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Open Letter To A Jailed Muslim Brotherhood Leader
by rawemotions Mon Mar 06, 2017 4:19 am
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/05/my-open-letter-to-a-jailed-muslim-brotherhood-leader.html
Excerpts
You are not terrorists, but it is disingenuous to argue that your Islamist ideology does not contribute to the intolerant atmosphere from which jihadists are able to recruit. Your group may not sit at the start of a conveyor belt that ends at ISIS, but your fiddlers certainly play the mood music to which jihadists dance.
Let me get some basic definitions out of the way first. Islam is a religion. It suffers from the same denominational, sectarian and doctrinal disputes as most other religions. Whereas Islamism is the desire to impose any version of Islam over society. And where jihad traditionally means holy struggle, Jihadism is the use of force to spread Islamism. Most Muslims, as you know, are not Islamists. Even in Egypt, when you won the elections, only 24 percent of the pubic voted for you in the first round. Those Muslims who did not vote for you are still Muslims, except of the non-Islamist sort. Islamists can be further divided into the political, like your group; the revolutionary, like my former group Hizb ut-Tahrir, and the militant, who are the jihadists. But all Islamists—by definition—share the basic, heterodox idea that a version of Islam must be imposed on society; they merely differ on how to achieve this.
And here is where your argument that The Muslim Brotherhood is inspired by the “values of social justice, equality” falls apart. You and I both know this is not true. While at least 15 percent of Egypt is Coptic Christian, your group does not believe that non-Muslims have the right to be heads of state. In 1997 your previous leader Mustafa Mashhur went so far as to state publicly that non-Muslim Egyptians would be expected to pay the Jizya, a medieval religious head-tax.
Nor does your leadership believe women have the right to be heads of state. The previous regime had introduced an amendment to Article one of the Egyptian constitution that would have allowed women and Christians to run for any political position, including the presidency. It defined the Egyptian state as a civic one and removed reference to Islam as the religion of the state. Your members walked out of the legislative chamber in protest
.
Your group’s full slogan is: "God is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our constitution. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of God is our highest hope.” Let’s not kid ourselves. None of this fits the bill of social justice and equality.
:
Your shorter slogan is the rather simplistic but dangerous Islam huwa al-hal, Islam is the solution. As long as you still believe in implementing any version of Islam over society, your dispute with the jihadists will simply be about the how. But you are not God. Yours is only ever but one reading among a plethora of possible ways to read scripture. As a Muslim, my problem with all Islamists is over first principles, not means. Whichever way you come to power, you all still wish to impose a version of Islam over the rest of us. This is otherwise known as theocracy. Theocracy is wrong in principle. Regardless of how you bring it about, it is unjust in essence. It is the antithesis to the social justice you claim.
Excerpts
You are not terrorists, but it is disingenuous to argue that your Islamist ideology does not contribute to the intolerant atmosphere from which jihadists are able to recruit. Your group may not sit at the start of a conveyor belt that ends at ISIS, but your fiddlers certainly play the mood music to which jihadists dance.
Let me get some basic definitions out of the way first. Islam is a religion. It suffers from the same denominational, sectarian and doctrinal disputes as most other religions. Whereas Islamism is the desire to impose any version of Islam over society. And where jihad traditionally means holy struggle, Jihadism is the use of force to spread Islamism. Most Muslims, as you know, are not Islamists. Even in Egypt, when you won the elections, only 24 percent of the pubic voted for you in the first round. Those Muslims who did not vote for you are still Muslims, except of the non-Islamist sort. Islamists can be further divided into the political, like your group; the revolutionary, like my former group Hizb ut-Tahrir, and the militant, who are the jihadists. But all Islamists—by definition—share the basic, heterodox idea that a version of Islam must be imposed on society; they merely differ on how to achieve this.
And here is where your argument that The Muslim Brotherhood is inspired by the “values of social justice, equality” falls apart. You and I both know this is not true. While at least 15 percent of Egypt is Coptic Christian, your group does not believe that non-Muslims have the right to be heads of state. In 1997 your previous leader Mustafa Mashhur went so far as to state publicly that non-Muslim Egyptians would be expected to pay the Jizya, a medieval religious head-tax.
Nor does your leadership believe women have the right to be heads of state. The previous regime had introduced an amendment to Article one of the Egyptian constitution that would have allowed women and Christians to run for any political position, including the presidency. It defined the Egyptian state as a civic one and removed reference to Islam as the religion of the state. Your members walked out of the legislative chamber in protest
.
Your group’s full slogan is: "God is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our constitution. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of God is our highest hope.” Let’s not kid ourselves. None of this fits the bill of social justice and equality.
:
Your shorter slogan is the rather simplistic but dangerous Islam huwa al-hal, Islam is the solution. As long as you still believe in implementing any version of Islam over society, your dispute with the jihadists will simply be about the how. But you are not God. Yours is only ever but one reading among a plethora of possible ways to read scripture. As a Muslim, my problem with all Islamists is over first principles, not means. Whichever way you come to power, you all still wish to impose a version of Islam over the rest of us. This is otherwise known as theocracy. Theocracy is wrong in principle. Regardless of how you bring it about, it is unjust in essence. It is the antithesis to the social justice you claim.
rawemotions- Posts : 1690
Join date : 2011-05-03
Re: Open Letter To A Jailed Muslim Brotherhood Leader
by Merlot Daruwala Mon Mar 06, 2017 6:38 am
Rajiv, would you say the same about the RSS and its desire to impose its version of Hinduism on the rest of us?
Merlot Daruwala- Posts : 5005
Join date : 2011-04-29
Re: Open Letter To A Jailed Muslim Brotherhood Leader
by Vakavaka Pakapaka Mon Mar 06, 2017 7:00 am
Smart Sikular diversion tactic! CONmen are discovering that this technique doesn't work with the voters any more.Merlot Daruwala wrote:Rajiv, would you say the same about the RSS and its desire to impose its version of Hinduism on the rest of us?
Vakavaka Pakapaka- Posts : 7611
Join date : 2012-08-24
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