The Brotherhood is trying to make the question of whether or not they should be in power a question of whether Muslims there are loyal to Islam or not. They are trying to rule out the idea that one can be a Muslim and prefer secular government to Sharia. It is interesting to note how Badie’s “haters of Islam” rhetoric here coincides exactly with the rhetoric that supposedly “moderate” Muslim spokesmen use against opponents of Sharia in the U.S. as well. If you oppose Sharia, you are hateful, bigoted, anti-Muslim, etc. You oppose the institutionalized oppression of women and non-Muslims, and the death penalty for apostates, and the rest? You’re just a hatemonger.
“Egypt’s Brotherhood leader blames bloodshed on ‘anti-Islam groups,'” from Xinhua, July 28:
CAIRO, July 28 (Xinhua) — Top leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Mohamed Badie blamed the recent bloodshed in the country on “haters of Islam” and the military, state-run Al-Ahram news website reported on Sunday.
“Those who have been killed are martyrs for the sake of freedom, ” said Badie, urging human rights organizations to hold a clear position on such incidents.
Badie held Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and the latter ‘s supporters responsible for the recent clashes and killings, condemning the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi as “a coup.” Over the past two days, 81 people were killed and about 800 others injured in clashes between the supporters of the MB- affiliated ex-president and police forces in Cairo, Alexandria, Fayoum and other governorates, according to official reports.
However, medical reports from the field hospital at Rabaa al- Adawiya Square in Cairo, where Morsi’s backers have been staging a massive open-ended sit-in since June 28, said at least 200 pro- Morsi protesters were killed and over 4,500 injured in Saturday clashes with security forces….