As the Arab World falls to the Muslim Brotherhood, the new phase of jihad may look soft, but is just as evil.
The Obama administration and other Western politicians welcomed the results of the recent elections in Tunisia and Egypt and expressed their happiness to cooperate with the Islamists. They used the elections gains made by the various Islamic groups as an excuse for their decision. Warm relations and cooperation between America and the Islamists are far from new; such has been the traditional state of affairs for decades. This piece of information may come as a surprise to many readers, but it is the truth and there is no secret about it.
A few decades ago, nobody would have predicted the recent successes made by the Muslim Brothers and their allied Islamic groups. My generation was brought up to look at the Muslim brothers with suspicion and to think of them as backward people who can only be nice to each other. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the Arabs were generally liberal especially in counties like Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Motivated by a sense of national pride after their recent independence, the Arabs were progressively forward and aspired to a bright future to catch up with the developed world after centuries of hibernation under the ottoman rule. In such an ambitious environment, the Muslim Brotherhood was considered as an unwanted backward force.
Since the 1940s, the image of the Muslim Brotherhood has been tarnished with a history of violence, intimidation and political assassinations. In 1954, they attempted to assassinate Nasser, the young charismatic Egyptian leader, which prompted him to turn against them and ban their movement. Disgraced and stigmatized, the group had to go through some difficult years as they disappeared from the political arena during Nasser’s life. However, they managed to survive, thanks to their good friends and allies. America, Britain and Saudi Arabia provided support and refuge to the Brothers to help them to stop the rising nationalist drive in the Arab world. Top leaders of the Muslim Brothers, like Saed Ramadan, the grand father of Tareq Ramadan, were given refuge in Switzerland. With such a tarnished image, the Muslim Brothers failed to gather any public support compared to other political parties, like the Baath party, which dominated Iraq and Syria.
After Nasser’s death, the new president, Sadat, adopted a pro-American policy. Allured by a need to counterbalance the influence of his socialist opponents, Sadat lifted the ban on the Muslim Brothers and encouraged their activities. He later paid the price of his blunder with his life but his fatal mistake was the origin of the evil we see today.
We are now reaping the results of years of Islamic indoctrination and radicalization, which seems to have paid off. Although the Muslim Brothers were not the driving force behind the ‘Arab spring’ but they are the main beneficiaries as they are set to take control of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
They also made significant gains in other Arab countries like Yemen, Morocco and Jordan; future governments in those countries are likely to be formed by members of the group. With the uncertainties surrounding the situation in Syria, the future of the Arab World seems very bleak indeed.
With the Muslim Brothers in charge in the Arab world, a new phase of jihad may be looming.
When the Brothers are in office
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 on an ambitious dream of ruling the world, but so far they never managed to rule a single Arab country. The group spent its time in opposition or, in some countries, as a banned political group. Thanks to the Arab spring, they are now closer than ever to control not one country but the entire Arab World.
It is interesting to note that the Muslim Brothers never changed their aim or slogan. Their aim is the establishment of an Islamic superstate, or Khilafa, while their slogan defines their strategy “the Quran is our guide, jihad is our way”. It is important to keep in mind that it is the establishment of Khilafa, which is the goal while terrorism (jihad) is only a means to achieve that goal. Once established, the Islamic Khilafa will continue its own jihad until the ultimate goal which is the complete mastership of the world.
I have no doubt that the Muslim Brothers were always sure of their eventual success because both Allah and Muhammad promised them victory. But I do have doubt that any of the Muslim Brothers, including their leaders, thought they could achieve their aims in a century or two. By establishing the Brotherhood group, the Muslim founders were simply making a start and doing the duty that every good Muslim should aspire to do.
Once in charge of the governments, the Muslim Brothers will have more tools at their disposal to push their agenda. It is possible that they may reduce their reliance on terrorism as it may become embarrassing to them or even counter productive. Although a good news in the short term, it is bad news on the long term as such strategy may speed up the establishment of Khilafa.
From Military Jihad to Soft Jihad
In theory, the war on terrorism should be one of the easiest wars to win because it is a war between the most feeble and most powerful. Throughout history terrorism never worked because of the rational fear of reprisal; the other side would hit back in kind or even harder. That is a predictable behavior when humans follow their instincts and common sense. But that is a wrong way according to modern westerners, who prefer to be guided by the philosophy of political correctness. Accordingly, they have eliminated all options of effective response against terrorism and replaced it with a complicated system that is designed not to work, just in case it offends the enemy or breaches their human rights.
The so-called war on (Islamic) terrorism, as it was conducted, was destined to fail from the beginning. The dissociation of the word “Islamic” from terrorism highlighted the West’s reluctance to face the enemy and fight a serious war. Otherwise, it is beyond belief that after 11 years and over 18,000 terrorist attacks committed by Muslims in the name of Islam and not condemned by a single demonstration by Muslims, the West still cannot figure out Islam’s association with those acts of terrorism!
As I am writing this article, I am appalled by the latest terrorist attacks in Nigeria that claimed hundreds of casualties. The reporting by the main stream media is outrageous to say the least. They seem to be more concerned in distracting the readers’ attention from figuring out the association between Islam and those killings.
If we in the West can have trouble in identifying hardcore Muslim terrorists, who openly advertise their intention to destroy us, we will certainly have more trouble in the next phase of jihad.
The Muslim brothers are likely to pursue a soft and stealth form of jihad. They are known to practicing a confusing strategy where some of them say something while others do exactly the opposite. For example, after Al Zarkawi’s death, some leaders of the Brotherhood visited his family in Jordan to express their condolences – a move that was cheered by the family and the Islamists everywhere, but criticized by the government. Meanwhile, a spokesman from the organization declared that the move did not represent the Muslim Brotherhood’s policy and was only a personal gesture by the individuals concerned.
The Muslim Brothers may say whatever the West wants to hear, but when it comes to action they will follow their agenda. They will change their color to blend with the environment, until they get stronger and then they will show their true color. They believe that the goal justifies the means. When they were weak in the 1950s and 1960s, their members were largely western-looking guys. Even their famous leader, Sayed Qutub, had no beard and wore western clothes. Their women were not necessarily covered with hijab, including their leader’s daughter. As they got stronger, the same people moved slowly to force hijab and then Burqa.
Let us just hope that our concerns are unfounded and we do not fall easy prey to this soft but evil form of jihad.
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