Muslim Brotherhood Goes Underground
Why has the Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the elections?
The Muslim Brotherhood is struggling against the current Egyptian regime which is run by the military. The Muslim Brotherhood considers the present system to be illegitimate and as those who have carried out a coup, thus, none of its measures, including the rewriting of the constitution, would be legitimate and that is why they have boycotted the elections.
Some people exerted pressure on the drafters of this constitution, saying that they should show flexibility with regard to the Muslim Brotherhood. Why was no flexibility seen in this regard?
Egypt is bipolar now and all the existing forces in this country have lost their independent emergence under the present conditions. On one side, there are the military men and on the other the Muslim Brotherhood. The other point is that the military is using the same method as Mr. Morsi against its opponents. Mr. Morsi also ignored his opponents during the writing of the constitution and its referendum. In fact this measure was founded by Morsi himself.
Does the presence of foreign governments, particularly Saudi Arabia, affect the issue of eliminating the Muslim Brotherhood and do they play roles in this country?
Saudi Arabia is an ally of the military and helps it economically and politically. The Muslim Brotherhood left the scene to Saudi Arabia. They became close to Saudi Arabia and let the Salafis who were allies of this country enter the scene. This is while they were aware of their situation and their dependence to Saudi Arabia, but their opportunistic policy had negative results.
What role do the foreign governments play in the writing of Egypt’s constitution?
It seems impossible that the foreigners play a direct role in writing Egypt’s constitution. Usually the foreigners and the impacting movements will gain whatever they want from the interpretation of the constitution.
Are the accusations made against Mohammad Morsi, including his support of Hezbollah, political or are they the reality?
The existing propaganda war between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military is the continuation of their covert and overt struggle. No wise person would accept this accusation, for the foreign policy of the Muslim Brotherhood during Morsi’s presidency tilted towards the reactionary regimes of the region; a policy which did not benefit the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt intends to return to its original place in the world. Saudi Arabia has also stated that Egypt must return to its original place as well, because all the movements inside the Arab countries are affected by the events which take place in Egypt. Now how could Egypt return to its political position?
All of the existing parties in Egypt say the same thing, but their actions contradict this main objective. Usually when an objective is stated, it is beautiful and those who listen to them can hardly distinguish between the nature of the people and the movements behind them. The important thing is the methods of reaching these goals. All movements and even the dictators talk about their support of the people, freedom, justice, … But their methods show their nature. A government which supports freedom does not shut down the newspapers and does not imprison the journalists. A government which supports justice struggles against the advantage-takers and its economic activities are totally clear. The treatment of a government with regard to its political prisoners, the killing of its opponents, closure of parties and other indexes show the outlook of the government regarding its people. It means that actions must be judged and not words.
What is the role of the army in returning Egypt to its political status?
The military has, hitherto, deceived all political movements. In the beginning, they used the silence of the Muslim Brotherhood to suppress the revolutionary April 6th youth and sentenced them in the military tribunals to long-term prison sentences. When the people protested against the unusual methods of the Muslim Brotherhood, they removed the Brotherhood with the policy of supporting the people and killed or imprisoned them. When the people found out about their intention, they started to suppress them. During the past few years, the military has tried three of the leaders of the revolutionary youth and sentenced them to prison.
Does the end of the Morsi era mean the end of the revolution and forgetting the revolutionary ideals on the 25th of January?
The end of the Morsi era means that the Muslim Brotherhood must go underground again. The revolutionary ideals will not be forgotten with the coming or going of Mr. Morsi, because even he himself did not in any way help the revolutionary ideals during his one year tenure as president of Egypt. During the past few years, the Egyptian people have learned how to protest. In the past, the Egyptian people considered protesting to be a mistake because of incorrect religious teachings. A great Egyptian once sarcastically said that the Egyptian people are a gift to dictators, but this interpretation has lost its meaning now. The people might retreat against the government because of economic, political, and military pressures, but this would only be temporary, because the behavior of rulers will never be erased from the minds of the people. The only method that could help this issue is for the rulers to turn to the people and reform their policies, because based on the Qur’an’s logic, it is good deeds that erase bad deeds and this is certainly possible.