publish time

10/06/2018

publish time

10/06/2018

FOR the past 90 years, the Muslim world has been afflicted with an ailment called, ‘Muslim Brotherhood’. This group appointed itself as protector of the society that determines features of a believer and draws the lines of behavior which this believer should uphold. Whoever comes close to this group survives severe torment, while whoever distances himself from the group becomes a cursed infidel.This group entered the political arena through the doors of mosques. It gave leaders and officials the tools of faith and purity, or atonement and heresy. Whenever this group fails, it resorts to violence, killings, bombing and assassination. It operates based on the guidelines set by its theorist Sayyid Qutb. It later led to the birth of several terrorist groups from its nest in various countries in the Muslim world.Since 1928, the Brotherhood Group has been following the same method to reach the seat of power in various Muslim countries. It takes into account the cultural infrastructure in some societies and strives to form a new religion that has no relation with Islam in other societies. It plays the cord of contradictions or fishes for opportunities by taking advantage of emerging crisis or infiltrating the ruling circle through common channels, starting with financial empowerment through a series of commercial, manufacturing and banking interests, and then getting close to the ruler.It enables its elements to infiltrate public institutions and State domains. It also stirs organized chaos and exposes the weaknesses of institutions. It portrays the ruler as corrupt or incompetent. Through all that, it uses religious cover while its elements market themselves to be working with trust, piety and sincerity.This is what the group attempted to do during the reign of King Farouq of Egypt in 1952, when it portrayed Egypt as a farm of corruption being managed by corrupt people who are not afraid of Allah. This started with the movement of ‘Free Officers’ which it allied to the Brotherhood. In fact, it portrayed Jamal Abdul-Nasser as the survivor who would rescue Egypt from the abyss of ignorance and disbelief to prosperity, knowledge and faith.However, when the group discovered that the ‘Officers’ would not be their puppets, it attempted to turn public opinion against them and orchestrated a series of terrorist operation including the attempt to assassinate Abdul- Nasser. The matter escalated to open confrontation and banning of the group. The group’s branch attempted to use the same tactics in Syria, but the Bathist’s iron hand rule that does not accept partnership in managing the country promptly moved to stop the group’s infiltration.The famous battle of Hama in Syria is a testimony to that. This happened after the military wing of the group perpetrated civilian massacres, the most famous of which is the massacre in Aleppo Artillery School — the straw that broke the camel’s back. After that, the chaotic group attempted to prick the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but the kingdom knew what the group was striving for, so it calmly and silently uprooted the group and foiled all its attempts. In an interview with Al-Seyassah in 2002, Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz uttered the famous statement as he considered the group the source of adversity. By doing so, he shattered their dream of destabilizing the kingdom, although the group continued its desperate attempts and it still does.This was also the case in Kuwait where the group started to play with fire and strived to fuel it with demonstrations and sit-ins. This is in addition to demonizing the judiciary and the State; hoping to drag the country into the swamp which submerged Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Syria. Disappointment befell all the group’s attempts, owing to the wise political leadership and noble citizens who stood firm in facing the group.When the ‘Arab Spring’ started in Tunisia in 2011, the group embarked on the wave of populace protests and took control afterwards. The same scenario happened in Egypt, but everyone discovered later that the group was the moving force behind the curtains. The group hurled accusations against President Hosni Mubarak claiming he possessed $70 billion which he looted from his people’s livelihood, among other allegations which the group mastered to fabricate.Nevertheless, the Egyptians did not allow this group to transform into the force that changes the destiny of their country; hence, the people revolted against it in 2013. Amidst this clamor, the group singled out Gaza and it continues to do so. Everyone remembers its involvement with the American and Israeli circles in the alternative Gaza project, which means finding a land cut from Sinai to repatriate Palestinians to this land.The group has not pulled its eyes from Jordan as alternative country for the Palestinians. This happened when the group took the seat of power after deposing the monarchy. It is true that Jordan is out of the bottleneck of recent protests. It is now waiting for the comprehensive national dialogue requested by King Abdullah II to lay down a new tax system and development plans which will remove the country from the choking crisis due to the global economic condition.This comes after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, State of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates called for support for Jordan through a four-way summit that will be held today in the Saudi city — Makkah. Despite this, the ‘Brotherhood Group’ continues to operate behind the scenes to destabilize security — either by calling for more protests or demonizing the Jordanian leadership.In the past seven years, Jordan witnessed several protests which were aimed at moving the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ to this country, but such attempts were foiled due to the vigilance of most Jordanians. Today, no rational person sees this group as the savior of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan due to the fact that the threat posed by the group is bigger than just a protest against the new tax laws.It is true that these protests are just the start of movement towards toppling the ruler and erasing Jordan from the map, for it to become an alternative nation for the Palestinians. Therefore, this group’s failure in Jordan today will be the last nail on its casket that will ensure it will never ever stand again.By Ahmed Al-Jarallah Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times