EGYPT’S MUSLIM Brotherhood has been facing unprecedented political challenges since it emerged from the shadows last February when President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown by people power.
Banned since 1954 but tolerated, the brotherhood only supported the largely secular uprising because it could not afford to ignore the millions of Egyptians who poured into the squares and streets of the country’s major cities.
The brotherhood has been accused of making common cause with the military council that took over the presidency, trying to grab power, and seeking to transform Egypt into an Islamic state. In an effort to counter these charges, two senior figures have given rare interviews to media.
Brotherhood chairman Muhammad Badie denied the movement had made a secret deal to co-operate with the military, but expressed determination to support the generals on an amendment of the constitution and a parliamentary election in September.
These policies have been criticised by democratic forces which demand a new constitution and elections in a year’s time so that the brotherhood, the only organised political force in the country, cannot fill the vacuum left by dissolution of Mr Mubarak’s National Democratic Party. Dr Badie revealed that the brotherhood, founded in 1928, has 700,000 members, far more than all the other parties combined.
Dr Muhammad Morsy, head of the brotherhood’s newly set up Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), denied accusations that the party intended to dominate parliament by fielding candidates for 50 per cent of the seats, or that it wishes to sideline women and Christians. He said the FJP has 100 Coptic Christian and 1,000 female members, out of a total of 9,000.
The deputy chairman is Rafiq Habib, a Coptic intellectual. Dr Morsy argued that the FJP will not nominate or back a brotherhood member for the presidency or try to impose Muslim canon law on the country, and said parliament would decide whether to ban alcoholic drinks, acknowledging that this could harm tourism.
These interviews are unlikely to reassure liberals and secularists, who are deeply suspicious of the brotherhood. The movement’s actions, furthermore, do not match its words.
It ordered members to boycott last Friday’s mass demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and elsewhere. When its youth wing defied the order by taking part, its leaders pulled brotherhood youth representatives from the January 25th Revolution Youth Coalition, the umbrella grouping formed by organisers of the uprising.
Coalition member Khaled Abdel-Hamid observed that the dissidents showed within the brotherhood “there are some with a clear commitment to the revolution and an . . . openness to work with . . . other political forces”.
The youth coalition also demonstrated it was not prepared to take dictation from conservatives who dominate brotherhood structures. This widened the generational rift that emerged after the uprising because of the close ties forged between brotherhood youth and secular activists. In particular, the youth coalition has criticised the culture of secrecy surrounding the movement’s decision-making.
The brotherhood also faces desertion by Saudi Arabia, which has donated $4 billion to strengthen Egypt’s military. Riyadh reportedly fears the brotherhood, long mentored and financed by the kingdom, could undermine the autocratic Saudi model of Muslim governance by embracing the Turkish model of multi-party democracy.
