Al Qaeda slips further from political goals
Egypt's security state has pushed Islamic radicals who once reigned in neighborhoods like Imbaba to the fringes.
from the September 11, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
"The principle thing that hurt these groups was government repression," says Yehia Fikri, a columnist for Cairo's Al Dustur newspaper. "Without that, they'd certainly still have some strength. But the other side of the coin is that a moderate group like the Muslim Brotherhood was able to absorb their supporters."
The government's tough methods
Similar government tactics have been used in response to a series of terrorist attacks inside Egypt in the past three years. But from the government's perspective, that approach, which has at times been condemned by international groups such as Human Rights Watch, has been effective.
Last year, the government released about 1,000 GI members from jails after the group's leaders forswore violence, some going so far as to label Mr. Sadat, a man whose murder they'd supported, a "martyr."
This year, the government has released more than 100 members of Islamic Jihad from jail after the group's founder, Imam Abdul Aziz al-Sharif, released excerpts of a forthcoming book renouncing violence in the name of religion. That was a sharp turnaround from Mr. Sharif's last book, "Foundations of Preparation for Jihad," which he wrote after fighting with Mr. Zawahiri and bin Laden in Afghanistan, and which has been described by some as the "Jihaddis' Bible."
None of this is to say that Islam does not remain a potent political force in the region, especially since most of the Arab world's powerful opposition parties are generally Islamist in nature.
But these groups, typified by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, have sought to work from within existing systems, moving slowly to build support and sending out a message of gradual change.
"The whole notion of what it means to be radical leaves most people in the world feeling uncomfortable," says Mr. Rashwan. "The Brotherhood has worked long term and focused on people's daily problems and needs, they don't have the big, dangerous dreams of revolutionaries so that's where the support ends up."
To be sure, Mr. Mullah says, Imbaba today is a far more polarized place than in his youth. "Everyone got along until the '70s. Before that, my father's best friend in the area was a Jew. Thirty years ago, the secular leftists were the major opposition in the area. But people's economic desperation, their lack of opportunities, have left them with nothing but Islam to cling to."
Mr. Fikri agrees that a violent Islamist takeover in Egypt is next to impossible, but he worries that further waves of Islamist violence are possible, especially with the state's tactic of jailing and harassing members of the Brotherhood.
"New violent groups could resurface if the current wave of repression does not stop and democratic mobilization doesn't make any concrete gains," he says. "The problem is if the door is closed to reform completely, which seems to be the direction, the Brotherhood could lose control of some of its members."
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