It's hard to miss the new headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Cairo neighbourhood of Moqattam – six stories towering over the dusty street with the distinctive Qur'an and crossed swords symbol emblazoned on the stucco facade. The decor is a medley of parquet floors, crystal chandeliers, swagged velvet curtains and gilded furniture.
In the lobby a team from the brotherhood's fledgling TV station is interviewing a bigwig as a sharp-suited, clean-shaven aide hovers fussily.
"After 100 days we are sure the revolution is on the right track," beams Issam el-Erian, the articulate and experienced spokesman for the organisation known in Arabic simply as the Ikhwan [brotherhood]. "In a few months we will have a new parliament and then a new constitution for the new Egypt."
The Moqattam HQ is a striking improvement on the brotherhood's shabby old premises in a downmarket Nile-side suburb – a reminder of the long years when it was banned, its activists routinely harrassed, detained and tried in military courts and aspiring MPs forced to stand as independents.
Now, everything exudes self-confidence and a sense that the world's oldest Islamist movement, which has long embraced democracy and eschewed the violence of the past, is poised to prosper in the post-Mubarak era. It is even planning to set up football teams to compete in the country's professional leagues, prompting silly jokes about yellow cards for any pulling of beards. » | Ian Black in Cairo | Thursday, May 19, 2011
