JUNE 06 Newsletter

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A Brother Speaks: Interview with Supreme Guide Mahdi Akef

Interview: Naglaa Imam; Translation: Sandy Choi

The following interview with Mohamed Mahdi Akef, the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, was conducted by Naglaa Imam in May of 2006, on behalf of Civil Society. It originally appeared in the Arabic edition.

Interviewer: What is the true weight of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egyptian society and politics?

Mahdi Akef: It makes no sense to ignore our presence for many decades in the Egyptian political arena, or to disregard it by writing it off as illegal or prohibited, while the government engages us in discussions – and usually agrees with us, behind closed doors. It wages electoral battles against us, as has happened recently, and the picture this presents from a distance is confusing. The regime refuses to legitimize a group with whom it privately engages in dialogue while publicly hounding them with security raids, arrests and detentions. What is more dangerous is that President Mubarak – in multiple statements for western newspapers – uses the Muslim Brotherhood as a bogeyman in order to slow down political and constitutional reform. The elections – as the president believes – will bring us to power.

Don’t you think that the transformation of the Muslim Brotherhood into a political party might have a negative effect on the pedagogical image and reputation of the organization amongst its members (as happened in Algeria and numerous other countries)?

We believe that it is necessary for there to be balance or integration between political action and educational work: they serve and complete one another. Political action requires a tremendous spiritual power, a high capacity for faith and a commitment to Islamic education, so that it is not for the sake of prestige or reputation or position. This can only happen through education. Likewise, the work of education requires: the ability to engage in confrontation, courage, the bearing of responsibility, opening new horizons for advocacy and being in close contact with the masses. All of those elements are necessary in the individual educational encounter.

Now that you’ve attained seats in Parliament, will you take legal actions in response to the recent arrests of Brotherhood members?

We are studying this issue, trying to gather physical evidence related to it so that our efforts will not go up in smoke. We also will seek to utilize Parliament and international mechanisms in order to bring pressure to bear upon this issue. Recently (on May 11, 2006), representative Hussein Ibrahim launched an inquiry into what happened when the government made arrests during the Brotherhood’s show of solidarity with the judges.

This answer raises several questions: Why this clear solidarity with the judges despite the fact that you reject working with positive law? And why do you seek to protect yourselves with international agreements despite the fact that you reject most of them, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the special freedoms provided for women in international covenants? Does the Brotherhood work inside Parliament as a group that embraces ideas contradicting all positive law, despite the fact that it is not an official organization, or do members of the Brotherhood serve in Parliament as independents?

With regards to your question concerning our solidarity with the judges, I see them as Egypt’s hope for change and for confronting this government, which has committed so much lying and fraud. This is clear from what they published about the regime’s disgraceful behavior in the legislative elections and how it used the same fraudulent techniques in the referendum on the amendment of Article 76. They also issued a report from the Judges’ Club that reports and confirms the evidence of fraud. All the domestic forces respect and hold the judges in high esteem, so it is not appropriate for all people to support and to show solidarity with the most noble of the judges in their stance against the regime, while we take a different side. As for positive law, it is a fabrication of a regime that cuts and pastes together what it wants for its personal usage; the application of Shari’a (Islamic law) will end this chaos.

Regarding your question about international laws and agreements, the world has changed and laws hold states accountable for their mistakes. So why refer to these laws and treaties that put an end to the spread of iniquity and put a halt to systematic dictatorship? We embrace what is beneficial for humanity and avoid what is harmful or arrives from the West, especially in what concerns women, because all of these things are taken care of in Islam, which also elevated the status of women in society. We do not find anything that contradicts women’s rights within Shari’a unless we are talking about westernized Shari’a, which imposes customs and traditions that are far from Islamic teaching.

Regarding your question on the independence of the Brotherhood bloc in Parliament from the organization, we have the finest young men who earned the trust of people who chose them as their representatives in parliament. It is expected of us that they be independent and know the concerns of the people and what they need. We are an association based on consultation between members. We do not issue orders or instructions in our dealings with the brothers in the organization.

In the near future, will we hear that you have integrated yourselves into the Hizb al-Wasat, which includes former officials from your organization, as a first step towards coming to power via nomination for the chairmanship? Or would this have other ramifications?

The members of Hizb al-Wasat (the Center Party) are good men and we know Abu Aala al-Maadi does not oppose anyone joining this party, but the notion of annexing the organization into the party is a far-fetched one since the organization was founded more than several decades ago and it is not possible for us to nullify this long history of great people who sacrificed their lives for the organization in return for a political party. We do not know what prohibits the regime from establishing a party on the basis of religion, as most of the western world does not oppose this. There are the German and Turkish examples, and those parties do not limit anyone’s participation. I have no explanation for this prohibition in the presidential elections, but it is still premature. No one can to predict if we might come to power or not, so this is an issue that does not concern anyone except the regime because they are sick with the love of power and they do not want the application of democracy or the undertaking of any constitutional or legislative reform. The evidence of this is in the extension of Emergency Law in spite of all the promises that the president made during his election campaign.

What is the point of your cooperation with the opposition in Egypt within Parliament and, in particular, with most of the political forces in the country, who do not see any hope in your coming to power given that you do not recognize democracy?

The opposition in Egypt is our partner in concern. They oppose arrest and detention just as we do, and they defend freedoms and demand democracy just as we do, but they need to organize themselves internally. If they achieve this, they will have a majority as well as influence on the street just as we do. They need a common vision reflecting the important fact that we do not perceive any difference between us and them regarding democracy. We are among the first to call for democracy because it is the internal system by which our organization works. We operate by consultation amongst ourselves, giving priority to the concepts of majority rule and voting. So who says that we do not believe in democracy?

Some amongst the elite are afraid of your taking such a large percentage of seats in Parliament, convinced that there will not be any support for the rights of women and minorities as a result. How do you respond to this?

Women’s rights are protected under Islam or rather, Islam is the only prescription of religious law that has recognized independent financial security for women and elevated their place after eras of ignorance and subjugation during which women did not enjoy any real social protection. What is strange is that those who fear our presence do not know a lot about our organization and about its mission, which is the application of Islamic Shari’a. The Prophet advised us about the concept of the dhimma or the people of the book, so we do not understand why there is all this fear when our respected Shari’a addressed all of these issues with the utmost respect and esteem. Throughout Islamic history, the spread of Islam has taken place alongside women and minorities who were not linked to us by a common language or state. Now we are in a different situation because we are in one country, and nobody has the right to exclude others. As we have suffered the most from political life, we do not wish for others what we do not wish for ourselves.

As I said before in the newspaper Sawt al-Umma, the president made a mistake when he appointed Mr. Nazif Prime Minister because he is an engineer and does not understand a lot about politics. MP Hamdi Hassan gave the necessary response because those statements were criminal. We know well what the regime wants and this regime is not bent on reform. It will not undertake reform in any way, but we are not the reason why. The picture today is very close to the picture in 1976-1977, when the government rigged the elections so that it was not possible for us to participate—meaning that this is a regime whose own existence is illegitimate.