I Will Stand Up for the Muslim Brotherhood
Opinion
By Mona Eltahawy
The first time I went to interview the Muslim Brotherhood, in 1995, an officer manager at their headquarters on the Nile opened the door with one hand and gave me a headscarf to wear with the other. The second time I went to interview the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2005, no headscarf awaited me.
I was intrigued. I had been living in the United States since 2000, but had heard during visits to Egypt that the Brotherhood, or Al-Ikhwan as they’re known in Arabic, were changing. They’d become fluent in the lingo of reform and democracy. Phrases like “political pluralism” were creeping into interviews they gave to the press.
Was this new Brotherhood for real? The story, as the good ones always are, was a bit more complicated — something worth keeping in mind while reading the seemingly daily reports of government crackdowns against the Muslim Brotherhood and other Egyptian opposition figures.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s leader, Supreme Guide Mohammed Mahdi Akef, started our meeting two years ago by saying all the right things about rejecting violence and choosing instead to take part in elections and other “peaceful ways of bringing about change.” I admit, I was impressed — until I asked him whether the Muslim Brotherhood, if it ever came to power, would change anything in the Egyptian constitution regarding women’s rights.
Arab Islamists may face different challenges, but when it comes to women’s rights, they’re fairly united in their conservative views. In Kuwait they blocked women’s right to vote and run for office until last year. In Jordan they struck down legislation giving women the right to initiate divorce and stood in the way of laws that would toughen sentences handed down for so-called honor crimes. So, I asked the Brotherhood leader, would the Egyptian Islamists be just as bad for women?
“No,” Akef replied, “and my proof is that although you’re naked, you were allowed to enter my office.”
I was wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt and pants.
The word “naked” was particularly grating to my ears because I had worn a headscarf, or hijab, for nine years as a young woman. I chose to wear a hijab at the age of 16, thinking it was a religious requirement, but chose to take it off at 25 after my reading into the issue had convinced me that it was not.
Nevertheless, it took me years to shake off the guilt at rejecting a way of dressing that over the past 15 years has become the uniform of Muslim womanhood in Egypt — thanks in no small part to the Muslim Brotherhood’s efforts. As many as 80% of Egyptian women wear the hijab today.
Maybe if I hadn’t had my own experience with the hijab I might’ve demurred and brushed off Akef’s “naked” jab with a common utterance of many Muslim women who have never covered their hair but believe they should: “When God enlightens me.” But I’d been there, done that, and I was supposedly in the presence of the new and improved Muslim Brotherhood, political pluralism and all. The guilt-trip wasn’t going to work on me.
“I am not naked,” I reminded him. “The verses in the Koran concerning women’s dress have been interpreted differently.”
“According to God’s law, you are naked,” he replied. “Your arms are naked, your head is naked. There is only one interpretation.”
One interpretation? So much for pluralism. Clearly, the Muslim Brotherhood had quite some way to go.
Akef’s position struck at the heart of my concerns over the process of reform and political openness in Egypt. As a secular, liberal Egyptian Muslim who defends the right of everyone to take part in the political process, I am painfully aware of the irony of defending the rights of someone whose principles do not extend me such a courtesy. That “one interpretation” that Akef mentioned was clear proof to my ears that the Muslim Brotherhood continue to act as the guardians of Islam and that anyone who dares to criticize them stands accused of criticizing the religion itself.
But as that same secular, liberal Egyptian Muslim, I believe I must defend the Brotherhood’s presence on Egypt’s political stage. If I don’t, then I am just as guilty as the regime that has for decades sucked the oxygen out of the body politic — and with Gamal Mubarak being groomed to take over the presidency from his aging father, the regime seems set to rule for another generation.
Besides the state, the Brotherhood is the last man standing in Egypt. We’re down to the state and the mosque. The Muslim Brotherhood must remain on Egypt’s political stage, not least so that its ideas are out in the open and can be challenged.
I was in Egypt in 2005 when the Muslim Brotherhood won 88 seats in parliamentary elections, and I remain unconvinced that the majority of Egyptians would vote for them in free and fair elections. Less than 22% of Egyptians turned out to vote in 2005, which to me says most Egyptians want neither the state nor the mosque. They want a real choice.
Those elections capped a year of frenetic activity on the reform front in Egypt, the likes of which I’d never seen in my lifetime. I moved back to Egypt for four months to be a part of it.
Pressured internally by various opponents and street demonstrations and externally by a Washington bent on Arab democratization, the Egyptian regime seemed to bend ever so slightly. But as soon as the Muslim Brotherhood secured a fifth of the seats in parliament, President Hosni Mubarak played his bogeyman card, to great success.
The electoral success in 2005 of the Muslim Brotherhood and in 2006 of its offshoot in Gaza, Hamas, were two main reasons behind the Bush administration’s shelving its push for democracy and reform in the Middle East. With Washington off its back, the Egyptian regime no longer had to play the reform game.
It has spent the past two years imprisoning and hounding its critics. Just this week, it banned the Muslim Brotherhood’s largest annual social gathering — a gala dinner during Ramadan, the month when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset — for the first time in 20 years. Some 40 members of the group are currently on trial in military court on terrorism and money laundering charges.
That bogeyman card will continue to be a sure bet for the Egyptian regime, so long as there’s not enough room for everyone on Egypt’s political stage. So, “naked” as I am, I’ll continue to defend the Muslim Brotherhood’s right to be on that stage.
Mona Eltahawy is a New York-based writer.
Advertisement
i don't know...i stand for the principle, just like Mona, but at the moment - living in egypt as a woman, and a Christian one at that - of the two odious choices i have to prefer the state, for at least paying mouth service to my right to live freely. ish.
The foregoing article is another piece of evidence, although additional evidence was needed, of the sickness of liberalism. This organization does NOT believe in anything approaching "pluralism" and should be banned from any democratic nation. Its adherents are nothing short of malignant cells in the body politic of the world. There should be absolutely no tolerance of them, period!
I see that liberal stupidity is not just limited to the US. The Muslim Brotherhood is a dangerous organization that does not deserve anyone's support. Find out more about them in the link below. I guess it's the ultimate in liberal tolerance to tolerate and actually defend those that want to kill you. http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/09/homeland_security_implications_1.html
I agree with Steven. There are limits to what can be tolerated in the name of pluralism.
Mona .... i'm an egyptian who lived in cairo from 1990 till 2 weeks ago!! "age 18 to 34" -just moved to canada-, would describe my self exactly as you did "secular muslim" i don't believe in the religion as traditions but as values .... that are ofcourse simillar for every religion or natural man's perception towards good and bad, i've been into the medical school and medical field in the homeland .... ofcourse you know it's a hot spot for "alekhwan" or the brotherhood. for me just being the most powerful political current after the governing national democratic party and the sole organized opponent is NOT ABSOLUTELY ENOUGH for modest egyptians to stand with ... unfortunately we all know their real objective -in authority- and what ever they tried to mask and modernize themselves ... there are still enough clues about their dogmatic views towards religion and what's right and wrong on thier own terms of reference, as was clearly disguised when he described you as naked!! let me just imagine that you, me and all modest secular democratic egyptian standed with them and they managed -as they plan- to hold the authority ...... can you imagine one day egypt as saudi arabia!!! i believe for many of us this would be the last day in our lives ... the other thing i would like to point out here regarding the percentage of people who went to vote .... i would disagree with you in you interpetation ... people didn't go not because they didn't want the state nor the mosque .... actually they are hopeless they could do something about it ... going to vote or not won't make difference in the results for all of them .... i'm not trying to defend or attack ... i'm just analyzing. you know mona what the highest probability would be if people started to go for vorting and elections were fair and organized ... i believe it would be a remarkable success to the mosque!!! yes ... you yourself stated that 80% of egyptian women now are vieled, there are major mechanisms and currents that affected the country in the previous era, most important is "OIL's ISLAM" ofcourse you know speaking about it lies far beyond the scope of a comment, article or even single book, the impact of such a factor together with the economic status and poverty in the last decades resulted in the current situation .... the whole or at least most of the population and media in the country is potentially "ikhwan" or brotherhood with different degrees. unfortunately this is the fact and that's why i won't ever stand for them nor for the government which helped to thier strength and dominance and that level of ignorance in the country ever .... even if there are no other ways out. i don't belive in the arabic statement "with my brother against my cousin and with my cousin against the forigner". if there maybe a fragment of light to hold on i would say it's in supporting other little national opponents as "kefaya" = "enough" movement despite thier limited resources and organizational structure until other new signs appears in the horizons .... and they will as our beatifull home deserves better. Regards
An excellent article. Perhaps it is time to fully engage with the Muslim Brotherhood, not just in Egypt but globally. Doing so it will bring them out of the shadows and allow an objective analysis of the organisation and its aims. Pluralism is always going to be a problem for The Brothers. Their political beliefs are based on divine certainty and there is not a lot of room pluralism the Shahadah.
Mona, I lived in Cairo until the year 2000, and went through a similar experience (regarding the wearing and removal of the veil). I too will never apologise for not wearing the scarf, and almost feel sorry for the many Egytian woman who are now feeling a social pressure to conform. The economic situation is somehow causing people to turn to God blindly- without thinking things through.
iran and italy say that thay will pay to build a man made island for the jews to live on.
Mona, naked or otherwise, will stand up for the Muslim Brotherhood as long as she is based in New York. In Cairo, if the Brotherhood comes to power, Mona will shut up.
What is the Jewish angle of this article? How can such an article be published in a Jewish newspaper without reminding the readers of the attitude of the Muslim Brotherhood towards the Israel and the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel? Needless to say, the Ikhwa opposes peace with Israel, opposes recognition of Israel - leaving me to wonder what was the motivation of the Forward to publish such an article.
Typical Forward nonsense. Attack Israel defend the Muslim Brotherhood. Hey it could be worse they could be defending....
Isn't this the 'Jewish' Daily Forward? Maybe I've got the wrong website. Or with a falling circulation are you trying to perhaps get a new readership?
boring boring boring boring boring boring boring
moslime brother hood says that thay will pay to build a man made island for the jewish poeple ........if the jews move from israel to the island....
The Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to the Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, the Forward requires that all commenters be appropriately respectful toward our writers, other commenters and the subjects of the articles. Vigorous debate and reasoned critique are welcome; name-calling and personal invective are not. While we generally do not seek to edit or actively moderate comments, the Forward reserves the right to remove comments for any reason.