Douglas Thompson
is the co author of Inside the Muslim Brotherhood with Youseff Nada
I am surprised
at the extent of the invitation and the range of distinguished speakers of the
conference. I appreciate the welcome and the warmth of Malaysians.
Referring to the
book, it ends with the announcement that Dr Morsi had won the presidential
elections. Youseff Nada and myself were watching the election results on TV.
Being human after all, Nada cheered when the results came out.
What happened in
Egypt is terribly sad and dispiriting. To the Muslim Brotherhood it may well be
just another hiccup for it is 85 years old but still healthy. What Al Asisi did
makes the whole world become more aware of the Muslim Brotherhood. Now people
who had no idea, now know who the Brotherhood are. We in the West talk about
Muslims from where we are. And Muslims question us from where they are.
We can see the
Russians swaggering, Cameron's sheepishness and Obama's hesitations in this
whole sordid affair.
So what about Dr
Morsi's leadership? Its was very hard to govern and Morsi had to prove to the world
that he spoke for Egypt and not the Brotherhood. The pretext for a coup was
what Morsi stood for. And actually, Egypt is an economic basket case. Nobody is
going to put money on a blanket on fire. Even the Chinese who dare to take
risks dare not invest.
It needs
theological coherence in running through what happens next. I do not see how Islamic values can bring
problems. But its actually the human problems. The Muslim Brotherhood were
opportunistic politically but they wanted to make the world a better place. But
to the West, Islam seems massive and sinister. Newt Gingrich once called the
Brotherhood "murderers and pests".
I learned of the
struggles and tribulations that Youseff Nada and the Brotherhood went through.
And if you were watching TV on what is happening in Egypt now in black and
white, it’s a repeat of Egypt in the 60's.
The Brotherhood
had decided to be open to change and inclusiveness. Therefore, we should bring
out issues like it or not in the open
and debate the Brotherhood. If we could keep talking calmly - it is not
terribly hard. But there has been unmentionable provocation. Many lives have
been lost - thousands wounded and maimed. You can see the suffering in the
hospitals and the tragedy befalling families.
These
conferences are good because we get to talk to people. We could spread the
message and form popular opinion. How can we present Islamic resurgence in a
calm and sensible way. It needs order above the jumble causing the problems.
The generals and
the army for 60 years have been brought up in a system infested with
corruption. A lower ranking soldier in the those days of persecuting the
Brotherhood may now be one of the generals. It seems to be a catch 22 situation
all over again.
We are all
responsible. How can we get the two to work together - political Islam and the
others?
Q & A
Why did I write
the book?
To try to make a
small contribution to understand and respect each others beliefs. You know it’s
a hard sell for me to go to British publishers and say I got a book on the
Muslim Brotherhood!
Syria
A destroyed
Syria will be like a country where people only live to live surviving day to
day.
On whether the
Muslim Brotherhood's peaceful and pacifist like stance is merely tactical:-
Actually it is
an Islamic ethos - do not harm and do not
be a cause of harm. And as I know it, Islam regards the killing of a single
person as the killing all of humanity. The Brotherhood is being provoked continuously
and if someone breaks, the whole movement can be broken. So it is a peaceful
movement that needs world support at the moment. Of course it’s a challenging
task to get rid of the thousands and thousands of tons of baggage existing in
Egypt's "deep state" government.
(Shah Alam)
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