http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0511/osama_muslim_brotherhood.php3
May 9, 2011 / 5 Iyar, 5771
Will Muslim Brotherhood succeed where Osama bin Laden failed?
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_AiXjZwvSgbI/TVLTHU8lfvI/AAAAAAAALMw/q2XDZhLMHWc/s3
20/MuslimBrotherhood-binLaden.gif
Will this be the upated logo of the Muslim Brotherhood?
The author of the bestselling books "Infidel" and "Nomad" examines the
terrorist group's goals and three factors working in their favor
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (TCSM) Like thousands across the world, I
celebrated the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden. He rejoiced in
killing. But bin Laden's murder is not the end of Al Qaeda. And even if Al
Qaeda were totally eliminated, the world would still have to deal with Al
Qaeda's progenitor.
Bin Laden was many things, but he was not original. He was himself
introduced to the doctrine of jihad by the late Palestinian theologian
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam. Significantly, before Azzam begun teaching bin Laden
and others in Saudi Arabia, he was a member of the Palestinian Muslim
Brotherhood.
Unlike Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood has evolved and learned the hard way
that the use of violence will be met with superior violence by state actors.
The clever thing to do, it now turns out, was to be patient and invest in a
bottom-up movement rather than a commando structure that risked being wiped
out by stronger forces. Besides, the gradualist approach is far more likely
to win the prize of state power. All that Khomeini did before he came to
power in Iran was to preach the merits of a society based on Islamic law. He
did not engage in terrorism. Yet he and his followers took over Iran - a
feat far greater than bin Laden ever achieved. In Iran the violence came
later.
The point is that fighting violent extremists is only part of the battle;
perhaps the easier part. The bigger challenge may be to deal with those
Islamists who are willing to play a longer game.
In the West, bin Laden's ignominious death in a Pakistani hideaway has
frequently been contrasted with the mass protests that have swept the Middle
East in recent months. Policymakers and commentators have drawn the
conclusion that the Arab Spring has triumphed over jihadism, setting the
region on a high road to democracy. This is too hasty a conclusion. Let's
take Egypt as an example.
Just how likely is it that Egypt will end up - after the inevitable
transition period - being ruled indirectly or directly by the Muslim
Brotherhood?
THREE FACTORS
The answer depends on a combination of three factors - two domestic and one
foreign:
1. The Brotherhood's strength within the Egyptian military, which is still
in charge of the country;
2. The absence of a formidable secular rival within Egypt;
3. The willingness of America and her allies to underestimate the ambitions
and the political skills of the Muslim Brotherhood.
For the moment it looks like all three factors are working in favor of the
Muslim Brotherhood.
Make no mistake: The Brotherhood are working to realize the vision
summarized in their motto: "Allah is our objective; the Prophet is our
leader; the Qur'an is our law; Jihad is our way; dying in the way of Allah
is our highest hope."
A series of concrete goals derived from this motto used to be available on
their website, though this is (perhaps not surprisingly) unavailable at the
present time. Fortunately, some of the contents have been republished at
http://mideastweb.org.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BROTHERHOOD'S GOALS
Among the "sub-goals" of the Muslim Brotherhood:
. Building the Muslim individual . with a strong body, high manners,
cultured thought, ability to earn, strong faith, correct worship, conscious
of time, of benefit to others, organized, and self-struggling character;
. Building the Muslim family: choosing a good wife or husband, educating
children Islamically;
. Building the Muslim society;
. Building the Khilafa (a form of union between all the Islamic states);
. Mastering the world with Islam.
True, the Brotherhood's leaders have insisted that they are committed to
democracy and the rule of law. But they will give an idiosyncratic twist to
these commitments.
I expect them to establish a political order based on the Sunni version of
an Islamic state. Based on lessons learned from their Islamist brethren
elsewhere, they will seek to establish a political order of shariah, or
Islamic Law. This would include a judicial system that does not question but
merely applies shariah law, a "virtue and vice" police to enforce the Sharia
lifestyle and an education and information system that seeks to indocrinate
the youth and build "the Muslim individual."
A department of state or caliphate would seek to establish and nurture
relations with allies while urging those allies to undertake joint economic,
diplomatic and military action against perceived adversaries. The
Organization of the Islamic Conference is one example of this. And note the
recent leading role that Egypt's interim government has taken in reuniting
Hamas and Fatah while excluding the U.S. and Israel from these activities.
How will such a political order in Egypt affect affairs at home and
relations abroad?
AT HOME
In order to "build the Muslim individual," the Muslim Brotherhood will take
control of the institutions of education, from preschool to university; they
will establish a curriculum of indoctrination geared toward instilling
submission and loyalty to the regime, rather than the educational
requirements that a modern economy needs to be productive and competitive in
a global economy. Graduates from such an education system will not only be
limited in their capacity to establish successful businesses; most graduates
will be more or less unemployable.
In order to "build the Muslim family," we will see the introduction and
enforcement of legislation (marriage, divorce and inheritance) that strips
women of their rights; their freedom of movement will be limited to the home
and a handful of occupations such as teaching, nursing/medicine and other
mono-gender occupations. The discretionary power of the male guardian over
his female relatives will become absolute. The age of marriage will be
lowered for girls to the time of their first menstruation. Flogging and
stoning will be the norm for alleged violations of Islamic sexual
sensibilities, which will mean an existence in perpetual terror for women
and homosexuals.
In order to "build the Muslim Society," basic freedoms such as the freedom
of conscience, speech, press and association will be heavily curtailed for
dissidents, moderates and particularly religious minorities. In Egypt, the
biggest religious minority is the community of Christian Copts. Already they
are the victims of discrimination, intimidation and occasional terrorist
attacks. Under a Muslim Brotherhood government, the repression will get
worse. Some will convert or pretend to convert to Islam to survive; more
will flee. In the worst case, the fate of the Copts could resemble that of
the Christian minority of Darfur.
ABROAD
In order to "build the Muslim state" (Umma), relations will improve in the
short term between Hamas, Iran's regime, Hezbollah and Turkey. Money will be
spent on empowering other Islamist organizations, creating alliances in the
region, the ultimate goal of which will be, of course, to eliminate Israel.
The peace treaty with Israel will either be gradually eroded or Israel will
be provoked into war. A Muslim Brotherhood government will also work within
the Organization of the Islamic Conference to weaken leaders and regimes of
member states that do not share the Islamist vision.
SAUDI ARABIA VS. EGYPT
The interesting thing to watch carefully will be the new Egypt's relations
with Saudi Arabia. For the West, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a place that
holds the world's largest oil reserves. For the Islamists who dream of a
Muslim caliphate, Saudi Arabia is the location of the two Holy Shrines of
Islam. The Muslim Brotherhood and its allies will work to take control of
the Hijaz (Mecca and Medina); if they realize this dream, the oil will be
simply a bonus.
The Muslim Brotherhood sees the Saudi monarchy as decadent, hypocritical and
traitors of Islam. In the coming months we shall see a dance of power as the
House of Saud and the Brotherhood seek to outmaneuver one other.
The prospects, in short, of an Egyptian government dominated by the Muslim
Brotherhood are as alarming as the prospect of a French government dominated
by the Jacobins in the early 1790s.
Repression at home will cause human rights violations, economic crisis and
an exodus of refugees, beginning with those who have money and a reasonable
level of education, deepening Egypt's poverty and destabilizing the region
and perhaps even Europe. Growing conflict with Israel could lead to war.
For all these reasons, Western policymakers should be exceedingly wary about
the influence of the gradualist jihadists on the events now unfolding in
Egypt and the rest of the Middle East. Bin Laden is dead. Al Qaeda may soon
follow him to the grave. But the doctrine of jihad lives on.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Brooks Isoldi, editor
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