Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

2008: Not All About Us

It’s important to note, as we Americans go to the polls tomorrow, that there are many, many people in the Middle East whose lives will be dramatically affected by the outcome of this election. Even though they lack the voice in this election that we enjoy through our vote, America’s involvement in the Middle East means they often have just as many hopes and concerns for the outcome of this election as we do. If the next president hopes to accomplish anything significant in the region,..

Free Speech in Egypt

At the Guardian, young Muslim Brotherhood activist Ibrahim Houdaiby writes about the increasing restrictions on free speech in Egypt, both in print and online...

Egypt’s NDP Conference Underway

The fifth annual NDP political convention began on Saturday, and like most political conventions, it has been high on platitudes and swipes at the opposition. The Daily News Egypt reports that keynote speaker President Mubarak insisted the government would continue the reforms promised in his 2005 election platform “without delay”. He also reiterated the twin pillars of the party: economic growth and social justice. ..

Major Challenge to Arab Democracy

In a debate at Bitter Lemons, Saad N. Jawad argues that while the failure to create a Palestinian state is the greatest challenge to the region, “the lack of democracy is the second important challenge facing the Arab Middle East.” Noting the relationship between the two, Jawad suggests that “many regimes have argued that in order to meet Israeli aggression they have had to rule with an iron hand. The truth is probably the opposite. Most regimes have seen their popular legitimacy erode..

Saudi Activists Plan Hunger Strike

The legal defense teams of 12 Saudi activists jailed without charge have announced plans to observe a hunger strike later this week. In the first ever public protest of this kind, organizers called for a 48-hour hunger strike on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 6 and 7. In addition to advocating for their clients, the organizers express solidarity and sympathy to all political prisoners currently detained in Saudi jails, and demand “either to set the detainees free or instantly grant them fai..

2008: The Same Old National Security Politics

Writing for RealClearPolitics, Gregory Scoblete laments Barack Obama’s inability and apparent unwillingness to bring a new perspective to national security politics that could have helped his party shed the “weak on security” stigma that has stuck in the consciousness of voters for several presidential election cycles...

2008: Who Would The Middle East Vote For?

In the latest “Doha Debates” episode, a monthly forum in Qatar broadcast by BBC World, 87 percent of the audience voted against the closing motion, “This House believes the Middle East would be better off with John McCain in the White House.” While that sounds like a resounding endorsement of Barack Obama, Mona Eltahawy reports that many members of the audience “expressed ambivalence about both candidates” and their ability to bring positive change to the Middle East...

Women of the Brotherhood

In a recent Carnegie Endowment paper, Omayma Abdel-Latif investigates the role and status of women in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. She concludes that the Brotherhood leadership continues to subordinate its women members despite their recent assertiveness following the release of the 2007 draft party platform...

Political Reform At Home and Abroad

On the Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog, Daniel Brumberg writes about the “cathartic awakening” that free and fair elections can bring to a public made apathetic by years of autocratic rule. He notes that even the United States is prone to political apathy,..

Who Will Speak for Islam?

The World Policy Journal’s 25th anniversary Fall issue is available free for the month of November. It includes an interesting article (pdf) by John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed titled “Who Will Speak for Islam?” In it, they use comprehensive survey data from throughout the Muslim world to discern future trends in governance, women’s rights, extremism, political reform, and the relationship with the West...

Dueling Political Conventions in Egypt

On November 1-3, Egypt’s ruling NDP will hold its fifth annual convention, in which it is ostensibly supposed to review the past year and suggest policy prescriptions going forward. In the Daily News Egypt, Khalil Al-Anani previews the conference. He predicts no new policy breakthroughs, and discusses issues the NDP would address if it were actually serious about redressing the past year’s ills...

Introducing POMED’s Country Pages

If you haven’t already seen them, be sure to check out the new country pages here on POMED’s website. POMED’s research team has assembled a valuable collection of resources organized by country. For now, there are POMED country pages for five countries of the region: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Turkey. There will be more pages covering additional countries soon to come. ..

The Plight of Dissidents in Egypt

Jeffrey Fleischman at Babylon & Beyond writes on the status of three political dissidents in Egypt: Ibrahim Issa was pardoned by Mubarak to affirm the president’s “concern for freedom of opinion”; Ayman Nour, is still in jail, however, since 2005; and, Saad Eddin Ibrahim remains in exile, avoiding a 2-year sentence handed down in absentia for “tarnishing Egypt’s reputation.”..

Aftermath of the Syrian Raid

As a consequence of the much publicized U.S. raid into Syria, The Wall Street Journal reports “Damascus largely froze high-level diplomatic efforts with the U.S. after an American strike inside the country, a move that threatens support for broader peace initiatives in the Middle East.” An opinion piece from the same source says the raid happened five years too late, while an editorial in the Washington Post says, in effect, “so what?” An opinion article in the LA Times, takes a look a..

2008: Memo To The Next President

Richard Haass, in a memo to the next president about the world that awaits him and what he should do about it, offers the following advice on democracy promotion to John McCain and Barack Obama..

The Bush Legacy Ctd.

MESH concludes its series assessing the legacy of the Bush administration in the Middle East: Steven Cook praises Bush for effort, and gives him credit for speaking out on Arab democracy and human rights, but fails him on execution. “[N]ot only have they not achieved their goals in the region…, but in most cases Washington’s approach has produced precisely the opposite of the desired effect..

Syrian Intrigue

There are reports everywhere about the U.S. strike inside Syria on a known funnelling point for foreign fighters into Iraq. Josh Landis at Syria Comment has some very intriguing analysis. He writes that the U.S. has been refusing to return an ambassador to Damascus in order to win Syrian compliance in intelligence sharing on the border. This strike is one attempt ..

Reporters San Frontieres

Reporters Sans Frontieres (better known in English as Reporters Without Borders) has released its 2008 index, measuring the state of freedom of the press in 173 countries. “The same six Middle East champions of repression that are near the bottom of the world press freedom index ..

2008: Wesley Clark on Democratization After Bush

In the new issue of Washington Monthly, Gen. Wesley Clark writes about how we should advance democracy in the post-Bush era during a review of James Traub’s new book tackling the same subject. Here’s Clark’s main formulation of how Barack Obama and John McCain’s approaches to democratization might differ:..

“Is There a Role for Shari’ah in Modern States?”

The Prince Alwaheed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University held a day-long conference on October 23, 2008 entitled, “Is There a Role for Shari’ah in Modern States?” ..