Is The Muslim Brotherhood is just another Secular Organization?

Egypt’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood movement is “largely secular.” — James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence

When the so called “democracy” movement was in the news this February and the TV cameras and commentators were focusing on the demonstrators in Tahrir Square I wrote; “Egypt’s Lenin factor is the Muslim Brotherhood. While they did not begin this unrest they will surely take control of events as Lenin did in 1917. They are the real adults in this mix of groups. They are the ones with the money, the organization and desire to take control of Egypt. Mubarak, like his predecessors Nasser and Sadat were able to throttle the Brotherhood. Once Mubarak is gone no leader, ElBaradei included, will be able to hold the Muslim Brotherhood back just as Kerensky’s Provisional Government could not hold back Lenin’s Bolsheviks. The brotherhood will claim to be for peace and the ballot until they gain the power then they will use the guns. This is what happened in Iran.”

“The Muslim Brotherhood is a very dangerous organization. Their belief is: The Quran and Sunnah constitute a perfect way of life and social and political organization that God has set out for man. Islamic governments must be based on this system and eventually unified in a Caliphate. The Muslim Brotherhood's goal, as stated by Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna was to reclaim Islam’s manifest destiny, an empire, stretching from Spain to Indonesia. It preaches that Islam enjoins man to strive for social justice, the eradication of poverty and corruption, and political freedom to the extent allowed by the laws of Islam. They also have a passionate hatred for Jews and Israel.”

Click here to read my blog post of February 4^th.

It did not take long for the Muslim Brotherhood to begin exerting its influence in Egypt. The Jerusalem Post reports; “Officials of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s leading Islamic group, have called for the establishment of a Saudi-style modesty police to combat “immoral” behavior in public areas in what observers say in another sign of a growing Islamic self-confidence in the post-Mubarak era.”

“In the political sphere, the Brotherhood led a successful drive to get voters to approve a package of constitutional amendments. On the street level, at least 20 attacks were perpetrated against the tombs of Muslim mystics (suffis), who are the subject of popular veneration but disparaged by Islamic fundamentalists, or salafis. After some initial hesitation, Islamic leaders have publicly praised the revolution.”

“This is incredibly worrying to many Egyptians,” Maye Kassem, a political scientist at the American University in Cairo (AUC), told The Media Line. “The salafis were always undercover in Egypt and now they are emerging as a political force. They are getting too vocal.”

“Newly freed from the political strictures of the Mubarak era, Egypt has turned into a battleground between those who envision a liberal, secular state and those who advocate various shades if Islam. The conflict mirrors those taking place elsewhere in the region. In Bahrain, unrest has evolved into a conflict between Sunni- and Shiite Muslims and the US has pulled back from supporting Libyan rebels over concerns they are dominated by Islamists.”

“Issam Durbala, a member of the Brotherhood's Shura council, told the Egyptian daily Al-Masri Al-Youm on Sunday, that he supported the establishment of a virtue police, or Hisbah, which had existed in medieval Islamic societies to oversee public virtue and modesty, mostly in the marketplace and other public gathering spaces.”

“But he seemed to stop short of advocating a force along then lines of that which operates in Saudi Arabia today under the auspices of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. It enforces a dress code, separation of sexes and the observances of prayer times.”

"The new police must have a department with limited authorities to arrest those who commit immoral acts,” Durbala told the newspaper.”

“Nagib Gibrail, a Coptic attorney and head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights, said the Egyptian revolution had been kidnapped by Islamist radicals.

"There are areas in Egypt where Christian girls can't walk outside after eight o'clock in the evening for fear of being kidnapped," Gibrail told The Media Line. "Moderate Muslims should be more scared than Christians. It is very worrying that the military regime hasn't issued a statement declaring Egypt a secular state."

Now with our kinetic military action in Libya attention, for the most part, has been drawn away from Egypt. Even the “rebels” in Libya are complaining about the lack of support from NATO as a stalemate is developing between the rebels and the Gaddafi loyalists. The Wall Street Journal reports that frustration is growing among the rebels over the lack of what they call adequate NATO air support. The WSJ reports; “Rebels sharpened their criticism of what they said was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's failure to provide effective air support, as pro-Gaddafi forces drove eastward Tuesday, bombarding newly reorganized rebel forces with artillery.

The setback was particularly frustrating for opposition leaders who handed responsibility to professional military units in a bid to tip the battle in the rebels' favor.

In Libya, rebel forces had held their lines on the outskirts of Brega for three days, since they counterattacked the city Friday night.

But on Tuesday morning they woke up to a withering counterattack by Col. Gadhafi's forces that drove them out of the city. By noon, the most forward rebel positions appeared to sit about 12 miles east of the city.

Two distinctive rebel efforts appeared to be unfolding. Organized military units traveled unpaved desert roads and stretched out along an expanded front line, while rebel volunteers continued to work primarily along the paved main highway. Poor coordination and occasional tensions hampered the parallel forces.

Frustrated rebel fighters looked to the skies for support as they retreated from Brega.

Rebel fighter Abdallah Daboob, who comes from the oil town, accused NATO of backing off amid rumors of stepped up diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

"Ever since Gadhafi started looking for a way out, negotiating for an end, NATO has backed off," he said. "Our question for NATO is this: are you with us or against us?

We do not understand the goals and aims of Islam. Soon the Libyan rebels will be receiving arms from other states for the oil they have. Even as I write this a tanker is docked in Benghazi taking on oil that will be sold on the market and the money going to buy arms and ammunition. No doubt these arms will soon be stashed away for further use by al-Qaeda in some jihad in the region. Even if Gaddafi is removed from power these rag tag rebels will succumb to a takeover by an Islamic government in the same manner as Iran and the way Egypt seems to be going. When you combine this with what is happening Yemen and the recent barbaric actions of our Afghan “allies” a pattern is emerging.

We must rethink the way we deal with these Islamic nations and stop placating one side just because we don’t like the other. The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily our friend.