التاريخ : الخميس 19 سبتمبر 2024 . القسم : Opinions
What did the nation lose with the absence of the Muslim Brotherhood?
Dr Hamza Zawbaa
Former spokesman for the Freedom and Justice Party
The conflict against the Muslim Brotherhood, established by Sheikh Hassan Al-Banna in February 1928, has been ongoing since its inception. This conflict has a strategic goal, interim objectives, diverse methods, various manifestations, and fluctuating durations on a broad scale and across different cultures. Despite its substantial significance, its impact has been minimal, given its considerable financial and political expense.
The war against the Brotherhood began when everyone, people and governments, knew that the Brotherhood called for change. Here, All hell broke loose. Change has a cost, a price, and a result, but people do not want to pay the price in advance while waiting for the result.
Governments interpreted the Brotherhood’s call as an attempt to remove them from power, but this was not the case. The Brotherhood urges governments to enhance power performance. They insist on this, offer advice, and engage because it is the people's role to guide their leaders or take control, rather than to assume leadership and manage the country's affairs. But the governments issued a different narrative to their people, claiming that the Brotherhood aims to isolate the rulers and undermine the people's loyalty to them. Consequently, they labeled the Brotherhood as Kharijites, advocating for their combat, exile, imprisonment, and deportation.
People also see that the cost of change is high, especially since what is required of these people is to advance the nation and move forward, not to rely on meekness, sleep, and laziness. The people saw that provoking and disturbing them was painful and that the results of change might not be seen overnight. Most probably, those people chose to remain as they were and accuse the Brotherhood of being rebellious, hasty, and seeking to harness people to serve their project.
The Brotherhood didn't despair despite their failures; They tried again and again, sometimes succeeding and other times failing. They reached out to governments to offer advice, represent the people's voice, and share insights on Sharia, religion, science, and past experiences. They distanced themselves from those who feared and competed with them, and instead aimed to defeat and crush them.
Some governments reacted positively to the Brotherhood's call and left them a space to work under the supervision of state agencies and the sight of opponents, supporters, and even neutrals. No respectable government was able to condemn what the Brotherhood was doing. Rather, some governments and presidents praised the Brotherhood and their role in society.
"The majority of people support the Brotherhood's initiative. Thank God, the initiative has gained traction among the people, leading to increased resentment among the nation's adversaries, who prefer the nation to remain passive, at ease, and unaware of what is being done to it."
When the July 3, 2013 coup took place in Egypt, the goal was not only to change the regime; Rather, it launched a war on the Muslim Brotherhood as an Islamic idea, and this is what the “coup plotter” repeatedly said in his attack on the idea. He was followed by a group of media figures, liberals, and secularists who were and still see the Brotherhood as an idea, a wall of resistance that prevents them from demolishing society, dismantling its parts, and undermining the established roots of Islam in Egypt and the region.
If we follow the steps taken after the coup in Egypt and some Arab countries, we will discover that the truth is not related to the Brotherhood, power, or the Brotherhood and the state. Rather, it is related to the Brotherhood as an Islamic idea intended to be completely uprooted from its roots. Otherwise, why all this?
Changing educational curricula to serve the concept of separating religion from society and politics.
Erase all Quranic verses that talk about the Jews and jihad.
Replacing the subject of national education with the Islamic religion in educational curricula.
Controlling the Ministry of Endowments; It is managed by security institutions such as State Security and National Security.
Changing the culture of imams and preachers by unifying the Friday sermon, which is written centrally and stipulates topics that serve the regime, not religion, authority, people, and society.
Punishing every imam or preacher who calls against the oppressors, corruptors, tyrants, and oppressors, and punishing those who violate this by dismissal or deprivation from assuming the pulpit.
Defending atheism and atheists. The “coup leader” adopted this approach and defended the right of atheists to speak out about what they believe.
Showing Sheikh Ali Jumaa and Sheikh Saad El-Din Al-Hilali in the media as religious references for the people, instead of the nation’s well-known authorities and sheikhs, such as Al-Ghazali and Al-Qaradawi.
Allowing the formation of institutions that attack Islam and Islamic references and attack the Companions, followers, and hadith narrators, similar to the (Takween) Foundation, which was formed from semi-intellectuals and semi-thinkers such as Zaidan, Islam Behairi, and Fatima Naout. Thank God; Signs of division and disintegration have emerged from within these institutions that resemble "harmful mosques."
Replacing Sultan’s sheiks with loyal sheiks and preachers.
The emergence of calls to absolve the ruler of every fault as if he were a prophet, and some of them have reached the point of issuing a fatwa that one must follow those in power even if they call for disbelief, God forbid - and another issued a fatwa leaving international relations and what is happening in the world to the rulers, and warned against talking about what is happening in Gaza because it stirs up strife.
Under the slogan of renewal, the nation’s imams and jurists were attacked, such as: Ibn Taymiyyah, Abu Hurairah, Al-Bukhari, Muslim, and even the honorable companions, may God be pleased with them.
The “coup leader’s" statement that it is not reasonable for 2 billion Muslims to threaten 8 billion people.
Hosting female artists and dancers to discuss religion and the importance of changing religious discourse.
Hosting homosexuals and lesbians under the slogan of equality and the right to live, progress and keep pace with the times.
This is just the beginning of efforts to challenge Islamic ideology, question religion, and weaken Sharia law, known as reforming religious discourse. If the Brotherhood had been in their positions without a declared war against them, they would have mobilized the nation and awakened it to confront all of these matters forcefully and decisively on the ground, as they did previously. They would have also confronted these deviations and intrusions that have affected religion and belief, and continue to do so, with the faithful.
The Brotherhood was fundamental in organizing movements to raise citizens' and union members' awareness of national and civic issues.
They transformed the unions into productive hubs for their members after they had been abandoned, turning them from places to play backgammon and eat dinner from adjacent kebab shops, as Dr Ahmed Fahim, the former governor of Qalyubia and head of the Medical Syndicate, told me on a beautiful election day in the nineties of the last century: My son, you, the Brotherhood, did something nice and changed the unions and made them look nice. You succeeded in convincing people to come and participate in the elections. We used to come to the union every week to play backgammon, eat kebab, and go home.
Unions evolved into exhibitions for the display and sale of goods and products, benefiting small business owners. This allowed young doctors to establish clinics, purchase household items through affordable payment plans, buy cars, go on pilgrimages to Hajj and Umrah, and receive economic treatment through a historic project initiated by the Doctors' Syndicate.
The Brotherhood effectively mobilized the professional street and raised awareness about the issues facing the Arab and Islamic nations. Conferences were held to advocate for the issues of various nations such as Palestine, Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. Donations poured in to support these peoples, and medical delegations were sent to these countries through their respective unions, with a significant contribution from Egypt.
In the presence of the Brotherhood, mosques were transformed into schools for education and memorization of the Qur’an, social reconciliation councils, rehabilitation centers for women with breadwinners, and clinics to treat the poor and simple.
All of that disappeared because of the global war on the Muslim Brotherhood. The question is how much Gaza and Palestine lost in their current war due to the Brotherhood's absence from the Egyptian and Arab streets. Or would the presence of the Brotherhood have changed anything? I mean, would it have prevented war, for example?
If the Brotherhood's movement was able to operate somewhat freely in Arab countries before the unfortunate coup of July 3, 2013, this would have made a significant impact during the more than nine months of brutal war against our people in Palestine, particularly in Gaza. I mention here, but not limited to:
Massive demonstrations certainly represent a pressure factor on decision-makers in the Arab and Islamic world.
Holding conferences and collecting millions in donations.
Sending well-known delegations to the Gaza Strip.
Sending medical and livelihood relief.
Pressure on foreign embassies in our country.
Engaging Brotherhood spokespersons to provide support for the Palestinian people through various media channels.
Submitting parliamentary questions and questioning foreign and defense ministers and others to take action to stop the war.
The parliamentarians demonstrate in front of foreign embassies and request to hold meetings with them to explain the seriousness of the situation. They also plan to go to the border, enter Gaza, and break the siege.
Demanding the withdrawal of the ambassador and the severing of relations with the Zionist entity.
Encouraging young people to write and present their points of view to support the cause.
Receiving and hosting speakers from Gaza and Palestine in general and subsidiary unions.
One fatwa from the Muslim Brotherhood and Muslim scholars was enough to intimidate the enemy and those who support it, and stir the stagnant waters in the Arab world and the Islamic nation.
"All the events I mentioned occurred before the coup. Similar events may have happened, possibly to a greater extent, if the Brotherhood had been given any room at all. "Removing the Brotherhood was a deliberate action to distance them from their nation's issues and even to separate the people themselves. Thus, attacking the nation’s issues and sanctities and separating them one by one with the support of rulers who had no regard for Islam or Muslims."
If the Brotherhood had been allowed to work without interference such as bans, pursuits, arrests, or treason campaigns, the war would have stopped after a few weeks. The enemy would have found itself fighting the nation and would have had no way to prevail against it. But they isolated Gaza from its people and supporters, cutting it off for nine months and continuing to do so. However, they have not and will not be able to defeat or subjugate it, God willing.
But if MB were in power, or if one of its symbols had ascended to power, he would have said the words of the martyr President Dr Mohamed Morsi (We will not leave Gaza alone), and the echo of his words would have reached the White House. He would have sent a message to negotiate in order to stop the war before the ink of his words dried up. May God have mercy on him. He also sent his Prime Minister to Gaza to advocate for and support the people of Palestine.
The Brotherhood always prioritized their nation's issues and consistently remained attentive. Despite facing hardships in their homelands, they never neglected the concerns of Islam and Muslims.