat and After: Struggles for Egypt’s Political Soul (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990), 255. 136
Wickham, 33. 137
Ibid, 32. 138
Quoted in Wickham, 33. 139
Ibid, 32.
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that any revision of existing laws had to recognize the constitutional requirement of conforming
to Shari’a law.140
In 1981, Sadat attempted to clamp down on dissent behavior from any
perspective. He arrested over 1500 civic and religious leaders, including al-Tilmisani and other
MB members. He also closed down many publications, including al-Da’wah. An activist in the
radical Islamic group al-Jihad was enraged, and acting with others in the group, assassinated
Sadat in October, 1981.141
While the MB under Sadat made strides towards a more involved political
participation, its leaders continued to stay outside the formal system in order to operate as much
outside of state control as possible.142
They wanted to continue the social services that had
allowed them to develop a base of support among the population. While the MB was open to
creating a party for the Brothers when the timing was right, it did not want to replace the
outreach of its religious association.143
Sadat was replaced by his vice president and military
man, Hosni Mubarak. The pattern of interaction between Egyptian leaders and the MB
continued. Initially, there was cooperation with Mubarak followed by major differences. It is
under Mubarak that the MB decided to fully participate, to the extent allowed, in the political
arenas available to them. This participation will be explored in the following chapters.
140
Ibid. 141
Ibid, 33. 142
Ibid, 43. 143
Ibid.
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31
Professional Syndicates in Egypt –
Egyptian professionals have strived since the early 20th
century to create syndicates that
would reflect their economic interests, raise professional standards, and influence the country‟s
politics in their favor.144
The desire of professionals to organize developed with the increased
interaction of Egyptians and Europeans in the late 19th
century. The first of the professional
groups to form a syndicate was the Lawyer‟s Syndicate in 1912. It is the oldest and most
established of Egypt‟s syndicates. Other leading professions, like doctors, journalists, and
engineers developed syndicates in the 1940s.145
The syndicates were influenced by three distinct branches of professionals in their
formulation. The more predominant members were European intellectuals residing in Egypt. The
next most influential were Egyptian professionals who had obtained a modern (mainly European)
education. Finally, there were professionals with only traditional apprenticeship training in Egypt
who did not possess higher education.146
Each profession had a traditional wing and a more modern wing that vied for influence
within the syndicates.147
For instance, the Lawyers‟ Syndicate included traditional lawyers who
practiced before Shari’a courts (generally small claims and family matters). They were
eventually subsumed by lawyers in the syndicate who strove to integrate the profession into more
political areas in Egyptian society. Likewise, the Physicians‟ Syndicate had recent graduates of
medical school practicing alongside assorted members whose primary jobs were barbers and
144
Donald M. Reid, “The Rise of Professions and Professional Organization in Modern Egypt,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, (January, 1974), 24. 145
Reid, 24. 146
Ibid, 25. 147
Ibid.
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holy men.148
The modern wing of the various syndicates tended eventually to have the most
influence as the professionals passed through several phases in order to become true syndicates.
The first of these phases was the establishment of university-level training. Professional
schools specializing in medicine, engineering, and law were all functioning by 1880.149
These
schools led to the development of specialized journals within the professions and grew in number
during the years of British influence from 1882 through 1922.150
This in turn led to the next
phase, which was developing the numbers of professionals that would warrant formulating a
syndicate. While there is no specific threshold for the number of members required, there should
be a sizable enough contingency to enter the final phase, which is actual syndication.151
After World War II, there was a dramatic increase in the opening of new universities and
the expansion of existing schools that set the stage for much larger numbers of professional
graduates.152
These graduates went on to establish professional syndicates. The models for these
syndicates were mainly drawn from the more traditional Ottoman-Egyptian guilds as well as the
influence of European learned societies and professional associations.153
Historically, indigenous
guilds served as links between the rulers and members of a profession. They helped arbitrate
disputes, control wages, and also supplied services to their members.154
By the end of the 19th
century, the central government took over those functions and the guilds disappeared.155
While
Europeans influenced the organization and formulation of the regulations of the burgeoning
148
Ibid, 26. 149
Ibid, 28. 150
Ibid. 151
Ibid. 152
Ibid, 37. 153
Ibid. 154
Ibid. 155
Ibid.
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33
syndicates, there were still differences of perception between the view that syndicates were being
used as a tool of government and the view they were representing membership.156
There was no common denominator to explain which professions decided to organize
into syndicates.157
Their creation seems to have “reflected the nature of the existing relations
between those professions and the state.”158
While syndicates allowed professionals some aspects
of self-governing, the broader regulatory powers over them were still held by the ruling elite.
Government feared the connection between occupational organization and the potential for
political mobilization against it.159
Syndicates gradually developed political significance when on occasion they would
influence governmental policy decisions. For example, in the early 1960s, the Physicians‟
Syndicate successfully resisted the introduction of fully socialized medicine into Egypt. The
Journalists‟ Syndicate has been a consistently vociferous advocate of reducing censorship since
the 1950s.160
Other syndicates have sponsored debates and published commentaries regarding
topics such as school curricula and land ownership. The issues raised have mainly been
intermittent and covered a somewhat narrow range of subjects, but whenever the government has
expressed strong disapproval of their demands, the syndicates have generally ceased in pursuing
them.161
156
Ibid, 38. 157
Eberhard Kienle, A Grand Delusion: Democracy and Economic Reform in Egypt (London: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2001), 37. 158
Ibid. 159
Robert Bianchi, Unruly Corporatism: Associational Life in Twentieth-Century Egypt (New York: Oxford Press, 1989), 62. 160
Springborg, 279. 161
Ibid.
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Membership in a syndicate was not considered a stepping stone to the cabinet or even
high level government posts, but it did make members visible to the ruling elite. It let policy
makers know who in the syndicates might have developed a following with their colleagues.162
Syndicates thus served as a vehicle for the regime to control behavior or mobilize support of the
professionals.163
They were also used for building patronage networks inside the ruling elite and
state bureaucracies.164
Yet, there have historically been mutual suspicions between Egypt‟s rulers
and heads of the syndicates leading to a frequent redefining of syndicate operations.165
The constitution of 1923 gave all Egyptians the right to association, but development of
professional syndicates was slow and through 1949, only eight had been formed.166
The
government of Zewar Pasha in 1925 passed a law constraining “all associations participating in
political activities.”167
Syndicates were obligated by law to inform the government of their
activities. The law also allowed Council Ministers the right to dissolve any organizations, if they
wanted.168
Syndicates at this time did not yield much influence.
When President Nasser came to power, he thought about abolishing syndicates
altogether or folding them into the labor movement at large. In the first years of his rule, he did
not want to have to contend with any powerful or centralized interest groups “until he was
confident that they would not be infiltrated by his enemies or manipulated by his rivals in the
army.”169
Two syndicates were actually dissolved in 1954 when dissention within the army led to
162
Ibid. 163
Ibid. 164
Bianchi, 91. 165
Ibid. 166
Helmut K. Anheier, ed. The Nonprofit Sector in the Developing World (New York: Manchester University Press, 1998), 128. 167
Ibid, 129. 168
Ibid. 169
Bianchi, 77.
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35
the Lawyers‟ Syndicate and the Journalists‟ Syndicate to align with those in opposition to
Nasser.170
Law no. 8 was passed in 1958 and required all candidates running in the elections for
syndicate councils to be members of the ruling party of that time, the Arab Socialist Union.171
The leaders of the A.S.U. thought that the syndicates could be controlled by penetrating and
mobilizing them towards the socialistic views of President Nasser.172
Nasser used the law to
move army officers into influential positions in the syndicates. This was especially true for the
Engineers and Physicians Syndicates.173
The President also allocated himself the power to
dissolve syndicate councils at any time. This law was applicable until 1977, when it was
amended to require candidates to who ran for membership on the council to obtain approval from
the state‟s General Attorney.174
The law was not quite as effective as Nasser had hoped and he
came to the conclusion that “the syndicates either had to be abolished entirely or suppressed even
more ruthlessly.”175
In 1964, the Civic Association Code (Law no. 32) was passed to give government
officials the authority to reject the formation of organizations and the discretion to combine or
dissolve groups at any time.176
Among the requirements for forming a voluntary association
under this law (including syndicates) was the need for organizations to inform the government of
170
Ninnete S. Fahmy, “The Performance of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Egyptian Syndicates: An Alternative for Reform?” The Middle East Journal, 52, no. 4 (Autumn, 1998), 555. 171
Ibid. 172
Bianchi, 93. 173
Reid, 55. 174
Fahmy, 555. 175
Springborg, 284. 176
Mohamed Agati, “Undermining Standards of Good Governance: Egypt’s NGO Law and its Impact on the Transparency and Accountability of CSOs,” International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law, 9, no. 2 (April, 2007), 58.
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36
all their activities.177
This included notifying three government offices of the agenda and location
of any meetings and then promptly filing records of the proceedings.178
The law also closely
regulated the fundraising of all organizations. Many organizations that raised money overseas
were denied permits and only dues collected during local religious services were allowed without
government interference.179
Because syndicates were formed by professional business associates
that were wealthy enough to fund themselves through internal dues, government involvement in
their financial accounts was minimal.180
Limiting the funding of organizations, however, was not
the only means government had of controlling them.
Restrictions on the creation and activities of associations included the categories of
“national security, preservation of the nation‟s political system, support for social morals, and
opposition to the revival of previously dissolved associations.”181
The last category was used for
prohibiting the re-establishment of the Society of Muslim Brothers.182
However, because the
Brothers and other Islamic voluntary associations provided desperately needed social services,
the government did not seriously interfere with their activities.183
Law 32 also allowed the Ministry of Social Affairs to appoint a temporary board of
directors when necessary, prevent associations from affiliating with international organizations,
and suspend any internal organizational decision deemed in opposition to the law.184
Government manipulation also occurred when President Nasser intervened in syndicate elections
177
Vickie Langohr, “Too Much Civil Society, Too Little Politics: Egypt and Liberalizing Arab Regimes,” Comparative Politics 36, no. 2 (Jan. 2004), 193. 178
Ibid. 179
Ibid. 180
Ibid, 194. 181
Amani Kandil, “Defining the Nonprofit Sector: Egypt,” The Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project Working Paper No. 10 (May, 1993), 10. 182
Ibid. 183
Langohr, 193. 184
Ibid.
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37
by officially endorsing favored candidates, postponing elections, and even extending or cutting
short council terms in office.185
Syndicates tried to be as effective as possible, given their
circumstances. They generally gave support to the regime whenever they sensed the possibility
of any liberalization in political or economic measures. They also tried to widen any autonomy
they had when the regime persisted in influencing their policies and elections.186
The
professional syndicates had more success in establishing “an autonomous space for their
members and in winning access to the center of power” under Sadat, but there were still major
disagreements with the regime that would develop during his presidency.187
Membership in professional syndicates quadrupled between 1963 and 1978, with most of
that growth accelerating under the Sadat regime.188
By the end of his rule, over 700,000
professionals had joined syndicates.189
In the 1960s, most new members were technicians and
civil servants. Growth among doctors and lawyers remained relatively stagnant.190
In the 1970s,
there was an infusion of university graduates into some of the more “elite” professions. Stability
was encouraged in the syndicates when legislation mandated that a greater continuity of
leadership be provided with longer terms for elected presidents and councils (from one and two-
year terms to three and four-year terms).191
There were differences in the development of certain
syndicates based on divergent strategies of building coalitions under Sadat‟s regime.
185
Fahmy, 555. 186
Raymond A. Hinnebusch, “Egypt Under Sadat: Elites, Power Structure, and Political Change in a Post-Populist State,” Social Problems 28, no. 4 (April, 1981), 458. 187
Ibid, 459. 188
Bianchi, 94. 189
Ibid. 190
Ibid, 95. 191
Ibid, 96.
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38
Engineers’ Syndicate
Under Nasser, the syndicate presidency had been passed back and forth between well-
connected army engineers. It provided few benefits to its members and many recent engineering
graduates did not bother to join.192
This started to change in the Sadat regime. In the latter part of
Sadat‟s rule the Engineers Syndicate was headed by Osman Ahmed Osman, who was actually a
member of the MB until the demands of business led him to leave the organization.193
Osman,
who was an in-law of Sadat, (one of his sons married one of Sadat‟s daughters) was determined
to shift the focus of the syndicate from politics to economic issues.194
He said the syndicate
“would change from an institution demanding privileges from the state … to a productive power
capable of active participation in solving society‟s problems by work and not talk.”195
Osman collected union dues in a more systematic way and invested the funds in
enterprises made possible by Sadat‟s economic policies.196
Osman also founded the Engineers‟
Bank and Engineers‟ Insurance Company. He also used the treasury to underwrite investments in
new companies like the Engineers‟ Company for Food Production and Engineers‟ National
Company for Soft Drinks.197
Not all investments panned out and the syndicate also made
dubious financial investments that led to corruption cases in the early 1980s. Osman believed
that the syndicate (especially the bank) could use its funds as it saw fit and that in the private
sector, “one took risks for profit, and a few mistakes were inevitable.”198
In addition, Osman
brought the syndicate more into line with the political policies of Sadat. The syndicate endorsed
192
Bianchi, 114. 193
Baker, 18. 194
Baker, 42. 195
Quoted in Baker, 42. 196
Baker, 42. 197
Ibid. 198
Quoted in Baker, 43.
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the “warm peace” of normalized relations with Israel and even insured the Israeli embassy in
Cairo through the Engineers‟ Insurance Company.199
This cooperation with Sadat was not typical
of other syndicates.
Journalists’ Syndicate
The Journalists‟ Syndicate has historically been one of the most active in Egypt. Since its
beginning, different governments have tried to involve the syndicate in self-censorship and
professional discipline, but they have rarely succeeded.200
Regimes have always viewed them as
untrustworthy and depended on penal codes, censorship bureaus, and publishing bans to keep
them in line.201
Under the Sadat presidency, the syndicate was often in confrontation with the
regime.
During student uprisings in 1972-73, the Journalists‟ Syndicate issued a formal
declaration of support for the students and petitioned the government for greater freedom of the
press.202
Sadat vowed to crack down on dissidents who were “exploiting democracy” to
denigrate the regime and in February of 1973 stripped over one hundred writers and journalists
of their membership in the syndicate.203
Six of those members had been on the syndicate‟s
council and did have leftists and “Nasserite” leanings. The government hoped to gain influence
within the syndicate when elections were held in June that year. They were disappointed when
all of the seats were filled with journalists who had similar ideologies to those dismissed.204
Sadat offered a temporary olive branch by reinstating many writers and giving amnesty to
199
Ibid. 200
Bianchi, 106. 201
Ibid. 202
Beattie, 120. 203
Ibid, 121. 204
Ibid, 122.
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students who had been arrested. This was done in the run up to the October 1973 war with Israel
and bought the regime some goodwill.205
The Sadat regime managed to get its preferred candidate elected to the head of the
syndicate in the mid-1970s, but this did not reflect the power held by Sadat in the organization. It
was common for syndicates to elect presidents who could work well with any particular regime
to try and advance the syndicate‟s material interests.206
It did not help Sadat when he brokered a
peace agreement with Israel. While the syndicate refrained from issuing public statements
regarding Sadat‟s visit to Jerusalem and the Camp David Accords, it did issue a report against
the Israeli ambassador in Egypt and also encouraged Egyptian journalists to not travel to
Israel.207
Sadat instigated a concerted attack on the syndicate and announced that the press had
essentially become the Fourth Estate in Egypt with equal political powers. If that was the case,
then there was no reason for a syndicate to even exist to protect its rights.208
He hinted that he
would “transform the syndicate into a club for journalists.”209
In 1978 the government passed a
National Unity Law that it used against journalists who it deemed “defamatory to Egypt and a
threat to the security of the home front.”210
Sadat hoped to create a new generation of supportive
writers by adding journalists to newspaper staffs to try change the press from within. This did not
develop, as many of the new journalists turned against him.211
205
Ibid, 123. 206
Ibid, 243. 207
Beattie, 244. 208
Raymond William Baker, “Sadat’s Open Door: Opposition from Within,” Social Problems, 28, no. 4 (April, 1981), 382. 209
Ibid. 210
Beattie, 244. 211
Ibid, 245.
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Lawyers’ Syndicate
Since early in the Nasser regime, the Lawyers‟ Syndicate has been in numerous
disagreements with the government. It was the most persistent critic of government policies.212
It
“expressed fully liberal ideas of free speech, the right of assembly, and a constitutional definition
of national interest.”213
It also embraced all political trends and acted to “safeguard the legitimate
rights of all political groups, including communist and Islamic radicals.”214
They conceived their
syndicate to be a national institution and not just a political or professional organization.
Among the issues the syndicate had with Sadat was the peace treaty with Israel, the
suppression of the press, and military basing rights for the United States.215
The syndicate
sponsored almost weekly meetings to discuss its opposition to the peace treaty and what it
perceived as anti-democratic measures by the regime.216
Sadat felt that he could no longer
tolerate the potential for an anti-regime coalition that the syndicate might promote and decided
he had to take them on to send a message to his opponents.217
He instigated a televised meeting
in which he lashed out against a small group of dissidents said to be controlling the syndicate. He
indicated that the syndicate should be purged. This in turn inspired a number of lawyers
(suspected to have been bribed by the regime) to break into the syndicate headquarters and
declare a vote of no confidence from the existing council.218
Sadat then got the People‟s
Assembly to dissolve the council and put in its place lawyers who were viewed as pro-regime.219
212
Bianchi, 99. 213
Baker, Sadat and After, 67. 214
Ibid. 215
Beattie, 249. 216
Ibid, 251. 217
Ibid, 265. 218
Ibid, 266. 219
Ibid.
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In-fighting among members of the syndicate continued into the early years of the Mubarak
regime.
Entrance of the MB into the Parliament
After Sadat‟s assassination in 1981, Mubarak tried to avoid the cycle of protest and
repression from the previous regime.220
He indicated that he wanted a gradual increase of public
freedom and released in stages activists that Sadat had imprisoned.221
MB Murshid Al-Tilmisani
evaluated options available to the MB to assess how it could take advantage of the new political
climate.222
He decided that it would be irresponsible to not participate in the opportunity that
presented itself in the way of parliamentary elections. “Allah saw fit to find us a lawful way in
the views of officials… It was the opportunity of a lifetime; had the Brothers let it slip through
their hands they would have been counted among the ranks of the neglectful.”223
Al-Tilmisani further rationalized the participation of the MB by indicating that
they did not enter politics to gain power, but to spread the word of God.224
Because the National
Democratic Party (NDP) had such a stranglehold on the votes in the parliamentary election, the
number of members that the MB could expect to gain was quite small. Al-Tilmisani indicated
that the numbers were irrelevant as the MB could use the parliament as a pulpit to disseminate
their ideas to the public at large.225
By aligning itself with an existing political party, the MB was
able to have eight of its members elected to parliament in 1984. This election and entrance into
220
Wickham, 46. 221
Ibid. 222
Ibid. 223
Quoted in Wickham, 48. 224
Ibid. 225
Ibid, 49.
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Parliament, as well as participation in professional syndicates, will be discussed in the next
chapter.
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Chapter Two
The MB Enters Egyptian Politics: 1984-1996
When President Mubarak took office in 1981, he had only been participating in politics
since 1975. He was appointed to the position of Vice-President by Anwar Sadat.226
Mubarak had
been a career military man and was somewhat apolitical. He was not of the generation of Free
Officers who had taken power in 1952 and held no personal antagonism towards the MB.227
When he became President, Egypt was in turmoil because of the authoritarian policies of
President Sadat.228
Mubarak initiated a program of appeasement towards the opposition and the
MB in particular.229
Shortly after becoming President, he said “I believe democracy is the best
guarantee of our future … I totally oppose the centralization of power and I have no wish to
monopolize the decision-making because the country belongs to all of us.”230
He advanced a
quasi-liberal policy at that time by allowing more freedom of the press and a modest ability for
political parties and associations to organize to a greater extent than previously allowed.231
This
would all come to an end once he consolidated political power in the mid-1990s.
Neither President Mubarak nor the MB was in a position to enter into conflict with one
another in the early 1980s. The MB was now established as a moderate Islamic organization and
not viewed as a threat by Mubarak. As long as the MB did not directly challenge the regime, it
227
Ibid. 228
Ibid. 229
Joel Campagna, “From Accommodation to Confrontation: The Muslim Brotherhood in the Mubarak Years,” Journal of International Affairs, 50, no. 1 (Summer 1996), 281. 230
Quoted in Kassem, 54. 231
Hala Mustafa, “The Islamist Movements Under Mubarak,” in The Islamist Dilemma: The Political Role of Islamist Movements in the Contemporary Arab World, ed. Laura Guazzone (Lebanon: Garnet Publishing Limited, 1995), 166.
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was welcome.232
The regime decided that any advantages gained politically by the MB from
giving it increased political freedom would be offset by the Brothers‟ having to compete with
secular parties. Mubarak also believed that, with greater exposure, the ideas of the MB would
have less appeal to the general public.233
Mubarak had two basic aims in dealing with the MB
(and Islamists in general): to create a balance of power between the secularists and the Islamists,
and to divide the moderate Islamists from the more militant ones.234
There was a difficulty in
this approach in that while different tactics were utilized by various Islamic groups, they tended
to have the same objective of establishing an Islamic state.235
One expert in the study of Islamic
groups, Dr. Ali al-Magli, turned the axiom of war by Clausewitz on its head. Dr. al-Magli
indicated that for the Islamic movement in general, “politics is an extension of war by other
means.”236
In the 1980s, Egypt had a number of Islamist groups encompassing views ranging from
the “excommunication” of Muslims not deemed religious enough (al-takfir), to those espousing
armed struggle (al-jihad) in the name of God, to those trying to persuade Muslims to abide by
the tenets of Islamic Law and apply them to everyday life (the MB).237
The MB saw Egyptian
society as “not completely Islamic and the world as un-Islamic.” The aim of the Brothers was to
change society and the world from within.238
To accomplish this, the MB needed to re-establish
itself.
232
Campagna, 282 233
Ibid 234
Mustafa, 177 235
Ibid, 178 236
Springborg, 220 237
Gehad Auda, “The ‘Normalization’ of the Islamic Movement in Egypt from the 1970s to the Early 1990s,” in Accounting for Fundamentalisms: The Dynamic Character of Movements, ed. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994), 376. 238
Ibid, 377
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One organizational detail Murshid al-Tilmisani established in the early 1980s was
continuity and the succession of leadership. He wanted the position of Supreme Guide to go to
the oldest MB member of the Supreme Office of Guidance, unless it was declined.239
This
decision was followed by the Brothers and the average age of the Murshids (including al-
Tilmisani) upon taking over the leadership through 2010 was 73. They had collectively spent an
average of fourteen years in prison as well. Al-Tilmisani also instituted a policy of working with
other civic organizations. “We cooperate sincerely with others in matters on which there are (sic)
common agreement and sincerely excuse each other on matters of disagreement.”240
This
reflected not only the desire of entering politics, but expanding membership of the organization.
The MB was in a rebuilding mode after having a number of its members imprisoned
by President Sadat.241
Among the Brothers released in the late 1970s were some of the more
conservative elements who had participated in the Secret Apparatus and who were not inclined
towards politics. One in particular, Mustafa Mashour, would later become the Murshid of the
MB.242
This group focused on recruiting for the MB on university campuses because students in
that era had become more involved in domestic and international events.243
The MB found an Islamic element among the students who were already organized
and addressing conservative issues, such as the encouragement of female students to wear hijabs
(scarfed head cover), the segregation of the sexes in classes, and halting lectures at various times
of the day for prayer.244
These students had a slightly more proactive view of Islam than the
239
Saad Eddin Ibrahim, “Egypt’s Islamic Activism in the 1980s,” Third World Quarterly, 10, no. 2 (April, 1988), 648 240
Interview of al-Tilmisani with Ibrahim, Ibid, 648 241
Hesham al-Awadi, “A Struggle for Legitimacy: The Muslim Brotherhood and Mubarak, 1982-2009,” Contemporary Arab Affairs, 2, no. 2 (April/June 2009), 215. 242
Alison Pargeter. The Muslim Brotherhood: From Opposition to Power (London: Saqi Books, 2013), 37. 243
Ibid. 244
Ibid, 38
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public at large and bonded readily with the hawkish MB recruiters, especially given the honored
reputation the recruiters had gained in Islamic circles while they were imprisoned.245
This new
generation of MB members was “used to working openly and unconstrained, as opposed to past
members who were used to secrecy and the fear of imprisonment.” The newer members “were
also interested in moving slightly away from the more ideological and theological issues to more
socio-economic issues like poverty and corruption.”246
This group was willing to enter into what
were basically secular organizations, like professional syndicates, to expand the MB‟s influence
in society.
The decision by Murshid al-Tilmisani to participate in the political arena came at a
fortuitous time. Just after the assassination of President Sadat, there was a temporary clampdown
of the MB. The conservative members who did not view the participation in politics favorably
(including Mustafa Mashour) left Egypt for safer conditions in other Arab countries. This
allowed the reformist element of the MB (including the newer university graduates) to lobby for
direct engagement in Egyptian politics.247
Because the MB was an illegal organization, it could
not participate in parliamentary elections as an independent party.
Parliamentary Elections -
In 1983, the Majlis (People‟s Assembly) passed Electoral Law 114 in response to
public demand for a more proportional representation system in parliamentary elections. This
law stipulated that candidates were to run on party lists and there would be an exclusion of
anyone running as an independent.248
The law also specifically prohibited candidates of different
245
Ibid 246
Ibid, 43 247
Ibid, 45 248
El-Ghobashy, 378
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parties running on the same list. This would prove to be a problem for many of the burgeoning
political parties allowed to participate by Mubarak. None of the newer parties had enough of a
following to get elected or influence elections on their own. An additional handicap was placed
upon candidates when a threshold of eight percent of the national vote was required for a party to
qualify for parliamentary representation. Any votes to opposition parties that fell short of this
percentage was automatically transferred to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).249
Because the MB was an outlawed organization and had no political party, it decided
the best way to enter the Majlis was to cooperate and join forces with the recently re-constituted
Wafd Party. Even though the Wafd party was basically secular, the MB saw it as the best chance
of getting Brothers elected because the Wafd provided a legal vehicle to the election and the MB
provided the popular base and ability to get out the vote.250
In the 1984 Parliamentary elections,
the Wafd party gained fifteen percent of the national vote and fifty-eight seats in the Majlis
(eight of which went to MB members).251
The MB was now openly serving in the Majlis,
though as affiliated with the Wafd party. The new parliament was supposed to be constituted for
a five year period, but it came to a premature end. The 1983 electoral law was challenged by
candidates who were not allowed to run as individuals. It was claimed that they were denied their
constitutional right to nominate themselves in elections and that the law was “a breach of public
right, equality, and opportunity … as enshrined in the constitution.”252
As the Supreme Constitutional Court was evaluating the case, President Mubarak had
the Majlis pass another piece of legislation, Law 188 of 1986. This amended Law 114 by
249
Ibid 250
Ibid 251
Ibid 252
Kassem, 60.
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maintaining the eight percent threshold and the party-list system, but it stopped the transfer of
votes that did not reach the threshold to the NDP. It also reserved forty-eight seats in Parliament
for candidates running as independents.253
Mubarak then dissolved the Majlis and set an election
for April, 1987.
The MB did not get along politically with the Wafd party in the 1984 Majlis. For the
1987 election, it decided to align itself with the Labor Party and the Liberal Party in what
became known as the Islamic Alliance (IA).254
This combination garnered sixty-two seats in the
new Parliament, with thirty-six going to the MB. This was the election in which the phrase
“Islam is the Solution,” was first used by the MB.255
In what was to be the nadir of elected
members from opposition parties in parliamentary elections for some time, the Wafd party itself
captured thirty-six seats.256
This election became notable for the IA placing several Coptic candidates on its list,
with one actually getting elected to the Majlis. The IA also went out of its way to show that it
wanted the implementation of Shari’a to take place at a gradual, but steady pace. It did not want
to be seen as trying to replicate the revolutionary manner of Iran in 1979.257
Another aspect of
this election that would repeat itself in the future, was the harassment (sometimes violently) of
MB candidates and poll workers by the regime. Just before the 1987 elections, approximately
two thousand members and supporters were arrested by the government.258
253
El-Ghobashy, 379 254
Kassem, 61 255
Ibrahim, Egypt’s Islamic Activism, 646. 256
Kassem, 61 257
Ibrahim, 647 258
Kienle, A Grand Delusion, 27
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Another lawsuit was filed against the implementation of Election Law 188 from 1986
with many of the arguments used from the previous lawsuit against Law 114 from 1983.259
The
Supreme Constitutional Court ruled in May, 1990 that the 1986 electoral law (and essentially the
1984 law) was unconstitutional. Mubarak then issued a decree that abolished the party-list
system and declared an individual-candidacy system. He prematurely dissolved the Majlis again
and held elections in 1990.260
Because opposition parties had been having increased success in
the party-list system, many (including the MB) chose to boycott the 1990 elections because they
perceived the new election law as a governmental attempt to maintain political control of
Parliament.261
A spokesman for the MB, Ma‟mun al-Hudaybi (who would later become
Murshid), was quoted as saying the Brothers “refused to contribute to the creation of a false
democratic façade.”262
The elders in the MB also saw a need to curb the advancement of the
younger generation within the Brothers in what was perceived by the old guard as
overenthusiastic steps by the newer members politically.263
The decision to boycott the elections
was not something that the younger members of the MB embraced. They felt that the MB should
continue to build on its performance and plan to establish a political party.264
The Murshid was
persuaded by the younger MB members to field candidates for the next parliamentary elections.
The 1995 Parliamentary elections saw the MB field 170 candidates running as
independents because the MB was still not a legally recognized organization.265
The political
alliances between opposition parties that had been prevalent in the 1984 and 1987 elections was
marginal in 1995. The regime took unprecedented coercive actions against non-NDP parties and
259
Kassem, 61 260
Ibid 261
Abed-Kotob, The Accommodationists Speak, 328 262
Quoted in Campagna, 286 263
Auda, 389 264
Al-Awadi, In Pursuit of Legitimacy, 144 265
Ibid, 170
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individual candidates. Hundreds were harassed, and at least fifty people were killed; close to a
thousand were injured during voting.266
When the elections were over, only a single MB
candidate had been elected. He was removed from the Majlis the following year in 1996 for
having been a member of an illegal movement (the MB).267
This left the MB without any
representatives in Parliament from 1990 until the 2000 election. It did not, however, restrain the
organization from participating in the political environment in Egypt. It gained quite a bit of
influence in the professional syndicates during this time, which led to problems with the
Mubarak government.
Professional Syndicate Elections
When the MB maneuvered to gain seats on the boards of the syndicates in the mid-
1980s, it was with the understanding that it would not attempt to get its members elected to the
presidency of any of the professional organizations. Those positions were historically reserved
for individuals with close ties to the regime. Because of the contacts established with ministers
and other high officials, leaders of syndicates were able to offer their members increases in
pensions and other financial incentives.268
Mubarak allowed unhindered elections to take place in
syndicates because he hoped that “relatively free elections would divide the syndicates into rival
opposition groups and at the same time partially neutralize complaints about restrictions imposed
on the Parliament.”269
This did not turn out to be the case in the more influential syndicates.
The first syndicate to come under the influence of the MB was the Physician‟s
Syndicate. Historically, this syndicate had been limited in its societal role. It represented a varied
266
Ibid, 171 267
Ibid 268
Reinoud Leenders. “The Struggle of State and Civil Society in Egypt: Professional Organizations and Egypt’s Careful Steps Towards Democracy,” Middle East Research Associates. Occasional Paper no. 26 (April, 1996), 13 269
Ibid, 16
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combination of doctors in the public sector as well as military doctors and university medical
professors who had private clinics.270
The president of the syndicate was traditionally a military
officer and one of the few negative encounters the syndicate had with the government was in
1962. A non-military president of the syndicate objected to the nationalization of hospitals under
President Nasser and called for constitutional limits to Nasser‟s power.271
That president was
expelled from the syndicate, lost his teaching position at a university, and had property taken
away from him.272
Opposition to the president after this time was largely marginalized until the
Mubarak era, when the syndicate became much more politically involved.
In 1984, the MB launched a major campaign to entice syndicate voters to its
candidates. In the previous syndicate election, turnout was barely four percent of those eligible,
indicating the frustration and disinterest among voters.273
After that election, there was a large
expansion of new members experiencing competition for jobs, rising living expenses, and
diminishing salaries.274
Much of this can be attributed to a recessionary economy in the mid-
1980s in which the price of oil being exported from Egypt dropped from forty-one dollars a
barrel in 1980 to eight dollars a barrel in 1986.275
Before the 1984 election, MB members of the syndicate pledged to increase services
to the doctors in the organization. Dr. Issam Al-Aryan, who later served in the 1987 Parliament,
was the MB point man in the syndicate. He stated that “We provided social benefits for the
270
Fahmy, Politics of Egypt, 135. 271
Ibid. 272
Ibid, 136. 273
Leenders, 20 274
Amani Kandil, The Political Role of Interest Groups in Egypt: A Case Study of the Physicians Order, 1984-1995 (Cairo, 1996), 34 275
Nadia Ramsis Farah, Egypt’s Political Economy: Power Relations in Development (Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2009), 80.
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members and offered them vaccinations, durable goods, and affordable medical equipment.”276
The most important service provided by the MB was a subsidized health insurance program for
its members. It offered doctors and their families quality treatment at a reasonable cost.277
In
addition to the popular health insurance subsidy, the MB “organized massive sales of furniture,
gas ovens, washing machines, and other appliances … through interest-free instalments and low
prices.”278
There was also a program for interest-free emergency loans called the “Social
Solidarity System,” that was based on the Islamic principle of no interest owed on the loan.279
Craftsmen and traders could also set up exhibits at syndicate functions to display low-cost
merchandise to members.280
The MB gained seven of the twenty-five seats on the executive board of the
Physician‟s Syndicate and by 1990, it controlled twenty of the twenty-five.281
The only reason
the MB did not win all the seats was the organizational decision to accommodate views and
representatives of other groups.282
The number of new doctors coming into the profession
doubled between 1980 and 1988, but the number of them voting in syndicate elections
quadrupled.283
The MB set about winning other syndicate elections utilizing the same formula of
general voting apathy and promises of genuine assistance to those members. This advantage
allowed the MB to win elections in the Pharmacist‟s Syndicate and Scientist‟s Syndicate soon
276
Ibid, 35 277
Hesham al-Awadi, Struggle for Legitimacy, 217. 278
Al-Awadi, Struggle for Legitimacy, 217. 279
Amani Kandil, “The Nonprofit Sector in Egypt,” in The Nonprofit Sector in the Developing World: A Comparative Analysis, ed. Helmut K. Anheier and Lester M. Salamon (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998), 142. 280
Ibid. 281
Wickham, Mobilizing Islam, 186. 282
Ibid. 283
Ibid.
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after the 1984 surprise showing.284
The MB ran in the Engineer‟s Syndicate in 1985, but did not
achieve success until the 1987 election when it won forty-five of the sixty-one seats on the
executive board.285
While the MB did not take over the Journalist‟s Syndicate, it did place a
younger member on the syndicate council. Muhammad „Abad al-Qaddus “received nearly two-
thirds of all votes cast and more than twice as many as the leading opposition.”286
He would be a
strong advocate for the MB and assisted in building alliances with the existing party system. The
most stunning success, and the one that shook the Mubarak regime, was when the MB took over
the Lawyer‟s Syndicate in 1992. It won fourteen of the twenty-four seats on the board.287
The
coalition of Brothers was headed by Sayf al-Islam Banna (son of the MB founder Hasan al-
Banna) and it was rumored that the MB paid the overdue membership fees of nearly 3,000
attorneys just before the election in order to help gain votes.288
Much of the money the MB used
for Parliament and syndicate elections became available through its participation in Islamic
investment companies and banks (described below).
The MB solidified the loyalty of future syndicate members within the university
system. The network of Brothers in syndicates organized lectures and connections with students
in the engineering and medical schools. They set up committees for the future members by
giving them informal membership and access to some of the syndicate facilities and clubs.289
This network also became a source of funding for student needs and activities on campus.290
284
Wickham, 186. 285
Ibid. 286
Bianchi, 114. 287
Leenders, 20. 288
Wickham, Mobilizing Islam, 196. 289
Al-Awadi, Mubarak and the Islamists, 70 290
Ibid
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Even beyond these methods, the MB tried to broaden connections for further political
impact. In 1990, the MB who were in charge of their respective syndicate councils formed the
Committee for Coordinating Syndical Action. Its declared purpose was to protect syndicate
interests, but in reality it was another means of furthering the political impact of the Brothers.291
An expert on Egyptian syndicates, Amani Kandil, noted:
The Brothers in syndicates began to organize public functions that were attended
by people from outside the syndicate. They also used syndicates to form alliances
with each other in opposing regime policies. Further, they also used syndicates to
form alliances with political parties. Indeed, the syndicates‟ activism went outside
syndicates.292
The political actions taken by the MB in the early 1990s would lead to quite a bit of
pushback by the regime.
Conflict with President Mubarak -
The first major conflict with the government occurred in October of 1991,
when the Brothers criticized the Madrid peace talks regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict in
Palestine. The MB was highly critical of the talks and indirectly condemned the Egyptian
government‟s participation in the conference. The Supreme Guide of the MB at the time,
Muhammad Hamid Abu al-Nasr, stated “The eagerness many Arab leaders are
showing… for the sell-out of Palestine is alarming. If they take part in this conference …
they will be held responsible … for abandoning the Palestine issue … and will bear the
guilt of keeping them under occupation.”293
This stance led the regime to arrest and
torture members of the MB (including past members of Parliament) for opposing the
291
Ibid 292
Ibid, interview with author 293
Campagna, 286
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government‟s part in the peace talks.294
Two other major events in 1992 would lead to
further crackdowns by Mubarak against the Brothers.
The first of these events occurred in February 1992, when the regime‟s
security forces raided the Salsabil Computer Company, which was co-owned by a senior
member of the MB, Khairat Al-Shatir.295
He and the other owners were charged with
belonging to a secret group and holding meetings within the company to plan an
overthrow of the government. The security forces claimed to have found documents
detailing the establishment of an Islamic state.296
The overall strategy was called the
“Consolidation Plan” and it purported to outline how the movement would consolidate
control over the state and society.297
The document indicated that in addition to its gains
in the professional syndicates, the MB wanted to target the army and police for greater
infiltration.298
The concerns of the regime grew when it was determined that the Salsabil
Company had sold many computers to the army and intelligence services.299
This event
was used as an excuse by the government to organize a campaign against other Islamic
economic interests.300
The concern of the government only grew later that year.
The event that really challenged the government happened in October 1992,
when a major earthquake hit Cairo. It occurred on a Thursday afternoon when most
government offices had closed for the weekend. There was virtually no response at all
294
Abed-Kotob, The Accommodationsts Speak, 336 295
Al-Awadi, In Pursuit of Legitimacy, 162 296
Ibid 297
Ibid 298
Nachman Tal. Radical Islam in Egypt and Jordon (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, 2005), 58 299
Al-Awadi, 162 300
Ibid
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from the government for two days.301
Meanwhile, the MB-led Doctor‟s Syndicate rolled
out the resources of the Humanitarian Relief Committee to provide food, clothing, and
medical assistance to the victims.302
The Engineer‟s Syndicate (dominated by the MB) set
up emergency relief centers and donated money to help families most affected. It also
conducted inspections for over 10,000 residences before allowing them to return to their
dwellings.303
The government, quite naturally, saw this as a direct challenge to its
legitimacy. The syndicates were accused of using humanitarian assistance to “gain
popularity and undermine the role of the state.”304
The government quickly issued
decrees under the emergency laws that “prohibited the raising of funds or distribution of
goods except through the Ministry of Social Affairs or the Red Crescent.”305
Military
troops were also sent in to dismantle temporary tents that had been provided by the
syndicates.306
President Mubarak saw the organizational skills of the syndicates as a
direct threat and decided to try and change the composition of the syndicate councils in
future elections.
The takeover of the various syndicates was disconcerting enough to the
regime, but when those syndicates started behaving in a highly political fashion, and even
usurping governmental functions, it was time for new legislation to curb that behavior.
Public Law 100 of 1993 was designed to do just that. It now required fifty percent of the
eligible members of the syndicates to vote for the election of the respective councils and
301
Kassem, 113 302
Ibid 303
Ibid 304
Ibid, 114 305
Ibid 306
Ibid
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presidents.307
If that threshold was not met, a meeting of the general assembly of the
syndicates would be called and another election would be held. In this case, a third of the
eligible voters must participate. If this requirement was not fulfilled, then the current
council and president would continue to run the syndicates for three months, and the
process would be repeated from the start.308
If conditions were not met this time, a
temporary judicial committee would be assigned to function as the council. The next
election would then be held under judicial supervision, with the dates, places, and vote
counting of the elections conducted by the judicial committee.309
The law was passed by
the Majlis in less than a day and signed into law by President Mubarak the day after it
passed.310
The law was immediately protested by all of the syndicates, claiming that the
threshold was far too high, especially when there were no such requirements for election to the
People‟s Assembly.311
It was further argued that the law was a direct contradiction to the bylaws
of the syndicates and that judicial control precluded a fair arbiter from challenging the law.312
The government did not waste any time, in May 1993, by placing the Engineers‟ Syndicate under
official custodianship by court order for supposed allegations of financial mismanagement of
funds by the MB-controlled board.313
In addition to the syndicate law, another law was passed that circumvented the
outreach of the MB in June 1994. This law amended the Egyptian Universities Act and was
307
Fahmy, Politics of Egypt, 107 308
Ibid 309
Ibid 310
Campagna, 294 311
Fahmy, 107 312
Ibid, 108 313
Campagna, 295
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aimed directly at the MB‟s ability to recruit students to its organization. The election of faculty
deans was repealed and they were now appointed by government-appointed university
presidents.314
University student councils were also now controlled by government appointees.
This law had a direct influence on subverting MB influence on university campuses
everywhere.315
Despite the attempts to curtail the MB through legislation, the organization
continued to carry on its mission of trying to make Egypt a more Islamic country by participating
in available political zones.
Rhetoric and Actions of the MB –
Murshid al-Tilmisani died on May 24, 1986. During his tenure as Supreme Guide, he
led the MB in recruiting and rebuilding the organization into political viability after most of the
leadership spent years in prison and membership dropped off. He was responsible for
encouraging the MB to integrate into the political avenues available to it in the Parliament and
professional syndicates. His death coincided with the return from exile of many of the MB
brothers who left Egypt in the aftermath of the Sadat assassination. This group became one of
four factions that vied for influence in choosing the new Murshid of the MB.316
Even though the
leadership was supposed to go to the eldest member of the MB per al-Tilmisani‟s decree, there
was no avenue for expressing other desires of leadership through a larger meeting of the MB.
The limits placed on organizational gatherings in Egypt (especially of the MB) were due to the
Civic Association Code of 1964, discussed in the previous chapter.
314
Ibid 315
Ibid 316
Abdel Azim Ramadan, “Fundamentalist Influence in Egypt: The Strategies of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Takfir Groups,” in Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and Militance, ed. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), 175
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The first faction vying for input on the leadership question comprised the returning
members who made fortunes in the exiled countries (mainly in communications) and who
wanted to see Mustafa Mashour (who would later become the Supreme Guide) as the new
Majlis. The second faction were followers of Sayyid Qutb and had spent many years in prison,
but there were not very many of these Brothers left in the MB to make a difference. The third
faction wanted someone who was not at all affiliated with the Secret Apparatus, but still
traditional, and put forth the name of Ma‟mun al-Hudaybi. He was the son of the previous
Majlis, Hassan al-Hudaybi, but much more conservative than his father. He would also
eventually become the Murshid, but not at this time. A fourth faction wished to go back to the
roots of Hasan al-Banna‟s vision and wanted his brother, Abd al-Rahman al-Banna to be the new
Supreme Guide.317
It was ultimately decided that the decree of the eldest member becoming Murshid
would be honored and Muhammad Hamid Abu al-Nasr was named the Supreme Guide in 1986.
Because he was considered something of a compromise candidate, he was only viewed as a
temporary Murshid.318
It was widely believed that the real power resided with Ma‟mun al-
Hudaybi and, to a lesser extent, Mustafa Mashour.319
Al-Nasr was a member of one of the most
wealthy and powerful families in the city of Asyut.320
He was not well educated and had not even
finished secondary school.321
Of all the Supreme Guides of the MB, he was viewed as one of the
least memorable, yet he remained Murshid until early 1996.
317
Ibid 318
Ramadan, 175 319
Pargeter, 48 320
Springborg, 224 321
Pargeter, Ibid
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The guidance of the MB did take a more conservative turn after the death of Al-
Tilmisani and the younger members became more marginalized within the organization. One
disgruntled member was quoted as saying, “After the return of the exiled group, we saw there
was an attempt by them to restrict the generation that was leading the real work inside the
Ikwhan (Brotherhood).”322
This period was the beginning of a generational split in the MB that
would become more apparent in the mid-1990s. At this time, any differences between what the
Supreme Guide of the MB said and the actions of its members in the Majlis and syndicates were
somewhat nuanced on most topics. A notable exception was how the MB dealt with the rights of
women.
Domestic Issues –
Shari’a –
The overriding issue for the MB above all others was the implementation of Shari’a
law in the everyday affairs of Egyptians. The organization felt this would only really come about
through the actions of the Majlis. Al-Tilmisani was quoted as saying:
“Any way the Majlis considers the beginning of the application of sharia will
satisfy us. We do not specify the method … but we affirm and demand that the
process continue. It would be impossible … to announce the application of all
these codes in an Islamic manner at once because it would create confusion in
economic, political, and judicial circles.”323
323
Khalil Ali Haydar. 1985 interview quoted in Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun: Sujal al-Ahdath [The Muslim Brotherhood: Documentation of Events]. (Kuwait: Kazima Company, 1989), 92.
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He also indicated that the Brothers in the Assembly would “urge the enforcement of the Islamic
Shari’a laws, and will embarrass the government on this issue without fear of detention or
torture.”324
His successor, Al-Nasr, tried to alleviate concerns of a headlong rush to Shari’a:
“I believe that Islamic law must be applied gradually. We must first put an
Islamic stamp on the state. Initially, we must implement what the people feel they
need. We will wait for matters that need time before being carried out, as Islamic
law was established in phases. Alcoholic drinks were banned in three stages.
Slavery was also banned in stages. Gradual implementation is one of the
hallmarks of Islamic law.”325
The MP Brothers in the 1984 Majlis did not feel the same constraint as the leaders
and constantly called for the application of Shari’a law. They made demands for this application
by citing the un-Islamic practices of the government regarding the manufacturing of liquor and
usury in economic issues.326
They also noted a lack of Islamic ethics in Egyptian news media.
MB members demanded the adoption and application of Islam (and Shari’a specifically) as an
economic, social, political, military, and cultural system.327
The MB was not the only organization that wanted more attention to be paid to
Article 2 of the constitution regarding the principles of Islamic Shari’a being the chief source of
legislation. Judges, legal academics, and the leaders of al-Azhar University all complained about
delays in obeying the commands of Article 2 to Islamize the law.328
In 1985, the Supreme
Constitutional Court issued a ruling regarding Article 2 legislation. It ruled that the court could
324
“Muslim Brotherhood Leader on Elections, Policy” (text), London Al-Majallah, 9-15 June 1984, 9. FBIS Daily Report, 13 June 1984, D2. 325
“Muslim Brotherhood Leader Comments on Elections” (text), Cairo Uktubar, 19 April 1987, 11. FBIS Daily Report, 30 April 1987, D4. 326
Hassanein T. Ibrahim, The Political Role of the Muslim Brotherhood under Restricted Pluralism in Egypt: A Study in Political Practice, 1984-1990 (Cairo: Markaz al-Mahrusah lil-Buhuth wa-al-Tadrib wa-al-Nashr,1995) 327
Ibid. 328
Clark B. Lombardi. State Law as Islamic Law in Modern Egypt: The Incorporation of the Shari’a into Egyptian Constitutional Law (Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006), 163.
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not force wholesale Islamization by the government even though it did not approve of the
government‟s decision to only passively incorporate Islam into legislation. It further ruled that it
could not review laws entered into force at the time the constitution was amended in 1980. The
court could review laws entered into force thereafter.329
The Mubarak regime gave little more
than a passing thought to really incorporating Shari’a law into legislation.
The MB Majlis members of the 1987 Assembly were even more strident in their
Islamic legislative demands. They noted the slow pace of the government towards applying
Shari’a and challenged the ruling NDP party to justify delays. They also indicated that partial
adjustment of existing laws was not enough.330
Brotherhood MP Muhammad Tawfiq Qasim was
quoted as saying, “Only the creator knows what is best for his creations. Hence submission to the
Shari’a is not a choice; rather it is an obligation of the Muslim faith.331
MB member Mohammad
Al-Sayyid Habeeb declared, “The government is not serious about purifying Islamic society
from sins and aberrant behavior, although this can be done with a simple signature by President
Mubarak. I beseech him to shut down liquor plants and night clubs and reorient television
programming to protect our sons, youth, daughters, and wives.”332
MB member Mohammad
Abdel Hamid Nafi insisted that “Islamic illiteracy is widespread in our society … I propose that
every student may not graduate from the elementary stage until after he/she has passed an exam
whereby they can recite the Koran.”333
While Shari’a was an overall goal of the MB, there were
other issues it addressed politically as well.
Women –
329
Ibid, 164. 330
Wickham, the Muslim Brotherhood, 54. 331
Ibid, 58. 332
MB Under the Dome, 87. 333
Ibid, 129.
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The rights of women became one of the causes of friction between the younger and
older members of the MB. The old guard leadership had quite conservative views about women
in society. There was a section within the MB established by Hasan al-Banna in 1928, which was
known as the Muslim Sisters.334
The purpose of the section was to “raise women‟s awareness of
the decrees of their own religion, spread Islamic culture and the MB call among women, and act
as a counter-movement against other destructive ideologies that find appeal among women.335
In
addition to these duties, the Sisters also distributed food and were a means of communication
among the Brothers who were serving time in prison. They also collected money to be
distributed to the families of those Brothers who were in prison.336
However, the Sisters had no
positions on any committees or any other mechanism for delegating responsibilities and all
leadership positions were held by men.337
While Murshid Tilmisani was progressive in getting the MB integrated into
positions of political power, he was very traditional regarding women:
“I do not like to talk about women. Modern people may find this shameful, or
cowardly, but I want nothing to do with modern theories and the equality of men
and women. I still believe that a man is a man and a woman is a woman and that‟s
why God created her … A woman who believes that she is equal to a man is a
woman who has lost her femininity, virtue, and dignity.”338
During the 1984 Assembly, the MP members of the MB lobbied hard for a repeal of
a set of laws known as “Jehan‟s Law.” This was essentially a decree by President Sadat issued in
1979 on behalf of his wife, Jehan, and was a feminist attempt at modifying family law
334
Mariz Tadros. The Muslim Brotherhood in Contemporary Egypt: Democracy Redefined or Confined? (London: Routledge, 2012), 116. 335
Ibid. 336
Ibid, 122. 337
Ibid, 117. 338
Quoted in El-Ghobashy, 382.
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(especially divorce) in Egypt. Among the provisions the MB objected to was the requirement
that a man notify his wife of divorce through a court, rather than simply a verbal proclamation.
The MB also rejected the part of the decree that allowed a woman to apply for a divorce on the
grounds of incurring harm by their husbands‟ taking another wife.339
The MB leaders and MPs
objected to these provisions as not being required in Shari’a law. As a relatively easy way to
oblige the MB, the Mubarak regime agreed to weaken or abolish much of the decree in the 1984
Majlis.340
The younger MB members in the syndicates had a different view of the participation
of women and other minorities in society. To effectively work in syndicates, the MB members
had to work to gain the trust of a wide range of professionals representing all parts of society.341
In 1994, they published a pamphlet dealing with the rights of women, among other groups. They
cited the Qur’an to the effect that “men and women are morally equal in the eyes of God because
he considers both to be the offspring of Adam.”342
The pamphlet endorsed “granting women full
equality before the law, the right to vote, and the right to run for public office… a woman may
become a judge, so long as her duties do not „compromise her honor‟.”343
These younger
Brothers could “find nothing in the Shari’a texts which prohibited women from this
participation.”344
The proclamation made in the pamphlet did not come without heated debate
from with the leadership of the MB. The younger members pointed out that countries that denied
those rights to women in general also tended to limit the rights of Islamist candidates. They
339
Tadros, 124. 340
Wickham, 59. 341
Ibid, 59. 342
Bruce K. Rutherford. Egypt after Mubarak: Liberalism, Islam, and Democracy in the Arab World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008), 97. 343
Ibid. 344
Wickham, 70.
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dismissed conservative arguments regarding the mental ability of women and fears that women
would not fulfill their duties at home.345
Copts -
In regards to Copts, the old guard proclaimed that the MB sought to treat them in an
equal fashion. This was not always the case and will be discussed further in the next chapter. Of
the Islamic organizations at the time, the MB had the most accommodating attitude towards the
Copts. This dated back to cordial relations established by the founder, Hasan al-Banna.346
When
asked about any conflict between the MB and Copts, Murshid al-Tilmisani stated:
“Copts in Egypt have occupied positions of ministers and even speaker of the
Majlis. They own buildings and land in which Muslim farmers work. There are
Coptic law offices and medical clinics which treat thousands of Muslims without
any sensitivities, discrimination, or racism. Laws in Egypt are applied to Muslims
and Copts without discrimination.”347
When asked about the possibility of Copts joining any political party that the MB might form,
Al-Tilmisani replied:
“This is possible. If we form a political committee or a cabinet there is no
objection to the presence of a Coptic member. We choose the fittest to work. For
this reason we see that the majority of technicians working in economic
companies owned by the Brotherhood are not Muslims.”348
Mustafa Mashour (speaking as a Deputy Guide in 1995) was quoted as saying:
“We have no objection to the establishment of a Coptic party. This does not
mean, as others have claimed, that this will cause sectarian strife or religious
argument. Our relations with the Copt have been good and without blemish since
345
Ibid. 346
El-Ghobashy, 385. 347
1984 quote in Haydar, 98. 348
“Muslim Brotherhood Leader on Islamic Parties” (text), London Al Majallah, 29 December1984 - 4 January 1985, 36. FBIS Daily Report, 3 January 1985, D2.
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the days of Imam al-Banna. Islam has charted the way to treat them kindly and
fairly.”349
In the 1987 Majlis, Brotherhood MP Mohammed Salim Habib stated, “If you
imagine that Muslims and Copts live in fortified barracks facing each other, this is not true. We
say to our brethren, the Copts: You are part of one fabric and in one trench and on a single ship.
We either are rescued together in a single ship or we all drown, and I ask God to rescue us all
and our beloved Egypt too.”350
The earlier 1994 statement by the younger members of the MB
members in syndicates also included a section regarding Copts:
We the Muslim Brothers always say that we are advocates and not judges, and
thus we do not ever consider compelling anybody to change his belief, in
accordance with God‟s words: “No compulsion in religion.” Our position
regarding our Christian brothers in Egypt and the Arab world is explicit,
established and known: they have the same rights and duties as we do …
Whoever believes or acts otherwise is forsaken by us.351
The MB members striving to increase opportunities to work with other groups saw the Copts as
“partners and brothers in our long struggle to build the nation.”352
One of the internal struggles
the MB had to deal with was whether or not the organization should have its own political party.
MB Political Party
Hasan al-Banna had always been against the idea of parties. He viewed them as
nothing more than organizations of disagreeable politicians.353
As noted in the previous chapter,
349
“Muslim Brotherhood Leader Interviewed” (text), London Al-Hayah, 6 May 1995, 7. Open Source Center website accessed 20 March 2014. 350
Mushin Reda. Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun tahta Qubbat Al-Barlaman: Haqiq wa-Mawaqif [The Muslim Brotherhood under the Dome of the Parliament: Facts and Stands (Cairo: Dar Altawzi wa-Al-Nashr al-Islamiya, no date), 151. 351
Quoted from El-Ghobashy, 385. 352
Rutherford, 97. 353
El-Ghobashy, 383.
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there had been an ongoing discussion regarding the benefit of forming a political party since the
time of President Nasser. Murshid al-Tilmisani, like the previous Supreme Guides, had been
against the idea of forming a political party. He said in 1983 that “The Parties Law has blocked
the Brotherhood from every outlet it might have pursued, but as another matter, the Brotherhood
has never thought of forming its own party, because Islam does not recognize the word
parties.”354
He changed his mind when a legal case he filed in 1977 to allow the MB to become a
lawful organization had not been ruled upon after many years (it never was). As he saw the need
to affiliate with other parties, he became convinced that a political party might be necessary. In
1985, he was quoted in an interview:
“When the door was slammed in our face, out of a desire to express our views, we
thought of following a course that would reflect some of the Muslim Brotherhood
activities … If we have contemplated making preparations to form a party, that is
only one aspect of the brotherhood‟s activities but not its vocation. Although we
do not like to anticipate events, we will submit an application to the parties
committee within two or three months, and are already studying all the conditions
for forming a party.”355
The application was never submitted. After Murshid al-Tilmisani‟s death in 1986, the MB did
raise the issue in the 1987 Majlis. MB member Al-Hudaybi said, “We aspire that the government
would contain a promise to abolish the political parties‟ law that includes restrictions that impede
democratic political development or any attempt to form a new party.”356
This was mainly a
statement made in conjunction with other complaints against the government. There was never
any real MB attempt at forming a political party until the mid-90s. It did not want to be just one
party among many.
354
Wickham, 51. 355
“Muslim Brotherhood Leader Details Future Plans” (text), London Al-Sharq Al-Wast, 18 February 1985, 8. FBIS Daily Report, 22 February 1985, D1. 356
Muhammad Abdallah Khatib, Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun that Qubbat al-Barlaman [The Muslim Brotherhood under the Dome of Parliament]. (Cairo: Islamic Distribution and Publishing House, 1990), 45.
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The next three Murshids after Al-Tilmisani all refused the idea of a political party.
They were concerned with the revival of an Islamic order and did not want the activism of the
MB to be reduced to a political party or civic association.357
The MB rejected the separation of
religion and politics and also noted the legal environment as being inhibitive even if it chose to
try and exercise its political rights.358
The younger members of the MB did not agree with the
decision not to form a political party. Because the MB was an illegal organization, they saw its
position as being “in a state of chronic vulnerability to repression and an impediment to its full
integration into the political system.”359
This would lead to internal disagreements within the MB
in 1996, which will be discussed in more detail in the next chapter.
Economics –
President Sadat sought to reverse the economic policies of his predecessor, President
Nasser, through his “economic opening,” or infitah. This policy invited foreign capital to make
investments in Egypt and foreign trade was also liberalized.360
To accomplish this, Sadat
promulgated Law 65 of 1971 that contained incentives such as „free zones‟ in which foreign
companies could have a five-year exemption from taxes and assurances that businesses would
not be nationalized.361
Sadat also promulgated Law 43 of 1974 that indicated any approved
foreign project would be automatically considered to be part of the private sector, even if there
was participation from Egyptian public sector companies in the venture.362
357
Mariz Tadros. The Muslim Brotherhood in Contemporary Egypt: Democracy Redefined or Confined? (London: Routledge, 2012), 73. 358
Ibid. 359
Wickham, 72. 360
Bjorn Olav Utvik, “Filling the Vacant Throne of Nasser: The Economic Discourse of Egypt’s Islamist Opposition” Arab Studies Quarterly. 17, no. 4 (Fall, 1995) 33. 361
Farah, 38. 362
Ibid.
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This led to Egypt‟s relying on external sources of income while it neglected its
agriculture and manufacturing sectors.363
GDP rates did grow, but most of this was attributed to
the exportation of oil during a boom in the 1970s. 364
Other sources of income came from
tourism and remittances from Egyptian migrant workers in other Gulf countries that were also
prospering from the oil boom. This temporary success disguised the structural weakness of the
economy and imports grew at a drastic rate. Foreign indebtedness grew after the fall of oil prices
in 1986 and by 1990, Egypt had become among the leading debtor nations in the world.365
While the country was suffering economically, many members of the MB did quite
well in what became something of an underground Islamic economy. The leadership of the MB
mainly consisted of urban middle class members of the civil service, merchants, and
professionals.366
Under the persecution of President Nasser, a good many of the MB escaped to
other Arab countries and entered into profitable economic enterprises that they continued upon
their return under President Sadat.367
The policy of Sadat‟s infitah and the interests of the
middle-class members of the MB were “complementary and mutually supportive.”368
These MB
members established businesses, Islamic banks, Islamic investment companies, factories, and
health clinics.369
While the MB did not have a monopoly on these endeavors, they did have a
large presence and influence. It was estimated that up to forty percent of all Islamic investment
363
Ibid, 40. 364
Utvik, 33. 365
Ibid. 366
Davut Ates, “Economic Liberalization and Changes in Fundamentalism: The Case of Egypt,” Middle East Policy, 12, no. 4 (Winter, 2005), 137. 367
Ibid. 368
Ibid. 369
Ibid, 138.
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companies “belonged to owners who were either from the MB or who sympathized with its
cause.370
The two main components of the underground economy were the remittances of
Egyptians working in other Arab countries and the institutions like Islamic banks and investment
companies that handled the finances.371
It has been estimated that between 1982 and 1992, the
equivalent of twelve billion U.S. dollars exchanged hands in this manner.372
These dealings were
so successful that in 1985 the Central Bank in Egypt actually had to borrow foreign exchange
from these dealers because of a critical shortage at that time due to falling oil prices.373
The
Islamic banks operated largely outside of Egyptian banking laws and promised large rates of
return to investors.374
These banks dealt in foreign and Egyptian currency and were very
successful in inducing small savings accounts from citizens and also remittances from foreign
workers. The Islamic banks made profits by putting the savings of investors at the service of
borrowers. They did not charge fixed rates to borrowers, but instead shared in the profits or
losses incurred by the borrowers.375
The Egyptian government had something of a dilemma in
dealing with these institutions. On one hand, they operated outside of the laws governing
financial institutions and depositors were at risk. On the other hand, if the government tried to
regulate too much, these institutions could just go elsewhere and the population would blame the
regime.376
370
Al-Awadi. In Pursuit of Legitimacy, 133. 371
Delwin A. Roy, “The Hidden Economy in Egypt,” Middle Eastern Studies, 28, no.4 (October, 1992), 690. 372
Ibid, 692. 373
Ibid. 374
Ibrahim M. Oweiss. The Political Economy of Contemporary Egypt (Washington, DC: Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, 1990), 254. 375
Clement Henry Moore, “Islamic Banks and Competitive Politics in the Arab World and Turkey,” The Middle East Journal, 44, no. 2 (Spring 1990), 234. 376
Oweiss, 254.
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The two main Islamic banks were the Islamic International Bank of Investment and
Development (IIBID) and the Faisal Islamic Bank (FIB). Both were founded in 1979 and both
were developed and supported by the MB.377
These banks, as well as the Islamic investment
companies, were major contributors to the MB candidates and the Islamic Alliance in the 1987
elections.378
The MB members who were elected to the Majlis were then often hired as
consultants to these institutions to lend a sense of safety to the populace and investors who
trusted them.379
The major problem with the Egyptian Islamic financial institutions at that time
was that few of their managers had much education in business, but they did possess good
marketing skills.380
Bad business practices led to the receivership of the IIBD in 1985. The FIB was
paying out at lower rates than conventional banks. The government felt compelled to act and
passed law 146 of 1988, which required the companies to “reconstitute themselves as joint-stock
companies, repatriate their funds to Egypt, and submit to supervision by the Capital Markets
Board and independent audits.”381
The legislation was stringently resisted in the Majlis by the
MB. They argued that the law “was anti-Islamic, based on capitalist and socialist notions, and
would only serve the interests of America and Zionism as enemies of Islam.”382
When
interviewed on the topic of Islamic investment companies, Murshid al-Nasr made a disingenuous
statement:
377
Al-Awadi, 69. 378
Gehad Auda, “The Islamic Movement and Resource Mobilization in Egypt: A Political Culture Perspective,” in Political Culture and Democracy in Developing Countries, ed. Larry Diamond (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1993), 402. 379
Ibid. 380
Moore, 250. 381
Ibid, 253. 382
Sami Zubaida, “The Politics of the Islamic Investment Companies in Egypt,” British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, 17, no.2 (1990), 159.
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“I state frankly that the Brotherhood has nothing to do with the activities or
policies of these companies nor with the way they seek to achieve their objectives.
The campaign launched against these companies was and is still engineered by
those who fight all Islamic trends in the Middle East.”383
After the passage of law 146, the MB started calling for economic independence. It
wanted stronger economic ties with other Arab countries. They did not want to cut off relations
with industrialized nations entirely, but they did want to limit imports to what Egypt could not
produce.384
The MB rejected overtures by the government to obtain loans from the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It viewed those institutions as tools of the United States and
believed it used Egypt‟s debt to force their policies on the country.385
What the MB wanted was
an integrated Arab economy.
In 1990, the Brothers established the Muslim Brothers‟ Economic Committee. They
felt that an economic union could take place between countries with abundant natural resources,
like Iraq and Yemen, as well as abundant human resources, like Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. With
the financial resources of the oil states, the MB believed that this would liberate Egypt from
dependence on the outside world.386
The MB also believed strongly that this could be
accomplished through privatization of most means of production.387
Views on social and economic issues were just some of the aspects that led to an
irreconcilable split between the MB and the Mubarak regime. There were also splits within the
383
“Muslim Brotherhood Leader Interviewed” (text), London Al-Majallah, 27 July – 2 August 1988, 11. FBIS Daily Report, 1 August 1988, 14. 384
Utvik, 45. 385
Utvik, 46. 386
Ibid. 387
Mustafa Kamel Al Sayyid. “Privatization: The Egyptian Debate,” Cairo Papers in Social Science, 13, no.4 (Winter 1990), 51.
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MB that would reveal a sometimes dysfunctional organization. These issues will be discussed in
the next chapter.
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Chapter Three388
Differences within the MB
The year 1995 was a turning point in the interaction of the Mubarak regime and the MB.
Violence attributed to Islamic groups had increased steadily over the previous three years,
including the use of assassinations of former prominent members of the Majlis as well as high-
ranking police officials, the former prime minister, and the ministers of interior and information.
There was even an assassination attempt on President Mubarak when he traveled to Ethiopia in
1995.389
Combined with the recent political success of the MB, the Mubarak regime felt it was
time to halt the advance of the Brothers.
In late 1995, the regime started arresting some of the younger members of the MB who
had become successful in the professional syndicates and trying them in military courts.390
These
included officials of the Physicians‟ Syndicate, the Engineers‟ Syndicate, and university
professors. The regime also closed the MB headquarters in Cairo, which had been open since
1972.391
President Mubarak was quoted as saying:
“I must tell you, this whole problem of terrorism throughout the Middle East is a
by-product of our own illegal Muslim Brotherhood … they all spring from
underneath the umbrella of the Muslim Brotherhood. They say they have
renounced violence, but in reality they are responsible for all the violence, and the
time will come when they will be uncovered.”392
Fifty-four MB members were sentenced to hard labor the week before the 1995 parliamentary
elections took place. Most of these members were from the more moderate wing of the MB and
388
Wickham, 78. 389
Cook, 204. 390
Rutherford, 87, 391
Ibid, 88. 392
Quoted in Wickham, 79.
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some of its most experienced leaders. The regime had already successfully marginalized the
Brothers in some of the syndicates by putting the organizations under government control and
eliminated MB members from participation in the Majlis. These actions made internal dissension
within the MB more noticeable.
Murshid al-Nasr died in January, 1996 and was immediately succeeded by Mustafa
Mashour in what became known as “the graveyard pledge.”393
This was because the senior
members present at the funeral simply gave Mashour their oath of allegiance. This was seen by
the younger members as leadership blocking any kind of reform within the MB.394
This
unorthodox method of selecting the Supreme Guide did not even follow the understood
agreement of the eldest member taking the position. When asked about this, Mashour said:
“For nearly two years I have been performing many of the guide‟ duties in view
of Murshid al-Nasr‟s health. After his death, the Brothers chose me as their guide.
Many of the duties had been delegated to me … The group‟s system stipulates
that the guide should be succeeded by the eldest member temporarily, to avert
disputes among the leaders until they agree on the new guide. The decision to
choose me was unanimous and swift, and there were no disputes.”395
Mashour was seventy-five when he became Murshid. As mentioned in the previous chapter, he
had been a member of the Secret Apparatus and had served ten years in prison in the Nasser
regime. He came from a wealthy family and had done well in business when he was out of the
country in the early 1980s, developing business connections throughout the Gulf region.396
He
was conservative and did not alleviate apprehensions about the MB in the Coptic community
when he made inflammatory statements regarding Copts in the military. He indicated that they
393
Pargeter, 50. 394
Ibid. 395
“New MB Leader Interviewed on Duties, Egyptian Government’ (text), London Al-Hayah, 24 January 1996, Open Source Center. 396
Bjorn O. Utvik. The Pious Road to Development: Islamist Economics in Egypt (London: Hurst & Company, 2006),
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might have divided loyalties when it came to defending an Islamic country from its enemies and
suggested they should not serve in the armed forces. He proposed they pay jizya or a religious
tax that historically had been levied against Christians and Jews living in Muslim countries.397
He was quoted as saying:
“Instead of Copts defending themselves, the Muslims will defend them and take
jizya in exchange. It is merely a tax for their defense and could be paid out of state
funds in the case of those who could not afford it.”398
Though these statements were walked back, they resonated not only with Copts, but with the
reformist branch of the MB. They felt that leadership not only restricted their involvement in the
MB, but also did not reflect the changing society in which they wanted to integrate. This resulted
in some of the Brothers looking elsewhere for political involvement.
Wasat Party –
The Wasat party was an attempt by the younger members of the MB to establish a
political party that would be welcoming to people of different views and faiths. The concept was
heavily influenced by an informal movement that developed in the late 1980s in Egypt, the
Wasatiyya (Centrists). This group of journalists, professionals, and more recent members of the
MB were drawn to Islamic writers and thinkers who were interested in “outwardly expanding the
boundaries of moderate Islamism.”399
This group wanted to craft a democratic political order that
397
“Copts-out-of-army remarks show ‘ugly face’ of Egypt’s Moslem Brothers,” Mideast Mirror, 14 April 1997. 398
Ibid. 399
Joshua A. Stacher, “Post-Islamist Rumblings in Egypt: The Emergence of the Wasat Party” The Middle East Journal, 56, no. 3 (Summer 2002), 417.
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included the participation of Muslims and Christians and a protection of their rights.400
These
concepts resonated with many of the MB members serving in the professional syndicates.
The MB used its influence in the syndicates to sponsor conferences to address topics such
as “poverty, unemployment, freedom and development, and terrorism.”401
In 1994, there was a
major effort to initiate a national dialog to work on a National Pact that would work on political
reform for Egypt. Future Murshid Ma‟mun al-Hudaybi represented the MB and refused to sign
the draft document.402
This experience was a bitter disappointment to the younger MB members
and marked the beginning of a philosophical split within the organization. Later that year, there
was a more vigorous attempt at forming a National Charter that would represent consensus for
constitutional and political reform.403
Al-Hudaybi participated in this ten-month endeavor as
well. He would not sign this document because it did not mention religion or Shari’a law. Only
six of the twelve committee members signed off on the document and the initiative collapsed.404
This irritated MB members like Abu Ala Madhi, who was a member of the Engineers‟
Syndicate and one of the founders of the Wasat Party. He viewed this behavior as a hindrance in
the attempt to work with others as well as a reinforcement of the perception that the MB was
becoming an obstacle to democratic reform.405
Madhi and other like-minded Brothers had grown
tired of the arrogant and dictatorial attitude of the MB Guidance Bureau as represented by older
members, like al-Hudaybi. The newsletter for the Engineers‟ Syndicate produced an article
critical of the older MB members in the Bureau that essentially said they should restrict their
400
Ibid. 401
Bjorn O. Utvik, “Hizb al-Wasat and the Potential for Change in Egyptian Islamism,” Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies, 14, no. 3 (Fall 2005), 299. 402
Ibid, 300. 403
Wickham, 85. 404
Ibid, 86. 405
Ibid.
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participation to being advisors.406
Madhi decided it was time to transfer the success of the
Brothers in the syndicates to the political realm. He was quoted as saying, “We were running the
syndicates like political parties. This was never our intention. It just turned out that way.”407
In
early 1996, Madhi and sixty-two members of the MB resigned from the organization and applied
to the Egyptian Political Parties Committee (PPC) for legal party status as the Wasat Party.408
The party was started to be inclusive of the various progressive groups in Egypt.
The spokesman for the party was Rafiq Habib, a sociologist and Copt. He said that Egypt
was in a political and economic crisis that allowed sectarianism to expand.409
Habib said that the
Wasat Party would create common ground between Muslim and non-Muslim, exclude theology
from socioeconomic and political areas, and rid the political conversation of vague slogans.410
Yet, Shari’a law was still something the party considered to be a factor in the formulation of
legislation.411
Madi was quoted as saying, “Shari’a is very simply a collection of guiding
principles, which should be put to a free interpretation in order to adapt them to a world in the
process of change.”412
The Wasat Party believed that Shari’a “can be viewed as a tool to
facilitate modernity if interpreted properly by democratically elected religious officials.”413
The
party believed it was important to define:
“religious values that must guide society … vital distinctions must be made
between what is permanent and what is unchanging … what must change as
society changes, and what is incumbent on Muslims and what is incumbent on all
406
Pargater, 50. 407
Geneive Abdo. No God but God: Egypt and the Triumph of Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 99. 408
Stacher, 422. 409
Meir Hatina, “The ‘Other Islam’: The Egyptian Wasat Party,” Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies, 14, no.2 (Summer, 2005), 173. 410
Ibid. 411
Stacher, 426. 412
Quote Ibid. 413
Ibid.
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citizens … and between those issues directly regulated by the Shari’a and the vast
field of human activity that falls within the neutral category of the permitted.”414
The Wasat Party was not well received by anyone. President Mubarak thought of the
party as being a branch of the MB hiding behind the „façade of democracy.‟ He also indicated
that the participation of Copts was merely a „decoration.‟415
Equal criticism came from the
Coptic clergy and politicians. They viewed the Wasat Party as “creating internal strife in the
Coptic community and assisting the Islamists in their campaign against the state.”416
The MB
was wary of antagonizing the government and feared internal splits within the organization. It
denied any connection to the Wasat Party and denounced the MB members who joined the
Wasat as violating their sacred allegiance to the MB and seeking exposure through the media.417
The application to the PPC to form a political party in 1996 was rejected. More than a
few of the MB members participating in the Wasat returned to the Brothers, but Madhi and
several of his closest advisors resigned permanently from the MB.418
An appeal in 1998 to the
PPC was also rejected. The PPC stated that the Wasat Party “failed to add anything new to the
existing political parties.”419
A final appeal in 2000 was refused again, but this time the Wasat
also filed for status as a nongovernmental organization (NGO) at the same time. This resulted in
the PPC approving the Egypt for Culture and Dialogue organization.420
This Wasat-oriented
NGO held workshops, seminars, and meetings to keep communication open among different
groups and the Islamic political project. It allowed intellectuals to participate without being
414
Utvik, 302-03. 415
Hatina, 174. 416
Ibid. 417
Ibid, 175. 418
Utvik, 296. 419
Stacher, 422. 420
Ibid, 423.
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connected to the party.421
The government was willing to allow Islamic culture, as long as it did
not cross into political activity.422
The NGO also had to promise to finance the organization
through donations and membership dues while not obtaining financing from any international
assistance.423
After a wait of fifteen years, the Wasat Party was eventually granted status as a
legitimate political party just days after the overthrow of President Mubarak in February,
2011.424
Murshid Mashour was restrained in how he allowed former MB members who had joined
the Wasat to return to the Brothers in 1996. While making it clear that they had violated rules
and acted independently of the MB, he wanted to avoid any more tension with the regime and
within the MB.425
Mashour knew that the chances of the Wasat being granted political party
status were non-existent and that the Brothers who were participating in the Wasat were trying to
distance themselves from the MB to increase their chances of getting approval from the PPC.426
The Brothers who did not immediately return to the MB were tried and imprisoned for a time on
charges of conspiring to create a party that was nothing more than a front for the MB. These
Brothers, including Madhi, did not return to the MB. In an interview several years later, Madhi
described his displeasure with the MB:
“We were trying to express a new and sophisticated vision from within the
Brotherhood. Unfortunately, we always clashed with a closed and narrow-minded
vision. Finally we defected from the group to express our own views.
Unfortunately, people see the brotherhood as a group with a mature political
experience, when actually it is not. The leadership of the Brotherhood do not have
421
Ibid. 422
Ibid. 423
Ibid. 424
“Egypt’s Wasat Party Becomes Official Legitimate Political Party after 15 Years” (text) The Middle East Reporter, 21 February 2011. Accessed through ProQuest database 28 May 2014. 425
Tal, 74. 426
Ibid.
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a mature political vision. The weakest part in the Brotherhood‟s structure is the
head. The deterioration at the top is worsening.”427
The impact of the Wasat party on the MB organization was minimal. It did not change
the structure or power base of the MB. It could best be described as a split in the younger
membership and left only a weakened reformist movement in the organization.428
Senior leaders
of the MB indicated that forming a political party would only dilute the mission of religious
outreach to society and lead to government control of the Brothers.429
Changes in the Supreme Guide –
Murshid Mashour was the leader of the MB from early 1996 until his death in 2002.
During that time the fortunes of the MB began to ebb. The strides it had made in the political
arena were countered by the Mubarak regime. Mashour faced the first open rebellion within the
movement with the Wasat party. While it was dealt with, it did not stop the resentment that was
building from the more progressive and younger members of the MB. His successor, Murshid al-
Hudaybi was eighty-one years old when he became Supreme Guide and died fourteen months
later. He had been the man behind the scenes and kept the conservative ideology intact for the
organization, even to the point of alienating the reformists. When he died in early 2004,
Mohammed Mahdi Akef became the Supreme Guide.
Murshid Akef was seventy-six years old when he took over as leader of the MB. He had
also been in the Secret Apparatus and was jailed under President Nasser and released twenty-
427
“Former Member Says MB Politically Immature” (text) 7 August 1999, 19. Open Source Center website accessed 20 March 2014. 428
Wickham, 93. 429
Ibid, 94.
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three years later in the Sadat regime.430
Despite his conservative credentials, he was at least open
to some of the ideas of the younger members of the MB in their desire for political integration.
2000 Parliamentary Elections –
In July 2000, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the 1995 parliamentary
elections (as well as previous elections) were invalid because they were supervised in an
unconstitutional manner.431
This did not invalidate legislation passed during those parliaments,
however.432
The court ruled that Article 88 of the 1971 constitution had been violated when it
allowed nonjudiciary members to share in the supervision of elections.433
For the 2000 election,
the judiciary would not only monitor the voting, but also the counting of votes.
The MB chose to participate by running independent candidates, but only a limited
number. Predictably, the regime harassed those candidates and their supporters. Twenty MB
candidates were arrested just a few day before the election and over one thousand supporters of
the MB were also arrested.434
Still, the MB managed to elect seventeen members to the Majlis.435
It was the largest single opposition group in parliament. There was a conscious effort by this
parliamentary bloc to limit the call for Shari’a and instead concentrate on economics and
democratic reform. Despite the limited opportunities for reform in the Majlis, there were other
outside groups that were also clamoring for change.
Kefaya –
430
Mon Salem, “Muslim Brotherhood Old Guard and Reformers Compromise on New Leadership” (text) Agence France 14 January 2000, accessed through LexisNexis. 431
Kienle, 172. 432
Ibid. 433
Kassem, 63. 434
Wickham, 98. 435
Ibid.
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The Egyptian Movement for Change (EMC) was a political force that coalesced in 2003
and was also known by its popular name, Kefaya (Arabic for “enough”). It was loosely
composed of mainly secular and leftist groups who had formed several years earlier to show
solidarity with the second Palestinian intifada.436
When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, this group
became inflamed over Cairo‟s unwillingness to do much about the invasion of a Muslim country
and staged an authorized protest in the city‟s Liberation Square.437
The critique by Kefaya
regarding Iraq evolved into a disparaging of President Mubarak and his presumed dynastic
intentions to put his son, Gamal, into the office of the presidency upon his retirement.438
This
was a significant political moment and completely eliminated the tacit understanding between
the regime and political parties that no criticism would be directed against the president
personally.439
The Kefaya movement also had political elements of the far right participating in its
actions. What the left and right had in common was the experience of coming of age in the 1970s
and a mistrust of the older political elite in Egypt.440
The search for common ground that had
been started tentatively with the Wasat party in the 1990s became a more determined attempt at
reaching a consensus among the disparate groups.441
Kefaya had its first street protest in
December 2004. It was relatively small and with one message:” No to the extension (of
Mubarak‟s presidency), no to the inheritance of power.”442
The group continued to stage small
436
Steven A. Cook. The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 241. 437
Ibid. 438
Ibid. 439
Mariz Tadros. The Muslim Brotherhood in Contemporary Egypt: Democracy Redefined or Confined? (London: Routledge, 2012), 27. 440
Manar Shorbagy, “Understanding Kefaya: The New Politics in Egypt,” Arab Studies Quarterly, 29, no. 1 (Winter, 2007), 40. 441
Ibid, 44. 442
Wickham, 109.
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demonstrations throughout the spring of 2005. While the demonstrations generally consisted of a
few hundred to a couple of thousand protestors, Kefaya was disciplined about the non-violent
actions of the participants.443
The MB was caught off guard by this small group of secular dissidents that was garnering
a lot of attention with its message. While a few of the Brothers were already actively
participating, the senior leaders were confronted with the problem of mobilizing the MB
members and risking a harsh response from the regime or sitting out protests and alienating
younger members.444
The MB decided it would participate, but on a limited scale. It did not want
to mobilize the large crowds it was capable of putting into the streets and overwhelming Kefaya.
The two organizations decided upon a new political tactic in utilizing the recent growth of new
Arab media.445
The Kefaya movement kept its message uniform and simple. No more Mubarak and no
dynastic presidency. While the crowds it generated were not large, they were made for the
visuals of satellite television and the internet. They included not only women, but minority
groups as well. Messages were generated and repeated on websites and blogs.446
The main
contribution of Kefaya to the political process was exposing the regime‟s monopoly on power by
its encouragement of strident divisions among the opposition.447
The coalition was never likely
to produce a party or platform because of the diverse nature of the participants. By coming
together on a simple message of no more Mubarak, it did lead to an interesting 2005 election.
443
Ibid, 110. 444
Ibid, 111. 445
Yoram Meital, “The Struggle over Political Order in Egypt: The 2005 Elections,” The Middle East Journal, (Spring, 2006), 269. 446
Ibid. 447
Shorbagy, 54.
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2005 presidential and parliamentary election –
In February of 2005, President Mubarak declared that Egypt would have its first presidential
election with multiple candidates.448
This not only eased some of the domestic critics of the
regime, but also was seen as a nod to pressure being applied by the United States for a more
democratic environment in Egypt.449
The Majlis passed a constitutional amendment that limited
candidacy to those who could gather the support of at least 250 members of the People‟s
Assembly, Shura Council, and Municipal Councils nationwide.450
This made it almost
impossible for independent candidates, and especially members of the MB, to enter the race.
Many opposition parties and rights organizations protested the charade, as did over 1200
judges.451
At first, the MB decided to boycott the elections. The environment, however, seemed
conducive to a successful election and Murshid Akef decided to participate. Still, the MB stood
only about 160 candidates for election, and “none in districts where senior government
candidates were running.”452
It also made sure that there was no possibility of challenging the
two-thirds majority held by the ruling NDP party in parliament.453
Once again state repression
against the MB prevailed and thousands of Brothers were arrested. Despite this, the MB won
eighty-eight seats in the Majlis, and could easily have won more had it decided to run more
candidates for election.454
In typical fashion, the regime promptly passed a constitutional
448
Tamir Moustafa. The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics, and Economic Development in Egypt (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 210. 449
Ibid. 450
Ibid. 451
Ibid, 212. 452
Wickham, 117. 453
Ibid. 454
Moustafa, 215.
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amendment that would not allow any political party based on religion, essentially ending the
opportunity for the MB to run in the next parliamentary election.455
Economics -
While in the Majlis after the 2000 and 2005 elections, the MB members called
attention to the economic shortcomings of the regime by making numerous inquiries regarding
budget proposals and tax revenues.456
The MB bloc voted against all annual budgets from 2000
to 2005 because they failed to increase tax revenues or decrease budget deficits.457
The Brothers
tried to create Islamic banking supervision to run Islamic banks differently than commercial
banks and introduced an alms law to oblige Egyptian Muslims to give regular taxes to Islamic
banks, but both of these proposals were defeated.458
The MB members were not against the government when it attempted to privatize
public assets, but they did criticize the process.459
They felt that public-sector banks and other
“strategic assets” should be sold only to Egyptian investors and not below value. The Brothers
also continually lobbied for an increase in the budget for education and the hiring of more
teachers, along with an increase in benefits, but to no avail.460
These setbacks did not discourage
the MB from looking forward politically.461
MB Party Platform –
455
Ibid. 456
Amr Hamzawy and Nathan J. Brown, “The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood: Islamist Participation in a Closing Political Environment.” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 2010, 22. 457
Ibid. 458
Ibid, 26. 459
Rutherford, 185. 460
Ibid. 461
Ibid.
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In late summer, 2007, the MB circulated a draft party platform to intellectuals and
analysts regarding what kind of party it would formulate, if ever allowed to do so by the
regime.462
The document articulated in more detail than previously what it would do regarding
political, social, and economic issues and was very different from the usual vague slogans and
repetitive quotes it had given over the years.463
While the MB had declared off and on since the
mid-1980s that might establish a political party, it had never devoted this much time and effort
into what that party might actually look like.
The platform was more revealing and gave the public at large a chance to critique its
political motives.464
There was still considerable division within the MB over whether to even
form a party. It was felt by the more conservative Brothers that the party would never receive
official recognition. There was also the perennial fear that a political party would detract from
the missionary work of the MB and erode its grassroots support.465
The platform was not
endorsed either by the MB Guidance Office or by Murshid Akef.466
It was emphasized that this
was only a way of sharing ideas and getting feedback on the best political direction for the
MB.467
While more detailed than anything released before, it did raise some questions with
critics. The document recognized the legitimacy of the existing structure of the Majlis and
Supreme Constitutional Court to reconcile new legislation with Shari’a law, but it also
462
Nathan J. Brown and Amr Hamzawy, “The Draft Party Platform of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood: Foray into Political Integration or Retreat into Old Positions?” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace 2008, 1. 463
Ibid. 464
Khalil El-Anani. “Brotherhood Scenarios” (text), Cairo Al-Ahram Weekly 13 September 2007, Open Source Center. 465
Ibid. 466
Rutherford, 182. 467
Ibid.
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established a council of religious scholars.468
This council “would be elected by the full
complement of religious scholars in the country and serve to advise the legislative and executive
branches in matters of religious law.”469
Critics thought this was too much like the Council of
Guardians in Iran who “could veto laws from a democratically elected parliament.”470
First
Deputy of the MB General Guide Muhammad Habib tried to alleviate concerns about the
council:
“It is a consultative committee that could be part of al-Azhar University and the
parliament could use it as a consultant. Of course, the parliament would have the
final decision which could be appealed to the Supreme Constitutional Court …
should parliament pass legislation thought incompatible with the freedoms
guaranteed by the constitution.”471
This was only one of the provisions that provoked a fierce backlash within and without the
organization. The platform also made it clear that women and non-Muslims (Copts) were to be
excluded from senior positions in the state.472
Islamic leaders, whether rulers or high officials,
undertake some religious functions and traditional authority held that the leader needed to be
Muslim and male.473
Deputy Guide Habib indicated that:
“The MB Guidance Bureau has decided that non-Muslims or women should not
hold the position of head of state. This was our jurist opinion which we have
sponsored and we are committed to this view. If the people turn down the
platform, we will have to try to convince them and to explain the reasons why we
have made such a decision.”474
468
Cook, 188. 469
Brown, 4. 470
Wickham, 124. 471
“Egypt’s Muslim Brothers: Confrontation or Integration?” Middle East/North Africa Report International Crisis Group no.76 (June 2008), 17. 472
Brown, 5. 473
Ibid. 474
“Egypt: MB Leader Details Discussion of MB Political Party Platform” (text), Cairo Ikwhanonline, 16 November 2007, Open Source Center.
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This was not well received by women, Copts, or the younger members of the MB. They
responded with strident words and actions of their own.
In December, 2007 a letter was drafted by women who were members of the MB
addressed to Murshid Akef and submitted through the MB website. It was submitted this way
only after trying several times to send it through official internal channels. It demanded:
“the right to be nominated for membership of the Guidance Bureau … and for
their roles to be expanded and given the right to promotion within the
organizational pyramid, to join the political and information committees,
participate in the internal elections, and choose the MB officials, including the
general guide.”475
The organization countered with a statement from the female candidate it ran in the 2000
parliamentary elections, Jihan al-Hilfawi. She indicated that “the role of women inside the
organization does not differ much from their role in society at large; it is to a great extent a
privileged one.”476
Even the somewhat progressive Essam al-Erian wrote in a statement posted
on the website that:
“The status of women within the movement is good and surpasses the general
status of women in Egyptian society as a whole. She enjoys appreciation and
respect within the organization, and we listen to all views and discussions that
take place on this issue. There is some exaggeration by some women writers …
particularly since most of them are young and lack experience. They do not
represent an overwhelming current inside the movement.”477
As for the relegation of Copts to a lower participation in the political arena, Murshid Akef was
quoted by a journalist as saying, “It would be preferable for a Malaysian Muslim to be president,
475
Mustafa Sulayman “MB Women Protest Marginalization of Roles, Demand Rights” (text), Al-Arabiyah 17 December 2007, Open Source Center. 476
Ibid. 477
Ibid.
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than a Christian Egyptian.”478
A leading Coptic businessman, Najib Sawiras, was then quoted as
saying:
“No Christian in Egypt expects the MB to condescend to grant a Copt the right to
become president. This is because we, Copts, do not wait for anyone to teach us
the rights of citizenship. Copts are Egyptians, just like the Muslims. The MB has
no right to distribute posts and give itself the authority to grant or withhold the
post of president. If it has given itself this right, all I can say is that we reject
this.”479
The uproar of the exclusionary language regarding women and Copts caused a genuine
split in the MB. Some saw the most insensitive aspects as a political distraction. It was viewed as
something with little benefit to the MB since the likelihood of a woman or a Copt attaining the
presidency in a country where the population was predominately Muslim was quite remote.480
One of the younger Brothers was quoted as saying:
“The program was drafted in a very hasty way and without consultation … the
Society should apologize for it because now we are stuck with the image of a very
negative program … it fails to tackle the issue of how to exist as a group in Egypt.
If we are to be a major presence, then we must make some major decisions.” 481
When the MB leaders accused the younger members of backwardness and triviality, those
younger MB members who used social media established a lampoon of the official MB website,
Ikhwanonline, with their own website, Ikhwanoffline.482
It was established because the official
478
International Crisis Group, 17. 479
“Egyptian Christian Figure Criticizes Muslim Brotherhood over Presidency” (text), Al-Misri al-Yawm, 07 November 2007, Open Source Center. 480
Brown, 5. 481
Quoted in International Crisis Group, 18. 482
“Analysis: Egyptian Bloggers Emerge as Opposition Voice,” BBC Worldwide Monitoring January 9, 2008, accessed through LexisNexis March 20, 2014.
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website had made many “professional mistakes.” Though nothing came of it, another group of
MB bloggers even established a parallel MB Guidance Office to elect a younger Murshid.483
The split among the Brothers regarding the platform was not just generational. The
conservative wing was led by Deputy Guide Habib, who defended the platform and the most
controversial elements of the document.484
A more moderate element, led by Abd Abu al-Futuh,
criticized not only those controversial elements, but the entire process of putting the platform
together. These members indicated there was little or no consultation, let alone an attempt at
consensus among the Brothers.485
Deputy Guide Habib responded that:
“We did not aim to refer the platform to all members of the MB Group, but to the
administrative bureaus. We had to complete this assignment as quickly as possible
or it would have turned into a pure media incitement and fireworks. We were
eager to complete this matter quickly and submit it to the largest possible
members of the MB group.”486
Former MB member of the Majlis, Gamal Hishmat, contended:
“The controversial points were not raised in the preliminary discussions and
dialogues during the consideration of the document that would be announced as
the movement‟s draft platform. In no way does it represent the opinion of the
entire Brotherhood or its branches which were deprived of the opportunity to see
the program or comment on what was in it. I had earlier expressed my objection
to the Brotherhood, but that opinion was not accepted.”487
483
Ibid. 484
Brown, 7. 485
Ibid. 486
“Egypt: MB Leader Details Discussion of MB Political Party Platform” (text) Ikhwanonline, 15 November 2007, Open Source Center. 487
Quoted in Brown, 8.
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Even the head of the MB bloc in the Majlis at that time, Saa‟d al-Katatni, indicated that the
opinion of the organization‟s parliamentarians had not been considered.488
This led the two camps into what was described as a “fatwa war,” in which both sides
sought religious authorities to support their positions regarding women, Copts, and the religious
council.489
The moderate camp shared the views of the prominent religious authority, Yusif al-
Qaradawi, who indicated that there are no positions in traditional Shari’a law that prohibit
women or Copts from holding leadership positions and that there was no need for a religious
council when there was a Supreme Constitutional Court.490
Deputy Guide Habib mentioned
several times that the Guidance Bureau had consulted with numerous religious authorities on the
draft and their opinion was that women and Copts were not suitable for ministerial positions.491
This public disagreement regarding the political platform brought out the main issue for the
reformist camp and the younger generation in the MB. One senior MB member in the reformist
wing noted:
“The current leadership consists of people who have experienced only torture in
prison, and they have become so paranoid they have a single view on everything.
The leadership needs to be younger, with a more representative experience. At the
moment most of the leadership is too conservative, focused on protecting itself
rather than the future of the Society. This closed-minded group is not the
dominant view in the MB, but it is in power.”492
Murshid Akef decided in January of 2008 to suspend working on the platform. In March of that
year Deputy Guide Habib said:
488
Ibid. 489
Ibid, 9. 490
Ibid. 491
Ibid. 492
Quoted in International Crisis Group, 18.
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“We decided the platform should be briefer and much more cohesive. There will
be addenda dealing with separate issues, with each item under the responsibility
of a different committee. But for now, we decided to resolve the debate by means
of democracy. We voted and now every member has agreed to adhere to the
decision.”493
While the platform itself was essentially shelved in 2008, it made another appearance
in 2011, after the fall of President Mubarak. When the MB established the Freedom and Justice
Party as its first political party, it basically dusted off the old platform from 2007.494
While
inclined to do away with the religious council, it still kept the stance against women and Copts
from running for president.495
The MB party platform was the most visible aspect of conflict within the
organization. In October, 2009 Murshid Akef tried to include some of the reformist Brothers on
the Guidance Bureau, but was rebuffed by the old guard. At eighty-one, he decided he had
enough of the infighting and became the first Supreme Guide to resign from the MB. He was
succeeded in January 2010 by Mohamed Bade. He was sixty-six when chosen and a veterinarian
by trade. He was a conservative who ran the indoctrination section of the MB.496
This
consolidated the power of the more rigid conservative MB members and there were even
accusations of a flawed electoral procedure by the reformists.497
It was a conservative MB that was in place in September, 2010 just before
parliamentary elections. President Mubarak had disbanded or neutralized all secular opposition
493
Ibid. 494
“Egypt Muslim Brotherhood Said to be Amending Platform of Planned Political Party” (text), London Al-Hayat 2 March 2011, Open Source Center. 495
Ibid. 496
“Which Way Now? The Muslim Brothers’ New Leader” (text) The Economist, 23 January 2010. Open Source Center. 497
Ibid.
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95
and the MB was the only group left with any organization. The MB was restrained in criticizing
Mubarak and this led to some reformist Brothers to resign.498
Secular opposition groups that
were left were also disappointed by the MB‟s lack of protest or willingness to boycott the
upcoming elections.499
This was the scenario before the February, 2011 uprising that led to the
removal of President Mubarak.
498
“Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Stands Alone: Islamic Group is Careful not to overtly Challenge the Government’s Power” (text), International Herald Tribune, 7 September 2010 – Open Source Center. 499
Ibid.
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Chapter Four
Conclusions and Implications
In discussing the various hypotheses submitted in the first chapter, it is better to consider
degrees of cooperation between the Supreme Guides and the members of the MB regarding
participation in the People‟s Assembly and professional syndicates. The MB has always been,
first and foremost, a social movement intent on spreading the benefits of Islam and Shari’a to
Egypt and other Muslim countries. Earlier in its existence, violence was a seen as a means of
dealing with the government and with other organizations that differed from the MB. When
violence was renounced by the organization, it sought other ways to influence government. The
only available means were through parliament and syndicates.
The MB members who entered parliament were chosen by the MB Guidance Bureau and
towed the line of the Supreme Guide. Because they were never a legitimate political party, those
members could engage in long, rhetorical attacks against the regime that echoed what the
Murshids were saying. Entering the professional syndicates required more of a political
engagement to participate successfully. The MB members elected in syndicates were proficient
at organization and brought economic benefits to the syndicates that had been previously lacking.
Their success was due more to efficiency than to Islamic messages. They were also of a younger
generation that had been enticed to join the MB, but were not nearly as hard-lined as the older
leaders.
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97
Did the MB attempt to follow through on what it proclaimed to the public when participating in
the Majlis and syndicates?
The preponderance of information would indicate that yes, the MB did try to follow
through on proclamations in whatever venue they happened to occupy.
Have members of the MB acted as a bloc when participating in the parliament or syndicates?
There is little indication that MB members acted independently or against the wishes of
the Supreme Guide.
Have MB members of parliament or syndicates acted differently under different general guides?
While some Supreme Guides were a bit more progressive in their outlook as to how to
best take political advantages, they were all conservative in their leadership. Some MB members
who were of the more reformist bent and working in syndicates tried to influence treatment of
women and Copts as well as to show the Murshids how working with other segments of society
could be beneficial, but they still operated in the bounds set for them. When they disagreed to the
extent it would have caused too much disruption, they simply left the MB.
This background information shows that the hypothesis that the MB did not always act as
a bloc in accordance with the proclamations of its leaders in the Majlis and that its members also
did not act in unison when participating in syndicates is incorrect. Actually, the members of the
MB did mainly act in accordance with the proclamations of the Murshids. The constant drumbeat
for Shari’a law in all societal aspects was demonstrated in parliament and syndicates. There was
a more nuanced approach in syndicates as the Brothers genuinely tried working with other
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98
secular and Islamist members to achieve benefits. This did not reach the level of defiance of the
Supreme Guides.
The first alternate hypothesis – the MB did mainly abide by the proclamations of its
leaders in Parliament and acted in unison while participating in syndicates would seem to be the
most plausible.
The second alternate hypothesis – the MB acted uniformly in the Majlis and acted
dutifully in syndicates, but in one or the other acted apart from the proclamations of the MB
leadership does not match the evidence.
Implications –
Throughout its history, the MB has periodically been branded as a terrorist organization
by the three presidents of Egypt before 2011. These incidents seemed to have coincided with the
perceived political threat that the MB presented at any particular time, even though it was never
an organized political party. When political violence against a regime occurred, the MB was
conveniently grouped rhetorically with more militaristic Islamists. The organization itself has not
engaged in violence for quite a while.
In early 2011, the leadership of the MB was as conservative as it had been since 2004
when Murshid al-Hudaybi was in charge of the organization. During that time of societal unrest
across the political spectrum, the MB started losing some of its reformist members who saw
opportunities to participate in an emerging environment that had not previously been available to
them. Rather than trying to work within the Society and fighting the conservative leadership,
they simply left. When President Mubarak was deposed in 2011, the old guard running the MB
reflected the way the MB was to lead the Egyptian government when it came to power.
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99
The MB was in the perfect position to assume power with the departure of President
Mubarak. It was a known entity with a presence throughout Egypt and it had excellent
organizational skills. It did not have to compromise its beliefs or appeal to a political base in
order to get elected. This lack of give and take usually necessary to obtain political power was
evident in the way the Brothers worked more on consolidating power when in office than
building coalitions and including different points of view.
The MB itself was deposed and is once again going through a period of massive
disruption from the government elected in July, 2014. Arrests and military trials are the norm
and the organization is at its weakest since the assassination of President Sadat. While many MB
members are being harassed and imprisoned, they are still interwoven into the societal structure
of Egypt. Many of them are professionals and they still carry out charitable deeds in which the
government has not shown an inclination to engage. It is the stated intention of the new regime to
eradicate the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt. This will be easier said than done. The MB has
demonstrated that it takes the long view in its quest for an Islamic country and will not be
disposed of easily. It has operated in the open and secretly over the years. It has many
connections and resources at its disposal.
Policy recommendations –
With the desired goal of fostering democratic practices in Egypt, the United States should
encourage the new regime to be less malevolent towards the MB. The Brothers are but one
segment of society and are not much of a political threat to the regime, given its demonstrated
incompetence when running the government. By labeling the MB “terrorists” the new Egyptian
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100
government lessens its ability to protect itself against a genuine violent Islamic threat in the
Sinai.
The United States should also monitor Egyptian non-governmental organizations and
charitable associations. It is in these institutions that the Brothers who are not imprisoned or
exiled to another country are likely to take refuge. They have participated for decades in assisting
the needy and will continue this practice. The more MB resources that are dedicated to these
endeavors, the less chance there is for the organization to turn towards violence.
While monitoring Islamic economic institutions may not be easy, it is another venue in
which the MB will participate. It is also the most likely way the Brothers would associate with
Islamic organizations that skew towards violence, should the MB choose to abandon its pledge
of non-violence. It is also a way to keep a degree of separation for the MB away from violence
while utilizing its ability to affect the Egyptian government.
It would behoove the United States government to monitor the Society of Muslim
Brothers, if it reconstitutes itself again into a viable organization. While it has not shown that it is
ready to change from a social movement or to accept the compromise necessary to become a
valid political party, it has always shown great resilience to adversity and deep faith in its beliefs.
Whether this manifests itself into a return to violence that it renounced years ago remains to be
seen.
Unclassified
101
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