THE eighth Morshed (Supreme Guide) of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, group Mohamed Badie Abdel-Maguid, is an ex-convict. Like many of the group's leading members, he has spent a lot of his life behind bars. But one of his stints in prison did have a silver lining for Badie, because that was where his eyes first fell on his future wife, who'd come to visit her father, who happened to be sharing the same cell with him. Another friend of his in jail was his tough guru, the late Sheikh Sayyed Qotb. The master and his faithful student were both sentenced in 1965, having been found guilty of attempting to destabilise society and overthrow the Government at the time. A military tribunal sentenced Qotb to death, while his apprentice got 15 years, nine of which he served before being released. The eighth Supreme Guide was sent down again in 1998 for 75 days and a year later for five years. Two years ago, Badie was jailed yet again, this time for a month, for causing unrest during the municipal elections in Beni Sueif. Badie, known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the Holy Qur'an and its interpretation, was born in 1943. He is very popular among the group's members. He graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in the Upper Egyptian city of Beni Sueif in 1965, the same year in which he joined the Islamist group. The newly graduated vet captured the attention of the group's influential members and sheikhs because of his devotion to the religious ideas and ideology of the group's late guru, Qotb. The years he spent behind bars also earned him the respect of the group's senior members. The eight Supreme Guide is known for his rigid and uncompromising stance on the literal implementation of the group's agenda, which includes 'estrangement', as long as society refuses to listen attentively and sincerely to the Brotherhood's message. He also believes that the group should bamboozle non-members to make them change their opinions. His years in jail on criminal charges, the most serious being attempting to overthrow the Government, would suggest that the Brotherhood's new leader will encourage the outlawed group to step up their confrontation with the government. The fact that his close associates in the group's think-tank include Mahmoud Ezzat, Rashad Bayoumi and Gomaa Amin (infamous outside the group for being tough fundamentalists) is another reason why people are worried that, under the new Supreme Guide, the organisation will make more problems for the polls, especially as this year's parliamentary elections are getting ever closer. The appointment of Mohamed Badie came after two heavyweight members …quot; Mohamed Habib and Abdul-Moneim Abul Fotouh …quot; were cruelly expelled from the group's think-tank. Habib and Abul Fotouh were known as pioneering reformers.
