HINDUSTAN TIMES: "We are not fighting for an Islamic state," declares Rashad Al-Bayoumi, Brother No. 2 at the Jama'a Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimeen. And with that, the first deputy to Brother No. 1 El Morshed (the murshid, or guru) Mohammad Badie, directly addresses the gravest concern western nations harbour over Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.
There are reasons to take the words seriously. The Ikhwan is the best-organised social and political outfit in the most populous Arab nation. Its leading ideologue of the 1950s and 60s, Sayyid Qutb, inspired the top leaders of Hamas and al Qaeda (though Qaeda No. 2, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, later broke with the Brotherhood's moderate, non-violent stance). In 1992 the Ikhwan proved its social strength by delivering the most efficient medical help following Cairo's devastating earthquake.
And, though the party itself is banned politically, 88 of its members independently made it to Egypt's 2005 parliament - the largest ever opposition group, representing a fifth of the legislature. Many expect them to re-emerge as a large political force in a free election.
Al-Bayoumi doesn't give out membership numbers but says the Hosni Mubarak government overstated in its claim of 1.5 million. Alaa Al-Aswany, novelist and opposition leader of the once-popular Kefaya movement that included the Ikhwan, says it wouldn't be larger than 300,000-400,000.
But the declamation of a religious state isn't the entire picture. "We do want to implement the sharia in its truest form," adds Al-Bayoumi, a 76-year-old doctorate of geology.
Sobhy Saleh, a lawyer and former MP, explains with the help of the country's soon-to-be-amended constitution. My translator Hamdy Kenawy reads out the second article: "Islam is the religion of the state, Arabic its language, and the sharia is its main source of legislation." Sitting in his Alexandria office behind a glass plaque bearing the Ikhwan's banned logo of a Koran and two crossed swords, the feisty 57-year-old member of the Brotherhood's 115-member central shura (consultation) council says, "We do not have to amend this bit of the constitution - we just have to implement it properly."
Given that the sharia has been implemented variously in different countries, which model should Egypt follow? "We have comments to make on each one of them," says Saleh. What about Saudi Arabia, the richest of the Sunni states? "It's the worst, the most corrupt," spits Saleh. >>> Amitava Sanyal, Hindustan Times | Saturday, February 12, 2011
