The Muslim Brotherhood, now steering Egypt's helm after long decades of oppression, have shown signs of pragmatism in handling the country's foreign policy. In a dramatic departure from their previous opposition to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty signed in 1979, the Brotherhood leaders, including Mohammed Morsi, who is Egypt 's incumbent President, have pledged to abide by the pact. Morsi raised many eyebrows in Egypt last month when, in a leaked letter, he showered praise on Israel and its President, Shimon Peres. Critics say that, in his letter nominating Egypt's new Ambassador to Israel, Morsi went too far in displaying the Brotherhood's new-found pragmatism. The 84-year-old Brotherhood used to refer to Israel as the ‘Zionist entity and enemy'. Now in command, the group have made a turnabout, which is good for Egypt, as it struggles to put its house in order after more than a year of turbulence and economic depletion. The Brotherhood's pragmatism is not less conspicuous in Egypt's relations with the US, which was a key ally of the toppled regime of Hosni Mubarak. Morsi has signalled interest in maintaining friendly ties with Washington, despite a recent crisis triggered by an attempt by Egyptians to storm the US Embassy in Cairo in protest against an anti-Islam film produced in America. Significantly, the Brotherhood and US officials have in recent months exchanged visits and held talks in Cairo and Washington, reflecting each side's belief in the importance of forging strong links with the other. The pragmatism shown by the Brothers has been welcomed and encouraged by the US, which long harboured concerns about having Islamists in power in a key Middle Eastern country like Egypt. Washington hopes that the governing Islamists in other countries, inspired by the Arab Spring revolts, will follow suit and reach out to the US as well. The Brotherhood need to display pragmatism here in Egypt too. The group have done little to dispel fears about their home agenda, conceived as monopolistic and even antagonistic towards opponents. The recent attacks on the Brotherhood's opponents in Tahrir Square are one proof. Their uncompromising stance on crafting the new Constitution is another. With parliamentary elections looming on the horizon, the Brotherhood and their Islamist allies appear resolved to have the final say in the final draft of the charter. They want to woo Muslim voters by ramming home the message that they (the Brotherhood and other Islamist politicians) will not make concessions on articles related to religion. Drafting the Constitution has reportedly been stymied over the Islamists' insistence on overemphasising the status of the Sharia (Islamic Law), although this issue was resolved in Egypt's previous constitutions. The 1971 document, for example, stated that "Egypt is an Islamic state and principles of the Sharia are the main legislation of the country." The prestigious Muslim institution Al-Azhar as well as liberal and Christian powers espouse keeping the article unchanged in the new Constitution. However, Islamists, including the Brotherhood, demand, among other things, that ‘Sharia', and not ‘principles of Sharia', must be explicitly stated in the charter as the source of legislation in the new Egypt, despite the fact that Muslim scholars disagree among themselves about interpreting several rules of the Sharia. This hair-splitting is prolonging Egypt 's political and economic instability. The Brotherhood leaders and the ultra-conservative Salafists are seen vying to appear as uncompromising on the Constitution. Islamists are planning pro-Sharia rallies across the nation on Friday. Sobhi Saleh, a senior Brotherhood official, assailed in a sermon marking the Muslim Eid al-Adha what he called “communists and atheists" for allegedly trying to undermine Egypt's identity. "God and His prophet are the Egyptians' only reference. We are the guardians of religion and its Sharia," Saleh told worshippers in the coastal city of Alexandria. “The new Constitution must be compliant with God's Sharia or we will trample on it," Ali Ghaleb, a Salafist preacher, was quoted as saying in another sermon in the Western Desert city of Mersa Matruh. The nation is being increasingly sucked into religious polemics, which seems to take little, if any, notice of the daunting challenges at hand, mainly reducing poverty and reversing the economic decline. The underestimation of the situation is fuelling the public's disenchantment and anger that could develop into turmoil on a wide scale. Pragmatism holds the key. And the Brotherhood, the country's most organised political power, must lead the way.
