Second, an audio article from NPR on the Egyptian Constitution. Egypt doesn't need a constitution that allows those in charge to run things however they want. Make a good strong one. The 2007 amendments are a good place to start. Are those amendments there to benefit the US, when we'd never want it for ourselves?
Now....
I just found this on Ikhwanweb.com. I am not pro MB, I am not anti MB. I'm just trying to make sense of the entire situation like anyone else. There is a lot of bad blood with people over the MB. They have perhaps, earned it from past endeavors. They have been around a long time, but anyone can change. I have a hope for all countries and organizations to evolve out of the middle ages and into the future. There is much change going on all around us and hopefully, the old ways of blood oaths and death, pain and suffering will melt away with education and getting to know each other the world over, through instant and massive communications. There are those who will hold out, who will refuse to change, who will want to hold on to their status quo. Even more so when religion is involved.
However, any group that expounds this kind of thing ("...we believe it is a moral duty to present views that are different from, or critical of Muslim Brotherhood views...") is not in my view, a closed off, fearful of outside influences, organization; perhaps they are even willing to listen to different opinions from their own, alter their course, when they lost sight of the path, and therefore need to be given at least some credence for trying. And so I present you this, in its unaltered form:
The Muslim Brotherhood Shows Its Cards
Below is an article by M. Zuhdi Jasser published on
Thursday in Family Security Matters, and citing a recent editorial by
Ikhwanweb on the resignation of Obama’s Muslim outreach advisor Mazen
Asbahi. Though we disagree with the arguments of Jasser, we believe it
is a moral duty to present views that are different from, or critical of
Muslim Brotherhood views, which can be found under section “Other
Views” where we provide a space for any constructive criticism, and post
our response when needed. As we publish this article in Ikhwanweb, we
request Family Security Matters to kindly give us a similar opportunity
to publish a response in its website to the points raised in Jasser’s
article, so we can establish a constructive debate and clear any
misunderstandings on both parts.
by
Khaled Hamza Salam,
Ikhwanweb Chief EditorThe Muslim Brotherhood Shows its Cards
by M. Zuhdi JasserFamily Security MattersAugust 14, 2008
Douglas Farah gives an excellent review yesterday of the domestic fallout from the Mazen Asbahi resignation. From the story reported by Glenn Simpson at the WSJ
to the predictable Islamist response of victimology and obfuscation,
this cycle has become all too familiar. A prominent Muslim is
scrutinized on his ideologies related to political Islam and the
ideologies of American Islamist organizations, only to have the American
Islamist organizations and their apologists respond with exaggerated
claims of Islamophobia and silence on the central question of ideology.
In
all that has been written or said about the Asbahi resignation- few
Muslims have commented on where the appointee actually stood in
reference to the agenda of political Islam and Islamist organizations.
Probably because few people know or are willing to address ideology when
it"s a lot easier to address victimization.
Back in October 2007, our American Islamic Forum for Democracy laid out simple ideological benchmarks
for government appointees about whom Americans have concerns about
ideological ties to Islamist organizations. At the time, similar
concerns were levied against Esam Omeish of the Muslim American Society
after he was appointed by Virginia Gov. Tim Kane. Omeish had a long
history of support of transnational Islamist organizations (i.e. HAMAS)
and membership in the MAS which multiple reports connect directly to the
Muslim Brotherhood (see this extensive 2004 investigative report from the Chicago Tribune).
Similarly, the media at the time generally ignored what are legitimate
ideological concerns of Americans (including many anti-Islamist Muslims)
over Islamists and their legal and transnational agenda. Instead they
focused on exaggerated claims of Islamophobia. Gov Tim Kane of Virginia appropriately accepted the resignation of Esam Omeish from his commission.
This
time around, Americans were again left with little understanding or
comfort about Asbahi"s stances regarding the agenda of political Islam
or the Islamist organizations and other apologetic organizations which
came to his defense.
As
our nation continues to try and develop a strategy against militant
Islamists, we cannot over stress the importance of our leaders and their
appointees having a grasp of the connection of political Islam to the
development of militant Islamists. Terror is only a means. The end game
of radical Islamists--the Islamic state-- needs to be confronted by all
of our political leaders, Muslim and non-Muslim, if we are ever to
address the root ideological causes of terrorism. Just being non-violent
is not good enough.
The Muslim Brotherhood Responds
A most interesting development in this whole story is an op-ed yesterday out of London, by Khaled Salam, chief editor of the Muslim Brotherhood"s English website (www.Ikhwanweb.com)
giving an Islamist MB take on the whole Asbahi affair. It looks like
the "Godfather" of global Islamist organizations, the MB, just could not
hold itself this time from weighing in on the changing climate of
acceptability of Islamist ideology in the United States.
It is very interesting that Salam and his MB elected to break a general
policy of silence on the domestic politics of American Islamist
organizations and come to the aid of their Islamist brethren in the U.S. by name. They must be feeling the pressure now and are globalizing the apologetics for Islamists in the U.S. (Note-they also reposted James Zogby"s Huffington Post piece). Even more interesting is the pains to which
Salam goes on behalf of the MB this time to dissociate the MB from any
of their brethren Islamists in the United States. It is instructive to
reproduce a good portion of Salam"s self-defeating rebuttal,
"The MB has repeatedly denied it has any representation in the U.S., nor does it maintain any links with any of the Islamic or charitable organizations in the U.S.
We have previously clarified that moderate and pragmatic Islamic
thought is not exclusive of the MB, however, there are many other
Islamic movements and organizations throughout the world that have the
same mainstream principles as the MB but not necessarily part of its
organizational structure. In this regard, the MB confirmed that it
absolutely has no organizational links, ties, or associations with any
of the Islamic organizations in the U.S., including but not limited to:
The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), The Islamic Society of North
America (ISNA), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), The
Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), the Muslim Student Association
(MSA), the Muslim American Society (MAS), and the International
Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)." There are however, ideological
similarities between the MB and most of above mentioned Islamic
organizations for the fact that these ideologies represent mainstream
moderate Islamic thinking. However, some of the founders or members of
these organizations were at some point in their lives either members or
sympathizers of the MB in their native countries before they migrate to
the U.S. or other countries.
During the 1960s, many members of the MB have fled Egypt to escape persecution by the Egyptian regime. Most of them settled in European countries or the U.S.
and benefited from the atmosphere of freedom and prosperity in these
countries and continued to practice and promote moderate Islamic
thought. Thus, several local Islamic organizations were created to help
Muslims integrate within their local communities and engage in
charitable work mandates by Islam. Islamic work worldwide was also
enriched by Muslim students who studied abroad and were keen on
practicing their religion. In the U..S, several of these local active
groups have merged and created large national organizations widely known
throughout the country. Most of the alleged ties between the MB and any
of the U.S. based organizations were extensively scrutinized during the Holy Land
Foundation trial and were found groundless by the juries in court case
that ended in mistrial. The prosecution in this case failed to establish
any evidence that link the MB as an organization with any of the
Islamic organizations in the U.S., but instead presented the court with
notes, diaries and minutes of meetings among individuals who were not in
any form or shape part of the MB and were not representing it, although
they might of shared its ideology as we previously alluded to.
The
so called Global Network of the Muslim Brotherhood is merely a
Hollywood fiction that only exists in the minds of those who created it
as part of their scare tactics to insight fears among the public and
instigate government hostilities. There is no "global network" for the
Muslim Brotherhood, but rather coordination among the different MB
chapters in various countries, in which the MB has formal presence or
representation, which clearly does not apply to the U.S.
This coordination among international MB chapters mainly revolves
around political issues, sharing experiences in the field of public
Islamic work and exchange new idea
It"s the Ideology not the Party!
Oh,
all right, now I get it. There"s clearly no association between the MB
and all these Islamist organizations! Hardly. At the risk of being
trite, if it looks like a duck, acts like a duck and sounds like a duck,
what is it?
Salam
must think his readers have no capability of independent thought. Very
few people I"ve ever met actually believe the MB has membership cards
that it gives to it members internationally. He, however, admits to
exactly what makes them brethren organizations—their shared
religio-political ideology and Islamist ideological mindset. He
dismisses their shared ideology as a manifestation of "mainstream
moderate Islamic thinking." Sorry, but this is not Islamic ideology (related to the religion). It is actually Islamist ideology
related to establishing Islamic states and the Islamization of
governments (i.e. establishment of governmental shar"ia). That is a
distinction which Islamists will never make in the west since it will
expose their long term goals while disrobing their false religious
cloak. Being a part of the MB does not mean carrying a card of the party
in 2008. It simply means following the political ideology of Islamism
(political Islam) in your native country as taught by the forefathers
and legacy of the MB ideology over eighty years ago by Sayyid Qutb and
Hassan al-Banna and all of their succeeding protégés. Salam and his MB
leadership can deny the connections of organizations like CAIR and MAS,
from here to eternity, in order to help their brethren, but until we
begin seeing these American Muslims join our effort to frontally counter
Islamist movements and their ideologies of political Islam, they will
remain part of the Islamist brotherhood whether they publicly accept it
or not. The inconsistencies above in Salam"s denial are evidence enough.
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