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The Muslim Brotherhood (Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimoon) was the first modern Islamic terrorist organization. Founded in 1928, it is the the direct forefather of both Hamas and Al-Qaeda. In its Egyptian homeland it has had a checkered history -- and is at present banned. Through it all, its goal has always remained the same: to reestablish Sharia rule in Egypt and elsewhere, whether by peaceful or violent means. And now, despite the best efforts of the Mubarak regime (which, like the Nasser and Sadat regimes before it, has tried to keep the Ikhwan at bay with a combination of force and concessions) to limit its influence, it is gaining strength in Egypt -- through elections.
Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: "Islamists Build Egyptian Parliamentary Bloc," from Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood built its strength in Egypt's parliament this weekend, winning 29 seats in elections despite restrictions on voting and arrests of its supporters, official results showed on Sunday.The Islamist group has now won 76 seats -- more than five times the number it held in the outgoing chamber. About a third of parliament's 444 elected places have still to be decided.
The officially banned Brotherhood is contesting only a third of the seats, not posing a challenge to control over parliament by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), which won 75 places in voting on Saturday, bringing its total to about 195.
But the Brotherhood's wins have shown the weight of political Islam as the strongest opposition force in Egypt and caught the government and NDP off guard.
The authorities have curbed leeway given to the Islamists in the early stages of voting. Police restricted voting and detained 860 of the Brotherhood's activists on Saturday -- the fourth of six days of legislative elections.
Riot police cordoned off polling stations in Brotherhood strongholds, either preventing anybody from voting or allowing only a trickle of people to cast ballots.
``The aim was to prevent voters from reaching the ballot boxes and to affect the result,'' Brotherhood deputy leader Mohamed Habib told Reuters. ``But with perseverance the people and the Brotherhood were able to overcome the barriers.''
Posted by Robert at November 27, 2005 6:54 AM
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Whether Mubarak supports the Muslims Brotherhood or not, he still supports jihadists and terrorism. Just look at what's happening to the Coptic Christians in Egypt. He's done nothing to try to stop the persecution and oppression of Christians in Egypt, so why should we care whether or not he's trying to suppress the MB? If it's not the MB, it's some other group. They're all muslim, so they're all going to be like that. He's just putting on a show, to try to convince us that he's progressive, and trying to change the image of islam. It's all just another islamic trick. When he offers equal rights and freedoms and protection to the Coptics, then, MAYBE, we'll start to think he might be useful.
Posted by: pastor_matt023![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 27, 2005 9:40 AM
March. Is. Democracy. On. The.
Posted by: Hugh at November 27, 2005 10:09 AM
The coptics in Egypt need to arm up and start having way more kids.
Posted by: parainvesta at November 27, 2005 10:33 AM
Way too late for that.
They need to move to the US instead of their Egyptian Muslim brethren.
Posted by: treehugger at November 27, 2005 10:50 AM
How will they make it through our stringent immagration policy? ;)
Posted by: kevin at November 27, 2005 3:29 PM
If I recall correctly, it was George W. Bush, speaking through his more educated mouth, Condoleeza Rice, that pestered Mubarak to open up elections to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Actually the origins of the Muslim brotherhood go back to the 19th Century and Jamal Edinne a Persian, who adopted the name Al Afghani to obscure his origins. The man was an active agent of the Crown, and the Muslim Brotherhood was the result of active efforts by the Crown to promote a pan Islamist movement, versus a pan Arab nationalist movement. Evidently they thought that they could more easily deal with a region which was united along religious lines (after all England at that time was also religious), but not with nationalists who would naturally resent the colonial aspirations and policies of the Crown.. and then France and Russia jumped aboard the wagon, and America (always ignorant of the lands outside it's borders) jumped aboard in the mid 20th Century.
The Brits thought that they controlled Jamal Edine and Ibn Saud, but it was actually the other way around.. the price of arrogance and not reading Sun Tzu.
Posted by: Nariz at November 27, 2005 3:58 PM
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, grandfather of Triq Ramadan. Its principles, of course, as opposed to its formal organization, are as old as Islam itself.
Posted by: Hugh at November 27, 2005 10:49 PM
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