Egypt keeps Muslim Brotherhood boxed in
Cairo is open to political reform, but won't include Islamic group.
(Page 2 of 3)
According to Mr. Akef, the Brotherhood has evolved a fairly unusual view of Islamic law. Most Islamic orthodoxy holds that apostasy - leaving Islam - is a punishable crime, and is never to be allowed. But asked if his idea of freedom includes allowing a Muslim to choose another religion, or no religion at all, he says, "of course."
Yet almost every non-Islamist in Egypt fears them. "I'm not ready to sacrifice my nation to these people,'' says Said al-Kimmi, an author and historian of Islam who says he favors democracy for Egypt, but limits on religious parties.
"They may say to you they support democracy, but if you look at the history of their beliefs, democracy really doesn't fit with Islam. The sharia is antidemocratic - the rights of women would be attacked and they'd cut people's throats. If my choices are Mubarak's corrupt regime or them, I'll stick with what we have now."
While the secular democracy activists of Kifaya are a narrow and elite strata in Cairo and a few other large cities, the Brotherhood's roots run deep throughout the country. There are 7,000 official chapters and a network of mosques and charities that run schools, provide medical services, and give aid to the poor.
No one knows precisely how many members the movement has, but a Brotherhood rally against the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 drew more than 100,000 protesters. Prime Minister Nazief says he thinks that 10 percent of Egyptians support the group, at most.
Ali Abdel Fatah, the Brotherhood's burly and gregarious chief organizer in Egypt's second city of Alexandria, laughs at the quandary of his organization. He says the Brotherhood is doing everything in its power to convince Egyptians of its commitment to democracy, but concedes that it's difficult to disprove allegations that every democratic promise is part of a conspiracy to trick the people and seize power.
"The Brotherhood should be the ones who are afraid,'' he says. "We haven't had the trial of power, we aren't the ones who've formed military courts to jail opponents, executed peaceful activists, destroyed Egypt's civil society, or transformed the state into a series of personal fiefdoms. All we want is an open and fair system."
Mr. Fatah grew up in a secular household, and became religious at college in the 1970s, at first under the influence of the Gamma Isalmiyah, a more radical group that favored political violence. Like many in his generation he was disillusioned with secularism after Egypt's defeat in its 1967 war with Israel.
By the late 1970s, he'd grown closer to the Brotherhood because of what he said was its more humane and open approach. "For instance, if someone was drunk in public, the Gamma would want to have him whipped. The Brotherhood, instead, would want to talk to him and explain [that] what he's doing is wrong."
Fatah and other Brotherhood leaders point to their management of Egypt's professional syndicates as evidence that they're committed to democracy. The syndicates - quasiofficial professional groups that are a cross between unions and licensing organizations - hold periodic elections. Members pay fees to the syndicates, which run both charities and pension plans for their members.
