In his article entitled "The Intelligent American's Guide to Islamism" published in the Washington Post on June 6th, 2005, Mr. Tarek Heggy warned about the crisis that may take place if democracy brought the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) to power. The writer built his argument on a comparison between Western democracies and the Brotherhood's conservative ideology. He attempted to promote the idea that the Muslim Brotherhood must be excluded from the political process due to the undemocratic components of its ideology that would suppress freedoms and liberty--- an ancient excuse that has been pronounced by the Egyptian regime to put off political reform.

The well-known universal democratic principles contain nothing that legitimizes the act of excluding a certain political movement simply because it is religiously based. In this regard, the writer claimed that under the MB's rule, the non-Muslim minorities would be denied the rights to genuine participation in the political system and to holding presidential posts. Therefore, exclusion of MB would be a vital necessity to avert such potential discrimination from taking place.

In fact, the writer was explicitly trapped in a contradiction when he called for the exclusion of the MB from participating in the political system and simultaneously labeled exclusion practiced by the MB against minorities as an undemocratic practice. It seems that the writer has differentiated between two types of exclusions; a legitimate type of exclusion practiced by liberals like him and illegitimate type practiced by the MB.

Furthermore, possessing a wide popular base does not necessarily indicate that the MB can easily seize power if permitted to participate. To clarify, the wide support acquired by the MB is primarily due to socio-economic services that they provide to the poor segments of society rather than their political and ideological platform about which ordinary citizens are not well-informed. Therefore, the MB will undoubtedly fail to seize power through democratic channels if it does not tailor its ideological disposition in a way that is compatible with genuine democracy.

The writer wrongly presumed that the MB could stay in power for good and consequently ignored the fact the same democratic process that may bring the MB to power could simultaneously bring about its down fall if it deviated from the popular expectations. In Jordan, the tough measures that Islamists imposed on women in the four ministries they controlled led to the eruption of protests that finally forced the Islamist cabinet members to resign.

The writer's claim that the MB lacks the necessary tools conducive to progress, namely scientific expertise and modern management skills, is highly biased. In Egypt, the MB is mainly directed and supported by a well- educated professional class composed of doctors, lawyers, engineers, university professors, and businessmen who display a high degree of efficiency in managing their socio-economic programs and running election campaigns in a way that enabled them to dominate most of the professional syndicates. Furthermore, in Turkey, the Islamist government formed in 2002 displayed a higher level of pragmatism than its secular predecessors when it reduced restrictions on the Kurds, attempted to reach settlements with Cyprus, and conducted a vagarious campaign to qualify Turkey for EU membership (1) .

In summary, Mr. Heggy's reflections on MB are characterized by clear slant that totally ignores the evolution of the MB's ideology and the recent democratic slogans that it has raised in its fight for political reform and democracy. Therefore, in order to have a well –functioning democratic system, the language of exclusion should be discarded since it may open the door for repressive authoritarian regimes to exclude minorities under the banner of maintaining democracy. Hence, the MB should be given the opportunity to participate and even rule as it abides by the rules of the democratic game that guarantee freedom of speech, open political involvement, separation and rotation of power, and strict respect for liberty and human rights. However, continued political exclusion could incite violence.
Mohamed Abdel Aziz

1-Saad Eddin Ibrahim , Islam Can Vote, if We Let It. New York Times , May 21,2005.