Truth Or Consequences -The Two Faces Of The Muslim Brotherhood. Part Two

In Part One of our examination of the Muslim Brotherhood, we outlined the history of the organization and detailed how they manipulate or distort their message to keep the West at bay. It is clear that the Brotherhood is keenly aware of the need to prevent non-Muslims from discovering the truth about their intentions. Despite the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood totally rejects the West, they are more than happy to take our money. They will be glad to accept every penny Obama is willing to give them and as long as Obama keeps sending money, they will pay lip service to Democracy, tolerance and equality for all. Sadly, lip service is all it will be and the people of Egypt who sincerely want Democracy and freedom may pay a terrible price.

The true intentions of the Brotherhood are far more sinister than the lovely speeches they gave in Washington last week. In addition to their clearly voiced dream of a worldwide, all powerful Islamic Caliphate, the Muslim Brotherhood shares another philosophy with their Islamist fellow travelers. They fervently hate Israel. They look forward to the day they can tear up the peace treaty with Israel. Rashad Bayoumi, Deputy Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, was candid about his utter contempt for the Jewish state when he said, “We do not recognize Israel at all. It is a raping, occupying, criminal enemy entity. I shall never tolerate for myself to sit with a criminal and we shall not deal with Israel under any circumstances.”

As the Brotherhood rises to power, they are establishing relationships with other nations that have genocidal ambitions towards Israel. Kamal al Halbawi, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, discussed the alliance between the Brotherhood and Iran, when he said, “The Egyptian nation supports and welcomes Iran’s anti-Zionist stance because the two nations view the formation of the Zionist regime on the Palestinian territories as a brutal act and against the interests of the regional nations and Muslims.” Halbawi went on to voice his hatred of Israel with this wish for the destruction of the Jewish state: “Both nations [Iran and Egypt] underline the necessity for Muslim nations to maintain solidarity and unity to annihilate this cancerous tumor (Israel)… Every night when I go to bed, I pray to wake up the next day to see Israel is wiped off the map.” Most people pray for health and happiness while the Brotherhood spokesman prays for another holocaust with six million more dead Jews.

In this article, we are showing you the philosophy of the Muslim Brotherhood in their own words. These are real quotes from the most powerful leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Based on their words, it is hard to imagine the Brotherhood peacefully co-existing with Israel. It is just as hard to imagine the people of Egypt, including 10 million Coptic Christians, all living as free and equal human beings, when the Brotherhood takes power. What we can imagine is 83 million human beings, 90% of whom are Muslim, living under 7th century religious law called Sharia, with all the suffering and tyranny that comes with any absolute dictatorship or religious theocracy.

In order to help our readers understand the dire possibilities, we asked world renowned terrorism expert, Raymond Ibrahim to comment on the future of Egypt under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mr. Ibrahim is the editor and translator of The Al-Qaeda Reader, the authoritative collection of the writings of Osama Bin Ladin and Ayman Zawahiri. In addition to being one of the world’s leading authorities on Radical Islam and Muslim terrorism, Raymond Ibrahim is the son of Coptic Christians from Egypt. He is fluent in Arabic and has studied the Qur’an and the important Islamic religious texts in the original language. He has also studied documents from many of the modern Islamist groups including the Muslim Brotherhood and he written many authoritative articles on the Brotherhood.

Here is my question for Raymond Ibrahim:

Wolff Bachner:

Recently the Muslim Brotherhood visited the Obama Administration in Washington, where they claimed to be peace loving advocates of honest government and Democracy. In view of your fluency in Arabic and your extensive knowledge of the Muslim Brotherhood, what do you think are their real plans for Egypt and their true intentions towards Israel and the West?

Raymond Ibrahim:

Of all Islamist organizations, the Muslim Brotherhood has mastered the dual arts of patience and perseverance—which is precisely why it still exists, from its humble origins in Egypt in 1928. Its members often stress that Sharia must be implemented gradually; and it is because of this slow approach, which allows societies time to acclimate, that it is influential.

For instance, according to Al Masry Al Youm, last December, Dr. Muhammad Badi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said: “When the Brotherhood started its advocacy [da’wa], it tried to awaken the nation from its slumber and stagnation, to guide it back to its position and vocation. In his message at the sixth caucus, the Imam [Hassan Banna, founder] defined two goals for the Brotherhood: a short term goal, the fruits of which are seen as soon as a person becomes a member of the Brotherhood; and a long term goal that requires utilizing events, waiting, making appropriate preparations and prior designs, and a comprehensive and total reform of all aspects of life…. The Imam [Banna] delineated transitional goals and detailed methods to achieve this greatest objective, starting by reforming the individual, followed by building the family, the society, the government, and then a rightly guided caliphate and finally mastership of the world.”

The next point to keep in mind is the organization’s name—the Muslim Brotherhood; not Egyptian Brotherhood, not Brotherhood of Man, but Muslim Brotherhood. The organization—contrary to the Obama Administration’s Director of National Intelligence’s naive assurances that the Brotherhood is “largely secular”—is first and foremost devoted to implanting Islamic principles. The problem here is that some Islamic principles—mainstream ones, as defined by Sharia law—are very much problematic. For instance, laws against apostasy (converting out of Islam), laws to keep non-Muslims, such as Egypt’s Christian Copts, in submission, are all part and parcel of mainstream, Sunni Islam, doctrinally and historically documented.

So how can one think that, once fully in power, the Muslim Brotherhood won’t begin to implement the totality of Sharia law? Because they say so? It is silly simply to take their word—especially so considering that other Islamic principles, like Taqiyya and Tawriya, teach that Muslims can lie and dissemble when they are vulnerable and not in power, as the Brotherhood still remains today. In short, one must look to the Islamic teachings that guide the Brotherhood, and which the group seeks to implement, to understand their ultimate goals, not just embrace the pro-democracy words they publicly utter because they sound good.

Final comment by Wolff Bachner:

Powerful forces are in motion in Egypt and the Middle East. The Muslim Brotherhood and their ultra conservative Muslim Salafi allies won 70% of the seats in Egypt’s Assembly. Despite repeated promises that they would not run a candidate for President of Egypt, the Brotherhood broke their word and changed their mind. They recently announced that Khairat el-Shater would be their candidate for President and within 24 hours, he became the overwhelming favorite in the Presidential election.

The Muslim Brotherhood is poised to take over every facet of the government of Egypt. In Arabic, they openly declare their intentions to have Sharia control every aspect of life. They talk of re-establishing the Jizya Tax for the Coptic Christians and they proclaim their intentions to end the peace treaty with Israel. Despite all the evidence, the Obama Administration seems determined to empower the Muslim Brotherhood. G*d help us all if he also gives them weapons and billions of U.S. dollars. Lets just hope that Obama doesn’t decide to make Jimmy Carter the Ambassador to Egypt as well.

Update: As of 3:00PM EST on April 14th, 2012, according to the Jerusalem Post, “The body overseeing Egypt’s presidential election disqualified 10 candidates from the race on Saturday, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Khairat al-Shater, former spy chief Omar Suleiman and ultra orthodox Salafi sheikh Hazem Salah Abu Ismail.” It should be noted that the Muslim Brotherhood was aware of this possibility and they have already chosen a replacement for al-Shater.

Part two of this article was written by Wolff Bachner in collaboration with Raymond Ibrahim.

Conflict, Manipulation And Fear – Politics In The Modern World is a Twice Weekly Column by Wolff Bachner about Government, Leadership and the Pursuit of Power.