This is my attempt to understand what is wrong with the Muslim brotherhood now in Egypt. You can read the first of the series here. Warning : This is not an objective analysis , this is what I think now regarding the Muslim brotherhood.
The Muslim brotherhood got a goal it wants to reach , it wants to revive the Islamic Caliphate. It is not a secret or something hidden as their own hierarchy of power inside the brotherhood. It is in their literature and books.It is in their speeches and talk. Here was Safwat Hegazy speaking about it in 2012 on TV.
He spoke about over and over causing controversy when he screamed in one of Morsi’s rallies saying that the Islamic Caliphate will return on the hands of Morsi and its capital will be Jerusalem.
Aside from the capital , the dream of Caliphate is in the teachings of Hassan El Banna who believed that the New Caliphate should be centered in Egypt and not in Turkey or Saudi Arabia.
It is not a secret thing again nor it is something wrong to have a certain political goal but of course how you are going to reach this goal and how. Politics is a dirty game and since the Umayyad Caliphate “Check how it came to rule”, the Muslim Rulers did give damn for what Islam said truly about rule . We are speaking about human universal nature when it comes to politics and deception as well regional and international alliance.
Now the Muslim brotherhood is in power in Egypt , I believe somehow they are torn between their own goal and what the reality they are facing from regional perspective aside from all the local jazz. I believe that their own Caliphate dream will clash other Caliphate dreamers in the region, ironically their own allies now : Qatar and Turkey.
You got in one side Qatar and its prince who wants to become the patron of democracy in the Arab world except in his own country in direct rivalry with Saudi Arabia. That rivalry is not a new thing but rather an old one starting with the fact that Saudi Arabia hosted for while his father Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad after his palace coup. Sheikh Hamad got plans for political expansion and already just like Saudi Arabia he got the economy that would help him to do so. It is not bad to have plans to become one of the main regional and international powers.
The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is seen clearly in the media war between the two countries. It is seen crystal clear between Al Jazeera Network and Al Arabiya Network for years. After all it is widely believed that Saudi Arabia supported Al Arabiya to hit back at Al Jazeera Network. Al Jazeera of course expanded internationally and is getting powerful but regionally there is a competition between them when it comes clear bias. Ironically this media war reminds me with the old media war between Nasser and King Hussein of Jordan backed by Saudi Arabia in 1960s in what was known as radios fight.
Mubarak and the kings of Saudi Arabia form an alliance against the so-called resistance alliance led by non other Qatar, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia likes old rulers then Qatar supports the wave change in the Arab world directly and please do not look to Egypt only as you got Libya and Tunisia as well.
Saudi Arabia and Mubarak hate the MB and considers them from its old enemies and so Qatar is in alliance with the Muslim brotherhood. Of course sometimes the interests of both countries meet like in Syria and in Libya for quite some time. By the way the US approves the rivalry between them as both regimes give it what it wants in the end of the day.
I see that the Muslim brotherhood is being used by the Qatari regime as its strong arm among its several arms from Islamists in the region to hit back at Saudi Arabia in that race of power not only in the Gulf but the Arab region.
The alliance between the MB and Qatar is not because the prince of Qatar is a secret MB member in closet ,on the contrary it is just a political interest issue. Qatar needs a strong ally and what will be a better ally than the old kingdom’s sister in the region Egypt. Qatar is still regard small Gulf state unlike Egypt with its old and past leadership role.
The Muslim brotherhood members believe that Qatar will save Egypt economically and this is why they have this alliance now. Yes Hamad gave them huge support but they need his support economically more than ever in Egypt but of course Egypt will pay for this a country , as a great nation.
Now the question Does the Muslim brotherhood understand that they are currently a pawn in that regional gulf game of power !? Yes because they need financial support. Another question will the prince of Qatar with his dreams of control clash one day with the Muslim brotherhood !?? After all I am sure that prince Hamed wants the Caliphate for himself in his own way and not in Hassan El Banna’s way.
Another important historical fact : messing around with the Islamists in the Arab world is like messing around with fire , you will get burned. The Saudis tried before and Anwar El Sadat tried before. When the allies turn enemies , I do not know it is not any time soon.
Now moving to Turkey and the Neo-Ottomans. Turkey and Erdogan are trying to restore an old glory in more realistic way that we are doing in Egypt. “Whether Islamists or Non Islamists , we are restoring that leading role of 1950s and 1960s”
The Turks want to restore their control in the region through economy as well politics but let’s say at Turks things can not be easy for them due to the old not so good history of the Turks in the region as it will hunt them down whether you like or not. Just like Qatar , the Turks need a powerful alley or rather a follower in the region to be the face and voice of Turkish policies in the region. Egypt is not only attractive for Turkey because of its Arabic leading role but also it is the gate to Africa.
Does the Muslim brotherhood understand that the Turks are not their allies but actually a competitor when it comes to the revival of Caliphate in a modern way !? May be year and May be No.
By the way when I think about Erdogan and the experience of his party with secularism and the army , I believe that the Muslim brotherhood did not get the memo that the Turks find a common goal based on the Turkish Nationalism that combine secularism and Ottoman empire. The MB actually refuses any other ideology except theirs in Egypt and this is why Egypt will not restore its former glory or build a new one.
I believe in the unity of the Arab states and Muslim states as well the third countries states yet as a Muslim who lives in the 21st century and read our history well I believe that any political unity now or in the future should not be in the terms of Caliphate but rather a similar union like the European union. God only knows that since the founding of the Arab league in 1945 Arab countries were discussing the old dream of the Arab common market but what you know that Arabs agree on disagreement !!
Again these are random thoughts , they may be right and may be wrong. I do not claim to be a “strategic analyst or expert” but I am just using my mind.
0 comments:
Post a Comment