Sheikhs Against The Brotherhood: Nobody Has A Monopoly On The Divine
03 March 2013By Mshari Al-Zaydi
In Tunisia, the press reports that there is a
significant difference of opinion between Hamadi
Jebali, "star" of Ennahda, and the party's founder and
leader Rachid Ghannouchi.
This dispute, regarding the approach to governing, has
reached an impasse after Jebali's initiative to form a
"technocrat" government to replace the authoritarian
Ennahda-dominated government was blocked. "Sheikh"
Rachid Ghannouchi stubbornly rejected this proposal,
frankly stating that "we will not leave power." Jebali,
angered by Ghannouchi's frighteningly authoritarian
stance, submitted his resignation as prime minister,
and some now believe that he intends to establish a
new Islamist political party, one with a more liberal
and flexible approach than Ennahda.
Before Jebali there was Sheikh Abdel Fattah Mourou,
who served as Ennahda's counterbalance to Ghannouchi.
He previously called on Ghannouchi to step down as
party leader in order to save the Islamist movement.
However Mourou later retracted this statement after
Ghannouchi publicly praised him, although we don't
know what the Ennahda leader said to him behind closed
doors to convince him to soften his position.
These events bear a resemblance to some previous
developments in Egypt, where Rifaq Abu Al-Alaa
followed the same path as Essam Sultan and Mohamed
Mahsoub and others, and left the embrace of the mother
Muslim Brotherhood organization to craft a political
platform of their own. The entrance of these figures
into the political arena as independents was said to
be at the behest of the Brotherhood itself, and at the
initiative of the organization's younger members at
that. However the Muslim Brotherhood later rejected
these political platforms, leading the youth to form
their own party in 1996. However, the government's
political commission refused to recognize this
political party, and this became a high-profile case
in Egypt, particularly as the party applied for a
political license on three separate occasions and met
with refusal each time. The party was eventually able
to officially register itself following the ouster of
the Mubarak regime in 2011 under the name Hizb Al-Wasat
Al-Jadid otherwise known as the Wasat (moderate)
Party.
Around this time, affiliation to the Wasat Party, or
merely communicating with it, was grounds for
expulsion from the Muslim Brotherhood organization,
despite its similar ideological, educational, and
political activist model. Recently, following the
so-called Arab Spring in Egypt, senior Muslim
Brotherhood figure Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh took the
decision to run for president, against the wishes of
the mother organization. He therefore jumped, or was
pushed, out of the Brotherhood and formed his own
political party, increasing the number of his
followers and supporters. Today, he continues to
attempt to promote himself as a moderate alternative
to the Brotherhood, as an Islamist with a liberal and
nationalist flavor.
These are the most prominent Egyptian cases, but there
are many trying either to jump ship from the
Brotherhood, or win over some of the organization's
support base by competing with it over religious
slogans, particularly following the Brotherhood's
missteps after taking power. In fact there are some
Egyptian parties who are seeking to take the
Brotherhood's place, particularly in terms of the
organization's primary activities of Islamic Dawa
(Call) and discourse, away from direct political
action. This is what former Brotherhood leadership
figure Kamal El-Helbawi, and former Brotherhood Deputy
General Guide Mohamed Habib are currently trying to
do.
Note that we are only talking about defections from
the Brotherhood organization, rather than ideology or
approach that it embraces. The Muslim Brotherhood is
not the only organization that utilizes religious
slogans for political mobilization and to attract the
general public. There are other groups such as the
Salafi political groups and Hizb ut-Tahrir that are
urgently calling for the establishment of a caliphate.
There are also divisions and differences of opinion
within each trend that sometimes reach the point of
violence and even the exchange of accusations of
treason. It is sufficient to read what the Salafists
say about the Muslim Brotherhood and what the
Brotherhood say about the Salafists, not to mention
what Hizb ut-Tahrir say about them both, to see the
ferocity of these disputes.
The question that is raised here is: Which of the
above represents the "true" Islamic viewpoint?
Speaking for myself, they are all mere mortals and
nobody has a monopoly on the divine, regardless of
what slogans one shouts.
The deciding factor is evidence, the results on the
ground, and how this benefits the people, rather than
physical manifestations of religiosity and the
repetition of the same tired speeches and sermons.
A Saudi journalist and expert on Islamic movements
and Islamic fundamentalism as well as Saudi affairs.
Mshari is Asharq Al-Awsat's opinion page Editor, where
he also contributes a weekly column. Has worked for
the local Saudi press occupying several posts at Al -Madina
newspaper amongst others. He has been a guest on
numerous news and current affairs programs as an
expert on Islamic.
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EsinIslam.Com
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