Lying Tongues - Cleansed Hands "We have come with pure water from heaven to cleanse away the impurities of political action." This was the announcement made by the last Murshid (Leader or Guide) of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie, in Egypt. The statement as such did not really come from nowhere. The group has had the habit of distorting religion, and historically has always alleged adherence to ethical attitudes. That is why these words were never really alien to them. Members of the group have been nourished by the same ideas of superiority. Brotherhood historians have recorded that their initial objectives were related only to religion and morals. At the start, they maintained these objectives for close to ten years. The first three conferences they held, in 1933, ‘34 and '35, did not discuss national issues or adopt a stance regarding the occupation. The conferences did not even discuss socioeconomic matters that were a priority for the public at the time. The Brotherhood itself declared that its activities were limited to serving religious and moral goals. This trend lasted until the beginning of World War II. Islam Religion and State The founder Al Banna was keen on projecting an image of the Muslim Brotherhood group as a Dawah (advocacy) association with a methodology of "Wisdom and Good Advice". This does not mean that that the group was not interested in politics, like everyone else was at the time. It meant that the Brotherhood was careful not to portray itself as a political group and was intent on formally declaring its neutrality with regard to all the parties and governments and confirming that it was not a rival to any of them. Al Banna did not place the Brotherhood in a confrontational position with any government or party. This approach was confirmed by Richard Mitchell who stated that up to 1939, it was not strange for a member of the Brotherhood to also be a member of the Wafd Party or any other party. In 1938, once the Brotherhood group had grown and had acquired greater public influence, Al Banna changed his usual stance of assuring the parties and governments that the Brotherhood was apolitical and that its mission was to give advice and to preach. He declared that the group would exercise its calling "Not only through Preaching, but also through Struggle and Action." He announced that the Brotherhood would quarrel with any political parties or leaders who did not uphold Islam and work to establish its rule and recover its glory. For the first time, Al Banna coined the famous Brotherhood motto: "Islam is a religion and a state, a Mushaf (the Holy Book, the Quran) and a sword, neither can be separated from the other." With this new slogan, Al Banna declared that the Brotherhood would exercise political and ideological pressure on the parties and governments of Egypt; he did not at first declare it to be a political organization whose aim was to take over the government. He was preparing the ground for the group to enter the political arena. The 1939 General Brotherhood Conference marked the real start of the group's entry into the tumultuous political life Egypt was experiencing at the time. Once it was directly involved in politics, the Brotherhood came under severe attack by the parties and national bodies because the group supported minority governments that restricted people's freedoms and blocked democracy. They accused the Brotherhood of going beyond their religious and moral program, of interfering where they had no business to interfere and of mixing religion and politics. Al Banna felt that the people were puzzled as to whether the Brotherhood was a Sufi order, a charitable organization, a social establishment or a political party. His reply was that the group's mission was to propagate the true comprehensive and universal teachings of the Quran and as such the Brotherhood was a pure Sufi order, a useful charitable organization, a social establishment and a clean political party. Al Banna said, "People might still say that we seem to be mysterious, our reply should be, ‘This is because we cannot enlighten your minds so as to make you recognize us: we are Islam and whoever understands the religion in its true form, will be able to perceive us.'" The Brotherhood - a Pure Political Party Despite the radical change in the rhetoric and concept of the Brotherhood, as exemplified by the Fifth General Conference, the declaration that the group was a political body and its adoption of theoretical, intellectual and political stances regarding the government, the constitution, the law, Arab unity, Islamic unity, the Egyptian parties and European countries, Al Banna maintained his stance of being above political activities and kept saying, "The Muslim Brotherhood is not a political party, although politics based on Islam is the essence of its ideology." He backed this statement with another one saying, "The Muslim Brotherhood is a pure party." Al Banna and his group became more and more ambitious. They were encouraged by the Palace and minority parties, who wanted to use them against the Wafd party. This left the door wide open for the Brotherhood directly to join the inferno of political struggle. The second half of the twentieth century was about to witness the end of the Brotherhood, due to its overwhelming drive for dominance and supremacy. Confrontation and tribulations were in the offing. The Brotherhood tried to assassinate Gamal Abdel Nasser driven by their powerful dream of authority. A New Stage, the 70s and after: President Al Sadat released the detained cadres of the Brotherhood in 1971. That actually marked their return to public life. Organizationally the Brotherhood was in a very weak state. This situation was recognized by the Supreme Guide (Al Murshid) Hassan Al Hodeiby. Fate did not really permit him to reorganize the Brotherhood domestically, yet he directed his efforts to building a General Muslim Brotherhood, so as to overcome the divisions between the sub-groups to be found in the Arab states and to establish the authority of the Guidance Bureau and the Supreme Guide over them. Al Telmesany Opens the Door to New Blood After the death of Al Hodeiby in 1973, members of the special division of the organization (veterans) devised a plan to recruit the young to religious groups across Egypt. This plan for the rebirth of the organization was put forth just after Egypt's defeat in 1967. The climate of freedom at Sadat's time was exploited by Mostafa Mashhour, one of the veterans (known as the Group's Falcon). He managed to remove some historic leaders of the Brotherhood who were known to be moderate and rational. Among those removed were Mohamed Farid Abdel Khalik, First Deputy Leader; Saleh Abou Rafik, Second Deputy Leader and Saleh Ashmawy, group Deputy. He even ventured to block the third leader who followed Hassan Al Hodeiby. The new blood introduced also brought in new ideas and some innovative concepts. The third Murshid (leader) Omar Al Telmesany (known as the "Shrewd One") was intelligent, simple, modest and patient. He was able to draw up a 50- year plan, that he called "the parallel steps plan". The plan was based on sneaking into the socioeconomic bodies, syndicates, schools and universities. The essence of the plan was to avoid regime clash, in preparation for winning seats in the government by the 50th anniversary. Al Telmesany was very successful and was able to recruit many youngsters, who soon started to take up active roles in the 70s and 80s. Internal reactions within the organization resulted in conflict between two trends. The first was that of the veterans namely the senior leaders, and the second was that of the 70s group; in other words the clash was between the "Conservatives and the Innovators". "Religious and Political Ideas" New Brotherhood Generation Concepts The Brotherhood has never stopped trying to cancel the 1945 government decree abolishing the group, so in 1976 it used the platform of the Socialist Union, to submit a request for the reinstatement of the group officially. Their request was refused. Al Telmesany the third leader, initiated the formation of a political party. He suggested that to the group. In so doing, he circumvented Al Banna's method of remaining politically uninvolved, as previously discussed. Al Telmesany's idea of forming a political party in 1984 came as a surprise to the traditional members of the Brotherhood. His suggestion gave fresh impetus to the ideological dispute and in any case, it was not implemented. Al Telmesany renewed his bid to form a political party before his death 1986. His attempt went as far as helping young members draft a political program entitled "Al Shoura Party". After his death, two more attempts were made by the innovators, under a different name "Al Islah Party", and both attempts failed. The third attempt was made by Abdel Moniem Abou El Fettouh in 1995, a prominent member of the Brotherhood and the Engineering Syndicate. Mohamed Al Samaan made the fourth attempt the same year, 1995, but under a different name, "Al Amal Party". The last attempt was the one made by the Al Wasat party group and Abou El Ela Madi to continue the efforts of the innovator trend. Up to the time of writing this article, the struggle between the conservatives and the innovators was still going on. Al Wasat Party: Reformist Advocacy and Political Competitiveness Al Telmesany succeeded in building bridges of communication and trust with the younger generation. He was also able to attract members of Al Gamaa Al Islamiya that was very active among university students. Al Telmesany's death in 1986 marked the end of one stage, and the start of a new one. The veterans chose a weak leader for the position of Supreme Guide, to succeed Al Telemesany. They were able to achieve what they wanted by choosing Hamed Abou Nasr and selecting Mostafa Mashhour a prominent veteran, as his assistant. The Brotherhood's veterans were able to regain their influence and re-impose their vision. Their influence increased due to the absence of Al Telmesany. The influence of the old guard began to grow as well as that of their younger supporters such as Khairat Al Shater (Second Deputy of the present Guide) and Mahmoud Ezzat (member of the Guidance Bureau - Al Irshad Office and member of the 1965 Kotbi group). Al Wasat Party's case resembles the dispute between members of the Al Haraka Al Islamya, who joined the Brotherhood in the mid-seventies, and the conservative vision of the veterans. The struggle became obvious when Abou El Ela Mady proposed to submit an application for setting up the Al Wasat political party 1996. The struggle reached the courts. In the end, the precepts of the veterans and the innovators were reconciled and the result was new ideas and a development of the thought process and the work system. A new methodology was adopted to sneak "slowly but surely" into every socioeconomic activity. Special attention was paid to syndicates, schools and universities. The group was able to achieve great success on those fronts, and have established a prominent presence in the university unions and professional syndicates.
