By Amr Elchoubaki The Muslim Brotherhood General Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef's recent comment that he considers President Hosni Mubarak a figure of authority who must not be contradicted, and calls for constitutional change questionable, raised many eyebrows. In response some within the Muslim Brothers embarked on a damage limitation exercise, insisting the statements had been reported out of context, while others simply contradicted Akef, issuing their own calls for political reform. The two positions reflect the generational divide within the organisation. Akef's statements were vintage Muslim Brotherhood, as were the comments of his deputy who, in Nahdet Masr of 13 January, spoke of "the effort to Islamicise society", adding that it was advisable to stay on the right side of "the powers that be". Propagation was, after all, the primary task identified by Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan El-Banna. Once society embraced Islamic values, he argued, the political system would follow. Only in 1984 did the group decide to contest elections. By 1987 it had become the mainstay of the Islamic Alliance. In 2000 it won 17 seats in the People's Assembly and a year later secured a sweeping victory in the Lawyers Syndicate elections. After taking half a century to make its political debut the group now has a new breed of politically experienced members, as practical and as obviously fallible as other politicians. As a result the organisation's image has changed from one led by preachers spreading the word of God to one represented by politicians seeking support for political positions. Whenever the older generation says something to placate the powers that be they are harking back to El-Banna's agenda of propagation. This explains why Muslim Brothers are at times happy to ally themselves with government supporters in professional unions. Akef's statements, then, express a long-standing policy, one that the organisation must shed, along with its mantle of divinity, if it is to emerge as a credible political group. The government, for its part, must allow all political forces, including the peaceful Islamist current, to form parties. It needs to co-opt, not exclude. This week's Soapbox speaker is an analyst at Al- Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
