- EGYPTMB NewsMB Statements
- February 17, 2014
- 13 minutes read
Muslim Brotherhood Believes in Popular Will, Democracy Despite Junta Attempts to Eradicate Group
Sixty-five years ago, Hassan Al-Banna (the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood – MB for short), was assassinated, after corrupt government officials disbanded the MB, banned its activities, confiscated its moneys and assets, including its headquarters, and arrested its members, throwing them in the most notorious prisons, at the orders of Western colonialist powers that sensed the momentous impact this man and this group could have on their interests, because the MB endeavored to liberate the homeland, restore human dignity and sovereignty to the people, fight against corruption, and to acquire the means of progress and prosperity, in an effective Islamist approach.
Unfortunately, successive traitorous Egyptian governments carried out criminal foreign plans anticipated by Hassan Al-Banna who told MB members: "Your call is still unknown to many people. Once they identify it and know your noble goals, they will treat you with harsh hostility and severe enmity. You will find substantial hardships and difficulties, many challenges and obstacles put in your way…
"The people’s unfamiliarity with real Islam will stand an obstacle in your way, too. You will find religious people, even official scholars, surprised at your understanding of Islam and denounce your endeavors for it. Presidents and leaders, those with wealth and power, will antagonize and treat you with contempt and disdain. Governments will stand in your way, and will try to ban or restrict your activity, and place obstacles in your way.
"Usurpers will use all possible means to fight you and put out the light of your noble mission. In so doing, they will seek the assistance of weak governments and those hands that extend to them with private agendas and to you with abuse and aggression. They all will cast doubt upon your call, and make false accusations against it. With their wealth and money, they will seek to vilify and demonize you. ‘They seek to put out God’s light with their mouths, but He has ordained that His light will be perfected’ (Quran 9:32).
"Then, you will no doubt pass through a period of trials and tribulations. You will be arrested and detained; your homes and businesses will be seized. You will be forced into homelessness, your businesses disrupted. This period of extreme hardship may last a long while."
Today, the same scenario is being replayed in more horrific ways, with more heinous crimes against the MB and the whole nation. Global, regional and local powers have conspired against the MB and its supporters, since it won the trust of the Egyptian people in five most credible free and fair elections and referendums, and one of the MB’s leaders was elected into the country’s top post, the first legitimate civilian President, who adopted bold policies to liberate Egypt from dependence upon and subservience to the West, and to safeguard freedoms and respect the people’s rights.
That legitimate President started to launch several giant national projects. Above all, he sought to preserve the Islamic identity, culture and civilization, which alarmed the West as a potential threat to its interests. Meanwhile, some regional powers saw this as a threat to their regimes; and certain forces at home perceived this as a threat to their influence and interests and an end to their political future. Thus those forces collaborated with a group of military generals to execute an illegitimate military coup that committed the most horrid and heinous massacres, arbitrary arrests, confiscations and torture of opponents. Although this brutal repression impacted most Egyptian people, the MB’s was the largest share of execution and suppression. In addition to what had been done against the MB previously, the junta issued an administrative decision designating it as a terrorist group.
Those who assassinated Hassan Al-Banna and officially disbanded the group in the past, those who are now brutally cracking down on the MB, imagine that they can destroy and eradicate its message, and pull people away from Islam, turning Egypt into a secular state, to be followed by the rest of Arab and Muslim states. But the coup commanders and collaborators did not count on the call of Islam getting stronger and more powerful, not only in Egypt or in the Arab and Muslim countries, but in the heart of the West itself. The message of Islam is one of truth and guidance that resonates with sound human nature all over the world.
Nevertheless, all the putschists’ plots and plans are doomed to failure. The Egyptian people – including the MB – are still defying and resisting the murderous military junta for the eighth consecutive month – a peaceful resistance, despite the use by coup security forces of the most powerful weapons to kill unarmed civilians in the streets and even in prisons.
Generation after generation, the MB will continue its commitment to the noble approach and high principles of Islam revitalized by Al-Banna, and will embrace the all-inclusive nature of Islam, which address all aspects of life, and the divine teachings that shape up the human soul to the highest ethics and values, commitment to worship, and strong awareness of and connection with God.
Those Islamic principles also include reform of the individual, the family and the society, the liberation of the country, and reform of the government so it performs its duties in the service of the people, like an employee serving their interests.
We will continue to follow the example of Al-Banna, who said: "I am a citizen who seeks for his homeland dignity, freedom, stability and good life in the shade of Islam".
We will always hold that freedom is a right that cannot be compromised or waived.
We will continue to exhort people, with wisdom and good advice; and will not resort to violence or terrorism.
We will continue to serve all people in all fields – cultural, Islamic, social, medical and educational. We will continue to affirm Al-Banna’s words: We do not ask people anything – neither money nor reward; we covet no special status; and seek no praise. Our reward in all what we do is with God Almighty.
We would like our people to know that we will endeavor to serve them with steadfastness, selflessness and devotion. We will not hesitate to sacrifice anything to restore to this homeland dignity and pride, and to fulfill Egyptians’ hopes… It is hard to see the dangers surrounding our people, our homeland, and succumb to despair or accept humiliation. And certainly, we will never work against our homeland or our people.
We do not presume that we are doing anyone a favor. Because we believe the words of God: "Indeed, God has conferred a favor upon you that He has guided you to the faith, if you are truthful and sincere" (Quran 49:17).
We will continue to believe that the people are sovereign, that their will constitutes legitimacy, that freedom is sacred, that democracy is the rule of the people by the people, and that democratic mechanisms such as free and fair elections and referendums are the only way to know popular will. We hold that it is not permissible to use force in politics, and hence it is not for the army to interfere in politics. The army’s job is to protect the homeland and the people, not to get involved in politics or murder the people, otherwise it would be betraying the people, the homeland, its own duty and its own mission.
We will remain steadfast, committed to our principles, despite the enormity of the injustice done to us, and despite the attempts to exterminate us. We will seek to defeat the aggression targeting us with all peaceful means available. For our truthfulness will triumph over their force and falsehood, just as the people will triumph over the generals and the military-installed government.
We will continue to draw strength, to steel our resolve to serve our homeland and our people, from the martyrdom of our Imam and founder Al-Banna, our great scholars and mentors, and more recently martyrs who were killed in the January 2011 Revolution and until now. These, no doubt, give us the ability to go on, with greater persistence and resilience.
"Anyone who trusts in God, He suffices him. God’s commands are done. God has decreed for everything its fate" (Quran 65:3).
"Think not of those who have been slain in the cause of God as dead. Nay, they are living, in the presence of their Lord, and receive sustenance from Him. They rejoice in the bounty provided by God, and rejoice for those who have not yet joined them in bliss – that they shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve" (Quran 3:169 & 170).
God is Great…
Praise be to God.
The Muslim Brotherhood
