Egyptian Muslim Research Articles

Rethinking the repression-dissent nexus: assessing Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood's response to repression since the coup of 2013

ABSTRACTThis article examines the repression-dissent nexus in Islamist social movements. Several studies have overwhelmingly focused on the effects of repression on protest volume, level, and tactics. However, understanding the responses of individual members to regime repression and how they relate to the movement's collective response is rarely discussed. By analysing the response of the Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to regime repression since the coup of 2013, this article explains the effects of repression on opposition movements. It argues that to understand the impact of repression on these movements, we need to differentiate between the collective and individual responses to repression. These two levels of analysis are crucial to better understand the repression-dissent nexus. Also, the article contends that collective and individual responses to repression cannot be explained by focusing solely on the structural and institutional factors (i.e. organization, ideology, leadership, etc.). Members’ personal experiences, memory, emotions, and trauma play a key role in shaping their response to repression. The article thus accounts for both the formal and informal effects of repression on Islamists.

The metamorphosis of social movements into political parties. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and the Tunisian al-Nahda as cases for a reflection on party institutionalisation theory

ABSTRACT The article studies newly established parties with roots in social movements. Using the post-Spring development of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Tunisian al-Nahda as in-depth empirical cases, the study reflects on prevalent theoretical explanations for the transitions of social movements into political parties. The paper argues that extant literature on party system institutionalization and the development of social movement organizations do not adequately explain the driving factors for the transition process of movements into parties. A focus on party systems does not take note of the dynamics of movement-party relations, while social movement theory remains steeped in conceptions of institutional evolution and ‘natural progression’ in politics. When rethinking party institutionalization, it needs to be recognized that it is a precarious process during which features of social movement activism overlap with the formalized engagement that characterizes political parties. The comparative study of the Muslim Brotherhood-led Freedom and Justice Party and the Tunisian al-Nahda Movement and its al-Nahda Party exemplifies that the degree to which leading parties emancipate themselves from the guardianship of their ‘mother-organizations’ is an essential factor for democratic state-building.

THE INCONGRUITY OF SAYYID QUTB’S POLITICAL ISLAM AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION IN NIGERIA: A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

The refutation and disregard of the influence of religion in politics has implications for national integration. The last few decades have witnessed the emergence of contemporary Islamic movements and trends in the Muslim world. One of the most effective and influential political thinkers of Islamism is Sayyid Qutb, a leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950’s and 1960’s and theorist of violent Jihad. As the father of modern Islamic fundamentalism, his ideas provide a framework and ideological foundation for many Islamic groups, like al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and the ISIS, around the world. While there are cases where political elites manipulate religion to mobilize support and further narrow political interests, it is erroneous and dangerous for policy to continue to perceive religion as incapable on its own to generate divisions in a society. This paper examines the features of Political Islam in three main areas: cultural-ideological, political and socio-economic, from the perspective of Sayyid Qutb political thought, and reflects on how these beliefs could impact on the dimensions of national integration in Nigeria. The paper argues that Political Islam is incompatible with national integration and as such the future of national integration is threatened in Nigeria.

The Politics of Christian Love: Shaping Everyday Social Interaction and Political Sensibilities Among Coptic Egyptians

Christian love has historically been subject of extensive theological study but has rarely been studied within anthropology. Contemporary Coptic society receives growing attention over the last two decades as a minority in Egyptian Muslim majority society. An important bulk of this scholarship involves a discussion of the community’s sometimes self-defined and sometimes ascribed characterization as a persecuted minority. Particular attention has gone to how social and political dimensions of minority life lead tochanges in Christian theological understandings This paper builds on these insights and examines how Christian love is experienced, and shapes feelings of belonging, everyday morality and political sensibilities vis-à-vis Muslim majority society. It draws from ethnographic observations and meetings with Copts living in Egypt between 2014–2017. It focuses on three personal narratives that reveal the complex ways in which a theology of love affects social and political stances. An anthropological focus reveals the fluid boundaries between secular and religious expressions of Christian love. Love for God and for humans are seen as partaking in one divine love. Practicing this love, however, shapes very different responses and can lead to what has been described as Coptic ‘passive victim behaviour’, but also to political activity against the status-quo.

Cold war era relations between West Germany and Turkish political Islam: from an anti-communist alliance to a domestic security issue

ABSTRACTWest Germany played a significant role in the growth of Political Islam in Turkey during the Cold War. By recruiting from among Turkish workers in West Germany, Islamist organizations and the religious communities known as cemaats acquired significant economic revenues, which they used to fund their activities in Turkey. Moreover, West Germany served as a liaison between Turkish Islamists and Syrian and Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members, who have influenced Political Islam in Turkey since the 1960s. Prominent Muslim Brotherhood representatives in West Germany took on important roles in the recruitment of Turks and also played some part in shaping the ideological development of Turkish Islamists. Due to the pervasiveness of anti-communism in West Germany and Turkey during the Cold War, the established orders in both countries viewed Political Islam as an antidote to the ascendancy of the Left. However, in the 1980s, Bonn and Ankara grew concerned about Islamist organizations becoming further radicalized and impossible to control; the two governments often cooperated in order to bring Political Islam under their own authority.

Brand repositioning of Egypt's Muslim brotherhood: do you see what I see, views from the female electorate

The paper explores brand-repositioning of the MB and FJP, as viewed by Egypt's female voters during 2010/2011 Presidential elections. Five areas of brand-repositioning were discussed. Multiple sources of evidence were used, namely commentary from 46 female respondents: 1) 22 face-to-face interviews; 2) four focus groups by age containing six respondents within each; 3) projective techniques - drawing and sentence completion. Judgemental/snowballing sampling were employed. Data was analysed via content analysis. Gaps exists between how the MB perceive their image and how respondents view such image. Respondents displayed concern about female expectations in the future; felt that pre-revolution the MB were, 'repressed', during were 'heroes'. Post, their image declined because they became authoritarian and curtailed women and minority rights. Insights are offered into the views and emotions held by Egypt's female voters towards both parties. Such insights expose a gap in the literature pertaining to Egypt's female electorate.

Brand repositioning of Egypt's Muslim brotherhood: do you see what I see, views from the female electorate

The paper explores brand-repositioning of the MB and FJP, as viewed by Egypt's female voters during 2010/2011 Presidential elections. Five areas of brand-repositioning were discussed. Multiple sources of evidence were used, namely commentary from 46 female respondents: 1) 22 face-to-face interviews; 2) four focus groups by age containing six respondents within each; 3) projective techniques - drawing and sentence completion. Judgemental/snowballing sampling were employed. Data was analysed via content analysis. Gaps exists between how the MB perceive their image and how respondents view such image. Respondents displayed concern about female expectations in the future; felt that pre-revolution the MB were, 'repressed', during were 'heroes'. Post, their image declined because they became authoritarian and curtailed women and minority rights. Insights are offered into the views and emotions held by Egypt's female voters towards both parties. Such insights expose a gap in the literature pertaining to Egypt's female electorate.

Islamism and Democracy: The Dilemma of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Youth

The paper is a follow-up analysis of a study about the rise of Islamist youth as a subculture in the Egyptian context in recent years. Focusing on the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as an organizational entity, the study has classified youth into „supportive‟ youth in terms of their organizational attachment and „critical‟ youth, who have called for more democracy and youth empowerment. Critical MB youth have been further subdivided into those who have left the organization and those who have stayed in it despite their political and/or ideological disagreements with the organization. The subculture of critical Islamist youth, notably MB youth, has conspicuously converged with other liberal and secular Egyptian youths regarding their views about democracy. The proposed study suggests some form of internal mobility, as exhibited by the above classification, where based on their altered stance towards democracy a number of „critical‟ Islamist youth have joined the „supportive‟ camp and a number of „supportive‟ Islamist youth have developed „radicalized‟ stances. Interestingly enough, some level of convergence could bind supportive and critical Islamist MB youth together, at the expense of their relationship with other liberal and secular youths. The paper is based on semi-structured interviews and content analysis using academic sources and journalistic material

“The Year According to the Reckoning of the Believers”: Papyrus Louvre inv. J. David-Weill 20 and the Origins of the hijrī Era

Abstract The present paper addresses itself to the enigmatic phrase snh qaḍāʾ al-muʾminīn that appears in a papyrus sheet from early Muslim Egypt. It takes issue with the earlier interpretations of the phrase, arguing that it is indeed a dating formula that is probably to be read as sanat qaḍāʾ al-muʾminīn, and understood as “the year according to the reckoning of the believers”. Based on the testimony of this phrase, it is further argued that the epoch of the Muslim calendar was, in all likelihood, originally meant to count the years from Muḥammad’s foundation of a new community and polity at Medina, a momentous event that the early Muslims conceived of as the dawn of a new age.

Article Review of Islamic Mobilization: Social Movement Theory and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood

The social movement theory (SMT) has been used as an explanatory mechanism for understanding the rise and spread of the ideas and principles of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Egypt since 1930. The origin country Egypt which is the birthplace of MB had undergone a radical change politically, economically and socially. These changes made it possible for the rapid growth of conservative and religious groups such as MB. The organisational structure and the ideological evolution, and also the recruitment method of MB are analyzed in the following pages.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Ikhwanweb: Deliberative Ethic/Voice in a Counterpublic’s Rhetoric?

Using counterpublic theory as framework and situating the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) as a counterpublic, counterpublics being alternative, non-dominant publics who voice their oppositional needs and values through diverse discursive practices, the goal of this study is to: (a) Examine, in the context of the years preceding the 2011 Egyptian uprising, whether the Egyptian MB, as a counterpublic, portrays a deliberative ethic/voice in its cyber rhetoric; (b) Explore whether traditional/Western ideas of deliberation are upheld or challenged in the cyber rhetoric of the Egyptian MB; and (c) Comment on the role of Ikhwanweb, as a counterpublic sphere, in providing the Egyptian MB a space to demonstrate its deliberative potential. By looking for traits and evidences of deliberative ethic in the Egyptian MB’s cyber rhetoric—in a ‘text’ produced by an Islamist organization functioning within a secular/authoritarian socio-political ‘context’—the overarching purpose of this analysis is to make sense of : (a) an Islamist organization’s role as a counterpublic and its deliberative potential in a non-democratic setting; (b) the implications of this for thinking about deliberation between diverse groups of social agents in non-democratic cultures; and (c) the role of the Internet in facilitating counterpublics’ deliberative potential in authoritarian contexts. Thus, from a heuristic standpoint, this study is an endeavor towards contributing to a key question that animates public deliberation: how can we engage/engage with voices that hold (or are assumed to hold) anti-deliberative attitudes and/or those that operate within non-democratic socio-political contexts?

Techniques of Strategic Political Communication: The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s Persuasive Devices

ABSTRACTThis research analyzes the entire range of Arabic language communiqués issued by the Muslim Brotherhood from July 2013–July 2017 in order to show how political Islamist movements utilize persuasive techniques to advance their strategic communication campaigns and achieve their political goals. Using agenda-setting as a theoretical framework and the seven devices developed by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA) in the late 1930s as a deductive tool, this article demonstrates that the Brotherhood’s communication strategy strongly aligned with the seven devices developed by the IPA: more than one technique was identified in 97% of the movement’s communiqués analyzed. These findings indicate that persuasive techniques are being used by the Brotherhood as strategic communication devices to serve the goals of 1) discrediting the current military regime; 2) winning the hearts and minds of Egyptians; and, 3) establishing themselves as a legitimate political actor. This case study advances second-level agenda setting theory by suggesting that the IPA’s persuasive techniques reveal the specific mechanisms through which the Brotherhood seek to achieve their communication goals. By raising awareness of these techniques as a critical means of setting the Brotherhood’s agenda, this article also seeks to empower domestic and regional audiences consuming these messages.

The Obama administration and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab Revolutions. Taming political Islam?

This article deals with US policy towards the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. How has the leading world state power been dealing with the main Islamist movement, especially in the aftermath of the Arab upheavals? What is the intellectual approach to political Islam, specifically within the Obama administration? Has the anti-US potential been tamed or not? In light of the discourse held by US leaders and diplomats, I highlight the difficulties in addressing the Muslim Brotherhood. More specifically, I shed light on the way US policy of engagement towards the Islamist movement has been conducted.

Islamism, secularization, secularity: the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt as a phenomenon of a secular age

The paper outlines parallels between the processes of secularization and secularity in the West, as interpreted by José Casanova and Charles Taylor, and Islamism as a modern social and political phenomenon. It focuses on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s history and ideas and specifically on a number of public documents detailing its social and political vision. I argue that if we define ‘secularization’ not only as the weakening of religious belief, but as the institutional differentiation of modern state structures and the marginalization of religion, and ‘secularity’ as the process whereby faith becomes one option among others and religion becomes an identifiable set of beliefs seen as guidelines for reform, the Brotherhood, similarly to other Islamist entities, is a phenomenon of a ‘secular age’.

Studi Kritis Pemikiran Politik Ali Abdul Raziq

This paper examines the political thought of Ali Abdul Raziq, a Egyptian Muslim figure. ‎His political idea convinces a controversy between Muslim and Western scholars. Back In his ‎country, he is opposed by a number of Muslim scholars because his thought bothered some parties. His idea, particularly arguing that that politic and religion are indeed two different ‎things; politic is substantially khila>fah, qada’ and governmental ‎task matters which derived from mundane perspectives, while religion, in the other hands underlies merely the issue of Muslim faith. His thought is highly appreciated by Westerners ‎and even considered as a crucial progress of politic in Islam. Antony ‎Black, for instance. He praised Ali as the revolutionist. In spite of it, it is crucial for readers to realize that the ‎essence of argument given by Ali is anemic and contrast to Islam. Therefore, it is a need to examine Ali’s political discussion with further empirical evidences. After examining his work, researcher finds at least there are four fundamental arguments influencing his thought. First, ‎the absence of hujjah syar’iyyah that upholds the concept imamate. Second, the concept of khila>fah is not ‎required by Muslims. Third, the treatise accomplished by Prophet Muhammad is purely ‎based on religious aspect. And the last, politic is an independent concept that should be ‎drifted apart from religious elements. Consequently, Ali’s bias toward secularism is clear; particularly in his approval separating state from any religion institutions. This assumption is also ‎built up by the fact that he was a student of two orientalists, Mallino and Sentillana, who taught him during his study at the University of Egypt (al-Ja>mi’ah al-Mis}riyyah).

Affordances of Websites for Counterpublicity and International Communication: Case of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood

Affordances of Websites for Counterpublicity and International CommunicationCase of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Soumia Bardhan (bio) Scholars and policy analysts are actively debating the potential of new/social media in transforming the Middle East. Nevertheless, excessive focus has been placed on specific kinds of new/social media technologies, such as blogging / microblogging (Twitter), video-sharing (YouTube, Snapchat), and social networking (Facebook, Instagram), which allow individuals to actively and swiftly participate in multiple digital systems. These new/social media technologies can quickly get overwhelming for users and lead to the dilution and fragmentation of the specific communication potential of diverse technologies. Media theorists argue that it is important to understand the value system/affordances of technologies, instead of getting distracted by them, to maximize their utility in varied contexts. In the rest of this introduction, I elaborate on the value system of technologies and situate the need, goal, and implications of this piece. According to Mishra, the four foundational components of the value system of technologies are Content—allows individuals, including amateurs, to become easy creators of multimedia content through simple and free publishing and distribution; Collaboration—facilitates aggregation of individual actions into meaningful collective results; Community—allows sustained collaboration around common ideas and motives across time and space; and Collective Understanding—allows sophisticated analysis of the communication dynamics of a group's work to provide feedback, add [End Page 3] value, and facilitate growth of the community.1 A lack of understanding of the value system and undue enthusiasm around the use of new/social media tools often lead to an emphasis on the immediacy of communication instead of consideration of context and need. In the cacophony celebrating (and debating) technologies that usually afford "collaboration" and "community" by being active and swift, the dynamics and affordances of websites—characterizing "content"—are drowned and seldom explored, specifically, their role in impacting public sphere / counterpublic realities and international communication in Middle Eastern authoritarian contexts. Counterpublics are alternative, non-dominant publics, amid wider / dominant publics, who voice oppositional needs and values through communicative practices. In this case study, I explore the traits of counterpublicity in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's (MB) cyber communication content in Ikhwanweb, its official English-language website, in the context of the years preceding the Egyptian uprising that ousted authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Ikhwanweb was founded by Khairat el Shater, deputy chairman of the MB, and was launched in 2005; in this piece, I focus on the written texts posted on the website from 2005 to 2011 and credited to Ikhwanweb—either authored by MB members or contributed by independent sources and bylined by the MB. The "About Us" section of Ikhwanweb states that the main mission of this website is to "present the Muslim Brotherhood vision right from the source and rebut misconceptions about the movement in Western societies,"2 making Western agents the intended/stated audience for this website. According to McDonald and Dirk, "Ihkwanweb [sic] raises awareness on a global scale to issues impacting Brotherhood members and supporters" (para. 7); material posted on Ikhwanweb—from the Brotherhood's evolution and history to contemporary conflicts and engagement in controversies in and outside of Egypt—facilitates the sharing of experiences on a global scale.3 The evolution of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, since its founding in the country in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, has been associated with climactic resurgences interspersed by successive government crackdowns. The periods of resurgence usually have been marked by the coming into prominence of individuals, such as Sayyid Qutb or Hassan al-Hudaybi, who significantly influenced the Brotherhood's ideology and activities during their period of eminence. These episodes of resurgence, however, have been accompanied by major government intrusion and interference. Both dynastic and nationalist Egyptian governments have accused, suppressed, and tortured Brotherhood members after plots, or alleged plots, of assassination and over-throw were uncovered to the point that the group was officially banned from 1954 till the ousting of Mubarak (only to be banned again in 2013). For several decades, the MB neither enjoyed legal status nor was recognized as a political party, and despite official renunciation of violence in the 1970s, the Brotherhood continued to face...

Islamist Women as Candidates in Elections: A Comparison of the Party of Justice and Development in Morocco and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

This paper examines the legislative recruitment of women from conservative Islamist parties. It questions the common assumption that generally all Islamist parties are equally hostile to political participation and representation of women. For this purpose, two of the electorally most successful Islamist groups in the MENA region are compared, namely the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and its Moroccan offshoot, the Party of Justice and Development (PJD). The article seeks an explanation for diverging trends in female candidacy between these conservative religious movements, using the traditional supply and demand model of candidate selection. It argues that the less centralized and the more institutionalized parties (as is the case with the PJD) seem to be better equipped to facilitate women’s candidacy than the more oligarchic ones (the MB). In order to fully grasp the reasons behind the diverging trends in the nomination of female candidates from both Islamist parties, cultural factors are scrutinized as well. The article highlights the limits of the supply and demand model of candidate selection, which cannot explain instances of unexpected change in recruitment strategies based on external interference. Furthermore, it does not provide us the means to assess the impact of individual candidates’ ‘feminist credentials’ on overall female representation.

THE PROPERTY IN ISLAM (IMAM MUHAMMAD ABU ZAHRAH’S PERSPECTIVE)

Based on an observation through many communities, it is obviously that people are very careless on the possession of property, or even merely to get the advantage from it. They used not to think about, but prefer to neglect, the rightness of owning, the rightness of acquiring and the rightness of spending the property. In their mind is whatever they can gain, irrespective to the ethic and moral on the way of reaching and gaining, is totally belong to them, and they are free to do so ever. It is a very liberal concept of property.As a way of life, Islamic order ruled all aspects of life including the ownership of the property. There many verses of Al Qur’an as well as the teaching of the prophet Muhammad PBUH about the property. But the problem is there are many muslim scholars who has interpreted Al Qur’an on the fact and reality based only, and not due to the core of the mission of Al Qur’an. Not to pick the Qur’an teaching up to the life, or to build up the life depend on the doctrine of Qur’an, as it is ought to.Imam Muhammad Abu Zahrah, the famous and prominent Egyptian muslim scholar in the first twentieth century who has great intention and desire of the implementation of Islamic law was one who has keen interest on the issue of economy, especially on the issue of usury (riba). He has written several articles, papers and a book as well, on the subject of riba. Moreover, he has also written a set of Qur’anic Interpretation (Tafsiir) in which he commented on some verses concerning the property and wealth.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s transnational advocacy in Turkey: a new means of political participation

This study examines the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s transnational media advocacy as a shift in the Islamists’ political participation in general and the Brothers’ in particular. The article argues that the Brothers created their own TV channels in order to challenge the new regime’s legitimacy after 3 July 2013 by taking advantage of a sympathetic political environment in Turkey. Their media advocacy embraced a collective Islamic identity in its denunciation of the Sisi regime and called for a democratic restitution as a common Egyptian cause. Based on interviews conducted with TV presenters and a content analysis of the expatriates’ TV channels, this study presents transnational advocacy as a novelty in the Islamists’ repertoire of action.

From Medicine to Mobilization: Social Service Provision and the Islamist Reputational Advantage

Under what conditions can parties use social-service provision to generate political support? And what is the causal mechanism connecting social-service provision to citizen mobilization? I argue that service provision conveys to voters a politically valuable image of the provider organization’s competence and probity, which is particularly valuable when information about parties and platforms is contradictory or poor. Support comes from an in-depth investigation into the medical networks of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. I combine qualitative evidence, including fieldwork and interviews with Brotherhood social-service providers, with an original 2,483-person survey experiment of Egyptians. Respondents exposed to factual information about the Brotherhood’s medical provision are significantly more likely to consider voting for the Brotherhood in elections. A causal mediation analysis, as well as qualitative evidence drawn from the survey instrument itself, supports the hypothesized mechanism by which respondents map the Brotherhood’s compassion and professionalism in the provision of medical services onto their views of Brotherhood candidates for elected office. Beyond adding to a growing comparative-politics literature on the politics of non-state social service provision, I identify why Egypt’s current rulers have expended such effort to uproot the Muslim Brotherhood’s nationwide network of social services.