Israel Matzav

What the Muslim Brotherhood really wants for Egypt

The Obama administration and its allies keep telling us how 'moderate' and 'secular' the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood really is. Oren Kessler has done something that the Obami would never dream of doing: He's looked at what the Brotherhood is saying about itself and its plans for Egypt's future (Hat Tip: Jihad Watch).

The Muslim Brotherhood’s main presidential candidate seeks to fundamentally Islamicize Egyptian society if elected, according to newly uncovered footage of an extended address he gave supporters last year shortly after his release from prison.

Egyptian activists have transcribed Khairat al-Shater’s 90- minute address into English, offering a rare glimpse into the worldview of the normally tight-lipped candidate who is a front-runner in upcoming elections to lead the Arab world’s most populous state.

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“Everywhere, the Brothers are working to restore Islam in its all-encompassing conception to the lives of people,” Shater says in the address. “Thus the mission is clear: restoring Islam in its all-encompassing conception, subjugating people to God, instituting the religion of God, the Islamicization of life, empowering of God’s religion, establishing the renaissance of the ummah [worldwide Muslim nation] on the basis of Islam... Every aspect of life is to be Islamicized.

“We call upon God Almighty to make this transformation the beginning of a new renaissance for the ummah and the shaking off of the state of backwardness from which it has suffered for decades,” Shater says in the clip. “As Muslim Brothers, it is imperative that we, as well as the entirety of the ummah, God willing, take advantage of this revolution which took place in Egypt and continues in the countries surrounding us.”

Shater uses the Arabic “nahda” to refer to his hoped-for renaissance. Nahda literally means “rising up,” and can refer to prosperity or success rather than the strict Western meaning of rebirth. Ennahda also is the name of the leading Islamist movement in Tunisia, which took a plurality of that country’s parliamentary votes in elections last year.

Read the whole thing.

These are the people President Obama recently welcomed to the White House without any security checks. What could go wrong?

Labels: Egyptian elections, Muslim Brotherhood

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:19 PM